Estate Agent Local - A Directory Of UK Estate Agents

Act of 1979 in E7 Estate Agents

Estate agents are regulated by the Estate Agents Act 1979, which:

• Regulates the conduct of estate agents in the course of estate agency work. Act of 1979 in E7 estate agents is described below.. (The definition of ‘estate agency work’ does not cover the letting of properties.)

• Lays down the duties that agents who follow the Act of 1979 in E7 estate agents owe to clients (such as the passing on of offers, handling money and giving details of charges) and to third parties (such as disclosure of a personal interest).

• Gives the Office of Fair Trading the power to issue warning or prohibition notices against those persons whom it considers to be unfit to carry on estate agency work. Any person that has received a prohibition notice (a ‘banning order’) will not be able to practice as an estate agent.

Estate agents who follow the Act of 1979 in E7 estate agents also have to comply with the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991, which:

• Makes it an offence to make false or misleading statements about property offered for sale.
Under the Housing Act 2004, estate agents who follow the Act of 1979 in E7 estate agents in England and Wales, marketing a property requiring a HIP are:

• Required (by Order) to belong to an approved HIPs redress scheme. Agents not complying with this requirement face penalty charges (currently set at £200) and could be banned by the OFT from practicing as an estate agent. Act of 1979 in E7 Estate Agents