photo credit: JasonRogers
Estate agents and mortgage providers have ended up with poor scores after an in-depth government survey of how the UK public view key markets and professions.
Consumers were asked to score a number of markets on six indicators including choice, living up to expectations, protecting consumer rights and trustworthiness of advertising.
The results were used to create overall consumer confidence index scores (CCI).
Real estate market-related business did not fair well, with estate agents and the mortgage market ending up with CCI scores below 68.
Top performers in the survey, who scored a CCI rating of 75 to 80, included books, newspapers and magazines.
Estate agent groups said they were “not surprised” and called on the government to do more to regulate the sector.
Gillian Charlesworth, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) director of external affairs, said: ”
We are of course aware that estate agents have a very bad reputation in the public’s mind.
“The measures the government has so far put in place to tackle this, such as compulsory consumer redress, are simply insufficient to tackle the protection of consumers when buying, selling and renting homes.”
Ms Charlesworth also said it was “staggering” that the law still meant anyone could set up as an estate agent.
The survey was commissioned by the government’s Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and carried out by Ipsos MORI.
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