The final report of Sir Bryan Carsberg’s Review of Residential Property has been published and is available to download from the PDF Downloads Panel to the right of this page.

Background
In July 2007, RICS, in conjunction with the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), commissioned Sir Bryan to carry out an extensive review of the private residential property market in England and Wales.

Sir Bryan's independent report:

• examines the scope and extent of standards, regulation and redress in the sector;
• considers the broad implications of the current structures for the property transaction itself;
• makes recommendations on future improvements to the system.

A summary of the responses to the review, a press release detailing information on the review and the terms of inquiry are also available from the Downloads Panel.

RICS view
RICS believes this should form the basis for major reform of the property sector.

The report demonstrates that:

• The property transaction process and the provision of information for consumers need revision – Home Information Packs (HIPs), introduced in England and Wales, have not improved the process as intended;
  
• Regulation and redress scheme/s need to be consistent with universal participation - the current regime of voluntary regulation and redress is insufficient; 
• Consumer interests need to be at the heart of all policy making.

Commenting, The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ (RICS) Director of External Affairs, Gillian Charlesworth, said:

"Sir Bryan’s review highlights a number of key areas where the current approach is clearly failing.

"The processes for regulation and redress do not go far enough to protect the consumer and we agree that participation in regulatory and redress schemes needs to be both consistent and universal.

"They should include all estate agents, letting agents, managing agents and landlords.

"The RICS remains committed to building a coalition that can deliver property policy reform."

Next steps
RICS will now undertake an in-depth consultation with the aim of developing a formal response to Sir Bryan's recommendations and remains committed to building a coalition that can deliver property policy reform.

RICS will shortly be releasing a major consumer survey on property transactions.