A MAJOR change that would lead to registration of individuals working within residential estate agency is being proposed by a leading industry figure.

Bill McClintock, chairman of the board of the company operating the Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA) scheme, argues that the time has come for the residential property industry to address the registration problem.

Mr McClintock, who this year celebrates 50 years in the industry, believes that estate agents should be registered in order to protect consumers and that the latest round of legislation has now made this feasible.

“Under the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act, which came into effect on October 1, 2008, every residential estate agency handling property sales has to be a member of an approved redress scheme,” he explained.

“This means that every residential sales estate agency in the UK has to belong to the OEA or the Surveyors Ombudsman Scheme (SOS).”

Mr McClintock is now in talks with the Royal institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the National Federation of Property Professionals the Register of Estate Agents, the Property Codes Compliance Board and the government to drive an individual registration scheme forward.

“My idea is that all existing agents would initially be registered,” he said.

“After one year, those joining the industry would be required to train in order to join the register and those already in the industry would be required to demonstrate they had achieved at least that minimum standard in order to remain registered.”

One of the arguments against registration is that it is a barrier to entry to the profession but Mr McClintock describes this as “nonsense.”

“There are many other professions where a competence to do the job has to be demonstrated and that is not seen as a restraint of trade, so estate agency could easily be viewed in the same light,” he said.

Mr McClintock also believes registration will help prevent individuals who break the rules moving to a job in another estate agency, as it will provide a database where employers and members of the public can check the credentials of an individual agent.

Andrew Holmes, a partner of Carter Jonas and head of residential sales in Kendal, described such as scheme as “long overdue.”

“The fact of the matter is that anyone can still start up an estate agency business and deal with vast commodities of money without having the slightest bit of training or experience,” he said.

As a member of RICS, Mr Holmes embarked on a rigorous two-year training programme after his degree before becoming an elected member and continues to engage in Life Long Learning programmes to ensure he remains well informed and educated in changes to the profession.

“There is a redress scheme in place which is designed to protect the public at large from any acts of negligence deemed to have been committed by the member or member company,” he explained.

“By creating a compulsory registration scheme members can then be monitored and will have to follow a strict Code of Practice similar to that already in place with the RICS. What it will do is to pull everyone into line and allow a uniform system to be put in place which will protect the public who after all are the fee payers.”