The Property Ombudsman Reviews 402

They should should shut down this whole unit and replace it with something else. It seems another toothless regulatory body which is similar to Ofwat with the addition of the fact that it is industry-funded so their impartiality is questionable. You know from the start that they dont want to investigate your case, they will say there is not enough evidence and rather than ask you supplement- they will ask you to resubmit the whole thing- presumably they have some sort of targets and by asking you to resubmit, it works in their favour. Provided a whole bunch of evidence to one 'Mr CT' and what he arranged was a £25 goodwill gesture from the agent. Meanwhile I was thousands of pounds down due to wrong information being told to me by the agent. They didnt even ask the agent to give a written response to my complaint- which is contravention of statutory customer service legislation. I would seriously not waste your time with these people. Either forget about it, or if your case is strong enough, go the legal route.

I wish I'd read these reviews before I went down the route of contacting TPO. Just had a reply - sent 28 pages of indisputable evidence and they have ruled in favour of the estate agent, ignoring every piece of evidence submitted. I have been told as they are now not supporting the claim, they don't need to take into account that the person accused of wrong doing actually carried out the investigation on themself. The TPO have actually REFUSED to let me submit the evidence that the agent illegally deleted and altered entries on a SAR report which formed the key evidence to my case. They have asked for my comments on their "proposed" decision and to let them know if there is any new evidence - perhaps I am missing something here, but if they won't accept the existing evidence and make a ruling when the know the agents investigation and therefore response is not impartial - what is the point? As some reviewers have pointed out, the TPO announced they were about to decide on the case at the start without giving me an opportunity to submit evidence, so in my opinion they had already decided the case before it even started. I think WHICH consumer magazine needs to know about this. Can I advise anyone that has been treated in the same way to raise a complaint with Trading Standards - if enough people file a complaint, the TPO will have to be looked into. It may also be worth contacting Watchdog. Good luck everyone.

Took an age to get any response, finally went to solicitor to take agent to court. The agent had underpaid me rent and had tenants money as well. He refused to do reply to me or my accountant who had checked the figures before i confronted him.I found out I had insurance to take the agent to court, but this didn't cover my tenants, 2 of whom were vulnerable adults with learning difficulties, he owed them £2,500 between them. I sent them all the proof of the previous agent paying into their account but when I finally got a response from the property ombudsman, the name itself is a joke, they told me it was over the time limit for them to do anything, even though I'd sent numerous emails with evidence of their wrongdoing. I'm now looking at other ways I can get my tenants money back. Absolute joke!!

Pitiful organisation - was sold a house in which the previous occupant committed suicide and took my complaint to this bunch of clowns. They arrived at a decision WITHOUT seeking evidence from me - I awaited 7 months for a response, assuming from these reviews they were just clueless, only to discover that they had viewed my case without seeking the evidence that I has and was awaiting to provide

Raised a case with them in 2023, finally got a decision two years later. They rejected my case despite clear and supporting evidence against the agent. Asked them to review the decision and they awarded peanuts. Then the agent didn’t pay the award and the Ombudsman won’t do anything about it when the award is meant to be binding. Their response times are ridiculously slow and they are clearly biased towards agents yet they call themselves independent!!! Don’t bother with these guys - they are a disgrace! I believe they want people to give them bad reviews to deter people from using them and make their life easier. Far from fair and independent from a consumer perspective! I had to raise a complaint due to their poor handling of the matter and still waiting despite them saying they would respond by a certain date.

I’d leave no stars but unfortunately that’s not possible.
An absolute horrible, obstructive and grossly bias organisation. Clearly set up to protect corrupt Property Management companies.
Apathetic to serious concerns both health/otherwise and unsurprisingly they are not gouverned do essentially ‘mark their own home work’ when you complain.
A grim set up in desperate need of scrutiny and reform.
Slow,obstructive, pride themselves on being as unhelpful as possible, ignoring unethical possibly boardering on the wrong side of legal actions of corrupt management companies, shrug their shoulders about serious issues whilst also trying to absolve themselves of any responsibility.

I spoke to Liz today about an issue with my estate agent in the initial enquiries team. Very calm and patience, lots of information and recommended agencies I can contact for help. Really nice to know there is someone there to help tenants in a difficult situation.

After 18 month wait I have been given a report from them with two different outcomes. One with a refund of admin fee the other without. They lost my file and made me go back to the bottom of the list. The second investigation awarded me nothing. The whole thing investigated and written with my name incorrect. When I asked about that they’re not interested. My opinion is that they allow estate agents to rip us off and get away with it. Having read all the other negative reviews I totally agree. It’s worse than incompetent

Ps. Note reply from the property ombudsman. I don’t need help with the outcome as it is completely invalid and a false unreliable outcome. It was investigated and written with the wrong legal name. Poor shoddy service. Don’t bother submitting a notification they don’t care what your name is the investigate blindly !

We had a frustrating wait of about 7 months, but once the case was allocated, our experience was positive. Sarah paid attention to the details of our complaint, answered our questions, and represented our views to the letting agent - all promptly. Although the compensation we received was less than we'd hoped, Sarah took the trouble to explain this (burden of proof regarding the letting agent's apparent negligence in relation to damage from a roof leak) and discuss the different elements of compensation that could be awarded. After going through a traumatic experience with our letting agent, we felt heard and supported by TPO. We would have given 5 stars but for the initial delay.

The case was handled incompetently and without impartiality. The adjudication manager ignored the core issues, failed to review the documents thoroughly, and sided with the letting agents without proper investigation. They didn’t understand the difference between a Guaranteed Rent Agreement and a standard Tenancy Agreement, nor did they attempt to contact me for clarification. The process was delayed for over a year, and a payment the letting agents had agreed to was later cancelled—unfairly citing time limits, despite the delay being caused entirely by their own process.

Most concerning of all, after delivering an unfair and poorly reasoned outcome, the adjudication manager stated that all further emails from me would be ignored.

Great service, had I not contacted the ombudsman I would never have got my refund from the estate agent. Particular thanks to Karen for making the process easy

Really poor experience. They are set up by the property industry to create the appearance of accountability and offer the potential for redress whilst in fact making zero contribution on either front.
First it is incredibly hard to have a complaint accepted in the first place, there are so many hurdles to jump. Then you have to wait up to a year. Finally, without seeking to fully understand the complaint, ask for further information to support it or, still less, offer any assistance in the face of incompetence and unreasonable behaviour by the property company, they decline to adjudicate on the complaint.
They really are a complete waste of time - but that is exactly what the industry wants.
The government should now set up an independent service at the cost of the industry - judging by my experience and that of other reviewers, self regulation clearly isn’t working.

Summary: TPO claim to be independent. However their costs are paid for by their members (Estate Agents), based on guidelines and rules set by their members (Estate Agents) who they are meant to adjudicate. Independent? Possibly. Impartial? Absolutely not! If you are a tenant, you have a chance of having the TPO listen to you. But if you are a landlord (read the reviews others have left!) you have next to zero chance. Don't waste your time with the T.P.O.

Your Move had treated me horribly with hidden fees and terrible service. They were going to charge me close to £2000 to leave, even though the property was out of lease. So I complained to the TPO. I waited approximately ten months for my case to be assigned. I understand they were inundated with complaints, and this is outside their control (I accept that). A year later, I received my adjudication which I can only describe as completely one-sided and in favour of the real estate agent. I had to wonder if my emails and corroborating evidence were even read ... as one by one all of my complaints was declared "non supported." I work in finance and law, so for my complaint to be swept aside ... well I'd hate to think what chance a lay person has.

As an experiment, I decided to appeal to see what would happen. Without any further contact, I received a formal email repeating, "I therefore reject this ground of appeal" several times. The one shining light was that by this time, the tenant had left, and I was able to leave Your Move without charge.

There are a shocking number of one star reviews of T.P.O. that I wish I had read prior to lodging my complaint. Don't waste your time with The Property Ombudsman. They need to be replaced by a truly independent Government body.

I found the level of incompetence at a level that I have seldom found anywhere. A total lack of comprehension of the process time line, or contractual liability. When I was finally able to speak to someone I was told that I had been rude despite her admitting that they got it totally wrong. Really do not bother.

the company is not interested and the way the whole procedure for complaints against agents is a farce -
do not waste your time and effort. they are paid by agents and their associates so obviously they are on their side.

this ombudsman should be completely independent which they are not

Professional and efficient process, grateful to Hannah and her help!

This place is a rats nest head to toe.

Another UK Ombudsman thats not fit for purpose.

Do yourself a favour and take your matter to small claims court its cheap and takes a month or two to mediation on average.

These incompetent passive agressive cretins will waste at least 6 months of your life.

Elinor Iles as an adjudicator has been a tremendous support in a difficult case. She has taken the time to thoroughly investigate the evidence and ruled in my favour with housing law on her and my side. I thank you Elinor for your expert care regarding this matter.

Utterly horrified! When I first contacted them, they said don't wait, send us your complaint in as soon as possible which they then accepted! What followed was zip! First the gargantuan wait time. 13 months! Then, they just write your complaint off in a single email, blatantly ignoring their duty of care to the complainant, ignoring evidence, completely ignoring their own powers and show zero interest in the complainant with a complete lack of impartiality, making rude statements and don't even bother at any point to speak to the complainant in person. Despite being asked to actually speak on the phone to the complainant on multiple occasions they just ignored the request! Seems very odd to me. Why would you not want to discuss with the complainant? In short I have come to the conclusion based on how I have been treated- They are actively enabling terrible and unprofessional behaviour from agencies and agents! Enabling people to behave in all sorts of aggressive and actually illegal ways without enforcing accountability or enforcing best practice. They don't even offer so much as compensation for the complainant which is totally deserved despite not having asked for it! They are as culpable as the agents themselves in my opinion and clearly it's shared given the volume of complainants making a complaint about this service provider! This service is meant to support complainants!!! Not actively enable corrupt, aggressive, greedy, agents and their agencies! Regulation of the property industry is not only NEEDED- it MUST be enforced by the government and include this so called Ombudsman service. Clearly the Ombudsman has a large volume of improvements to make, judging from the huge amount of really bad reviews! I'm still waiting to hear from the person in charge! My case should still be open, as I have till the 16th to submit questions! Which I have done and they have not been answered adequately! Yet once again I received an email from the adjudicator as of the 10th June saying the case had been closed. This is not acceptable. I have not said I am satisfied nor has my window to question what I have received re "the fob off emails" closed. So I'd like to speak to the person in charge! If you don't mind. Thank you!

Pointless. There to review service and then say they couldn't know what would have happened if it had been looked at differently. Also took 7 months to even respond.