Press Releases
Industry Heads Want Joint Code Of Conduct to Regulate Managing Agents - Mar 2010
Today property bodies including RICS, BPF, Property Standards Board (PSB), Associat ion of Ret irement Housing Managers (ARHM), Associat ion of Resident ial Managing Agents (ARMA) and the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal (LVT) agreed a joint, unified code of conduct will be established by all part ies to help homeowners benchmark the performance of managing agents and lay the foundations for a regulatory body to monitor and improve the property management industry.
The property professionals were j oined by lobbying managing agents Chainbow and the Campaign Against Ret irement Leaseholder Exploitat ion (CARLEX) as part of a Roundtable to devise the process to int roduce licensing of property managers, educate the public about the leasehold indust ry and their rights as well as the role the PSB could play if vital funding is received.
The ARMA, ARHM and RICS have agreed to compile a j oint code of conduct so all leaseholders have one set of rules to consult . Current ly there are several codes of conduct for private leaseholders, retired leaseholders and other peer groups which make the disputes process very complicated.
Delegates also agreed that the rules must by enforced by a regulator, init ially on a voluntary basis but later through legislative backing which could potentially come from an all-party committee. The unified code is expected to be available free of charge and distributed to all residential blocks.
The PSB was called on to be the regulat ing body but board member David Dalby declined to commit to the request. No industry body pledged to help support the PSB with financial backing.
Property, Employment , Fair Trading and Company law often conflict within the property management indust ry which is also why the code is hoped to be eventually backed with legislat ive authority so loopholes are closed and greater protect ion is offered to homeowners especially in the instance of being liable for costs associated with LVT hearings for Right to Manage Companies.
LVT President , Siobhan McGrath, agreed leaseholders who are brought to hearings usually face an expensive bat t le as many view an LVT hearing as a last resort which means many years have been invested in a dispute. Ms McGrath conceded that costs can be disproport ionate for leaseholders and that there is a misconcept ion that most private leaseholders can afford legal advice and representation which is often not the case.
Chainbow’ s Roger Southam, who chaired the Roundtable, commented, “ It is a st rong step in the right direct ion for a unified code to be drafted and reviewed by leaseholders to protect arguably their largest asset – their home. The next step we need is to license any managing agent , company or person who is responsible for holding service charge funds.
“ We estimate approximately £4billion worth of service charge funds are not regulated by the FSA or any other body. Our st rategy is simple, license those holding service charge funds and, as the BPF recommended, issue a licence number to each member who must cite this when they file their end of year accounts for their company and the buildings they manage. This would limit those who are unprofessional and untrained from operating.”
The Roundtable also concluded the public and polit icians alike are not well informed about leasehold implicat ions and more needs to be done to educate homeowners about their rights and the shortcomings of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002. More especially, those agents and freeholders who embark on bullying campaigns to deter residents from pursuing a Right to Manage company should be exposed.
No polit ical part ies would commit to the Roundtable despite the Conservat ive’ s leasehold spokesperson, Jacqui Lait , MP, agreeing to the meet ing but pulling out at the last minute. The FSA and LEASE requested minutes from the meeting.
For more press information, please contact:
Chainbow
020 7928 9944
ask@chainbow.com
www.chainbow.com
