The aim of our organisation is to try to bring in a code of ethics for Business Transfer Agents.
In September 2011 a number of Business Transfer Agents had expressed their interest in regulating the industry and we are working towards this goal.
It seems that, in the Business Transfer industry, the bigger the Agent, then the more disinterested they are in protecting the interests of their clients. This has to change.
Below are links to other leading regulators in the Estate Agency industry:-
The Guild of Professional Estate Agents
Anti-money laundering (estate agents): HM Revenue & Customs are tasked to look after this area for estate agents
Estate agents: Talking of estate agents, on 1 April 2014 the OFT’s powers to prohibit or warn estate agents, and to authorise redress schemes, passes to Powys County Council. So far as I know, the county town of Llandrindod Wells wasn’t, or indeed isn’t, a hotbed of estate agent malpractice but this function is moving there anyhow. Good luck to them I say! (As it happens, James Forsyth at The Spectator is less than convinced: Powys County Council reaches dizzy new heights. Other commentators have been referring to this move under the superb, but ultimately incorrect, pun of ‘Last Quango in Powys’)
Consumer Code Approval Scheme: The Trading Standards Institute will now be looking after this scheme. So now you know!
See also http://etsos.co.uk/consumer-protection/
How Are You Affected By The Consumer Protection Regulations?
1st October 2014 – In an effort to increase consumer protection within the property sector new regulations were implemented in 2008 and updated in 2013, effective from June 2014. In 2015 The Consumer Rights Act came into force and created a situation where, if a business owner buys a product to use partly at home and partly at work, then the proportion of time it is used at home is covered by the 2015 Act. A laptop may fall into this category. Theoretically, the same should be true of a service that is part-business, part personal. The 2015 Act applies only to natural persons who signed a contracts after 1st October 2015. You should check your rights with a legal professional.