2004 will be the year that 21st century consumerism starts to bite in the rental market. This will be the message to delegates to the annual conference of the Association of Residential Letting Agents, ARLA, in London next month (February 3rd).

However, they will be reassured that ARLA has been working to provide them and their landlords and tenants with all the requirements of the consumer age.

The Association has achieved this through a two-year programme of working with government and government agencies on proposed legislation and by preparing information in plain English to cover the necessities to achieve fair, legal and safe rentals.

Conference will be reminded that on top of the legislation currently before parliament (covering houses in multiple occupation and the selective licensing of landlords in areas of low housing demand), a new landlord and tenant act is expected to totally reform the whole range of tenancies and is scheduled to reach consultation stage during the year.

Delegates will also learn the details of new FSA regulations covering the sale or introduction through letting offices of insurance for rental guarantees and legal expenses, as well as the traditional house and contents insurance.

They will also hear how any complaints against ARLA members are investigated by an independent adjudicator. This is to demonstrate complete transparency and independence. This adjudication process began as a pilot scheme last October and is expected to be fully on-stream as an independent body by the end of March.

With government abandoning their backing of the national tenancy deposit scheme last summer, Conference will learn how ARLA is to pre-empt pressure for mandatory bureaucratic schemes with this new deposit resolution scheme. Again, this will exceed any future government requirements for transparency and independence. The objective is to scale up the new scheme so as to take the place totally of the old scheme and then make it a requirement of ARLA membership within the foreseeable future.

Delegates will be told that ARLA member letting agents should be encouraged to stock the whole new range of ARLA literature for the consumer. This includes "Trouble Free Letting - What every Landlord and Tenant Should Ask", "Lets Make it Safe" - covering safety guidance, "ARLA and Your Money" - including information about the ARLA Bonding Scheme, deposits, client accounts and tax, and the newly revised "ARLA Code of Practice".

Conference will be reminded to use the ARLA Tenancy Agreement, the result of consultations with the OFT that lasted nearly two years.

Said Adrian Turner, Chief Executive of ARLA, "We are reaching the end of a two-year programme to give ARLA member letting agents the information and the tools to look after landlords and tenants.”

“This will be to a degree that will far exceed any government legislation or pressure group demand. We have invited the acknowledged experts from the Law Commission, the FSA and the legal profession to the annual conference to ensure that our members know what is to be expected of them."