Walker Morris has launched an online eLearning package to help the real estate industry meet its consumer protection obligations.

Breaches of consumer protection legislation are rife, albeit often inadvertent and due to a lack of awareness of best practice and common pitfalls.

Specialist real estate litigation experts at Walker Morris have developed an eLearning package to provide a cost-effective training solution to businesses involved in property promotion of any kind.

Since the Property Misdescriptions Act (PMA) was repealed in 2013 the provision of information to consumers has been governed by the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) and the Business Protection from Misleading Marketing Regulations 2008, and the UK real estate industry has seen a rise in the number of investigations and prosecutions for misleading marketing.

The CPRs are much broader in scope that the PMA and are demonstrative of a general consumer-led trend away from the traditional ‘buyer beware’ approach.  Now, misleading information can be as much about what is omitted as what is actually said.

The CPRs affect all businesses involved in the sale or marketing of land or property, including: developers, housebuilders, estate agents, buyers’ agents, letting agents, internet property retailers, auctioneers and solicitors operating services that count as estate agency work.

Louise Power, partner at Walker Morris said: “Prosecutions under the CPRs not only incur fines but also severely damage an organisation’s brand and reputation.  We recognise that face-to-face training on a large scale can be expensive and therefore we have worked with a number of clients to develop a desktop eLearning package which is cost-effective and convenient.”

The package is available in four different options to suit different needs and budgets.  It can be tailored and branded according to the organisation’s needs where required and provides training records to demonstrate a level of knowledge across the business.

Please view a sample of our eLearning training here .