The value of awards that The Property Ombudsman Service (TPOS) told agents to pay disgruntled customers tripped over £1 million for the first time last year, its Annual Report reveals, along with details of one case that cost a letting agent over £20,000.

Property Ombudsman Katrine Sporle launched the report at the House of Lords on 22nd June, saying that it shows total awards reaching £1.2 million in 2016 while the number of difficult cases increased by 7.5 per cent to 3,553.

Lettings attracted the largest number of resolved cases at 1,997 with those complaining being fairly evening split between landlords and tenants.

The average letting award was £531 but the highest was £21,972 (see case details below). The most common complaint was about property management.

In sales, two thirds of complaints came from sellers and the average award was £397. Communication and record keeping were the most common complaints.

“TPO works with the industry and consumers to get things right, put things right and set things right. This year, TPO’s Codes of Practice, approved by Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI), have been revised to clarify many of the issues consumers found confusing or misleading, including full disclosure on fees and charges, pre-contract deposits and referencing.

“The vast majority are happy with their agent. To help paint an overall picture, the 1,310 sales complaints resolved by TPO in 2016 equates to 0.1% of all sales transactions completed during the year,” said Katrine.

TPO’s report includes details of a case that led to an £21,972 award, highlighting one case where an unnamed agent was instructed to find a tenant by a landlord. It then requested a reference from a third-party provider, which ‘passed’ the tenant but said it had not ID checked them.

The agent then told the landlord that the tenant has “passed referencing” even though no ID check had been completed. The real identity of the tenant then emerged, including how they owed their previous landlord £12,500.

The tenant paid no rent on the second property in question and it cost the landlord over £20,000 to evict them.

TPO instructed the agent to reimburse the landlord for his loss of the £20,000.