Internet property sites under scrutiny

Citation

(2001), "Internet property sites under scrutiny", Property Management, Vol. 19 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/pm.2001.11319bab.020

Internet property sites under scrutiny

Internet property sites under scrutiny

Keywords: Internet, Estate agents

A working party is to be set up to look at the possible regulation of Internet property sites. The move follows a call made at an Industry Forum, hosted by the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and attended by delegates from some of the country's largest nationwide estate agents, independents and financial institutions.

NAEA chief executive, Hugh Dunsmore-Hardy, said:

There are concerns over the credibility of some of the information on the sites and about site management.

The Internet has developed rapidly over the past few years, but there has been little or no regulation of the sites. Potential customers therefore have no means of assessing the reliability of the information provided, either about their own property, or about those they are looking to buy.

Customers, both buyers and sellers, should be able to know that they can rely on the accuracy of descriptions, that sites are regularly updated and that the sites are not simply a front to sell other services.

The working party will be made up of representatives from amongst the Industry Forum delegates and will be looking to establish whether it would be possible to create some sort of "approved" status or kite mark system which would give a guaranteed quality of service to all those using the site.

If it is possible to establish a system, we will also be considering which organisation would be best placed to run it.

The Industry Forum also heard Andrew Oswald, Professor of Economics at Warwick University, speak on the impact of stamp duty.

Delegates included: Graham Harris, president NAEA; Bill McClintock, chairman of The Guild of Professional Estate Agents; Simon Agace, chairman, Winkworths; Paul Kinally, business development manager, Century 21; Michael Day, director IT, marketing and conveyancing, Connell; Michael Robson, chief executive, Andrews & Partners; Russell Galley, Halifax Estate Agencies; Philip Muzzlewhite, chairman TEAM; David Newnes, sales director, Your Move; David Maltby, managing director, Whitegates; Peter Mills partner, Humberts; Alan Gottschalk, area director, Bradford & Bingley; Robert Scarff, director, Western Region, Countrywide; Jim Atkins, Mike Jones, Julie Westby and John H. Smith, all NAEA.