Two more agents have been expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme, and four have had their bans extended.
All the agents have been expelled over unpaid awards, and all deal in both sales and lettings.
None of them will be able to join the alternative redress scheme until they have paid the amounts they have been ordered to. Without redress, all would be trading illegally.
Those whose bans have been extended by a year are: Oscar Jones, London; House Sales and Lettings, in Liverpool; and Bower and Bower, in Exeter, Devon.
Bower and Bower was previously expelled for two years.
Lawrence Property Consultants in Coventry, has had its expulsion extended by two years.
Firms newly expelled are CityWest, in Hounslow, Middlesex, whose exclusion will last a year; and Delta Homes, in Ilford, Essex, which has been expelled for two years.
CityWest has been expelled before, in November 2015.
Altogether there have been 35 expulsions this year from TPO.
Comments (3)
Toothless tigers is the phrase that comes to mind.
The fact that “enforcement” is so ineffective leads me to feel there is no real desire on the part of the goverment to protect consumers.
Good agents should use the local ” jungle bush” system to warn potential clients off such traders
Dave Absalom
from my experience, neither of the Redress Schemes are fit for purpose
If any agent gets Into this situation you are better off taking counter legal action before the TPO get involved. This way you are are in control and the TPO can’t get involved as legals are pending.