Over the last week I’ve been dealing with Landlords who have very recently seen their prominent Cardiff estate and letting agent go out of business. These Landlords have been only slightly inconvenienced and have felt only a small financial cost. This is mainly because their properties were vacant at the time with the small financial cost relating to gaining access to their properties, something Belvoir Cardiff quickly managed to organise through our close relationship with local locksmiths.
For many other Cardiff Landlords the effect of this agent closing down will be far more concerning. What has happened to recent rental payments made by Tenants? Where are the Tenant deposits?
The regulation of the lettings industry has long been a source of controversy, and despite the sector’s rapid growth over recent years it is still somewhat unregulated. With growth predicted to escalate over the coming year’s landlords and tenants should choose their letting agent carefully, and in particular look for one that they can be sure will keep their money safe.
Since the launch of the SAFE agent scheme, of which Belvoir was a founder member, this should be a little easier. The SAFE Agent scheme is designed to highlight agents which protect their clients’ through money protection schemes.
All member companies are awarded the SAFE (Safe Agent Fully Endorsed) mark, which has been welcomed by the Trading Standards Institute as an easily identifiable kite mark related to financial protection.
Finances are obviously hugely important to both landlords and tenants; however they sometimes overlook the importance of knowing that their money is safe in the hands of their agent. They are now able to look out for the SAFE Agent kite mark and feel secure in the knowledge that lettings agents that have been awarded the mark will guard their money through client protection schemes.
SAFE Agent has the full support of the National Approved Lettings Scheme (NALS) and since its launch has received backing from a number of high profile firms and consumer groups.
Belvoir Lettings is amongst a group of industry experts who advocated the scheme from the start and in the early stages committed funds towards its development.
The introduction of SAFE Agent is a positive step in the right direction for the regulation of this industry. It mirrors Belvoir’s three core principles of professionalism, specialism and high quality customer service.
