The Property Ombudsman (TPO) has made a play for members of Ombudsman Services (OS:P).
Estate agents who are members of the OS:P redress scheme will be in need of a new provider from August 6 when it is expected to leave the property sector.
TPO last night announced that agents could join its scheme with immediate effect and said it would waive the usual joining fee.
Agents signing up to TPO must usually pay a one-off joining fee of £50 plus VAT.
This will be waived for OS:P agents, but they will still need to pay the membership fee of £195 plus VAT per office.
Gerry Fitzjohn, board chairman of TPO, said: “We are a totally independent, not-for-profit organisation and the only redress scheme to operate Codes of Practice which have been approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute.
“As a result, we are always seeking to raise standards and share best practice in the industry as well as make the process of redress as simple as possible for consumers.
“As the only remaining Ombudsman in property we want to reassure our existing members that we remain open for business, and help new members needing to transition from another scheme, to do so as efficiently as possible.”
As a not-for-profit organisation, it is curious that TPO charges per office, irrespective of the size of the company, branches or numbers of staff or responsible business owners/directors. A 2-person branch in a small town will pay the same as a larger corporate firm in a city. Fair ?
Surely liability for misdemeanours, presumably after the agent’s own complaints procedure has been deployed, lie with the owners/directors no matter how many branches ? We only moved to Ombudsman Services:property for the sole reason that its pricing structure saved us £thousands due to TPO’s unfair pricing structure.
As the only remaining Ombudsman, Fitzjohn claims, can we expect price rises ? Is a monopoly in such a redress scheme advisable ?
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Is the membership fee annual? If so, shouldn’t it be like insurance premiums, if you have no complaints then it is a basic rate, but the more you have, especially if they are upheld then the higher the ‘premium’? would provide a financial incentive for better service…
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PRS offer a scheme, kind of like that.
From memory its £99 and then £60 per complaint or you can pay £200 and have free complaints 😉
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