ALL estate agents should be licensed to show that they are qualified and competent, an ombudsman said yesterday.

Stephen Carr-Smith, Ombudsman for Estate Agents, said it should be made mandatory for estate agents to be licensed before they could join the profession.

His call came as he revealed in his annual report that there had been a nine per cent increase in the number of complaints he had received about estate agents.

Of the 6,021 complaints, more than half were against agents who were not members of the voluntary Ombudsman for Estate Agents scheme.