OMBUDSMAN
Letting agents, consumers and acceptable standards, Christopher Hamer, The Property Ombudsman, is on a mission to improve standards and awareness.
F
ollowing another year which saw a further increase in letting complaints, The Property Ombudsman,
Christopher Hamer, is renewing his call for standards to be raised across the lettings industry in his latest Annual Report. “My office dealt with 7,641 letting
enquiries during 2011, a 26 per cent increase on 2010,” he reports. “Slightly more than 25 per cent of these complaint enquiries concerned letting agents who were not registered with TPO and I am concerned that, for those consumers, they may have little alternative but to undertake potentially costly legal action to pursue their complaint, a daunting prospect in the current financial climate.” Christopher acknowledges that it is not current Government policy to
ARLA comment
In response to the Property Ombudsman’s report, Ian Potter, Operations Manager at ARLA, said, “As an organisation that strives to achieve the best possible standards within the private rented sector, we are disappointed to see a rise in lettings complaints over the past year. It was however interesting to note that only 10% of those merited adjudication by the
Ombudsman, and it should also be noted that there were almost 900 new lettings members despite some consolidation in the industry. “That said, it comes as very
little surprise given there is no national regulation in place to stop rogue agents setting up shop and taking advantage of what is a fragile market – 26% of complaints were against agents
who did not belong to an Ombudsman Scheme. “We have long called for increased regulation in the sector and as such, we are not unsupportive of the concept of a council to help promote consumer understanding of the importance of using professional agents like ARLA licensed members. Ultimately, it is likely to require primary
legislation to achieve full control of the sector and it will be interesting to see how the proposals in Wales and London progress. “We also encourage
prospective tenants to ensure the agent they enter into agreement with is a member of The Property Ombudsman Scheme, which provides an additional layer of protection.”
TPO’s
2011 Annual Report can be downloaded from:
www.tpos.co.uk/ annual_reports.
consider regulation of letting agents but his report highlights several areas where simple changes could be made to provide greater protection for consumers and, in doing so, support those letting agents who are already providing a service in accordance with agreed industry standards. “Consumer awareness is the key,”
he added. “Knowledgeable landlords already check if an agent has a separate account for client money and has signed up to a redress scheme, before allowing them to market their property”. “However, landlords who are new
Landlords attracted by lower fees may not ask what protection an agent can provide.’
to lettings, for example, will no doubt be attracted by lower fees and may not enquire what protection the agent can provide both them and their tenants should problems later occur. Agents who protect client money and follow the TPO Code of
48 APRIL 2012 PROPERTYdrum
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