The Property Ombudsman Reviews 402

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.

Update : the use of a generic reply is constant with TPO. The property ombudsman I have no idea what the whole point is if having a redress scheme. Filed a complaint last year and I'm still waiting to hear back. The agent continues to harass, manipulate and go against our contract simply because there's nothing to stop them. When TPO finally decide to act we'll get a written apology from the agent compared to 8 months of harassment.

It's an inconvenience for them to handle illegal activity for them. Explains why the estate agents breach the law as the Property Ombudsman don't care as it is a job not a service. Absolute ludicrous function. Ombudsman a check list for some compliance so they pick and choose easy stuff.

Does TPOS actually have any standards?

In my opinion, TPOS does not have any standards. If it did, FirstPort would not be a member.

1. FirstPort has a trustpilot rating of 2.0 out of 5, meaning it is POOR. This rating is based on 18.9k reviews.
2. There is a facebook group called "Firstport Residents Action Group". This group has over 10k members whose lives have negatively impacted by FP.
3. In late 2024 57 MPs (across the three leading UK political parties) wrote to the FirstPort CEO asking him to attend Parliament to answer questions.

I look forward to hearing your response.

I have had reason to refer to TPOS regarding a dispute with an estate agent in Liverpool.
I agree , the delay in response is frustrating , however, I kept in touch regularly and was always dealt with politely despite there being no definitive date for adjudication.
I have had notification today after 18 months that my complaint has been upheld and TPOS have dealt with the Estate agent and I have no fees to pay.
My experience of dealing with TPOS has been very positive, the estate agents failed to comply with the TPOS code of conduct and their behaviours were at times bullying and threatening using debt collection agencies and solicitors to threaten legal action.
I provided details of all communications to TPOS and have a positive result.
I would advise send TPOS as much evidence as possible and trust them to deal fairly with your issues,

My case was very well handled by someone who obviously had experience in their field and was able to advise on the wisest and most balanced course for my circumstances.
The advisor valued my opinion and was very sympathetic but was also diplomatic when explaining my options when what I wished to achieve was not possible.
The TPO has certain boundaries they have to adhere to. If you are willing to accept this (no matter how frustrating your case!) then you can trust them to assist you to get the best outcome possible.

Tried to seek some general advice from them
A few months ago.
Completely useless, the woman I spoke to was
Falling asleep on the phone.
When I asked if they knew of the agent I was concerned about, she refused to say.
I except it’s not possible to please everyone
But there reviews are appalling.

.
This is yet another organisation that needs to be closed down, and the quicker the better.
My advice to all is flood you local mp with your
Complaints as regards the ombudsman.

Mac

Sorry it’s really a complete waste of time to contact you any further.
Your reviews show a system that is very
Questionable in the way it works.
The only time that you do respond is
When your flaged up on Trustpilot.

Mc

So far so bad. I raised an issue with them and I'm still waiting for a response, 12 months later. I have politely requested an update on several occasions only to be repeatedly told that they are yet to pass the case to an adjudicator. I'm not confident that we will even get a response in the next 12 months. I cannot see any use in referring matters to this body. I suggest people take legal action instead and cut this useless organisation out of the equation.

Very helpful and informative service. Friendly and customer focused team. Although we did not have a positive outcome our assigned adjudicator was very professional and knowledgeable.

This is an honest review of our experience with TPO who we asked to escalate our complaint against Goodman & Lilley Estate Agents, Henleaze branch in Bristol. This matter relates to our aborted sale back in August 2023 where, in our view, Goodman & Lilley were negligent in advising us at any point that our proposed buyer had suddenly stopped all communication with the branch the moment his offer was accepted. He also failed to formally instruct his solicitor which again we were not made aware of until mid-October. This was a massive “red flag” in our opinion and yet they withheld this crucial information from us for 10 weeks, and instead bounced around their growing concerns just between themselves. We lost valuable time in relisting our property before the autumn/winter months set it and house prices dropped. After failing to get a satisfactory resolution with them, we submitted our complaint to TPO in June 2024. We were kept advised by TPO about the long delays we would likely be experiencing whilst they investigated what happened, due to their heavy workloads. However, we achieved a settlement by way of compensation from Goodman & Lilley on 17 December 2024. We would have liked a little more openness in terms of what TPO’s findings actually were (and whether they mirrored our own), rather than simply stating they “identified various shortcomings in their service” which was vague. However, all parties agreed that communication with us could have been better. We are happy with the outcome and it was reassuring that TPO upheld (elements) of our dispute. We are grateful we had DELISE GREGORY represent us, who helped us achieve financial compensation for the immense stress we suffered as a result of our dire experiences with this estate agent.

The worst receptionist I've ever encountered on a real estate agency. Whoever was on the shift 8th Jan at around 12:45 should be embarrassed with their costumer service, because none was provided.

... Whatever it is, whoever was on the phone for YOUR company wasn't good.

On going dispute with purple bricks about terrible service and overcharging fee adjudicator ruled in their favour of service but did not investigate overcharged fee lack of invoice or other evidence from purple bricks to send to me.
Stated that I could resolve fees for house sale with purple bricks when they was suppose to investigate this as part of my complaint .
I have emailed adjudicator about this .