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Landlords have applauded the Office of Fair Trading’s announcement of an investigation into the house buying and selling process in the UK.

The OFT will a make a market study into home buying and selling, looking at traditional estate agency models and alternative ways of buying and selling homes. It will also look at mortgage brokers, surveyors and the rental sector.

It hopes to improve the way all transactions are done, including between brokers, landlords, letting agents and tenants. It will make sure that consumers are protected and in particular look at Internet services and rental portals.

Keshav Thukaram, managing director of Smartlandlord.co.uk, says:
"This long overdue study will help ensure that the end customer gets more benefit and better value for money for the high fees that are charged by most estate agents.

"However, we would like see the remuneration practices in this sector included in the study too, as they have a direct impact on the behaviour of the sales people when dealing with both buyers and sellers.

To keep up with the latest News and comment on the UK buy to let market visit the Buy to Let Mortgage Blog