The Property Ombudsman Reviews 393

TPOS says they are impartial but it’s the complete opposite as they are funded by the estate agents. They are a toothless tiger who will not bite off the hand that feeds them. They don’t read complaints properly and when you challenge them on that, they gaslight you. It has been a horrendous experience similar to the abusive behaviour from the estate agents. No wonder estate agents freely recommend them. They know TPOS is on their side rather than that of the consumer. The whole industry needs an overhaul. TPOS is not interested. Jobs for life for doing nothing except being seen to take a look at your complaint and then say you don’t have a case. If you have an issue with an estate agent, it’s better to use the small claims process. The fewer people who support the estate agents’ lackey will mean proper redress systems will have to be implemented. They are obnoxious and a complete waste of time.

My family member complained to them about the service received from their letting management company (who took over the letting company they had been with). TPO didn't read the info provided properly and sided with the company (no surprise there when the agent has to pay to be signed up to them I suppose). Frustrating waste of time for us and we thought we had a good case.

My managing agent FirstPort completely ignored my formal complaint so, as per both their website and the Property Ombudsman website I should go to The Property Ombidsman for the agents failure to follow the code. So I did that. In August TPO accepted it was in their scope. I waited since August and now they’re trying say they’re not going to deal with it! This is even contrary to their own stated purpose!

Terrible. They refuse to accept even clear cut evidence and that state they delete everything under GDPR but really to avoid any ability to audit and hold them to account. Totally useless.

Not independent or neutral in any way. Always side with the agent. After all the agents fund them so there is no incentive to be neutral and independent. Be warned.

What a waste of time. Allow estate agents (Naylor Powell Gloucester Docks) to operate unprofessionally and haphazardly! As long as the estate agent makes a reasonable offer they accept. I guess 85% of people giving bad reviews shows exactly who the ombudsman favour! Numbers don’t lie. Also ombudsman do not reply to this message with the usual reply like you are here to help!

We lost £5000 leaving a reservation fee through Andrew Grant. The Property Ombudsman wasn’t interested at all as their very existence is funded by the agents themselves. Reservation fees should not be allowed and are totally unregulated; other people have now complained about Andrew Grant for unfairly retaining reservation fees. This is tantamount to theft with a capital t; how many more people will have to lose thousands of pounds before the The Property Ombudsman actually intervenes. Worcestershire County Court will soon have a fair few cases regarding the agent unfairly keeping people’s money; Andrew Grant are now asking for 0.5% upto £800,000 and 1% over £800,000 so this is a huge amount of money for people to potentially lose. The Property Ombudsman needs to start looking into this properly.

The most unethical company along with estate agents.
The Property Ombudsman delayed our case by 1.5 years just to tell me that it is okay for the estate agents to cheat and scam me.
The government should scrap such an organization which is indirectly financed by the landlords.

This is a ridiculous service not worthy of even one star. As a freehold home owner experiencing the poorest of managing agent behaviours, i.e. a complex but proven lie allegedly supported by legal evidence that was a complete fabrication, TPO was unable to adjudicate as this sort of behaviour fell outside of their remit … and took a year to decide this outcome! A lie coming from a professional body is a big thing and all we ever wanted was for that managing agent, JM /Encore Estates, to be held accountable by a body that might matter to them. My advice to any freeholder on an estate where the managing agent is less than professional … don’t bother going to TPO. It delays any real progress and ultimately protects the agent. Meanwhile, I’ll be writing to my MP to demand why this toothless TPO service is government backed.

I would not rely on the Property Ombudsman service. I am a landlord and had two complaints about an agent. The Ombudsman has taken a year to dismiss one complaint and to ask me for more information concerning the other. I cannot see how the Ombudsman can deal with any complaints when they take an excessively long period to process them.

I have been waiting for them to take action for almost a year. I had a terrible experience with an agent called Abel Estates. If the Ombudsman doesn't do anything agents can get away with anything.

Regarding the response to my review, I did email at the address you give but haven't heard back.

Update: I have now heard back. I wasn't expecting a good response but I wasn't expecting total nonsense either. This company is a disgrace. The estate agent accepted an offer without my consent, then took my house off the market without informing me. I asked them to put it back on and they refused so I had no choice but to go along with the agent they chose for me. Then the buyer didn't get a mortgage so I lost loads of time for nothing.
Also, earlier, I was suspicious about the fact that I was hardly getting any viewings and asked my aunt to pretend to be a prospective buyer and try to make an appointment. She wasn't able to. Loads of other things went wrong as well. I was awarded £100 by the Ombudsman. Morag Clyne was the 'adjudicator'.

Never listen to tenants, never look at tenants' evidence. Just stands on agents' side even it is obviously treating and wrong did by agents. They just ignored all the truth. It's just like they are agent's mother, they always stand on their sides. Wasting tenants' time to seek justy from the property ombudsman.

13 month wait for a decision on conduct of IAmSold, 56 days to completion becoming a staggering 145 days to completion. Outcome? A £150 gesture. IAmSold must be absolutely delighted.
We now realise that the age ts pay for the Property Ombudman service so this really is a case of the agents marking g their own homework.
Disgraceful way to handle genuine claims.

After trying to use this service regarding a complaint, I would strongly suggest not to attempt using this toothless and completely inept trade association which clearly seems to act on behalf of its paying membership and not the public. After several months I discovered they completely ignored my complaint and never even investigated it. No evidence of member compliance, service or willingness to engage with complainants to name but a few. Shoddy and tardy service. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME ON THIS UNPROFESSIONAL OUTFITT.

Every single week on Trustpilot features a complaint about Purplebricks Many complainants seemingly unaware that they can escalate their case to The Property Ombudsman for review .Yet certainly many do arrive at your door
What is apparent is that your minor awards have had no effect on changing Purplebricks behaviour
You have the ability to make substantial awards to act as a deterrent but choose not to.
Letting the public down badly
Classic response from the TPO They clearly haven't read my Review . Seeta a Purplebricks T/P reviewer yesterday where its clear the complainant has no knowledge that they can escalate it to the TPO .
Shameful

A complete waste of time a truly diabolical organization
If you are a tenant experiencing difficulty please write to your MP and ask for this organization to be removed and replaced by a truly impartial and independent organization that will help tenants
If you are experiencing serious issues such as disrepair avoid this organization and take the matter straight to court
These people took 15 months ignoring my complaint and then simply refused to investigate it even though the agent broke the law and was guilty of malpractice this organization does everything it can to defend the estate agents as they are the ones who fund them

Utterly useless. They place obstacles at every stage of the process to block complaints about their members, some of whom are obviously crooked operators as described here:

We had a property management company who still will not transfer any of our reserve fund to our new agent allowing them to pay our contractors. They did not take out building insurance in 2022 and 2024 and allowed our company to be dissolved on Companies House in 2024. So we got rid of them.

TPO will not accept our complaint because we haven’t used the agents formal complaint process. Well they don’t have one! Also we haven’t provided a final communication from the agent but all they do is email us to say it’s being dealt with without giving a transfer completion date.

This agent cannot even provide evidence that they are registered on a government client money protection body. This is illegal but the TPO still allows them to be listed on their membership. Unbelievable!

………So, like everyone else here, I get the automatic response from their bot which only supports the claim that TPO is not fit for purpose. Needs to be shut down.

We paid for a ‘premium package’ with what we now realise to be a complete cowboy estate agent. Viewings were being cancelled by the estate agent just because prospective buyers properties weren’t on the market, an offer we received was never put in writing, everything was taking months, could never get hold of them and then our estate agent passed away and we were told that we would have a new estate agent an hour away who said themselves they wouldn’t be able to do anything for us. So that then meant viewings became our responsibility, despite paying for all viewings to be covered by them. Apparently it’s not the estate agents problem to take the hit on the service they could no longer provide (how unreasonable of us to expect the estate agent to do viewings??!! Is there another part of the job??!!) but we were offered a measly £200 off a total £2500. We took this to the property ombudsman but as expected, they side with the people that pay the bills so we will be receiving an embarrassing amount of £300 off. Nice little gig for the estate agent making huge profits out of mugging people off, well done, what a great business model that is.
Oh and we listed with a reputable estate agent who sold our home in two weeks!
Also find it shocking that due to a disability, it wasn’t suitable for me to complete viewings, apparently that doesn’t matter though.
I also expect that my honest review will be removed fairly quickly since I’m telling the truth.

As a member agent, receiving an email from TPOS can be something of a worry; however the review (on our website / compliance) carried out by Daniel was professional, supportive and (most importantly) demonstrated that their purpose was to help us, as members, remain up to date and fully compliant - thank you!

They did nothing, just read the lies in the letter from the estate agents and didn't allow me to send the evidence that disproved this.