Following the decision to make all estate agents members of an Ombudsman Scheme by April 2008 as unveiled in the Queen's speech, there are now concerns as to its effectiveness.

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors described the Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Bill recently as 'flawed' even as it has been hailed by many as a good step forward for the industry and is already in the process of being set up. The RICS stated that the Government's proposals: "fail to recognise the needs of consumers or the demands of much of the industry". The RICS director of professional regulation and consumer protection Steven Gould, added that Redress would not be enough by itself to solve the property industry's problems - it would simply offer an avenue for people to go down after something went wrong. They are calling for a more effective regulatory system to ensure practising estate agents register and are competent and qualified.

The failure to also regulate the letting industry was again mentioned (read the original article here) - showing that people are prepared to fight to prevent consumers losing money to rogue traders by lobbying for changes. All areas of the residential property market need to be protected, not just sales, and the current model is limited. The letting market actually has a higher turnover than property sales - which potentially means more to lose for victims of malpractice.

However, any scheme which protects and regulates the industry is a step in the right direction and should be encouraged - but if changes can be made which also protect landlords and tenants from letting agents that would be good news for the industry.