Local authorities and enforcement
The Pack duties will be enforced by local authority Trading Standards Departments, and will be risk-based and proportionate. The emphasis is on enforcement authorities providing information and advice to achieve compliance, but they will have the power to issue penalty charges.
Enforcement authorities have a power (not a duty) to serve penalty charge notices. The intention is that the discretion to issue notices should only be exercised where there are serious or repeated breaches by estate agents.
Where Trading Standards Departments decide it is appropriate, they will be able to serve a penalty charge notice of £200. The penalty charge could be repeated if the breach is repeated.
Cases where a penalty charge has been served must also be referred to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The OFT has powers to issue a banning order on agents engaging in undesirable practices and a breach of the Pack duties would be treated as an undesirable practice.
This new role is complementary to Trading Standards Departments' existing similar duties under the Estate Agents Act 1979 and the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991.
To read a press release from OFT on HIPs enforcement, click here.
Guidance for Enforcement Officers is available here.
A copy of the penalty notice is available here.
