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Estate agency redress schemes

What are the approved estate agency redress schemes, and what happens if you don’t join one.

Article 2 of the Estate Agents (Redress Scheme) Order 2008 says that if you engage in residential estate agency work, you must be a member of an approved redress scheme.

Redress schemes give consumers a way to escalate a complaint, if they’re unhappy with how you’ve dealt with it.

If you don’t join a redress scheme while engaging in residential estate agency work, you’re breaching this requirement.

There are two approved redress schemes for estate agents:

If you don’t join an approved redress scheme

If your local weights and measures authority (usually your local authority trading standards service) or NTSELAT believe that you are or have been engaging in residential estate agency work while not being a member of an approved redress scheme, they can issue a Penalty Charge Notice requiring you to:

pay a penalty charge of £1000, or
inform the issuing authority that you want the notice to be reviewed

Not belonging to an approved redress scheme may prompt NTSELAT to consider you as unfit to engage in estate agency work. This may result in a warning or prohibition order.

Read our guidance on the requirement to join a redress scheme for more information.