Found: Property Management Companies The Lord Best OBE DL, Former Chair of the Regulation of Property Agents

Found: meeting Members present: Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town (The Chair); Lord Barber of Ainsdale; Lord Best

Found: Since Lord Best mentioned it 10 years ago, we said yes.

Found: Tuesday 27 January 2026 10.05 am Watch the meeting Members present: Baroness Drake (The Chair); Lord Best

Found: Tuesday 20 January 2026 10.05 am Watch the meeting Members present: Baroness Drake (The Chair); Lord Best

Found: growth Tuesday 13 January 2026 10 am Watch the meeting Members present: Baroness Drake (The Chair); Lord Best

Found: January 2026 10.05 am Watch the meeting Members present: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (The Chair); Lord Best

Found: 16 December 2025 10 am Watch the meeting Members present: Baroness Taylor of Bolton (The Chair); Lord Best

Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask His Majesty's Government when they plan to introduce legislation to require all property managing agents to be suitably qualified.

Answered by Baroness Taylor of Stevenage - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)

The government is committed to ensuring that those living in the rented and leasehold sectors are protected from abuse and poor service at the hands of unscrupulous property agents.

Property agents must already belong to a government-approved redress scheme. This legislative requirement is currently enforced by local authorities and National Trading Standards’ Lettings and Estate Agency Team, who have the power to issue warnings and banning orders to rogue estate and letting agents.

The redress schemes publish data on the number of complaints they receive, the amount awarded to consumers, and maintain a public list of agents that have been expelled from their respective schemes.

Managing agents play a key role in the maintenance of multi-occupancy buildings and freehold estates. Their importance will only increase as we transition toward a commonhold future, and so we are looking again at Lord Best’s 2019 report on regulating the property agent sector, particularly in light of the recommendations in the final Grenfell Inquiry report.

Many leaseholders face persistent delays and high costs when trying to sell their properties. Currently, freeholders and managing agents are responsible for providing essential sales information, but they often have little incentive to do so efficiently. Homeowners living on private or mixed tenure estates, who contribute to the maintenance and upkeep of communal areas, can face similar challenges when trying to obtain relevant information from their estate manager. The government will take forward measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 (LFRA) which will speed up the provision of information for leaseholders and homeowners on private or mixed tenure estates who wish to sell their property, and protect sellers from unreasonable fees when requesting this information.

The previous government committed to regulate the property agent sector in 2018 and asked a working group Chaired by Lord Best to advise them how to do it, yet it failed to respond to their findings from 2019. Managing agents play a key role in the maintenance of multi-occupancy buildings and freehold estates, and their importance will only increase as we transition toward a commonhold future, and so we are looking again at Lord Best’s 2019 report on regulating the property agent sector, particularly in light of the recommendations in the final Grenfell Inquiry report.

On 4 July 2025, we launched a wide-ranging consultation on proposals to hold landlords and managing agents to account for the services they provide and the charges and fees they levy. This included the introduction of mandatory qualifications for managing agents and estate managers on freehold estates. This consultation closed on 26 September 2025, and we are analysing responses.

On 6 October 2025, the government announced the biggest shake-up to home buying in this country’s history, including proposing a future consultation on mandatory qualifications for estate and letting agents. We also propose introducing a code of practice setting out the minimum standards expected of all residential property agents including estate, letting and managing agents.

We will set out our full position on regulation of estate, letting and managing agents in due course.