P-04-529 A Letting Agents Ombudsman for Wales
P-04-529 A Letting Agents Ombudsman for Wales
We call upon the National
Assembly for Wales to urge the Welsh Government to give the people of Wales a
‘Letting Agents Ombudsman’ by including it within their Housing Bill.
An ombudsman will give
people guidance, issued by the Welsh Government, of what their rights are as a
tenant. It will tell them how to complain directly through the agents’
complaints procedure and when all avenues are have been exhausted, they can ask
the Ombudsman to step in and take action.
Additional Information:
We very much welcome the
regulation of letting agents and landlords set out in the Bill - this has been
urgently needed for years. Students and young professionals are being robbed
time and time again with invented letting agent fees and even invented letting
agents and these need to be held to account now. There is not enough being done
to help tenants against landlords - regulation will help, but there will always
be bad landlords and letting agents that slip through the cracks and their
tenants need someone on their side.
We need a Letting Agents
Ombudsman. Letting agents and landlords are exempt from many of the regulations
that estate agents have to follow. And many young people renting are straight
from home or university and are vulnerable to their methods. They end up paying
fees because they had no idea they had an option not to.
England has the ‘Housing
Ombudsman Service’ that has worked effectively and provides a defence and a
right to complaint for tenants all over the country. Wales needs one too.
Petition raised by: Let Down in Cardiff
Date Petition first considered by Committee: 21 January 2014
Number of signatures: TBC
Reason considered: Senedd Business;
Type: For information
First published: 13/01/2014