SO JUST how much do you trust your estate agent? Ron Kennor, general manager of Robinson Jackson, looks at an estate agent's lot...

Why don't people trust estate agents? Some would say because they are cheating money-grabbers who would sell their own granny for a good commission. As in any profession there are some who would fit this description and worse.

But over recent years estate agents have had to jump through an increasing number of hoops both to set up and stay in business. The latest is the estate agents' redress Act which effectively means all agents should belong to some form of redress scheme like the ombudsman.

We also have the latest money-laundering regulations, which mean you can no longer walk into our office with a suitcase full of money and buy a house – not that anyone ever did, but it is one of the more popular urban myths of estate agency. Indeed we now have to report the existence – or even likelihood – of such a suitcase, and if we don't, we go to jail.

The Property Misdescriptions Act means we cannot give false or misleading information about any property, even if the owner wants us to, so the hyperbole and colourful prose of estate agents descriptions has been consigned to history.

Unfortunately the poor reputation hasn't and we're still blamed for the shortcomings of the awful system in the UK of selling homes which puts buyers and sellers through dreadful trauma for about five months and estate agents for their whole careers.

Perhaps because of their poor reputation, the Government did not consult estate agents on Home Information Packs and we ended up with a bureaucratic fiasco and an expensive batch of useless documents to administer which did not improve the system.

I have to admit that, academically, estate agents are not the shiniest pebble on the beach, with no formal qualifications yet needed, but I am sure this will come soon and prove a further challenge for most.

The reason that qualifications have not been a measure of success in our industry is because of the strictly performance-related terms of business which we work by and the public demand.

In a no-sale, no-fee environment only the competent salesman survives and if he or his operation get a poor reputation in the strictly local community in which he works he won’t stay in business for long and we all see estate agents coming and going.

I am perhaps lucky I am not judged purely on my last month's sales but every month I sit down with a group of people who have been successfully selling homes since 1963 so I think you can trust them to sell yours.

Ron Kennor is General Manager of Robinson Jackson Estate Agencies on 020 8316 6200.