It is customary in the United Kingdom and in Ireland to refer to real estate or real property simply as property.

Origin

The term originally referred to a person responsible for managing a landed estate, while those engaged in the buying and selling of homes were "house agents", and those selling land were "land agents". However, sometime during the 20th century "estate agent" started to be used as a generic term, perhaps because it was thought to sound more impressive. Estate agent is roughly synonymous in the United States with the term real estate broker.

Regulation

The full legal term and definition of an estate agent within the UK can be found on the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) website. Enforcement of these regulations is also the responsibility of the OFT.

In the United Kingdom residential estate agents are regulated by the Estate Agents Act 1979 and the Property Misdescriptions Act 1991, as well as the more recently enacted Consumers, Estate Agents and Redress Act 2007.

Some estate agents are members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), the principal body for UK property professionals, dealing with both residential, commercial and agricultural property. Members, known as “Chartered Surveyors”, are elected based on examination and are required to adhere to a code of conduct, which includes regulations about looking after their clients' money and professional indemnity insurance in case of error or negligence.

For residential property there is also a trade association, the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA), but it has limited scope for disciplining members. The Ombudsman for Estate Agents Scheme, which obtained OFT approval for the Code of Practice for Residential Sales in 2005 and, as of November 2006, claims to have 2532 member agencies.

There is no legal requirement to belong to either organisation in order to trade as an estate agent. Due to the lack of effective regulation, dishonest and fraudulent practices may exist in the industry.

Industrial structure

A handful of national residential estate agents chains exist, such as Connells and Countrywide plc, with the majority being locally or regionally specialised companies. The number of UK Estate Agent offices operating in the UK, as of August 2007, is over 18,000 according to Home.co.uk.

Several multi-national commercial agencies exist, typically being Anglo-American, pan-European or global. These firms all seek to provide the full range of property advisory services, not just agency.

Only a handful of large firms trade in both commercial and residential property.