Christopher Hamer, 62, took up the position at what is now TPO on December 1, 2006, becoming the third ombudsman in the organisation since it started in 1990 as the Ombudsman for Corporate Estate Agents.

His predecessors, David Quayle and Stephen Carr-Smith, had both previously been in the services. Hamer, by contrast, has been a career ombudsman.

The Ombudsman for Corporate Estate Agents initially began as a marketing organisation for the corporates, but admitted independents subsequently and changed its name to the Ombudsman for Estate Agents in 1997. It became TPO in 2009.

The organisation has changed in other ways. Back in 2006 there were between 3,000 and 4,000 companies belonging to it. There are now 10,000 businesses with 23,000 offices between them, including those which double up as both sales and lettings.

Hamer said: “When I started, membership of a redress scheme was voluntary for both sales and lettings. It is now compulsory and I estimate that TPO has 95% of sales agents and 75% of lettings agents.

“When I joined, I was the 19^th member of staff. There are now 75.”

Two particular cases have proved memorable for him.

“The first was a lady who bought a seaside property and found that when she sat outside, she was dive-bombed by seagulls. She complained that the agents had not told her that they could be aggressive. I didn’t uphold her complaint.

“The other case was an executor’s sale of a property in a mining village. Agent A had it on their books for several months and it hadn’t sold. Agent B was then instructed and told the client: ‘We will soon sell it for you.’

“But three months later the property remained unsold and the vendor asked the agent for advice. The agent advised a cash sale and introduced the client to someone who offered 50% of the asking price – which was accepted.

“Shortly afterwards, the property went up for sale at auction where it fetched £40,000 more.

“I awarded the client £24,000 – the largest award – because the agent had not advised on the auction option. In the file, I found a hand-written note which effectively said ‘I didn’t tell the client about the possibility of going to auction, because I would have lost my commission’.”

Hamer says that on leaving TPO, he will not be looking for another job.

He said: “However, I would like to use my experience to good effect, to continue helping to raise standards in the property industry and perhaps this could extend to advising on policies and laws.”

Hamer’s job will be advertised nationally.

There is just one other ombudsman organisation in the industry, the much smaller Ombudsman Services. The Property Redress Scheme offers dispute resolution but does not have ombudsman status.