The Treasury has made extra cash available to help crack down on rogue estate agents.

Funding for the national estate agent regulator has been nearly doubled to £500,000 a year.

Ministers hope the move will protect home buyers from a small minority of rogue estate agents who delay sales or sell a property using misleading information.

Last year, the regulator issued 16 prohibition orders and this additional funding will enable them to hire new staff to tackle problems during the home buying and selling process.

Housing Minister Heather Wheeler, announcing the policy, said: “Making the housing market work is about more than just building homes, but helping hard working families buy and sell with confidence.

“This new funding will help ensure all estate agents are held to a high standard, reducing stress for people when making one of the most important purchases in their life.”

Lord Toby Harris, chair of National Trading Standards, said: “We are determined to ensure that consumers receive the protection they deserve when buying or selling a home.

“This extra funding is welcome and will allow the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team to do more to tackle the estate agents who flout the rules.”

The move follows the announcement that a new national qualification will be introduced later in the year to drive up standards among the 20,000 estate agent businesses across the country.