Lettings agents across the UK are continuing to show their support for The Property Ombudsman scheme (TPO), with more than 300 offices joining this year to take the total past 9,000.
'The Government continues to ignore pleas for residential letting agents to be regulated in the same way as sales agents, which we believe would raise standards across the industry,' says Gerry Fitzjohn, chief operating officer of TPO.
Complaint
Miss E (the Prospective Tenant) claimed that the failure of the Agent to advertise the property correctly and to represent both her and the landlord properly caused her to withdraw from the tenancy. Miss E requested a full refund of the £1,000 she paid to the Agent to ‘hold’ the property. The Agent responded stating that the property had been advertised correctly, that the monies represented a ‘fee of intent’ (not a holding deposit) and that, as she had withdrawn from the transaction, her payment would not be returned.
Complaint
After the tenant vacated the property owing four months rent, Mr D (the Landlord) raised a complaint with the Agent, stating that they had failed to inform him about the increasing debt and, therefore, denied him the opportunity to take action. The Agent’s response was that, whilst they acknowledged communication failures, they had assumed that Mr D would have identified the problem for himself from the lack of rent going into his account.
Complaint
Following the tenant falling behind with the rent, Mrs C (the Landlord) applied to the Court for possession of the property.
Complaint
After discovering a water leak, Mr B (the Tenant) reported the matter to the Agent who promptly arranged for a contractor to investigate the problem.
Complaint
After moving into the property, Mr and Miss A (the Tenants) advised the Agent that the television aerial sockets did not provide adequate reception and that they were unable to access the loft space in order to inspect the aerial. The Agent did not respond to the request and Mr and Miss A installed satellite television the following month.
