The Property Ombudsman Reviews 395

Having yesterday received a less than impressive phone call from the TPO telling us that they were not able to put forward a case in which our management company has failed to fix a roof that leaks like a sieve following the collapse due to water ingress of the ceiling 15 months ago we felt devastated. Having though just read all the reviews on yours and other sites it is clear that we should not be surprised. In short the TPO is not fit for purpose and this needs flagging up at the highest level. Utterly shameful!

Don’t bother they don’t listen or read your complaints Rubbish company
Then a reply weeks later saying can they help?
Read the complaint properly and get in touch with company I have complained about

What a complete waste of time. After waiting over four months for a Resolution Officer to be assigned to my complaint, the Officer spent 7 days investigating the complaint, and on the eighth day sent me a report about my complaint, despite never making any contact with me to discuss my complaint at any point, but only contacting the estate agent, getting their side of the story, taking their word for gospel with gathering any sort of evidence and declaring my case closed. Forgive me, but surely an investigation would involve communication with Complainant and Respondent, as well as gathering corroborating evidence from either side and possibly making a home visit to get a better understanding of a complaint if necessary. I appreciate the ombudsman is under staffed, and oversubscribed with the number of complaints made, which is why it takes over four months to assign a Resolution Officer to a case but what's the point of having an ombudsman if they aren't even bothered to carry out a thorough investigation?

They are more useless than the property management company you are raising a complaint about. If you are going to raise a complaint to them about a property management company expect to wait for over a year for a complaint advisor to be assigned and by that time your claim is void because of all the changes that have occurred due to their incompetence. Don't waste your time with TPO. The reviews here speak for themselves.

Just read down the list of reviews, I’ve had exactly the same experience as everyone else, not even a phone call to get all the information from me, they couldn’t care less and are on the estate agents side as they pay their wages, disgraceful and shameful, they need closing down.

After dealing with what looks like a deliberately painful process where you need a high level of computer literacy to be able to provide the requested evidence, we had to wait for over a year to get what by all means is an insulting compensation from a estate agency that not only did not deliver the bare minimum you could ask for, they lied, broke their contract and offered even more disrespectful solutions (things like, if you don’t have hot water, you can go to hospital for a shower) I am just annoyed I lost a year and had any faith in a rotten system from top to bottom.

I called them today again to ask for a response to a complaint I logged on December 2023. The person who answered the call as you would expect showed no empathy and was unable to provide a response, plus he sounded like a king. All I have been told is that they are an independent organization and are unable to provide a timeline or certainty regarding their appalling activity. Furthermore, their lack of manners is a huge concern and continue to allow their members to trade illegally simply because they are just another shady organization that the government allows to get away with. They don't care about anything and ignore the dramatic situations and risks they cause to others. They should only be prosecuted for their negligence and incompetence, they ignore emails even from Cllrs and MPs, SHAME ON THEM

Update on my case: case was reviewed a couple of weeks after I posted my experience on this page and we were awarded £200 for a loss of almost £6000. If you are expecting more than £200 compensation, dont waste your time lodging your complain with TPOS.

If I could give a negative review I would. The service is disgraceful. Why waste people's time when you know you can't deal with the complaints. I logged my conplain in October 2023, someone called once to discuss the issue and told me she would escalate it, I still haven't heard anything. I will be a year since i logged my complaints in october 2024! When I chased it up, I got an email saying that they were busy and I can take my complaints somewhere else. Very shameful service! I'm sure they will never reply! They need investigating. Don't even bother using them, waste of space they are.

This is a corrupt and incompetent organisation dealing with them is incredibly frustrating. An estate agent, representing the vendor, provided a broken or damaged inventory after the full purchase price was received. The handover was too late on a Friday evening to conduct a proper inspection. Additionally, keys were missing. The legal ombudsman holds the estate agent accountable, while the solicitor is unable to intervene due to the inability to conduct a physical inspection. Conversely, TPOS insists it is the solicitor's responsibility. It defies common sense that a seller would receive full payment without delivering what was promised in the contract, and yet, this so-called independent body fails to grasp this. The inventory, which includes essential items like the boiler, cooker, and keys, is exclusive to the house and was charged for in the inventory checklist. I plan to discuss this matter with my MP to seek clarity on the situation. TPOS seems to lack common sense in this issue.

Clowns at best! They will first try to reject your application so they don’t have to deal with it! When forced to, they will go through the motions while not bothering to read any of the complaints. They will make up claims that phone call conversations transpired between the Agent and the complainant and hence, arrive at a moronic conclusion, in favor of the Agent who funds their existence! The Estate agent will move on unscathed onto the next victim! Why do they exist at all? Joke of an organization!

Update..I do not know why they have responded as they have below. I have asked the Ombudsman to escalate my case several times and I get the same deceitful reply from them time after time! Is this response a feeble effort to try to show themselves in a better light? I have written to the member of the House of Lords to look into this corrupt and dishonest organization, and have it closed down! But this sham organization offers employment to many people. Hence, I believe they will be allowed to carry on with their disgraceful and dishonest rulings against the victims and allow the Estate Agents to thrive in scamming landlords like me. All the while posing as an honest impartial arbitrator! A wolf in sheep’s clothing!

They are corrupt, biased and need to be shut down. they act as damage control for property managers and they don't give a crap about tenants or tenants rights.

It took over a year for them to come to a decision, whereby I'd sent them a mountain of evidence against the property manager.

TPOS admitted they didn't have any evidence from the property manager in refute of me, but decided to take their word for it, and pay me out based on the properties 100% fabricated stories.

just to highlight how severe this is - my complaint was being in an overheating apartment that was c onsidered unfit to live in, and dangerous to human life. and TPOS provided me with £150 for the 'inconvience'

this company is disgusting absolutely needs investigating by a third party, and i will make sure they are. the reviews say it all, these people are corrupt and have the landlords and property managers interests at heart. infact they can pay out up to £20,000 and theit normal pay out is £200 - SAYS IT ALL DOESN'T IT

My mother had an issue with property management company that would not remove abandoned vehicle from residential car park since 2018. The management company would also refuse to respond to complaints.
We raised a complaint in the beginning of 2024, TPO had lost the case and could not recover it.
We raised another complaint with TPO.
TPO stated that they could not help as they cannot make the management company remove abandoned car. Begs a question - what is the purpose of TPO.
They also stated that the car was abandoned in 2018 and therefore they cannot get involved as it was over a year since the car was abandoned. Despite the fact that last communication with the management company was under a year ago. I asked TPO to repeat the statement and informed that the call was recorded. The TPO confirmed that indeed - they cannot resolve issues that went on for over a year.
P.S. I made the complaint against the management company public and eventually they removed the abandoned car.

Not fit for purpose. I sent in quite a serious complaint and they pretty much came out with stupid excuses not to process it. Waste of time.

I do not think they evaluate complaints objectively. They are more like members of estate agencies. They do not accept testimony of the people who were involved into the case and look away. This is very corrupted. after my complaint, I strongly believe they get financial benefits from other parties. I do not know how they can sleep when they go home and look at their children's faces.

Corrupt and fraudulent - take your complaint to court or cut your losses, I don’t even understand that is they really do

This organisation is totally on the side of estate agents. They have a code of conduct for agents (who sign up to it). If an agent does not comply with the code off conduct other than in a blatantly fraudulent way do not expect this ombudsman to help you or do anything at all.

Most reputable estate agents have a complaints procedure which leads finally to the ombudsman which is a dead-end or "return to go" if you like.

Our experience related to a fixed fee for selling a small property which equated to 12% of the selling price and this fee was hidden in the small print of their T's and C's rather than on the first - signature - page which simply said 3%.

This was lying by omission or at least unprofessional misconduct. We followed the complaint rules and got nowhere.

I should have checked the reviews before filing a complaint and wasting my time. Our case was a straightforward application of the law, but the Adjudicator, despite a review, was unable to apply the Code or Legislation, which TPO stated they could not apply. However, the same law gives them the right to operate. The most valuable market in the UK remains unregulated, with Estate Agents calling the shots and essentially dictating to the TPO how they want to operate. They have no teeth, no power, and no real usefulness! Additionally, when you ask to speak to someone, they won't engage, lack transparency, and refuse to be challenged.

My advice is don't bother

Sorry I forgot I'll write their response now
Hi Ray we're sorry that you haven't had a positive experience when using our services. Should you have any questions, concerns or specific feedback then please don't hesitate to contact us and we will be happy to help and welcome any feedback which will help us improve our service. Thank you

Very poor service and an inability to engage

TPO agreed it was okay for a letting agency to withhold detrimental information about a possible tenant from us, had the letting agency been open and honest about the tenant this info would have stopped the tenant securing the property. Tenant then does a runner leaving the property filthy and damaged after a two year tenancy, leaving items and rubbish in the house and garden. It was clear the inspections had not been undertaken thoroughly. The tenancy was marred by problems for the duration of the letting period both in the house and for my neighbour. TPO again find in favour of the letting agency saying inspections were carried out in accordance with TPO requirements. Unbelievable. TPO do not put themselves in the shoes of landlords, from the onset they believed instead the narrative of the letting agency. Two attempts trying to prove the letting agency negligent with TPO and both times TPO found in favour of the letting agency making assumptions (in favour of the letting agency) about the situation. Total waste of time TPO does not do what it has been set up to do. Am now wondering how this scenario would play out in front of a Judge as the letting agency were clearly at fault by withholding detrimental information about the potential tenant with us prior to this tenancy starting.

Remarkably, TPO make a wholly inept managing agent look reasonably competent!
Don't waste your time or believe the advertised TPO promises about how they will help you. They won't help you, they will only make the situation more painful, complicated and difficult.

Total scam biased towards the well protected business utter waste of time. Should be shut down. Absalutely pointless putting your trust in these people it's literally criminal.