Two agents and a property auctioneer have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme for failing to pay awards to consumers after upheld complaints.

In 2024 to date, there has been a total of three businesses expelled compared to 13 expulsions last year. The Ombudsman’s proactive compliance checks and enquiries service which received more than 57,000 enquiries last year, helped prevent many issues from escalating into complaints.

BP Auctions, David Key Property Limited and Leonard D Morgan & Co were referred to The Property Ombudsman’s compliance committee, which ruled that they should be excluded from the scheme.

Auction house BP Auctions, based in Birmingham, were involved in a dispute regarding two flats that were not advertised in line with consumer protection regulations. Adjudication awarded an amount of £8,000 due to BP Auctions’ marketing failures. The business has an additional two unpaid awards from upheld complaints.

David Key Property Limited of Haringey, North London, took over a property portfolio which included a Guaranteed Rent Agreement. Adjudication determined that the agent failed to act in accordance with the agreement by not removing the sub-tenants they had placed in the property, preventing the landlord from renting to tenants of his choosing. David Key Property also ceased their involvement with the property, including making rent payments to the landlord. The complaint was supported and an award of £4,000 was deemed reasonable.

A dispute involving Leonard D Morgan & Co based in Newport, Wales, was referred to The Property Ombudsman. The complainant (a landlord) stated the agent failed to regularly transfer rent received from their tenant. Despite the agent advising that all rent due had been paid to the landlord, the agent failed to provide evidence to support this.

The Property Ombudsman supported the complaint and concluded an award of £1,000 was reasonable for the considerable distress and inconvenience caused to the landlord. This award was never paid by the agent, resulting in expulsion from the scheme.

The Property Ombudsman, Rebecca Marsh, said: “Expulsion is a last resort as we want to work with businesses to ensure consumers get the awards they are rightly entitled to and to help agents improve practice.

“We try every avenue to ensure that awards are settled and thankfully in 99% of upheld complaints, the dispute is resolved with a compensatory payment for the consumer where appropriate.

“It’s pleasing to see our early enquiries and proactive compliance work resulting in fewer expulsions.”

In addition to accepting more than 5,000 complaints about businesses, The Property Ombudsman conducts more than 2,000 compliance checks annually to ensure businesses have safeguards in place for customers.

As part of the compliance process, notification of these expulsions has been shared with all relevant bodies, including both local and national Trading Standards for further investigation, as well as all property portals.