The National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) has released comprehensive new guidelines covering all three phases of the programme, which aims to improve and standardise disclosures in property listings, helping agents to meet their legal obligations.

The unique partnership has seen client account health checks and accountants' reports waived for letting agent members who use PayProp’s client accounting platform.

Due to take effect at the start of 2024, the higher fines represent what the Home Office describes as the biggest shake up of civil penalties since the checks were first introduced and will include charges of up to £20,000 for repeat breaches.

The terminology surrounding the renting and sale of properties can be confusing for some consumers and new guidance from the National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) provides definitions of commonly used terms to improve consistency and understanding for everyone involved.

The introduction of the Renter's (Reform) Bill resulted a lot of media coverage, with agents and landlords voicing valid concerns about the potential impact of future legislation on their businesses. However, it is important to note that the Bill has not yet become law and is still undergoing scrutiny and possible amendments.

As the leading regulator for the property sector, our team of experienced agency auditors has increased to help Propertymark members avoid the hazards that generate local authority fines worth tens of thousands of pounds.

As the leading regulator for the sector, Propertymark is launching a service called Calm about Compliance which will bring our expertise to the sector where our auditors work alongside agents at their offices.

To ensure that the demands of the industry continue to be adhered to, particularly with the new Decent Homes Standard implementation, KPR, specialists in automated property inspection management and habitation compliance software, has created Willis, an innovative software upgrade to their inspection, maintenance, and compliance software.

Propertymark has opened compliance cases against a small number of members following the latest HMRC publication of businesses who have failed to comply with anti-money laundering regulations.

Following HM Treasury approval, on 27 July 2022 the UK Government updated guidance for estate and letting agent businesses supervised for anti-money laundering. Designed to help agents comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, it covers customer due diligence, record keeping and reporting suspicious activity.