The Conveyancing Association comments on Government confirmation of the regulation of property agents

29 September 2026

Beth Rudolf, Director of Delivery at The Conveyancing Association:

“The Conveyancing Association very much welcomes the Government’s commitment to regulating property agents. Estate agents are a key part of the home moving process but, unlike many of the other professionals involved, they have not previously been subject to the same form of professional regulation. That becomes even more important as the Government introduces its home buying and selling reforms and places greater focus on material information being provided upfront. We have been calling for regulation through our work with the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Commonhold and Leasehold Reform and Parliamentary Select Committees, and an independent regulator should also mean the cost of enforcement sits with regulated members rather than the public purse. Crucially, it should help ensure agents are properly educated, qualified and kept up to date with the considerable amount of new legislation affecting the sector.

“We are also pleased to see the regulator’s role extending to the administrative costs and timescales for providing LPE1 and FME1 information, with the aim of ensuring this is supplied for a reasonable fee and within a reasonable period. Our own data shows it takes an average of 54 days from payment to obtain this information, which is clearly far too long when we are trying to create a quicker and more certain home moving process. We would like the same approach to cover the Commonhold Property Enquiries form, the CPE1, which we are currently working on with the wider industry working group. Effective regulation, combined with clear standards around material information and the information required to progress a transaction, can play a major part in making the Government’s wider reforms work in practice.”