Letting agents, are you up to date with training requirements?

Carrying out letting agency work (as defined in the 2014 Act) without being registered is a criminal offence and could lead to a fine of up to £50,000, up to six months in prison or both.

The Housing (Scotland) Act 2014 included provisions to establish a new regulatory regime for letting agents operating in Scotland. All letting agents operating in Scotland must now follow a Code of Practice and join the Scottish Letting Agent Register. Carrying out letting agency work (as defined in the 2014 Act) without being registered is a criminal offence and could lead to a fine of up to £50,000, up to six months in prison or both.

Everyone carrying out letting agency work, including some social landlords, should be registered by now and relevant staff must have gained a minimum qualification. However, compliance doesn’t end there. Registrations expire after three years and agents will have to submit a renewal application if they want to continue to operate. As the register is now nearing its three year anniversary, the Scottish Government will start contacting registered letting agents six months before their registration is due to expire to give them plenty of time to submit a renewal application.

While qualifications gained do not expire, the regulations also require relevant staff to undertake continuous training to ensure they keep up to date with changes in the sector and are aware of best practice. If a relevant member of staff gained their qualification more than three years prior to when an application for registration or renewal is submitted, the application must demonstrate that the staff member has undertaken a minimum of 20 hours of training over the previous three years.

Of these 20 hours, 15 must be formal training which could include:

• Courses
• Conferences
• Lectures
• Seminars
• Webinars

The remaining five hours can be informal training which could include:

• Work shadowing or coaching
• Informal learning within the company
• Interactive discussion with experts
• Informal teaching for others
• Reading or writing articles on letting agency work

When assessing renewal applications, the Letting Agent Registration Team will expect to see documentary evidence, such as a certificate, as proof of the formal training requirements. It will not be possible to submit a valid application without evidence that training requirements have been met. Not being able to provide the right information could have very serious implications including refusal of the application meaning that the agent could no longer operate within the law.

So, if you haven’t already been documenting staff training and development – start getting ready now!