A CRACKDOWN on rogue estate agents has been welcomed by a long-established Kent firm.

Tersons, with branches in New Romney and Dover, says the move by the Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA), will bring others into line.

It obliges 2,380 member firms to sign up to a strengthened code of practice.

The code, launched on October 1, is backed by the Office of Fair Trading. It aims to make the buying and selling of property more transparent and bring increased onsumer protection.

Tersons is a member of the OEA and as such, already practices the rules laid down by the code.

Under the new provisions, estate agents are obliged to give written confirmation of offers to both parties, inform property viewers if an offer has already been accepted and spell out the agent’s fee in both pounds and percentage.

Firms that flout the code face a fine of up to £25,000.

Simon Crowley, managing director of Tersons, said: "As we already abide by these rules, we won’t have to change any of our practices, however we welcome the move as it will bring other firms that are ‘getting away with things’ in line with ourselves.

"At Tersons we have always put the customer, be it buyer or seller, first and are pleased to have the opportunity to highlight this."

However, not all estate agents have signed up to the code, despite the OEA and the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) putting pressure on the Government to make membership of the OEA compulsory.

One third of estate agents in the UK do not comply with the code, including some of the biggest names.

A spokesperson for the NAEA said: "We support the code. It is a step forward but does not go far enough. The ideal solution is to have regulation of the industry. The industry is attempting to regulate itself but that needs estate agents to opt in and the rogues do not opt in."

The OEA and NAEA have vowed to continue to put pressure on the Government to make the changes.