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Real Estate
Real estate is a legal term (in some jurisdictions, such as the USA, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and The Bahamas) that encompasses land along with improvements to the land, such as buildings,fences, wells and other site improvements that are fixed in location -- immovable. Real estate law is the body of regulations and legal codes which pertain to such matters under a particular jurisdiction and include things such as commercial and residential real property transactions. Real estate is often considered synonymous with real property (sometimes called realty), in contrast with personal property (sometimes called chattel or personalty under chattel law or personal property law).
However, in some situations the term "real estate" refers to the land and fixtures together, as distinguished from "real property," referring to ownership of land and appurtenances, including anything of a permanent nature such as structures, trees, minerals, and the interest, benefits, and inherent rights thereof. Real property is typically considered to be Immovable property The terms real estate and real property are used primarily in common law, while civil law jurisdictions refer instead to immovable property.
Estate Agent
An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting or management of homes, land and other buildings, in the United Kingdom. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting agent. Estate Agents are mainly engaged in the marketing of property available for sale and a solicitor or licensed conveyancer is used to prepare the legal documents. In Scotland, however, many solicitors also act as estate agents, a practice that is rare in England and Wales.
It is customary in the United Kingdom and in Ireland to refer to real estate or real property simply as property.
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. Because of the lack of effective regulation, dishonest and fraudulent practices tend to exist in the business.
Letting Agent
A letting agent is a United Kingdom term for a facilitator through which an agreement is made between a landlord and tenant for the rental of a residential property. In the UK the agreement between Landlord and tenant is normally formalised by the signing of a Tenancy Agreement. A letting agency will normally charge a commission for their services, usually a percentage of the annual rent.
Letting agents will often operate under the umbrella of an Estate Agent due to the synergies that exists between the two professions, but there are many agents that deal exclusively with lettings.
Although there are two main types of renting, letting agents deal primarily with tenancies between private individuals and landlords.