A scheme set up to tackle “cowboy” letting agents is to expand its membership following a £400,000 injection of Government cash.
The funding, which is to be paid out over two years, will enable the fledgling National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) to offer members of ARLA, the NAEA and the RICS a year’s free membership. The membership obliges agents to abide by a code of practice and to have professional indemnity insurance, as well as to provide client protection cover and effective complaints procedures.
Operations director Isobel Thomson said that the funding was crucial to the success of the scheme. “It will enable us to build up a network of agents and encourage the public to think of us as a consumer benchmark. We’re striving to become the kitemark for the industry.”
NALS, now a private body chaired by NAEA chief executive Hugh Dunsmore-Hardy, was launched by ARLA, the NAEA, the RICS and the Empty Homes Agency in 1999.
Dunsmore-Hardy said: “The financial support now being made through the DTLR underlines the Governments determination to raise consumer confidence within the industry, and to increase the supply of rented accommodation within the private sector. It is the Governments intention to see the scheme widened next year, to include all agents who meet the NALS criteria for accreditation.”
EGi News 19/09/01
