As part of its brief, Indigo House will evaluate whether the existing continuous professional development (CPD) requirements for letting agents:

• have enhanced and professionalised practice by letting agents;
• can be further improved for letting agents and tenants; and
• signal lessons for other parts of the rented sector.

The funding for the evaluation has been awarded by the SafeDeposits Scotland Charitable Trust.

The findings of this review would be used to inform the Scottish Government’s whole rented sector strategy, which is expected to be published in 2022/2023. The approach to the evaluation will review relevant data sets from CIH, local authorities and the housing and property chamber. It will also survey letting agents, interview stakeholders and consult with the sector before determining any conclusions.

Announcing the appointment today, Callum Chomczuk, national director of CIH Scotland said: “We are delighted to appoint Indigo House to take conduct this research into the impact of letting agent CPD in Scotland. As we go through the first re-registration period, it is important that we review the impact of the requirement on letting agencies, in terms of both the qualifications and the 20 hours of CPD to consider whether the policy should be improved to improve outcomes for tenants.

“We look forward to working with Anna and her team and hope that the findings will be used to inform the final detail of the Scottish Government’s rented sector strategy.”

Anna Evans, director at Indigo House, added: “We’re delighted to be working with CIH Scotland to review the Scottish Letting Agent qualifications. It’s critical to support letting agents in their role in the private rented sector, and we’ll be engaging with letting agents, landlords and tenants to hear their views. We’re conscious that all stakeholders are facing the prospect of even more change in the sector and we’ll ensure all voices are heard, and recommendations are fair and balanced.”