Your money is safe in our hands
Mary-Anne Bowring 12/02/2020
2078
Your money is safe in our hands
All renters should be able to trust their agent to protect their money A key part of any property agent’s role is to safeguard money on behalf of their clients, who should be able to trust that they are properly protected. At Ringley, we are a member of the RICS Clients Money Protection Scheme which gives all our customers peace of mind that their rent and deposit monies are in safe hands. Unfortunately, a small number of agents out there flout the rules.
A Cautionary Tale
An Essex estate agent has been disqualified from managing companies for five years after she failed to safeguard £28,000 worth of tenants’ deposits and rent destined for landlords. Jane Hipkin Russell’s residential sales and lettings agency went into liquidation in August 2018. Investigators from the Insolvency Service found that Hipkin Russell, as sole director, had failed to comply with legislation requiring all tenant’s deposits to be placed in a recognised scheme.The company had no record of 11 tenants' deposits totalling £12,000 that had been received between March and August 2018. Nor had deposits received between April 2017 and August 2018 totalling £20,000, been paid into a government-backed statutory deposit protection scheme.
In addition, the company collected just over £7,000 of rent from tenants between March and August 2018. This should have been paid over to the tenants’ landlords but had instead been spent on the general running costs of the business. In total there were more than £28,000 worth of losses to tenants and landlords. We hope this disqualification will serve as a deterrent to rogue agents who bring the whole of our sector into disrepute.
Planetrent Properties
info@planetrent.co.uk
0208 0599 550 (for sales)
Under Offer: This term applies to a property where the landlord is considering an offer but remains on the market. It implies that further offers may still be considered until the landlord formally accepts or declines the current offer.
Let Agreed: This term indicates that a landlord has provisionally agreed to enter into a rental agreement with a prospective tenant, pending additional checks and referencing. It doesn't require the prospective tenant to have paid a holding deposit.
Let: This term signifies an established binding rental agreement between the landlord and tenant.
For both lettings and sales, the guidance addresses additional terms:
New On The Market: This term is used for a property not advertised since its last sale or rental. It should only be used for a brief period.
New Instruction: It applies to a property assigned to an agent for marketing recently, even if it was previously listed with another agent without being sold or rented.
New and Exclusive: This term refers to a property that is either new on the market or a new instruction, exclusively available through a specific agent or portal.
New Method of Sale/Let: This term is used when a property is being marketed for sale or rent using an alternative approach to the original advertisement, such as transitioning to an auction or sealed bid.
Reduced: This term indicates that a property's price has recently been reduced. The reduction should be genuine and comply with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute's guidelines on pricing practices.