Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has imposed a six-figure fine on five estate agents for secretly agreeing to set minimum commission rates.

Today, The Property Ombudsman (TPO) has issued a warning to all estate and letting agents to act with caution, as fraudulent ‘buyers’ target agents with the latest computer virus scam. 

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme has taken further action against an expelled letting agent after it received seven additional complaints from landlords which resulted in awards totalling £20,566.23.

Further to the press release in May 2017 announcing that The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme had expelled Essex based letting agent, Lettings Solutions Ltd, and imposed a two year exclusion, TPO’s independent Disciplinary and Standards Committee has now ruled that the agent should be excluded from membership of TPO and from registration for redress for a further year.

A sales and lettings agent in South West London has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme for a year after the Ombudsman supported a landlord complaint. 

Three agents have been expelled from membership of The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme for two or more years, after failing to pay awards made by the Ombudsman or comply with TPO’s Codes of Practice for Residential Estate Agents and Letting Agents. 

Shields & Co UK Limited, a letting agent based in Lenton, Nottinghamshire, has been expelled from membership and registration for lettings redress with The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme for a minimum of two years, after it failed to pay an award of £3,157.15 following a complaint involving outstanding rental payments.

Consumers are being warned that Blackhorse Property Management Limited in Bradford (trading as Blackhorse Property) has been expelled from both sales and lettings redress membership with The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme for a minimum of three years, after it failed to formally respond or pay awards made for two separate complaints. 

LPC Lettings Limited (trading as LPC Lettings), a letting agent based in Liverpool, has been expelled from lettings redress membership with The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme for a minimum of three years.  

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme has issued a year-long formal warning to Purfect Property Solutions Limited after it failed to provide information and written assurance concerning a consumer complaint.

Today (3.30pm), at the House of Lords, The Property Ombudsman (TPO) launches its latest annual report, which reveals an increase in the number of formal complaints resolved by the scheme and a record total of compensatory awards paid by agents.

Find out more about this case and why the agent was right to tell the truth.

A Buyer contacted TPO to complain that their agent had refused to return a £5,000 pre-contract deposit. Find out more about the agent’s shortcomings and Ombudsman’s decision.

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.

Read more about this consumer case summary and the Ombudsman’s investigation, which found the agent had withheld material information with dire consequences for the Buyers.

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. 

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)

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.

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.

The three government approved redress schemes; The Property Ombudsman (TPO), Ombudsman Services: Property and The Property Redress Scheme have today issued a revised version of their Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).