Industry News
Complaints against property agents provides mixed feedback
T
he annual report on complaints made against property agents showed a slight increase in overall numbers, but a reduction
in the complaints made against individual agents. Te Property Redress Scheme (PRS) is
operated by the Hamilton Fraser Group, owners of mydeposits, Landlord Action, Total Landlord Insurance, Ome and Client Money Protect. Its annual report provides consumer feedback on estate agents, letting agents and property management companies. Te 2021 report covers the activities of 16,272
agencies including 791 private and corporate landlords who have registered on a voluntary basis. Separately, the PRS has recently partnered with the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) to launch a pilot landlord redress scheme of an additional 4,250 landlords and over 32,000 properties (this pilot will form part of next year’s report statistics). Highlights from the 2021 PRS report include:
• 1,872 complaint enquiries compared to 1,828 in 2020 – a slight increase of 2.4 per cent. Tis is a sizeable net reduction when the substantial increase in the number of 2021 UK property transactions is factored in;
• Total complaints accepted – 609 (down from 639 in 2020) and down 4.7 per cent year on year;
• Total membership numbers increased by 8.97 per cent from 14,932 to 16,272;
• Total amount of early resolution awards recommended – £239,365 up from £110,144 and up 117.3 per cent year on year;
• Total amount of decision awards issued – £351,212 up from £171,427, and up 104.9 per cent year on year;
• Average (early resolution) award per complaint upheld – £1,012;
• Decision awards complied with – 87 per cent, up from 78 per cent in 2020;
• Te reason that attracted the most complaints – Lettings: duty of care. Sales: marketing and advertising issues. Landlords: property maintenance issues;
• Te level of compliance with decisions increased from 78 per cent in 2020 to 87 per cent in 2021. Tis shows more PRS agents complied with decisions to the benefit of consumers; and
• Number of agencies expelled – 46 (45.7 per cent based in London). Sean Hooker, Head of Redress at the PRS says:
“Despite huge challenges in the property sector for agents of late, we should note that the number of complaints per agent has reduced considerably in net terms. A far greater number of sales and lettings were transacted in 2021 versus
Over 18,000 affordable houses lost in office-to-residential conversions
Te representative body of 350 councils in England and Wales is lobbying for permitted development rights to be removed to ensure all conversions and new developments contribute to the delivery of affordable homes across the country. Te LGA claims more than 18,000 affordable
houses have been lost as a result of office- to-residential conversions under permitted development. A total of 73,575 new houses have been converted from offices under permitted
development rights, where full planning permission is not required, since 2015. It also says that developments that go through
the planning system are subject to more stringent quality assurance, subsequently improving the overall quality of housing on offer, a key priority in the Levelling Up White Paper. Councillor David Renard, housing spokesperson
for the Local Government Association, said: “Tere is a need for more affordable housing across the country but regrettably premises such
8 | HMMJune/July 2022 |
www.housingmmonline.co.uk
2020 yet complaints made via the PRS rose by just 2.4 per cent. “I’m delighted that our membership numbers
have increased so substantially, taking our total membership to 16,272 and cementing us as the largest lettings redress scheme in the UK now. “It’s fair to say that customer service satisfaction
within the estate and lettings industry is also trending in a positive direction, with only a minute proportion of our members seeing complaints issued against them. On the 46 expulsions, he explained this
amounted to only 0.28 per cent of the membership. “Tat’s regrettable but also shows the property industry and its customers that our approach is one with teeth where needed.”
as offices, agricultural buildings, shops, restaurants and light industry can now be converted into houses without the need to provide any affordable homes. “Tis is why we would like to see the permitted
development rights removed. Giving planning powers back to councils will also support local ambitions to revive and reimagine high streets and town centres. “A local, plan-led system is crucial in delivering
on levelling up ambitions to ensure councils can deliver the right types of homes in the right places with appropriate infrastructure, ensuring a mix of high-quality affordable housing that meets the needs of local communities, while also giving those communities the opportunity to shape and define the area they live in.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
