New section 23B: Enforcement
226.This new section confers powers on enforcement officers other than officers of the OFT. It allows such an officer (in practice, a Trading Standards Officer) to issue a penalty charge notice if he believes a person engaged in estate agency work in relation to residential property is not a member of an approved redress scheme, contrary to an order made under section 23A(1). A penalty charge can be issued within a six month period of the breach being committed (or, in the case of a continuing breach, of the last day of it being committed). Subsection (4) requires that a Trading Standards Officer must inform the OFT if he believes an estate agent is carrying out estate agency work without being a member of a redress scheme, and therefore breaching an order under section 23A, so that the OFT can take regulatory action. Section 23B also provides for the new Schedule 4 of the Estate Agents Act 1979 (dealing with penalty charge notices) to have effect.