The Property Ombudsman’s (TPO) is anticipating a further rise in enquiries in 2021.
TPO’s 2020 annual report, released earlier this week, revealed a significant uplift in the last two quarters as everyone seemingly settled into what it described as a ‘new normal’.
Rebecca Marsh, Property Ombudsman, said: “Enquiry levels in 2021 are already showing further year-on-year increases and we are expecting this to continue as the impact of the pandemic on peoples’ relationships with their homes continues to play out.”
Even though the sector experienced variability throughout 2020, enquiries increased year-on-year with a record 39,285 reported, up 29% on 2019. TPO’s self-service portal played a significant role receiving 17,359 enquiries alone, nearly half of all initial contact to TPO.
Over 34,000 enquiries were resolved at first contact through effective advice, guidance and signposting, and 5,122 enquiries were accepted as complaints by TPO. Whilst this was a rise of only 0.3%, as the bulk of enquiries were in the latter part of the year, this meant an even busier start to 2021.
The number of cases resolved by TPO grew by 12%, reflecting an increase in complex casework (4,181 cases). Of these, 2,907 cases were supported by the Ombudsman and 2,473 financial awards were made totalling £1.9m, down 13% on 2019.
TPO dealt with 2,737 complaints relating to lettings, 1,656 relating to sales, 1,194 for residential leasehold management (RLM) and 120 for other property professionals.
The biggest awards were £20,838 (lettings), £24,139 (sales) and £10,642 (RLM), and the average awards were £612, £653 and £339 respectively.
Once again, the top causes of complaints being referred to TPO were management for lettings and communication and record keeping for sales, with complaints handling as the top cause for RLM disputes being referred to TPO.
TPO recorded a 99% compliance rate with awards in 2020, with just 40 referrals made to TPO’s Compliance Committee, 34% fewer than in 2019. Despite members totalling 40,097, only 19 agents were excluded for non-payment of awards.
Lettings overview:
- 69% of complaints were supported by the Ombudsman
- 55% of complaints were received from landlords, while 43% came from tenants
- The top causes of complaints were: (1) management, (2) communication and record keeping, (3) instructions and terms of business, (4) complaints handling
Sales overview:
- 65% of complaints were supported by the Ombudsman
- 68% of complaints were received from sellers, while 30% came from buyers
- The top causes of complaints were: (1) communication & record keeping, (2) instructions/terms of business/commission/termination, (3) marketing & advertising, (4) complaints handling
Residential leasehold management overview:
- 40% of complaints were supported by the Ombudsman, reflecting the degree of uncertainty shown by leaseholders regarding the respective responsibilities of managing agents and their landlord clients
- 80% of complaints were received from leaseholders, with freeholders, resident associations, resident management companies and right to manage companies amongst the remaining 20%
- The top causes of leasehold complaints were: (1) complaints handling, (2) communication, (3) demand/collection service in relation to service changes, (4) maintenance and major works
Marsh commented: “2020 was a year like no other for all businesses and everyone had to quickly respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. TPO effectively transitioned from an office-based service to a remote working operation with no loss of service. I’m extremely proud of the whole team who performed well whilst rising to the challenge of global events.
“Our customer services team responded to another record volume of consumer enquiries with an ever-increasing number of people opting to contact us via TPO’s complaints portal, launched in February 2020. The pandemic is not over yet, so it will be interesting to see if this trend continues or adjusts as we slowly get back to normal.
“TPO helped over 34,000 enquiries that did not need to go on to become accepted cases by signposting them to organisations that could help, or giving advice and guidance to promote a local resolution between them and the agent. Providing a front-end enquiry service is one of the unique functions of an ombudsman. Its importance in helping consumers in such a complicated sector, whether or not their issues fall within TPO’s remit, should not be understated, as often straightforward guidance and advice can help stop disputes from arising in the first instance.”
TPOS need to start naming and shaming – what proportion of the complaints come from :
1. Traditional High St. EA
2. Corporate EA
3. Online only EA
4.PurpleBricks
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“The TPO are not fit for purpose . I have been helping a landlord with a complaint against one of the National Agents who have a clause in their terms of business preventing a Landlord from ending the management contract unless & until the tenants vacate the property.
The internal complaints procedure was exhausted and a Complaint was sent to the TPO at the end of January 2021.
In March after collecting evidence they advised they would deal with the complaint within 90 days.
At the end of June 2021 the Landlords were informed by the TPO they classed the complaint as a complex complaint and needed to pass it over to an Adjudicator.
They assure the Landlord there will be a thorough review but are unable to advise of ANY timescale as to when the review will be completed.
So the TPO have absolutely no idea how long it will take them to deal with the complaint – unbelievable !
How can this be an acceptable way to deal with complaints against Agents ?
This compares poorly to the excellent performance of the Property Redress Scheme who deal with complaints within 35 days.
A thorough overhaul is needed of the self regulation of the Industry.
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“The TPO are not fit for purpose . I have been helping a landlord with a complaint against one of the National Agents who have a clause in their terms of business preventing a Landlord from ending the management contract unless & until the tenants vacate the property.
The internal complaints procedure was exhausted and a Complaint was sent to the TPO at the end of January 2021.
In March after collecting evidence they advised they would deal with the complaint within 90 days.
At the end of June 2021 the Landlords were informed by the TPO they classed the complaint as a complex complaint and needed to pass it over to an Adjudicator.
They assure the Landlord there will be a thorough review but are unable to advise of ANY timescale as to when the review will be completed.
So the TPO have absolutely no idea how long it will take them to deal with the complaint – unbelievable !
How can this be an acceptable way to deal with complaints against Agents ?
This compares poorly to the excellent performance of the Property Redress Scheme who deal with complaints within 35 days.
As I said , the TPO are not fit for purpose.
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So the landlord signed the terms of business with this condition of their own free will. H’mm not illegal, so ‘complex’ is apt if they willing entered into this agreement. I’m surprised they haven’t challenged this in court with contract law ‘unfair terms and conditions’ or have they been told what is the likely result? Really pertains to a business v consumer. Landlords are treated as a business, the consumer is the tenant.
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The annual TPO report is an excellent example of the misuse of statistics by government quangos.
There is no context for these numbers, as presented they are effectively meaningless.
They’re not represented as percentage of the market size. But in comparison to the previous year.
There is no context in terms of transaction volumes, or membership numbers.
The larger number of “enquiries” is the number that often finds its ways into government reports as an indication of how awful estate agents are (often abused by those hoping to implement ROPA), but in fact it’s a completely meaningless number as enquiries can be about anything including matters which don’t warrant a complaint.
The enquiries number is the equivalent of telling a vendor how many rightmove visits their property has had.
Ultimately the numbers are used as a justification for their existence. However I know no one who would challenge the need for an ombudsman, but it would be far more valuable to the industry and public if these numbers weren’t presented in a meaningful manner with the all important context.
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