How it works

The first step is to let the business know that you are unhappy. It’s best if you do this as soon as you are aware of a problem. Many problems can be resolved quickly between you and the business. If you remain unhappy, you should ask for a copy of their formal complaints policy. This should be available on the property business’s website.

If you need help writing to the business, a complaint letter template is available for you to download and use.

The first step is to let the business know that you are unhappy, to give them chance to make things right. It’s best if you do this as soon as you are aware of a problem, many problems can be resolved quickly.

Once you have completed the business’s complaints procedure, or if they have not responded to your concerns, you can refer your complaint to us if they are registered with us.

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No. You must follow the complaints process of the business before we can look into your concerns.

Under our Scheme rules, we cannot accept a complaint unless:

• Eight weeks after you have complained to the business and either have not received a response or have not received a final response under their internal complaints procedure
• You have complained within 12 months of the event you want to complain about, or the date you became aware of it
• You have referred your complaint to us within 12 months of receiving the Agent’s final response

Firstly, make it clear that you wish to make a formal complaint. It’s best to put things in writing so that the business knows that you wish to make a formal complaint. If you make a complaint on a telephone call or in person, you should consider making notes of what happened. This might be helpful later in the process.

If you need help writing to the business, a complaint letter template is available for you to download and use.

Once you have made a complaint, if you do not hear from them after eight weeks, you can refer your complaint to us.

After making a complaint, if you follow up after 15 working days and they still do not respond after another five working days, you can refer the complaint to us (when this happens, you do not need to wait eight weeks).

If you do not pay the business’s fees, they could take legal action against you. If you do not agree with the fees that are being charged, you should speak to the business about why you think the fee is unfair. If you do not think you should pay the fee until the complaints process has been completed, you can ask the business to delay chasing you for payment. They do not have to agree to your request, and you should not ignore any demands for payment.

You could consider paying the business’s fees on a ‘without prejudice’ basis. This means that you are paying the fee, but that you don’t necessarily agree that the fees are due.

If you do not pay the fees owed, and the business starts legal action, we may wait for the court’s decision before we consider your case.

If there is court action, and the judgement is made, you will need to provide a copy of that decision to us. If we conclude that the court has already made a determination on the dispute with the business, we will not look at your case again.

No. A business cannot charge you for looking into your complaint. They are also not allowed to discourage you from bringing your complaint to us.

You can make a complaint to us when:

• You have complained to the business, and they have provided their final viewpoint letter
• Eight weeks after you have complained to the property business and either have not received a response or have not received a final response under their internal complaints procedure
• You have complained within 12 months of the event you want to complain about, or the date you became aware of it
• You have referred your complaint to us within 12 months of receiving the property business’s final response

We look into complaints about the service provided by property businesses that are registered with us.

We look at all sorts of complaints about businesses, such as:

• Delays – taking too long to do something
• Failure to communicate – not telling you about what’s happening or not explaining things
• Failing to follow instructions – not doing something that you asked them to do, or doing something that you asked them not to do

Our service is an alternative to court action, and we do not make legal determinations. Instead, we look at whether the property business acted fairly and whether their service was reasonable in the circumstances. We also do not conduct criminal investigations, nor do we decide on whether tenants should receive back their full deposits.

No, we cannot resolve deposit disputes. Please refer your issue to your deposit scheme.

Please check the name/location in the search bar and search again.

• For property business complaints, check the other redress scheme’s register
• For new-build developments, check the New Homes Ombudsman register of developers
• For social housing, visit either the Housing Ombudsman in England, the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO), the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales or the Northern Ireland Public Services Ombudsman
• For more support, visit Information for consumers or contact us

Please complete our online complaints form. When completing the form, you should tell us what went wrong and what you would like to resolve your complaint. Please only provide the evidence we ask for.

The online complaints form is the quickest and easiest way to submit your complaint, if you are unable to use the online form, please let us know.

When filling out the online complaints form, you will need to upload:

• Your initial complaint: a copy of the email or letter sent to the business setting out your formal complaints.
• Final response from the business: This may be referred to as a ‘deadlock letter’, or it may be the letter which the business referred you to us. If none was provided by the business, please provide their last response from them to your initial complaint.

Your evidence must:

• Show the date sent or received.
• Be clear and legible, including screenshots.

If you are unable to use the online form or if you raised your complaint by phone or in person, please let us know.

Yes. Our Scheme operates under rules called our Terms of Reference. The rules detail when we can and cannot accept a complaint. The types of situations in which we would not accept a complaint would be where:

• The business is not registered with us
• You have not completed the business’s complaints procedure
• You first raised a complaint with the business more than a year ago
• You did not suffer any detriment or were not affected by the property business’s service
• The issues have already been considered by another body or a Court

We may still be able to consider your complaint if the business has closed down. What we can do depends on what stage your complaint was at when the business stopped trading. However, if we decide that the property business has done something wrong and we award compensation, we won’t be able make the business pay.

Yes, you can ask a friend or relative to help, or someone from Citizens Advice. We will need your permission to talk to someone on your behalf and we may ask you to complete a Letter of Authority. However, any compensation you are awarded will be paid directly to you.

You can appoint a legal or professional representative to help with your complaint. However, those fees will not be recoverable from us or the property business.

No. Our service is free for consumers.

The first step is evaluation of your complaint. We will review your complaint form and decide whether we can accept it under our Scheme rules. We may ask for further information at that stage to help us make a decision. If we decide that we cannot accept your complaint, we will tell you why. If we decide we can accept your complaint, it will be referred for resolution.

The majority of decisions are made within three to six months (providing we have all the relevant evidence required). We work carefully through each case to ensure every decision is fair and thorough.

If we support your complaint, we can make the property business take steps to put matters right, including paying compensation.

Our average awards of compensation are between £300 and £600.

No. If we decide that the business has made a reasonable offer to resolve your complaint, we can decide to close your complaint even if you do not agree. We will always give you reasons for our decision. It will be your decision whether or not to accept the offer of compensation made by the property business.

We will tell you what evidence we need to make a decision. This may be emails, text messages, agreements, or bank statements.

Sometimes, you will have provided enough information when you submit your complaint that we do not need to see any further evidence. We will let you know if we need more evidence.

We will decide what information we need in order to reach a decision on your case. This may be emails, agreements, text messages, or letters.

Sometimes, you will have provided enough information when you submit your complaint that we do not need to see any further evidence. In which case, we might not need to see further evidence from the business.

We will review the evidence that has been provided. If we need more information, we will ask you and the business for the specific evidence we need to make a decision.

We will use our Codes of Practice, where they have been adopted by the business legal principles and common sense to decide whether the property business has acted fairly.

Remember, we offer an alternative to the court process and do not make decisions on points of law. Any decision we make may therefore not always be the same as those reached in a court.

If we decide that you received an unreasonable level of service, we can make the business do any of the following:

• take steps to improve the way they work
• take steps to put matters right
• pay you compensation
• limit their fees
• issue a formal apology

In most cases, where something has gone wrong, we instruct the business to pay compensation. The amount that is payable depends on the impact of any shortcoming on you. Our awards tend to be hundreds rather than thousands of pounds.

If you or the business thinks we have made a fundamental mistake (for example, if we have ignored important evidence), or if there is new evidence that was unavailable before, you can ask us to review the decision. This provides an opportunity for us to look again at our decision. We could decide to vary or uphold our original decision.

If you have been awarded compensation and we change our decision, you could receive a lower amount of compensation.

We may decide that the service you received was reasonable. We will always explain our reasons for our decision.

If you or the business thinks we have made a fundamental mistake or there is new information that was unavailable before, you can (in some circumstances) ask us to review the decision. This provides an opportunity for us to look again at our decision. We could decide to vary or uphold our original decision.

If you don’t agree with the final decision, you can choose not to accept it and pursue your complaint elsewhere.

In our decisions, we will explain why we have awarded a particular level of compensation. Disagreeing with the compensation amount is not a reason for us to review our decision.

If you or the business thinks we have made a fundamental mistake (for example, if we have ignored important evidence), or if there is new evidence that was unavailable before, you can (in certain circumstances) ask us to review the decision. This provides an opportunity for us to look again at our decision. We could decide to vary or uphold our original decision.

If you have been awarded compensation and we change our decision, you could receive a lower amount of compensation.

If we have instructed the business to pay you compensation, you will be asked whether you accept the level of compensation. You can choose to refuse or accept the compensation.

If you accept the award, we will ask you to provide your bank account details to the property business. They will then pay the compensation directly to you within 28 days.

If the business is late paying, we will contact them to remind them they have to pay you. If they still don’t pay, we may report them to our Compliance Committee. The Committee can decide whether to expel the business from our service. Find more information about our Compliance Committee. 

However, we cannot force the business to pay your award. If they decide not to pay, we can decide to expel them from our Scheme. We would also report them to external organisations. In extreme cases, a failure to pay an award could lead to the property business closing down.

However, more than 99% of businesses do comply with our decision so it is very unlikely you will not receive your compensation.

If you accept an Adjudicator’s decision, it is in full and final settlement of your complaint.

If you believe there are aspects of your complaint that a court should consider, we recommend that you seek advice before accepting our decision.