Please Note: All references to the masculine include the feminine on TPO website and documents.
Members' | FAQs
There are no exams to sit when you join the scheme. When you join you are agreeing to run your business according to our Code of Practice.
Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007 (CEARA)
New requirements introduced by the CEARA of 2007 mean that all persons who engage in estate agency work in relation to residential properties in the UK (including Scotland and Northern Ireland) must join a redress scheme with effect from 1st October 2008. The OEA Scheme has been approved by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) as a provider of an approved redress scheme.
If an estate agent is not a member of a redress scheme, Trading Standards Officers have the power to impose a penalty charge notice for failure to comply with the new requirement. The OFT may consider enforcement action which could include making a prohibition order banning the agent from practicing as an estate agent in the future.
The Estate Agents Act 1979
This Act regulates the conduct of estate agents in the course of estate agency work concerned with buying and selling property; it does not cover the letting of properties. The Act gives the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) the power to issue warning or prohibition notices against persons it considers to be unfit to carry on estate agency work. The OFT, can also ban people from acting as estate agents if it considers them to be unfit.
The Estate Agents Act lays down the duties that agents owe to their clients, which include:
- Passing on all offers to the vendor in writing
- Disclosing a personal interest if the agent may benefit from the sale of the property
- Giving written details of charges before entering into a contract
- Providing details of any services provided by the agent to buyers
Property Misdescriptions Act 1991
Essentially the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 makes it an offence to make false or misleading statements about specified aspects of land (which includes buildings) offered for sale by those in estate agency or property development business. There is no general requirement to disclose information. But where information is given, it must be accurate and must not be misleading.
Housing Act 2004 Part 5
Part 5 of the Act imposes legal duties on people marketing residential properties in England and Wales. Before marketing a property, the seller or, more usually, their estate agent must have commissioned a Home Information Pack (HIP) to be available for prospective buyers.
You can display the logo as soon as your membership has been approved. (See logo usage)
Full membership of the OEA is voluntary, but strongly encouraged. The Code of Practice for Residential Sales has been approved by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). At present we have approximately 90% of residential estate agency offices registered with us.
However, with effect from 1st October 2008, new requirements have been introduced by the Consumers, Estate Agents Redress Act 2007 making it a legal requirement that all agents dealing in estate agency work in respect of residential sales in the UK are required by law to register with an approved redress scheme of which the OEA is one.
Professional Indemnity (PI) Insurance is a requirement of OEA membership. It is essential protection for any business providing professional advice or services, covering you if a customer claims that you have given them bad advice or failed to deliver what was agreed.
'The Property Ombudsman Limited'
You will need to register or join with an approved redress scheme under the Consumers, Estate Agents Redress Act 2007, because the sale by auction of property is an extension of the role of the estate agent and is an essential element of the advice and guidance which the agent provides to clients when discussing the disposal of property.
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has published a report about the law as it applies to the sale of residential property using internet websites. The OFT state that, if you operate a business that accepts instructions from clients wishing to sell their homes, then if you either:
- do things to effect an introduction to your client or
- after making an introduction, do things to secure the sale or purchase of the property, then you are legally an 'estate agent' and must therefore comply with the terms of the Estate Agents Act. It seems the only exemption is if you are merely 'publishing advertisements or disseminating information'.
No because they are moveable objects not an interest in land or buildings.
Not at present.
Yes, because if you are acting as an intermediary in the sale or purchase of residential property then the Consumers, Estate Agents Redress Act 2007 requires you to join or register with an approved scheme.
The position in England and Wales is as follows:
Where a solicitor is providing property selling services (i.e. estate agency), as part of a solicitor's practice, governed by the professional conduct rules that apply to solicitors, then they are doing things 'in the course of their profession' within the meaning of section 1(2) Estate Agents Act (EAA) 1979. However, the exemption set out there applies and they are not engaged in 'estate agency work' for the purposes of s.1 of that Act and hence they are not engaged in 'relevant estate agency work' for the purposes of the obligation in section 23A of that Act to join an approved redress scheme.
Therefore, solicitors marketing properties as part of their practice do not have to join a redress scheme and are covered by solicitors' conduct rules now set out in the Solicitors Code of Conduct 2007, Rule 18, which provides detailed standards equivalent to those in the EAA 1979.
It used to be the case under the Solicitors Practice Rules 1988 that solicitors were not permitted to engage in property selling services other than as part of a solicitor's practice (Rule 5(2)) the exemption in s.1(2) EAA would always apply.
However, this position has changed. Under the 2007 Code of Conduct a solicitor may engage in estate agency work through a separate business. The Code makes it clear that in these circumstances:
'a separate business will not fall within the exemption in section 1 EAA...... the effect of this is that your separate business providing property selling services will be subject to all the provisions of the EAA 1979'.
This means that a separate estate agency business will have to join a redress scheme even if it is carried on by a solicitor. The position in Scotland depends on what the rules of the Scottish Law Society provide for business structures and they should seek advice from them.
