Latest TPO updates:

Annual Report: Deposit dispute

Published on Friday, 09 June 2017. Posted in Case Studies

The devil is in the detail: A Landlord alleged their property had been damaged and claimed the agent had not submitted comprehensive documentation to the tenancy deposit scheme. Find out more about the missing documentation that helped the Ombudsman rule on this case.

Annual Report: Lost keys, delayed repairs and an expired gas safety check

Published on Friday, 09 June 2017. Posted in Case Studies

This dispute focused on the actions of an agent who had evaded the truth concerning a lost set of management keys, and had prolonged a maintenance issue. TPO’s investigation unearthed the truth and found the agent had failed to deal with the complaint or advise the complainant that the matter could be referred to TPO for independent review. 

Annual Report: Tenant Referencing

Published on Friday, 09 June 2017. Posted in Case Studies

A costly mistake - this referencing case summary highlights the Agent's role to ID Tenants. Read more about this and another fundamental issue missed by the agent, which resulted in the Ombudsman instructing the agent to pay a £21,972 award. (The highest award paid by an Agent in 2016 - see page 15 of the 2016 TPO Annual Report)

Annual Report: Charging VAT

Published on Friday, 09 June 2017. Posted in Case Studies

This case concerns the complaint by the sellers that the agent had charged them additional VAT on the commission fee, whereas they had understood that the fee was inclusive of VAT.

Annual Report: freehold vs. leasehold

Published on Friday, 09 June 2017. Posted in Case Studies

Whose responsibility is it anyway? This case summary looks at a tenure dispute - find out more about the complaint and the Ombudsman’s ruling after the agent claimed long leaseholds amounted to ‘the same thing’ as freehold.

Banning letting agent fees paid by tenants: TPO responds to Government consultation

Published on Monday, 05 June 2017.

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme has responded to the Government's consultation paper 'Banning letting agent fees paid by tenants'. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) launched a consultation in April to seek views on the implementation of a ban and on how the ban on letting agent fees paid by tenants in England should be implemented and enforced.