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Annual Review

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In 2022, demand for help and advice from The Property Ombudsman remained high with 44,492 consumers provided with advice and guidance to help them resolve their issues. A greater emphasis on educating consumers and providing them with advice specific to their individual situation, coupled with changes to the Scheme’s Terms of Reference, saw TPO help more consumers to resolve their issues without the need to complain to their agent or to TPO. Not only did this resolve problems much earlier and cut waiting times but also resulted in the number of disputes accepted for investigation reducing by 30% - providing TPO members and consumers with the assurance that only those disputes that needed TPO’s adjudication and resolution expertise were accepted for investigation.

Of the 6,012* disputes that The Property Ombudsman resolved last year, 2,246 were done so through early resolution while 3,766 required a formal decision (a 23% increase on 2021). This highlights the increasing complexity of cases coming to TPO which require its expertise to resolve.

There was a financial settlement or award granted in 3,206 of cases, with just 33 unpaid awards resulting in the expulsion of 22 agents from the scheme. This translates to just under a 99% compliance rate, with these agents constituting just 0.06% of TPO’s 38,846 membership. This gives consumers confidence in both the scheme and its members.

TPO resolved 2,650 disputes relating to lettings, 1,883 relating to sales, 1,220 for residential leasehold management (RLM) and 259 for other property professionals. The biggest awards were £21,779 (lettings), £15,500 (sales) and £23,634 (RLM), and the average awards were £504, £488 and £416 respectively.

 

Download Annual Review 2022

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