Auctioneers, Estate Agents, Letting Agents and Property Management Agents

Auctioneers, Estate Agents, Letting Agents and Property Management Agents will be regulated as Property Service Providers (PSP) by the Property Services Regulatory Authority (PSRA).

Once the Authority has been established in legislation, anyone involved in the activities below will be subject to regulation by the PSRA.

  1. purchase or sale, by whatever means, of any estate or interest in land (including buildings) wherever situated;
  2. auction of private property other than land;
  3. provision of property management services;
  4. The letting of any estate or interest in land wherever situated.

The Authority is preparing for the introduction of a new licensing regime, details of the present system and proposed changes can be found on this page. Once the new Authority has been established, its main functions will be to:

  • operate a comprehensive licensing system covering all providers of property services;
  • set and enforce standards for the grant of licences and provision of services;
  • establish a system of investigation and adjudication of complaints;
  • promote increased consumer protection and public awareness;
  • establish a Compensation Fund to compensate parties who lose money as a consequence of the dishonesty of a licensee.

The Authority will have power to sanction a licensee up to and including the revocation of a licence and may also impose fines of up to ¤250,000 where a PSP if found to have engaged in "improper conduct".

The Authority may bring a prosecution against a PSP for failing to comply with his or her statutory obligations or against any person providing a property service without a licence which may result in either a large fine or imprisonment or both.

Under the new regulatory regime all PSPs are required to contribute to the "Property Services Compensation Fund". Where a person suffers a loss due to the dishonesty of a PSP the Authority may award compensation from the "Fund".

A number of developments have already taken place, these include:

Relevant links