If you are an estate agent, you MUST watch this video as you can get jail time and open-ended fines if you don't follow the new Trading Standards!
What is Part A, B & C Material Information?
On the day that Trading Standards have released their guidance notes to Estate Agents on part A, B and C. I'm Joe Arnold, CEO of Arnold & Baldwin and I’m here at the London Stadium for the Property Mark Awards. Behind me, look, they fade and die. Is that reticent of what is going to happen in the home buying and selling process in the UK?
The process fades and dies, and the new way is born.
I'm here to go and talk to Michael Holden (Chartered Surveyors ), who is the President of Property Mark and Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).
Let's go and have a chat with him and see what his thoughts are. But this stadium looks good, and I'm going to see if I can get on the pitch for some headers and volleys!
So, I'm here today, as I say, with Michael Holden. Obviously, Trading Standards yesterday released A, B, and C regulations for estate agents. We’re at the Property Mark awards. Here's Michael.
So tell us a little bit about what you're up to at the Property Awards?
I'm president of Property Mark, and the awards are really a graduation ceremony that celebrates our new talent coming through, which is great. I mean, it's starting to get busy now. And we've got Roger Black, you know, Olympic medalist who's presenting. And it's an uplifting occasion. I'm really pleased, Joe, that you've turned up with, Joe just turned up. You know, we had a telephone conversation first thing, didn't we? And that's a real privilege.
What's going on? Tell me about it. And he said, you know, I'm in London, so it's up in the anty now. And, you know, we're for self-regulation as a professional body. And what's important to us is to make sure that part A, B, and C are starting to be adhered to. And that's what our agents are doing. Find out more about Part A, B & C Material Information here.
And if you're a Property Mark member, you know, we've got such a high level of resources to be able to give to our membership as well. So come and join Property Mark. That's what I'm trying to say.
Yeah, definitely. And I think for me, reading the standards, how on earth is anyone going to be able to do this without an RICS chartered surveyor?
Absolutely. I mean, that's why you're here as well. This is why I'm here because I have been working in the RICS and the home buying and selling working group feeding into government, knowing what's coming down the line. And so just having a chat with Mike today because we didn't know what was going to be released.
You know, they changed the draft over the weekend. They did. And the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors aren't happy at all whatsoever. They asked for their name to be taken off it, but they don't endorse it because they don't think estate agents can provide all of this information without the training. So I suppose it's too early to ask what your members think about it.
Well, our members, you know, it's a big change. It's a step change. And I think the first principle is that you need to self-regulate and you need to provide those baseline standards and qualifications. And we're doing that, you know, so we've 18,000 members in the UK and but it's not just as well, Joe. I mean, you know, I was in Anaheim, in California, you know, a week or so ago, you know, talking to realtors, and they're licensed and, you know, there's a proper, you know, set regime for that.
And of course, Joe, you know, I've worked with RICS, so I've been on the World Governing Council for the process, and I think there's an opportunity for us. And we do, Joe, because there's a high amount of respect between, you know, as I'll say, I think we need to know we need to be able to collaborate more. And I think that's one of my missions as president is and ambassadorial role is to actually firm up those links between our Property Mark and our RICS, which, you know, my son is here, you know, was a finalist, and he's a surveyor as well as our William, and also all a qualified member there, and I think it's about raising those standards. So if that is the important message that I wanted to get across Joe.
And I think as well for me is that the agents that we work with, we have contracts with lots of firms already doing their RICS valuations, and home surveys.
Be first to the market.
Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Show you are leading the way.
Take these trading standards seriously, and show your clients, and it's not a dirty word as well as this idea of referrals. And you know, we're sort of happy with, you know, that side of things.
Everything is above board, you know, in that respect. But I think there's so much that we could do together, we join the dots, you know, in terms of home selling and buying and that type of thing.
I think that's the important message to get across as well today Joe
Help get the deals over the line.
I think that what you tend to find as well from a Surveyors perspective, they're always working for the buyer. But now, they’re going to have to work for the buyer and the seller.
And it's about trying to help the deal to be able to transact. And provide the information up front.
And also, Joe, I mean, you know, I'll give my talks to my membership as I go around the country about there's examples like, you know, I did a survey a few weeks ago and there's a boundary drawn around, a lazy boundary, drawn around a property. And, you know it misses the garage off. So the first thing I get is a knock on the door, whilst I'm carrying out the property survey, and the fella next door say’s “that’s my flipping garage that”, you know, it's £30,000 knock on value straightaway. So we need to be able to get that information.
Parts A & C – A good thing
I think parts A & C are actually a good thing.
Yeah. So estate agents, be ready.
- You're going to have to check Title Plans, make sure the Title Plans are correct.
- You're going to have to look at the building materials and explain what building materials have been used to build that property.
- You need to talk about building safety issues.
- Is there any asbestos that you need to provide this information to buyers?
So how are you going to do that?
You have to partner with a firm of Chartered Surveyors to be able to provide this information.
And you have to have a lawyer obviously upfront too. Otherwise. How is the market going to transact!
I was not going to mention the dirty word of a ‘home information pack!’
Well, I think this is a home information pack through the back door.
This is not the government mandating a home information pack, but this is stealth regulation coming in through the back door, which means that all of a sudden they need a upfront home survey. Right?
Absolutely.
Joe’s been kind as well about this because he knows I’ve sponsored a beehive!
Anyway, thank you for that. A pleasure. An absolute pleasure.
Estate Agents: Sellsmart – meet the trading standards A, B, and C
Fantastic seeing everyone at the property mark conference. You can see that the changes from trading standards are huge, and there's a big opportunity for surveyors. But estate agents really need to partner up now with lawyers and surveyors to make sure that you're able to meet the trading standards A, B, and C.
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So if you're interested, please get in contact with me. You really need a power team around you now.
You need to build a really good team that's fit for the Premier League.
You need a good team around you to make sure that you're able to get your properties listed on time and make sure that you've got the right professional support around you so that you can actually get your properties exchanged much, much faster.
Providing upfront information: Make sure that you have a vendor that's paid money upfront so they're committed to the transaction. That's no more 'Oh, we'll see. We'll give it a go about selling the house.' No, no, no. You're paying money to sell your house, so you're committed to selling your house. The buyer will be able to see all of that information upfront, so you'll be able to choose the right buyer from the beginning.
93% of the time when they're using our packs, you will find that that purchaser will be the one that exchanges and completes. At the moment, 34% of them drop out of bed.
Now, 93% will exchange.
You can get it done within four weeks, not 17 to 20 weeks.
I think what that does to your cash flow brings all those sales revenues into four weeks, not 20 weeks.
There's a fantastic opportunity here, but you need to partner up with people who know what they're doing.
So please hit me up, and I look forward to working with you. And from West Ham. Wow. Olympic Stadium.
Olympic Stadium.
Look at this.
Beautiful. Have a great weekend, everyone.
