After nine successful years as the Property Ombudsman, Christopher Hamer’s term of office is coming to an end. On 30 November 2015 he will be officially standing down.

The independent TPO Council together with the TPO Board Chairman, Bill McClintock, have began the search to fill the position. Christopher will however remain as Ombudsman for the next few months where he will continue to generally represent the scheme. He will be handing over to his successor on 30 November.

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme recently launched two new versions of its Code of Practice for sales and lettings agents operating in Scotland, and to officially mark the launch of TPO Scotland, invited individuals from leading industry associations, agents and local journalists to join the Scottish Board and the Ombudsman, Christopher Hamer, for a celebration.  

The event took place at the Offices of Braemore Lettings in Edinburgh and proved to be a great success with guests enjoying a buffet lunch and a glass of wine.

Complaint

In this case, the potential Buyer argued that the Buying Agent she had instructed, charged her an excessive abortive fee when she withdrew an offer that she had made for a property on the same day it had been made and accepted by the Seller. The Agent maintained their entitlement to charge the fee, given that it was detailed in the terms and conditions of their agreement.

Complaint

The Buyers claimed that the Agent had incorrectly advertised the property. They explained that during the conveyancing process they discovered that an area of land at the rear of the garden was not included in the title plan belonging to the property, and in fact belonged to the local council. The Buyers argued that the Agent should not have marketed the property without having checked this. They also pointed out that they incurred additional costs in registering all of the garden (as seen) as part of the property, arguing that they were treated unfairly by the Agent as a result of the Seller not agreeing to make an allowance for these costs as part of the transaction.

Complaint

Following the potential Buyer withdrawing from the transaction, the potential Sellers claimed that the Agent had fabricated information provided to the potential Buyer, including inventing offers and viewings. The Sellers also claimed that the Agent failed to deal with their complaint appropriately. The Agent’s response was that they simply applied 'gentle pressure' on a difficult purchaser to assist the progression of the transaction.

Complaint

In this case, the successful Seller was concerned that the Agent had released the key to her Buyer a week before completion, enabling him to begin major building work (including re-wiring and the removal of fireplaces and kitchen cupboards) without her permission. She also alleged that they had permitted unaccompanied viewings; failed to issue a Memorandum of Sale in two instances and handled her complaint unsatisfactorily. She was seeking a refund of the £1,200 commission fee which she had eventually paid on a 'without prejudice' basis shortly before a Small Claims Court hearing to avoid further costs. The Agent acknowledged that the key had been released to the Buyer prematurely and was unable to explain how this had happened. However they insisted that contracts had already been exchanged and noted that the Seller had not suffered any financial disadvantage as the sale had completed successfully. They made no apology and denied the other allegations, but reluctantly offered a £100 fee reduction as a 'goodwill gesture'. When the Seller indicated that she was not satisfied with this and was withholding the commission fee, the Agent initiated proceedings in the Small Claims Court.

The latest report released by The Property Ombudsman reveals a continuing upward trend in new referrals, 42% against the previous year.  This is indicative of both the general trend in the consumer world to challenge when something does not give satisfaction, as well as the growing number of agents (28% more than at the start of 2014) now signed up as members of TPO.

Six months on from the introduction of new legislation, making it a legal requirement for lettings agents and property managers in England to join a government approved redress scheme, the report indicates the number of letting offices now signed up to TPO scheme has reached a record level of 12,915.  This brings the total number of sales and lettings offices offering TPO's free, independent route to resolve disputes to 26,735.

Complaint

Prior to renting the property the Tenant viewed accompanied by the Agent’s representative who explained to him that the rent included all bills. After the viewing, the Tenant asked the representative to confirm what he would have to pay, to which she responded that the weekly rent was due in advance and that all bills were included. Unsurprisingly, the Tenant was subsequently shocked to receive council tax bills which eventually culminated in a County Court judgement being made against him. The Agent’s response was that, as per the tenancy agreement, he was still required to pay the council tax.

Complaint

The complaint raised concerned the Agent's failure to continue to notify the Guarantor of rent arrears that had accrued under the tenancy. He also accused the Agent of failing to notify him when the Landlord decided to put the matter into the hands of her solicitors and of failing to make those solicitors aware of his role by not providing the Deed of Guarantee he had signed. As a result of these shortcomings, the Guarantor argued that he had incurred unnecessary court costs.

Complaint

Following the eventual eviction of the Tenants, the Landlord complained to the Agent that their referencing process had been flawed as it had not divulged a number of financial issues of which, had she known, meant she would not have agreed to the tenancy. The Agent acknowledged some shortcomings, but refused to make an offer equivalent to the loss of rent that the Landlord was seeking.

Complaint

The Buyer accused the Agent of claiming payment of a fee for which there was no written or verbal agreement. She explained she had made a bid by tender for the property, and that the form she completed explained that an introduction fee of 2% (plus VAT) of the sale price would be payable by her to the Agent. However, the Buyer contended that the terms of the ‘Sale by Informal Tender Bid Form’ (the Form) made it clear that the fee would only be payable in the event that her tender bid was accepted which, in this case, it was not (the Seller rejected that offer but had accepted a subsequent higher offer from her which had not been made through the Agent). The Agent stated that an introduction fee was due to them in accordance with the terms of the Form which explained that the fee would be payable by the Buyer in the event that she purchased the property.

Jo Swinson, Consumer Affairs Minister has spoken out in support of a new Trading Standards Institute (TSI) campaign to raise awareness of their Consumer Codes Approval Scheme (CCAS), which replaced the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) scheme in 2013.

The initial focus of the media campaign will be to remind tenants and landlords of their legal right to free and independent dispute resolution through TPO, the only redress scheme to operate CCAS-approved Codes.

The TPO scheme has launched two new versions of its Codes of Practice for Sales and Lettings Agents operating in Scotland.

The Codes are unique to TPO and have been raising standards in the property industry for 25 years as part of the scheme’s free, fair and impartial dispute resolution service, which helps more than 16,000[1] buyers, sellers, landlord and tenants with their disputes.

Sixty-nine per cent of consumer complaints were supported by the TPO scheme, which recently gained approval from the TSI CCAS for its Lettings Code of Practice.

TPO, the UK’s largest government-approved redress scheme, has published its latest market statistics to highlight the number of landlords and tenants who have used its free, fair and independent service following new government legislation for letting agents.

TPO can confirm the publication of a new report, written by Kate Faulkner, with the backing of The Property Ombudsman (TPO) and the industry.

Christopher Hamer, the Ombudsman, provided his expert opinion and guidance on some of the topics covered in the report, having seen thousands of issues that many landlords and tenants experience when a dispute arises in the private rental sector.

"Tenants’ deposits cannot be used to cover fees due from the landlord"

says Christopher Hamer, The Property Ombudsman.

More than 12,000 lettings offices registered with the UK's largest redress scheme have become approved traders under the Trading Standard Institute's (TSI) Consumer Codes Approval Scheme (CCAS) after The Property Ombudsman scheme's (TPO) Lettings Code of Practice was given the green light by the Consumer Codes Approval Board.

Er, where’s my sofa?

What, asks Christopher Hamer, The Property Ombudsman,
happens when you lose your landlord’s furniture?

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme has reported a sharp increase in the number of consumer complaints for the residential lettings sector, ahead of the requirement for all letting agents in England that comes into force this week (1st October 2014) for every letting agent to register with an approved redress scheme.

The figures, published in The Property Ombudsman's 2014 Interim Report reveal that 1,187 complaints were resolved in total about both sales and lettings issues between 1 January and 30 June 2014, with 721 complaints (61%) made against letting agents – a 37% increase on the same period last year.

The Ombudsman upheld 74% of the complaints made by landlords and tenants against letting agents.

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme has expressed its support for a new 'best practice' Code for the Private Rented Sector (PRS) which was officially launched today by the Minister for Housing, Brandon Lewis.

The new PRS Code, which comes immediately into effect, was developed at the request of the Department for Communities and Local Government's (DCLG) in 2013. Facilitated by RICS, the drafting of the Code brought together TPO and sixteen other leading property organisations to collectively outline mandatory and recommended best practices for landlords and lettings agents in order to improve the stock of privately rented homes in the UK.