North East property management agent Urban Base, is the latest company to join the NALS nationwide letting scheme - set up to provide a much-needed benchmark accreditation scheme to enable landlords and tenants to avoid the pitfalls of dealing with ‘cowboy’ letting agents.

NALS (The National Approved Letting Scheme) ensures that agents comply with defined service standards and have in place a customer complaints procedure underpinned by an arbitration scheme, Professional Indemnity Insurance and Client Money Protection cover. Astonishingly, around £1 billion of U.K. tenants’ deposits is currently unprotected.

The Scheme is supported by some of the most powerful voices in the property industry.

The Association of Residential Letting Agents (ARLA), the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) support NALS, which is also endorsed by the DCLG (Department for Communities and Local Government), the Housing Corporation and the British Property Federation. Accreditation is open to any firm operating in the lettings sector who meets NALS strict criteria for accreditation.

NALS Operations Director Isobel Thomson comments: “NALS service standards are the consumer’s benchmark against which to judge the performance of letting and management agents operating in the private rented sector and we are delighted to welcome Urban Base into the Scheme.

“Agents such as Urban Base are in the vanguard of a drive to establish uniform service standards in the industry. Those agents who are not prepared to meet the standards required by NALS and, most importantly, the public, will not survive for long.”

Jan Dale, director at Urban Base adds: “ We see our NALS membership as an excellent opportunity to increase business within our letting and management department. This visible assurance provided by the NALS logo gives prospective landlords and tenants the confidence of knowing the service they can expect from dealing with us.”

More information on The National Approved Letting Scheme and details of how to contact your local NALS agent can be obtained by calling NALS on 01242 581712, emailing info@nalscheme.co.uk or visiting the NALS website www.nalscheme.co.uk