Code of Conduct - continued

4 Marketing and Advertising, For Sale Boards

You can only erect a 'For Sale' board with the client's permission. When you put up a 'For Sale' board you must keep to the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisements) Regulations 1992 as amended; or in Scotland, the Town and Country Planning (Control of Advertisement) Regulations 1990. You will have to accept liability for any claim arising under these Regulations in connection with the board, unless the action arises as a result of a further board being put up by another person.
You must not erect an estate agency Board, a Sold Subject to Contract Board, or a Sale Agreed Board at a property unless you have been instructed to sell that property.
If your 'For Sale' board relates to part of a building in multiple occupation it should indicate the part to which it relates.
You must not replace another agent's board with your own, or remove another agent's board from a property, without the client's permission. If you have the client's permission you must immediately tell the other agent, in writing, of the action you have taken.

You need to take all reasonable steps to make sure that all statements, whether oral or written, about a property are accurate and are not misleading. Whenever possible, the written details of a property (Sales Particulars) must be sent to the seller for them to confirm that the details are accurate.
All advertisements must be legal, decent, honest and truthful in accordance with the British Codes of Advertising and Sales Promotion.
You need to comply with the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991 and refer to guidance issued by the DTI on the Property Misdescriptions (Specified Matters) Order 1992 regarding the release, by estate agents to potential buyers of properties, of information likely to influence the latter adversely. Particularly, that there is: ".... no general requirement to disclose information. But where information is given, it must be accurate and not misleading." ".... no obligation to volunteer either the existence of a survey or any results from it. But answers to questions would need to be truthful, and must not be misleading."

If you use leaflets or send letters to seek new properties for sale, you must include a warning about fee liability, including dual fee liability, on the part of the potential seller.

To comply with the Code of Conduct you must take instructions from the seller as to his requirements regarding viewings - specifically, as to whether they should be conducted by you.
You need to record any feedback from viewings and pass this to the seller within a reasonable time. If this "feedback" is an offer, please refer to Section 6 below.

Unless you and the client agree otherwise in writing, if you hold the keys to a property you must accompany any viewings of that property. If you are arranging for someone to view an occupied property, you will need to agree the arrangements with the occupier beforehand, wherever possible.
You should make sure that all the keys you have are coded and kept secure. You need to maintain records of when you issue keys and to whom, and when they are returned. These records must be kept secure and separate from the actual keys. You must only give keys to people providing you with satisfactory identification.
If access to a property is required by a person on behalf of the buyer (surveyor, builder, tradesman etc), and you are not able to accompany that person, this has to be made clear to the Seller beforehand and his express permission obtained.