Redress scheme

All residential estate agents will have to belong to an approved redress scheme dealing with complaints from buyers and sellers of residential property by 1 October. Consumer minister Gareth Thomas introduced the requirement by laying an order in Parliament last week. New measures designed to give extra protection for people buying and selling homes will also come into force in October. These will give greater powers to the Office of Fair Trading to remove rogue estate agents from the market and increase the investigatory powers of enforcement officers.