London property and new regulations

Finally; much needed regulations are coming to the property industry and for those of us that have found the old ways frustrating it’s a delight.



On the 6th April 2007 the tenancy deposit scheme was introduced. In simple English this means that all tenant's deposits (for assured short hold tenancies) are to be held in a custodial or insured scheme. Landlords are obligated to ensure that deposits are released within a set time and any disputes are handled by qualified arbitrators. Failure to comply will result in heavy penalties and may also have legal implications on the tenant's obligations.



More information at:



http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TenancyDeposit/index.htm



1st June 2007 will see the introduction of HIPs, the home information pack. This means that any property that comes to the market after this date must have a home information pack or face a fine.



A HIP must have: details of the title to the property, local and water searches, details of leasehold information and an energy certificate.



It is estimated that close to £350m is lost each year from aborted property transactions. Buyers offers are accepted and then the facts about the details of the transaction are realised, the process takes an average of 6-8 weeks. This results in many transactions being aborted at a huge cost to all parties.



More information at:



http://www.homeinformationpacks.gov.uk/consumer



Still no sign of the government requiring all property agents to be licensed but hopefully that will soon follow! It is madness that people’s largest ever transactions can be handled by an industry that is not required by law to be qualified. The good news is that most reputable agents are self regulated and voluntarily belong to governing bodies like the NAEA (National Association of Estate Agents) and ARLA (Association of residential letting agents).