My Auction's Stuart Collar-Brown responds to guidance
The National Trading Standards has set out guidance for sales and lettings agents for marketing properties, to ensure material information is available so that consumers can make informed decisions and agents can meet the legal requirements from the start of the consumer journey.
Stuart Collar-Brown of auction company My Auction has shared insights on the changes for parts B and C announced, noting these changes are an advancement in the property market. He says agents should not panic about the changes.
“Effectively the Trading Standards Agency is asking you to do a full legal pack now when marketing a property, but this is something that the auction industry has been doing for decades,” said Collar-Brown.
“The changes are a good thing and will provide a potential buyer with much more transparency. It will also help disperse unmotivated sellers in the market. Sellers are not going to waste time and money to pay for these packs if they are not genuinely serious about selling.
He continued: “The changes mean that when an agent starts marketing the property, questions around things like titles, lease arrangements, service charges will already be answered. It will also look at factors like allocated parking, communal areas, shared access and more. Just think how much time and stress this change will take away, with all the information being provided upfront, at the start of any transaction. We’ll see less fall through rates and more robust offers with buyers less likely to pull out after 3-4 months if they have all the essential information before they even view.
“We’ll also see faster transaction times with property sales able to exchange far quicker. For agents, shorter conveyance times and less fall throughs means more money into the business, which is always going to be seen as a good thing.”
Have any thoughts about these insights? Let us know in the comments below.
