The government’s new Home Buying and Selling Reform consultation has sent ripples through the property world — and rightly so. After years of debate and delay, the idea of professionalising the estate agency sector is finally gaining momentum. At Lawton & Dawe Properties, we welcome this renewed focus on standards, qualifications, and accountability. It’s time our industry operated on a level playing field, where professionalism is the rule, not the exception.
A Long-Awaited Step Forward
For too long, estate agency in the UK has been the “lightly regulated” outlier among property professions. While conveyancers, surveyors, and mortgage advisors work under formal qualification frameworks, anyone has been able to set up shop as an estate agent with little to no training or oversight. Bearing in mind we deal with your largest asset, shouldn’t regulation and training be mandatory?
This lack of structure has created inconsistency across the market — and, frankly, it’s held the sector back. The new consultation, which revives many of the recommendations from Lord Best’s 2019 Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) report, signals a long-overdue shift. It’s about restoring trust and ensuring that every customer receives a high standard of service, no matter who they choose to represent them.
Level Standards, Fair Competition
At Lawton & Dawe Properties, we’ve always believed that good agents have nothing to fear from higher standards — in fact, we thrive on them. A mandatory Code of Practice and a minimum qualification requirement (such as NVQ Level 3) would not only protect consumers but also raise the professional standing of those who already operate with integrity.
It’s about fairness. A level playing field means that agents who invest in training, ethics, and compliance are no longer undercut by those who don’t. It ensures that quality, not corner-cutting, becomes the standard currency of our profession.
Rebuilding Trust Through Professionalism
The government’s consultation highlights a sobering fact: only 37% of the public currently trust estate agents. That statistic doesn’t reflect the hard work, transparency, and care that many in our industry deliver daily. But it does remind us that without consistent standards, trust will always be fragile.
Formal qualifications and a national Code of Practice are not bureaucratic red tape — they’re the foundation of credibility. When every agent meets a recognised professional standard, the public will have greater confidence in the process, and transactions will become smoother, faster, and less contentious.
Learning from the Best — and Building Our Own Identity
We note with interest the government’s admiration for Denmark’s system, where agents must be qualified to legally sell or let homes. It’s a model that works — but it’s equally important that the UK develops its own framework that reflects the scale, diversity, and innovation of our property market.
By engaging meaningfully with professional bodies like Propertymark and local authorities, this consultation could set a balanced standard that works for independent agents, corporate groups, and customers alike.
Looking Ahead
Lawton & Dawe Properties fully supports the government’s aim to professionalise our industry. We see regulation not as a restriction but as an opportunity — to elevate standards, increase trust, and reward those who do things properly. Qualifications in our office are the expectation, not the exception.
A fair, qualified, and trusted estate agency sector benefits everyone: agents, buyers, sellers, and tenants alike. And as these proposals move from consultation to legislation, we’ll continue to champion the principles of accountability, transparency, and equality that lie at the heart of a truly professional property market.
