Finally

At the 2020 election, Labour promised to regulate property managers. Now, they're finally doing it:

The Government’s announcement that rental property managers will be regulated has left the industry asking for more detail, and tenants calling for landlords to be regulated too.

Regulating property managers was one of the Labour Party’s campaign promises in the last election, because the industry is not currently regulated.

Earlier this year the Government proposed a licensing scheme for them, and on Tuesday Housing Minister Megan Woods announced a new regulatory system for the industry.

It would involve compulsory registration and licencing for both individual property managers and their organisations, training and entry requirements, practise standards, and a complaints and disciplinary process which would be administered by the Real Estate Authority (REA).

Property managers are unhappy, but they would be, wouldn't they? Now they'll have to behave like the professionals they say they are, and they'll be able to be held to account for unprofessional behaviour. Which seems to be a Good Thing from a basic consumer rights perspective. But bad I guess if you like having unaccountable power over your serfs.

But while this is a good thing, there's a big gap in the system: private landlords. They need to be regulated and licensed, to ensure basic standards. And if they're unwilling to meet such standards, they should leave the industry.