Latest TPO updates:

East London Estate Agent expelled from The Property Ombudsman following a complaint

Published on Wednesday, 18 September 2019. Posted in Press Releases

Buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords in Isle of Dogs, London, are being warned that a local estate and letting agent, Property 24/7 Limited, trading as Property 24/7, has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme for failing to pay an award of £500 made by the Ombudsman. This means the agent can no longer legally trade until the outstanding award is paid.

Agents, or their directors, which have ceased trading and been expelled from TPO will not be accepted for redress until awards are paid

Published on Friday, 09 August 2019. Posted in Press Releases

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) has made further expulsions after six agents failed to comply with parts of the TPO Codes of Practice and pay subsequent awards made by the Ombudsman. Whilst some of the agents appear to have ceased trading, others have re-opened trading under the same name but with different directors. Once again, all of the complaints against the agents were in relation to lettings work.

Another East London Letting Agent expelled from The Property Ombudsman following a complaint

Published on Thursday, 08 August 2019. Posted in Press Releases

Landlords and tenants are being warned that yet another local letting agent in East London has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme for failing to pay an award made by the Ombudsman. Following the expulsion of William Huxley and Lang & Ward earlier in the year, Citi Places Management Ltd (trading as Citi Places Management) is the latest agent in the area which can no longer legally trade until the outstanding award is paid.

Newport Letting Agent expelled from The Property Ombudsman for owing a landlord £5,000

Published on Thursday, 08 August 2019. Posted in Press Releases

Landlords and Tenants in Newport, Wales, are being warned that a local letting agent Pinkmove Lettings Newport Limited, (trading as Pinkmove Lettings Limited from Conway Road, Newport¹) has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme. This means the agent can no longer legally trade until the outstanding award is paid.

Southampton based Estate Agent expelled from The Property Ombudsman following a complaint

Published on Thursday, 08 August 2019. Posted in Press Releases

Buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords in Southampton are being warned that a local estate and letting agent, CE Property Ltd (trading from Bitterne Precinct as Charles Carr), has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme. This means the agent can no longer legally trade until the outstanding award of £350 is paid.

The Property Ombudsman issues revised Codes of Practice

Published on Thursday, 23 May 2019. Posted in Press Releases

On 1st June, The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme’s updated Codes of Practice will become effective. The revisions are substantial, and incorporate the Tenant Fees Act, Client Money Protection and GDPR requirements.

TPO consulted with 44 different organisations and individuals during the review process. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team (NTSEAT) provided a technical review of the lettings and sales codes respectively. Along with the Scottish Sales Codes, they were then scrutinised and approved by CTSI. The new Codes are available on TPO Codes page which will soon be revised to include a facility to put forward requests for future changes to the codes.

TPO Issues reminder to all agents regarding redress membership as agent is fined £3,000 by local authority

Published on Thursday, 23 May 2019. Posted in Press Releases

The Property Ombudsman has issued a reminder to all agents to ensure they have the correct redress membership to cover the work they undertake. This comes after a letting agent was issued with a £3,000 penalty by their Local Authority for not having redress membership to cover their Residential Leasehold Management work, despite being a member of The Property Ombudsman for Sales and Lettings.

Complaints to The Property Ombudsman rise by 16% in 2018 and more than £2million is returned to consumers in compensatory awards

Published on Wednesday, 08 May 2019. Posted in Press Releases

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) has today [8th May 2019] released its 2018 annual report reflecting ever-increasing consumer demand for the service.

The report reveals TPO received a record number of enquiries in 2018 (29,023), up 22% on 2017.  Of these, 4,246 went on to be formal complaints, which also rose significantly year on year by 16%. 

The Winning Bid! But at what cost?

Published on Monday, 29 April 2019. Posted in Case Studies

A case that The Property Ombudsman was asked to review came from buyers who stated that the agent misrepresented the property they purchased at auction as they failed to make them aware that the property was tenanted or that there were only 55 years remaining on the lease. The buyers were seeking the return of the £3,000 reservation fee they paid which the agent had transferred to the seller following their withdrawal from the purchase.

More haste. less high speed 2!

Published on Monday, 29 April 2019. Posted in Case Studies

A case that The Property Ombudsman was asked to review came from buyers concerning the accuracy of the information within the local authority search compiled by the search provider (SP).

The True Cost of Guaranteed Rent

Published on Monday, 29 April 2019. Posted in Case Studies

A case that The Property Ombudsman was asked to review came from landlords about non-payment of rent and damage to the property. The landlords let the property to the agent as a tenant under a three-year agreement, giving the agent the authority to sub-let the property in return for a guaranteed rent. The complaints concerned events at the end of that agreement, including rent for a period when a sub-tenant’s belongings remained in the property, and damage to the property and contents that was found when the landlords regained possession.