Is Compliance in the Lettings Industry too Complex?

We have not seen such a volume of legislation being introduced in the Private Rented Sector within a thirteen month period since, well, never. Compliance has become so complex that some landlords & property professionals fear it is putting businesses at risk. If you swap the letters IA in compliance you end up with the word COMPLAINT and that's the issue - not so much complaints being received but agents and landlords facing negligence claims because they are not up to date with what is going on.Compliance has become so elaborate that some agents and landlords have either decided to sell up their businesses. Apart from the CRA 2015 and the Redress Schemes for Lettings Agency Work and Property Management Work (Requirement to Belong to a Scheme etc) (England) Order 2014 (breathe), Most of the legislation introduced over the last several years has been directed at landlords. Landlords are now exposed to more risk than they were two years ago, and many feel less than confident in their ability to adequately protect their business, hence the reason for implying the services of a good, no exceptional agent. The increased burden of compliance in protecting not only the landlord, but also the letting agency is becoming more important. Their role is safeguarding their client’s business .- managing stock worth millions of pounds , so ensuring the element of compliance has been covered. The question is why so much change in such a short space of time?The landlords have been dealing with this kind of change since the end of the 1980s, however, now its becoming more and more intense - buy-to-let - managing property is not a hobby - its a business not a hobby. Our client base is extensive and diverse, but compliance applies to all of them.There is also the need to protect tenants who are vulnerable - we are seeing a pendulum shift towards ensuring that the unscrupulous landlords and letting agents are bought to task.So how can we make agency life easier to navigate?We have a series of workflows which we will be handing out on all our courses - these will assist with not only compliance, but training and reinforcing knowledge. We are invested in your business - the workflows drill down into the detail of pre-tenancy, during-tenancy and post-tenancy processes. Let us simplify what can sometimes be seen as over-whelming and complex. Attention to detail is paramount here .
For further information contact - info@guild-let.co.uk or call 01992 479949
Susie Crolla - CEO