Ombudsman calls for new law as complaints against letting agents soar

There were nearly double the number of complaints about letting agents compared with those about sales agents, the outgoing Property Ombudsman has revealed.

Christopher Hamer, who steps down from his role after nine years, has called for a Property Agents Act.

This would repeal the Estate Agents Act and bring letting agents into its remit.

It would also reflect changes in the market, including online-only agents, portals and ‘passive’ intermediaries.

Hamer said: “If the situation is allowed to drift then there will always be those firms (albeit in a minority) that will seek to take advantage of loopholes to the disadvantage of not only those consumers unlucky enough to deal with them, but of the industry as a whole.”

In the first six months of this year, 9,141 people contacted TPO with a complaint – up 8% on the same period last year.

More than half (58%) of all the inquiries received were to do with lettings.

Of the 5,303 complaints logged, 58% were to do with lettings and 30% with sales.

Of the 1,587 complaints that went to review, 934 were against letting agents (up 30%) and 596 were against sales agents (up 39%).

Hamer said of his call for new legislation: “A Property Agents Act would update the Estate Agents Act 1979 to reflect developments in the sales market, and most relevantly now, bring lettings into a precise framework where all agent activity is covered by one piece of legislation.”

He says licensing of agents, standardised tenancy agreements and compulsory client money protection could all be included in such an Act.

Hamer’s final report as ombudsman, covering the first half of this year, draws attention to the growth of both the industry and TPO.

As at June 30 it had 34,944 members, up 16% on the 30,128 at the same date in 2014.

All types of membership were up, apart from international members.

Sales agency offices stood at 14,452, including online-only agents; lettings offices stood at 13,419, including 253 online-only agents; commercial sales and lettings members were also up; and the number of buying agents had gone up from 433 to 619.

The number of property buying companies had risen from 37 to 99, and auction members from 254 to 275.

The incoming ombudsman, Katrine Sporle, who takes up her role on November 1, has already commented about the backlog of complaints.

Originally posted here.

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