I know there seems to be bad landlord-bashing and claims of rogue agents in the PRS every week, but the Watchdog Rogue Traders investigation into Grattan Estates this week was another embarrassing moment for the sector. Sorry, because I've been so busy this week, I'm a bit behind and I've only today caught up with it on iplayer, but then I've just looked on the ARLA website to check out their response, and I was disappointed to see that they haven't even mentioned it!
Given that typically 4.5m viewers will have seen this programme, I would like to have seen a more vociferous industry response, because I KNOW all lettings agents aren't like this - but I'm in the industry now. If you'd asked me 12 months ago, and, despite being a well-educated intelligent member of the community, who's been both a tenant and a landlord in her time, I'd have probably been just as disgusted about lettings agents as the rest of the nation. Along with the recent so-called Foxtons 'whistleblowing' fiasco, what on earth is the industry doing?
Why is it letting (no pun intended) this bad news to go unrecognised, and instead are focusing their news items just on research findings & the political agenda. You can't ignore it, you need to look inwards and face up to what it happening out there. Not just in London. Not just in major cities. But I know there is bad practice across the whole country. I also know there is extremely good practice too!
So, when the regulatory bodies won't do enough to support the industry, what can the good lettings agents do to support themselves? How can an individual, independent, law-abiding, best-practice-performing letting/estate agent ever stand up & be recognised? It takes an awful lot of hard work!
But don't you realise? We've just created something that can help you stand out! And show that you are about letting good quality properties, to decent tenants, with landlords that care, oh...and properties that actually exist! Rental Ratings is a quality assessment for rented properties - see previous blog posts for more information.
So, my call to the PRS is this - look on this as a major opportunity to help yourself. Don't be typical of your industry and immediately pass judgment on something that's new. Just look again, and see what it can do for you. Registration for our Premier Introducer packages closes on 11th October, but the best deals for landlords start from 30th September. So get in quick! See what this product can truly do for you and your sector. Or don't you care?
No comments:
Post a Comment