Estate & Managing Agents - Penalties & Enforcement

The Pack duties will be enforced by local authority Trading Standards Officers. They will be able to give advice and warnings, as well as issuing penalty notices. 

The fixed penalty has been set at £200 initially, and can be repeated if a breach is repeated. Marketing a property without a Home Information Pack, or an incomplete Pack, will render an estate agent liable to a penalty notice.

Estate agents should also be aware that a breach of the Pack duties will be treated as an 'undesirable practice' under the Estate Agents Act and must be notified to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) as such. 

An estate agent who deliberately flouts the Pack duties will therefore risk a banning order from the OFT.

From 1 June 2007, estate agents marketing with Home Information Packs will have to belong to an independent Redress Scheme approved by the Secretary of State. 

You can find out more on our page on Complaints Procedure. For details of how estate agents can join the scheme together with downloadable forms, please contact HiP Association Group.