Estate agents shouldn't need A-Levels to sell houses

Last week the shadow housing minister Matthew Pennycook tabled an opportunistic amendment to the government’s Leasehold and Freehold Reform Bill. This would require the government to closely regulate all estate agents selling leasehold properties or properties carrying management or service charges (in essence flats, or houses on managed estates).

There is a lot that is wrong with this idea. It derives from a 2019 report by a committee chaired by the crossbench peer and social housing campaigner Lord Richard Best. Featuring among its demands were a proposed licensing regime of enormous complexity more appropriate to lawyers or doctors and a dedicated governmental regulator. The committee also recommended multi-tier rules and codes, the considerable expense of which would be borne by, and hence added indirectly to the fees of, estate agents everywhere – with doubtful benefits to their customers.