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

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to regulate Let Only letting agency agreements where an agent markets a property after which the landlord takes over management.

The government has no current plans to introduce specific new regulations in relation to let only agency arrangements.

Letting agents who operate on a ‘let only’ basis are already subject to existing regulation. Any agent carrying out letting agency work in England, including marketing a property and setting up a tenancy before the landlord takes over management, must belong to a government approved redress scheme.

Compliance with these requirements is enforced by local authorities and by the National Trading Standards’ Lettings Agency Team, which has powers to take enforcement action against noncompliant agents.

More broadly, the government’s recent home buying and selling reform consultation sought views on proposals to professionalise property agents, including introducing a code of practice setting out minimum standards for letting, estate and managing agents.

The government also proposed a future consultation on mandatory qualifications for letting and estate agents and, depending on the outcome, potential legislation in respect of this issue. The home buying and selling reform consultation closed on 29 December and, subject to the outcomes of our analysis, we will publish a roadmap setting out further details later this year.