The the board of the Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA) has voted to accept that membership of the Property Redress Scheme (PRS) meets ARLA’s own consumer redress scheme requirements as part of its membership.

The Government had since 1 October required all lettings and property management agents to be part of a government authorised redress scheme – whereby tenants have a ‘straightforward’ route to take action should they get a poor deal, while avoiding excessive red tape – in order to operate as a letting agent and deal with residential property.

ARLA membership guidelines state that all ARLA Licenced agents, or those agents wishing to become ARLA Licensed, must belong to an independent redress scheme in order to be a member. The PRS is one of three authorised redress schemes under the Department for Communities and Local Government, whose role it is to provide fair and reasonable resolutions to disputes between members of the public and property agents.

David Cox, ARLA’s managing director, said: “We’re very pleased to have approved the PRS to cover our consumer redress requirements for ARLA Licensed status. It’s great to see that the PRS has developed a healthy membership in such a short period of time. Furthermore, we have already received enquiries regarding membership from PRS members.

“ARLA Licenced agents are provided with the support and advice needed to help them carry out best practice. ARLA agents benefit from client money protection and the assistance that a trade body can offer.”

Sean Hooker, head of redress for the PRS, added: “We are delighted that ARLA embraces compulsory property redress for the lettings market as a major step forward in improving service and safety for consumers wishing to rent property. We look forward to working closely with ARLA to continually improve industry standards.”

The PRS has now seen over 2000 members sign up to the scheme to date.