One of the founders of the TDS, Mike Morgan, has joined rival Hamilton Fraser to become its Legal Division Manager with responsibility for two of its newest services, HF Assist and PRS mediation.

Morgan played a key role in the founding of tenancy deposit protection scheme The Dispute Service (TDS) in 2006 and worked there for 13 years until April last year, and was one of the key players in the emerging dispute resolution sector within the property industry.

Before that Morgan enjoyed a varied career including 10 years as a flight operations officer in the RAF and before that roles at the Furniture Ombudsman and in Trading Standards.

Mike says his key focus in his new role at Hamilton Fraser is to empower more agents to ask for help and improve their standards to avoid disputes arising.

Gone wrong

“Over the years, I have seen countless examples where agents have gone wrong and more often than not, avoiding the issue could have been so easy.

“One of the biggest challenges letting agents have faced over the last 10 years is the constant changing of legislation.

“This is particularly true of those smaller businesses, sole traders and single branch operators who simply don’t have limitless budgets and access to their own in-house legal departments.

“In my experience, these agents often avoid asking for help or checking their processes for fear they are doing something wrong and the possible implications that may have.”

His other duties will include running HF Assist, which provides support on day to day lettings matters that affect agents’ businesses, and PRS’s new tenancy mediation service which encourages landlords, letting agents and tenants to find a resolution over tenancy disputes to avoid court.