The Act Part 1 – Registration of Property Factors
4.The main effects of Part 1 of the Act are to:
	require the Scottish Ministers to prepare and maintain a public register of all property factors;
	make it an offence for a property factor to operate without being registered;
	provide for other effects of a property factor being refused registration or removed from the register;
	require a property factor to provide certain information when applying to be registered and to make that information publicly available on the register;
	make it an offence to knowingly fail to provide required information or to provide false information in respect of an application to be registered;
	require the Scottish Ministers to consider whether a property factor is a fit and proper person to be registered as a property factor;
	allow the Scottish Ministers to refuse to register a property factor and also to remove a property factor from the register;
	require a property factor to inform the Scottish Ministers of any changes in most of the information they were required to provide when they applied to be registered which occur after they are registered;
	to make it an offence for a registered property factor to fail, without reasonable excuse, to inform the Scottish Ministers of any changes in the information they were required to provide when they applied to be registered;
	allow a property factor to apply for a court order requiring the Scottish Ministers to enter the property factor in the register in circumstances where their application was refused or they were removed from the register, and to permit the sheriff’s decision to be appealed to the sheriff principal on a point of law;
	require registered property factors to use a property factor registered number allocated by the Scottish Ministers;
	require the Scottish Ministers to prepare a code of conduct as to minimum standards of practice expected of registered property factors;
	require property factors to comply with the code of conduct; and
	allow the Scottish Ministers to set fees to be paid by property factors in relation to applications for registration and changes in information.