There are now nearly 27,000 estate and letting agent branches signed up to The Property Ombudsman, with complaints up 42%.
TPO said that the huge rise in complaints was a reflection of “the general trend in the consumer world to challenge when something does not give satisfaction”, together with a rise in its membership.
Reporting for last year, TPO said there had been a 43% rise in sales-related inquiries and a 40% rise in lettings cases.
In terms of membership, there was a 19% rise in the number of lettings agents branches to a record 12,915 and a 14% increase in sales agents’ offices. Altogether, membership grew 28% over the course of last year to reach 26,735.
Ombudsman Christopher Hamer this morning again called for regulation of letting agents.
He said: “Last year saw continued and significant growth in the Private Rented Sector.
“With an estimated 1.6m private landlords, many of whom have limited experience and understanding of their responsibilities, and large numbers of consumers seeking tenancies, the role of letting and managing agents in providing quality customer service based on a comprehensive knowledge of relevant legislation, is more important now than ever before.
“In that context I again call for a properly structured regulatory regime for the lettings sector. Over the past year we have seen numerous pieces of legislation being passed which deal with aspects of the Private Rented Sector.
“Whilst any controls must be welcomed, I feel an opportunity has been missed to bring all such legal obligations into a coherent and sensible single law to avoid the potential for inconsistency and misunderstanding of what is required.”
Statistical highlights in today’s report include:
Lettings:
- 19% increase in registered membership letting offices
- 40% rise in lettings cases received
- 33% increase in cases resolved via mediation
- 10% increase in cases resolved via formal review
- 11% of lettings issues reported to TPO related to repair and maintenance
- 54% of complainants were landlords versus 44% tenants
- The average lettings award has risen 27% from £411.97 to £524.10
- 23% of complainants were from the South East, followed by Greater London (21%) the South West (9%) on par with North West (9%).
Sales:
- 14% increase in registered membership sales offices
- 43% rise in sales cases received
- 21% increase in cases resolved via mediation
- 13% increase in cases resolved via formal review
- 20% of sales issues reported to TPO related to communication failure
- 59% of complainants were sellers versus 39% buyers
- 23% of complainants were from the South East, followed by Greater London (13%) & South West and Eastern Region both (11%)
The report also provides a series of case studies to share industry best practice, highlighting some of the most common complaints and how they were dealt with, such as disputes over sales particulars (accounting for 13% of all sales related issues) and management failure (accounting for 4% of all lettings related issues).
The case studies cover topics including Sale by Tender, hidden fees and renewal fees.
The report is at www.tpos.co.uk/annual_reports.htm
The problem with press reports such as this one is the lack of context.
When you delve deeper into the report you find that the increase in Lettings complaints is actually 526 whereas the increase in Sales complaints in 364.
Some of this is of course natural growth due to the increased membership of the TPO.
when you set the actual figures against the number of Sales transactions that actually take place in the UK and the number of actual tenancies current, the level of complaints is such a small percentage that it would be nice if the TPO actually praised the professionalism of Agents for once.
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Not so much now but in days gone by get down to the bottom bottle of red and there was always a bit of sediment. Could it be that the legal requirement for a redress scheme has introduced the sort of firms more likely to attract complaints?
Without detail of how the complaints have soared ( i.e. if the complaints are against new members or exiting or equally distributed it is a bit sensationalist to imply complaints have risen for everyone.
A 28% increase in membership reduces the soaring to a low fly past of 12%, if that is coming from the likes of those that advertise a 24 hour service but are effectively closed between 10pm and 9 am what is a disturbing headline is reduced to ‘Last remnants of industry dragged into redress bring inevitable rise in complaints’
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