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The NAEA and RICS welcomed it. Christopher Lacy, Director of Savills believes the report outlines “sane and sensible recommendations which the Government should now implement”. And there probably isn’t a person in the land who wouldn’t like to see stricter regulations and training for estate agents.

But what did the Carsberg Review actually recommend? Put simply…

• A regulatory body should be set up with “a light touch approach”, lettings should be included in this.
• If the government does not quickly make membership of a regulatory body mandatory, the professional associations should establish their own single regulatory body.
• All those who give substantive advice to clients, including management and letting agents, must have a basic qualification.
• Improve transparency, particularly where there are potential conflicts of interest.
• One redress scheme (Ombudsman) only, as opposed to several.
• Developers and builders selling directly to the public should be subject to a similar regulatory scheme.
• The proposed regulatory regime should require agents to give more advice to clients on how to improve the selling/letting process.
• Consider ways that standard draft contracts, lock-out agreements, deposits etc can help expedite sales.
• Land Registry to increase amount of information made available quickly.
• Local authorities to be compelled to make searches available online cheaply and quickly.
• HIPs to be made voluntary.
• Home condition reports, surveys or valuations compulsory should not be made compulsory.

The basic overriding regulatory principles are to keep it simple, apply it to the practitioner rather than the actual process and for consistent enforcement and redress. We’ll just have to see if any real changes come about as at the moment there’s nothing stopping me from opening an estate agency in my living room, well nothing except the lack of floorspace.