AMID reports this week that 40 per cent of estate agents haven’t signed up to the PSRA voluntary code of conduct, the good news is that the third stage of the Property Services(Regulation) Bill is due to be passed in early December. The new legislation should provide for a much needed national register of house prices as well as a code of conduct for agents.

Alan Cooke – IAVI chief til Ciara Murphy takes over – says he hopes to see it enacted into legislation before the end of the year. “I’d hate to see it dropped if there’s a change of Government.” When asked why he thought 40 per cent of estate agents haven’t signed up to the code of conduct he said the clue is in the word “voluntary”. As it isn’t legislation yet, agents can “opt in or not”. “We encourage them to opt in but you can’t oblige members and there’s no statutory penalty for not doing so.” Regarding the 320 complaints that the National Property Services Regulatory Authority is said to have received against agents, he says the IAVI has asked for but hasn’t received an analysis of those complaints.