Issue - meetings

ES18068

The report was presented to the Committee for initial scrutiny and would subsequently be presented to the Executive to seek approval to use the planned enforcement of legislation which regulated the letting agent and property management sector in the Borough.

The report explained that all letting agents and property management operators in England were now required to be a member of a government approved redress scheme.

The Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety informed the Committee that this was a new area of enforcement for LBB. It was planned to create a temporary post for up to three months so that the level of compliance could be established. Non-compliance would be followed with enforcement action which could include the use of penalty charge notices. The scheme would be funded from the £48,125 which was now available from the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme.

A Member referred to section 6.3 of the report which stated:

At this stage it is not known how many, if any, non-compliant letting agents there are in the borough, and therefore any potential income that may be generated from issuing the FPNs cannot be quantified. 

She asked why LBB should spend money in this area if it could not be quantified how much money LBB may recover via enforcement. The Head of Trading Standards and Community Safety responded by revealing data that had been gathered from a recent London Trading Standards Survey. The survey revealed that 53% of businesses had failed to comply with the requirement for displaying fees, charges and penalties; 37% were not registered with a deposit holding scheme.

Mr Vale expressed the view that the planned enforcement of the legislation would be a good investment and would also have the additional positive effect of benefiting vulnerable people. It was also the case that the enforcement of the legislation was gathering momentum across the capital.

A Member referred to section 3.1 of the report which explained that letting agents and property management operators in England were required to join a redress scheme. He asked if they had to pay a fee to join the scheme. Mr Vale said that he would look into this and come back with an answer.

The Chairman commented that the enforcement of legislation which regulates the letting agents and property management sector may need to be an enforcement item that will be required to be added to the Portfolio Plan.

RESOLVED that the report is noted and that the Committee’s views are fed back to the Executive via the Portfolio Holder.  

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