There can be little disagreement that we are all going to experience significant changes in business, no matter which sector we operate in following recent experiences as a result of the pandemic. However as Letting Agents, we already know there are changes afoot which we need to prepare for.

As ARLA Propertymark CEO, David Cox said recently, 

“Sooner or later, the Government is going to go back to its normal course of business”, was his warning, referring to the need to be prepared for the abolition of Section 21, and the new Electrical Safety Regulations on new tenancies, which are still due to be coming into effect on 1 July, followed by the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA).

“[Post-crisis] I think they’re going to be looking at more regulation of landlords and I think we will go into a much tougher regime on property standards.”

In the recent past, we have seen new legislation brought in piecemeal, which many industry observers have criticised for the lack of coherence and ultimate failure to effect the change it set out to achieve. On that note he comments:

“We are trying to get out ahead of that with the concept of a property MOT; if we can try and shape what comes next, it’s going to be much easier for the industry to accept than to have a whole collection of laws thrown at us like we have over the past 10 years.”

Long-term, Cox believes this crisis “is going to change the market quite significantly”, which will result in the industry changing its ways.

With our sights set looking forwards to the time that restrictions begin to lift, this is a good time to prepare for what we know is on the horizon, as well as what we suspect is going to be a very busy period as the pent up need to move or relocate is released.