The Property Ombudsman is raising its rates.
It is also introducing a ‘fair usage’ policy which will penalise agents that consistently generate the most ‘supported’ complaints.
A ‘supported’ complaint is one where the Ombudsman supports the consumer complaint and makes a compensatory award.
Agents who have three complaints upheld against them in a year will have to pay £350 plus VAT per case for further upheld complaints.
The basic membership fee will rise from £195 to £225 in the Near Year, with TPO saying that this is the first rise in six years.
TPO also says that since 2014, enquiries and complaints to it have risen by 73% and 40% respectively, resulting in increased running costs.
However, there will be a discount to larger agents and to those which are members of Propertymark, as is now the case.
Although there are two authorised redress schemes – The PRS is the other – most agents belong to TPO.
As at the start of this year, there were 15,897 sales offices and 14,746 letting offices registered with TPO, which is a not-for-profit body and can make awards to aggrieved complainants of up to £25,000.
The introduction of a ‘fair usage’ scheme is intended to encourage agents to resolve their own complaints.
Gerry Fitzjohn, chair of the finance and performance committee, said: “TPO is a not-for-profit ombudsman scheme, therefore the revised fee structure is based on ombudsman principles of fairness, effectiveness, openness and transparency, rather than profit-making principles.
“We understand that agents’ costs have been stretched over the last few years, so increasing fees is not a decision which has been taken lightly but is absolutely necessary to ensure a properly resourced scheme is in place.”
He said of the new surcharge: “We believe that by introducing fair usage, agents will pay to use the scheme proportionately.
“In reality, current complaint figures show that this will only impact 0.23% of our single branch members, but we hope it will act as an incentive to drive better service to consumers and encourage agents to resolve complaints at an earlier stage.
“We understand that some agents may say that they have never had a complaint brought against them, but redress is mandatory and it is common practice for ombudsman schemes to levy a basic subscription fee.
“TPO continues to offer members increased value for money with discounted tickets to its annual conference, buy one get one free training packages, as well as access to technical workshops, assured advice and toolkits specifically designed for TPO members.
“Being a TPO member also gives agents the opportunity to ensure they are compliant, preventing enquiries from Trading Standards.
“The new fee structure will reflect the true cost of dealing with complaints, and in future, annual reviews will take into account inflation to avoid significant periodic increases.”
Fitzjohn wrote to agent members of TPO on Friday about the rises.
“TPO continues to offer members increased value for money with discounted tickets to its annual conference, buy one get one free training packages, as well as access to technical workshops, assured advice and toolkits specifically designed for TPO members.”
We are members of TPO because we have to be. There is no value to the fee at all – as soon as there’s a problem, the TPO just cancel the membership. The only people who get any use from the TPO are tenants – so we’re effectively paying a company who’s main function is to penalise us.
This is just my opinion, but this month, I’ve paid out for TPO, CMP and AML – and it’s as close to being money for old rope as you can find.
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Correct just another landlord / agent bashing policy
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However, there will be a discount to larger agents and to those which are members of Propertymark, as is now the case.
WHY! For an organisation that promotes customer fairness, this is discrimination.
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An interesting point was made over the weekend when this was Tweeted by ‘Ostrich or Rhea’.
It seems that the “fair usage” will be based upon “supported complaints” per branch and not per Agent.
Okay – even the best Agency can have one branch that’s not up to the standards of the rest – but at the end of the day it trades under the name above the door and that company ultimately has the responsibility for all of its’ branches actions.
Those firms should be penalised – or there is no incentive to act to improve individuals.
To me – this is TPOS clearing a path to avoid treading on the toes of the biggest offenders…
…toe-treading which of course could well result in certain companies taking their ‘redress’ needs elsewhere.
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Cartel comes to mind with the basic fee. So much for claiming “fair usage policy”.
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