Letting and estate agent complaints ‘remain high’

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) dealt with 14,000 complaints from landlords and tenants last year about letting agents, it has been revealed.

There were also 1,500 complaints from tenants about a landlord with no agent involved.

And the TPO dealt with more than 3,000 complaints from leaseholders about their managing agent.

However, the TPO highlights that high levels of enquiries and disputes for repair and maintenance issues show ‘the need to raise the standard of private rented housing stock’.

Education is key to resolving issues

The Property Ombudsman Rebecca Marsh says that education is key to resolving issues before they become an official complaint.

She said: “Specific to the lettings market, high levels of enquiries from tenants and landlords seeking advice from TPO indicates a real need for consumer education to help them understand the roles and responsibilities of all the parties involved.

“For agents, these enquiries show that regular communication to tenants about the progress of repairs and maintenance issues is a lesson that, if learned, will provide assurance that matters are in hand and, ultimately reduce the potential for complaints to arise.”

TPO also reveals that it resolved 2,650 disputes relating to lettings, with the largest award being £21,779 – the average award was £504.

There were also 1,883 disputes relating to sales, 1,220 for residential leasehold management (RLM) and 259 for other property professionals.

The biggest award for sales was £15,500 and for RLM it was £23,634. The average awards were £488 and £416 respectively.

However, the number of consumer enquiries brought to TPO remained high in 2022 at just under 45,000.

Top causes of lettings disputes

The TPO says the top causes of lettings disputes were:

• Tenancy management
• Complaints handling
• Instructions, terms of business, fees, charges and termination.

The top causes of sales disputes were:

• Instructions, terms of business, fees, charges and termination
• Marketing and advertising
• Communication between offer acceptance and exchange

The top four issues complained about in relation to estate agents were the same as in 2021.

However, a 4% increase in disputes from sellers saw disputes around agency fees and agreements increase making this the top issue of complaint.

‘Number of disputes accepted by the scheme reduced by 30%’

Ms Marsh said: “I am pleased that we were able to help more people through our front-end enquiry service to the extent that the number of disputes accepted by the scheme reduced by 30%.

“Not only did this mean that consumers were given the advice they needed to resolve their issues early but, importantly, for TPO members it meant significant savings for them in not having to deal with the complaints that would have otherwise occurred. It is a service unique to Ombudsmen and one that I am very proud of.”

Looking to the future, Rebecca added: “Difficult market conditions will increase competition to gain instructions from sellers and landlords.

“In both instances, agents must strive to ensure that market valuations are reasonable and are supported by comparable properties.

“For tenants and buyers, clarity around offers will be paramount and agents must communicate these in writing to all relevant parties.”

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