Complaints about property firms rise by 15% TPO figures show
Rebecca Marsh of the redress scheme says it nevertheless reduced the number making it to formal complaint stage via early resolution and intervention.
The number of home movers, tenants and landlords complaining about estate agents and managing agents hit 45,000 during 2012, up from 39,250 the year before reports The Property Ombudsman (TPO).
During 2022 this includes some 14,000 complaints by tenants and landlords about their letting agency; 5,500 buyer and seller issues relating to their estate agent and over 3,000 leaseholder issues about their managing agent.
Over 1,500 tenant issues about their landlord where no agent was involved were dealt with at the enquiry stage, with tenants being provided with advice and guidance to help them resolve their issues
The rest of the ‘first contact’ complainers were headed off at the pass by TPO via its self-service portal and early resolution services.
Its focus is on helping consumers resolve their complaints before directly complaining.”
The redress scheme says its focus on helping consumers resolve their complaints before directly complaining to their agent has helped keep formal complaints down.
Of the 6,012 disputes that TPO resolved last year, 2,246 were done so through early resolution while 3,766 required a formal decision; a 23% increase on 2021.
TPO says this highlights the increasing complexity of cases.
“I am pleased that we were able to help more people through our front-end enquiry service to the extent that the number of disputes accepted by the Scheme reduced by 30%,” says Property Ombudsman Rebecca Marsh (main picture).
“Not only did this mean that consumers were given the advice they needed to resolve their issues early but, importantly, for TPO members it meant significant savings for them in not having to deal with the complaints that would have otherwise occurred.
“It is a service unique to Ombudsmen and one that I very proud of.”
Read the full TPO performance report.
More details
TOP CAUSES OF SALES DISPUTES:
- Instructions, terms of business, fees, charges and termination
- Marketing and advertising
- Communication between offer acceptance and exchange
TOP CAUSES OF LETTINGS DISPUTES:
- Tenancy management
- Complaints Handling
- Instructions, terms of business, fees, charges and termination
