There Are Such Rich Rewards, We Must Police Home-Selling ; Will Better Regulation of Estate Agents Give Buyers and Sellers the Confidence They so Need?

Summary

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As soon as the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill now in the Lords becomes law, all estate agencies will have to sign up to an independent ombudsman able to award aggrieved buyers and sellers up to Pounds 25,000 in compensation if their complaints are upheld.

Not surprisingly, many question what deterrent value such powers would have in the present climate. Last year, prices for houses in prime Central London went up 34.2 per cent, according to Savills. Henry Holland-Hibbert, of Lane Fox, estimates that anyone owning a house worth Pounds 3million made Pounds 25,000 a month last year. Even those in a house worth Pounds 400,000 made Pounds 3,500.

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There Are Such Rich Rewards, We Must Police Home-Selling ; Will Better Regulation of Estate Agents Give Buyers and Sellers the Confidence They so Need?

It is only when pondering such soaring sums and the inevitable temptations involved that it becomes clear how anomalous it is that estate agency is virtu...

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