ROPA - SURVEY
Since the publication of the White Paper in 2019, for the Regulation of Property Agents, ROPA has been discussed and then discussed again.
Over the last 7 months both the Housing Minister and Lord Best have made headlines by making reference to ROPA.
ONS Introduces New Tool to access Housing Market Data
The ONS has introduced a new tool which brings together the latest average house prices and monthly private rental prices for local areas, and how they have changed over time.
This is a new product in Beta release, intended to improve the accessibility of housing market data at local level.
Click on this link for detailed data
Home Buying & Selling
Major new plans to modernise home buying and selling to save people time and money and further measures to improve the lives of leaseholders
Millions of people are set to benefit from improvements to the way homes are bought and sold, saving them both time and money by helping stop property transactions from falling through.
On the 9th February, the government announced that it will modernise the way the process works to bring down current delays of almost five months. One of the key reasons the buying and selling process can be long and frustrating is a lack of digitalisation and join up in the sector, which is why the government is opening up key property information, ensuring this data can be shared between trusted professionals more easily, and driving forward plans for digital identity services to slash transaction times.
Improving the Disclosure of Material Information for Property Listings
Project summary and list of material information for Part A
Overview
For many years the regulation of property advertisements was controlled by the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 (PMA). The PMA was repealed in 2013 on the basis that the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 20081 (CPRs) provided similar protection for consumers in their dealings with property agents. Further information on how the CPRs apply to property sales and lettings can be found in the National Trading Standards ‘Guidance on Property Sales and Lettings’ .
To support businesses in the advertising and marketing of property, the National Trading Standards Estate & Letting Agency Team established a steering group made up of various industry stakeholders – redress schemes, property portals, government, and professional bodies representing agents. The group aims to improve the provision of material information in property listings, and part of this process involves creating a framework of information disclosure to help agents, software providers and property portals to comply with the legal requirements of the CPRs.