Today, Communities Secretary Sajid Javid MP announced a new consultation into the regulation and qualifications of residential property managers, adding block managers to the consultation for letting agents announced at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

IRPM warmly welcome this announcement, made at the ARMA Conference, having long called for block managers and firms to be regulated and qualifications mandated, but even more strongly following the announcement for letting agents. It made no sense to exclude the managers of big, complex buildings and estates in favour of just letting agents.  

The consultation will be “looking at what qualifications are needed by agents to practice and how regulation can be improved.” The DCLG website carries the following announcement and a copy of Mr Javid’s speech, here...

Crackdown on unfair managing agents

Regulation of the managing agent market

Andrew Bulmer, CEO of IRPM, said “We have long called for regulation and qualifications in this sector. It is wrong that members and firms who make the effort to do their job well and protect their customers, are having to compete with the cowboys; Savid’s word not mine. And it is inconceivable that the safety, wellbeing and finances of home owners and residents can be entrusted to non-qualified managers working for unregulated firms. We look forward to responding positively to this consultation.” 

IRPM members are asked to respond to the consultation via the DCLG web site, which lasts six weeks from today. Note that the recent consultation into unfair practices in leasehold management received around 6,000 responses. IRPM will be submitting a response in due course.