Tenants and landlords have been told to make more effort to meet face-to-face on a regular basis.
That was one of nine recommendations made by Scotland’s Tenant Farming Commissioner, Bob McIntosh, in a report on ways to improve relationships between land agents, tenants and landlords.
The report found only 17% of landlords and tenant farmers were dissatisfied with the conduct of an agent.
The main reasons for dissatisfaction were: poor communication and inadequate recording of the outcome of meetings; unnecessarily aggressive or condescending behaviour; lack of transparency, openness and honesty; and lack of awareness of the impact of a single transaction on the relationship between a landlord and tenant.
“It is clear most agents perform their duties in a professional manner but the actions of a small minority can have a disproportionate effect on the reputation of the agent, their employers or their profession,” said Dr McIntosh.
“It is important therefore that everyone involved from training establishments, employers, the professional bodies and the agents themselves, consider the recommendations carefully and take action to ensure that there is continuous improvement leading to a reduction in the instances of dissatisfaction.”
Dr McIntosh’s other recommendations mostly relate to the need to improve interpersonal skills of agents through more training, assessment and feedback mechanisms.
He has also recommended that professional bodies representing agents increase awareness of and access to their complaints procedures.
Rural Secretary Fergus Ewing said: “I welcome the recommendations, and I look forward to seeing how they are taken forward by the sector.”