1 September marked the end of the Estate Agents Appeals Panel as a new regime for dealing with these disputes began.
Although the tribunal no longer exists, its jurisdiction is transferred into the new General Regulatory Chamber (GRC) of the First-tier Tribunal. The First-tier Tribunal (Estate Agents) hears appeals under the Estate Agents Act 1979. It hears appeals against decisions made by the Office of Fair Trading relating to:

• An order prohibiting a person from acting as an estate agent where for example a person has been convicted of an offence involving fraud or other dishonesty.
• An order warning a person where for example that person has not met their duties under the 1979 Act.
• A decision refusing to revoke or vary a prohibition order or warning order.

Kevin Sadler, Chief Executive of the Tribunals Service said: “Getting the GRC up and running is the next step in a long, complex and ambitious programme of reform for the Tribunals Service. The new tribunal structure is now really starting to take shape. We’ve already had the transfer of several major jurisdictions into the unified structure and we now have specialist chambers well-established in the First-tier and the Upper Tribunal. These changes are all designed to improve the tribunal process, making it more user-focused, consistent, streamlined and efficient across the board. We expect to complete all the transfers across into the unified structure early next year.”

For further information on the changes and to find out more about the new two-tier tribunal structure visit http://www.tribunals.gov.uk.