Join the Scheme
Related Links:
1. Introduction from the Chairman of the Board (view)
2. Application Form (download)
3a. Consumer Guide - Sales and Buying (view)
3b. Consumer Guide - Landlord and Tenants (view)
4a. Code of Practice for Residential Sales (download)
4b. Code of Practice for Letting and Property Management Agents (download)
6. Guidance For In-House Complaints Handling (download)
7. Guidance For Member Agents – The OEA Process (view)
8. Guidelines For Dealing With Vulnerable Customers (view)
9a. Terms of Reference (view)
9b. Supplement to the Terms of Reference (view)
10. Annual Membership Fees 2007 (view)
General
1. The Ombudsman is only empowered to investigate complaints:
- Against Member Agencies.
- Made by individuals who are actual or potential Buyers or Sellers of residential property in the UK. Commercial and agricultural property are excluded.
- After the in-house complaints procedure of the Member Agency has been exhausted.
2. The Office provides a 'help-line' role to advise those contacting us with complaints about Non-member estate agencies and how best to pursue these. In so doing, it directs Complainants where appropriate to other Ombudsmen/Commissioners, Regulatory or Professional Organisations, Trading Standards Departments etc.
Outline Process
3. Provided that the above criteria have been met, the Complainant submits his/her Case to the Ombudsman's Office requesting a Formal Review.
4. This Office sends a Complaints Form (which includes a 'Waiver of Confidentiality') to the Complainant for completion, signature and return to this Office.
5. The completed Complaints Form is then sent to the Member Agency - who has three weeks to send his File(s) to this Office foe examination. This should be done under a submission letter explaining how he has dealt with the dispute and presenting his side of the case.
6. When the Company Files are received, the Case is allocated to a Case Officer (currently takes between 4-8 weeks) and then is reviewed by the Ombudsman himself. There are three possible outcomes to the Case Review:
- Finding for the Complainant.
- A Negotiated Solution
- Not Supporting the Complainant.
These are described more fully below.
7. The Ombudsman currently expects to reach his conclusion on most cases within two months of the signature of the Complaints Form.
Finding for the Complainant
8. In cases where the Ombudsman finds for the Complainant - ie he supports all or part of the complaint(s) made - a Proposed Decision and Award is drafted and sent to the Member Agency. The Member Agency is given two weeks to comment upon it or to make a Representation.
9. Any such Representation is taken into account and may or may not result in a change to the Case Review and the Ombudsman's decision. The Proposed Decision (original or revised) is then sent t the Complainant - who has the same opportunity to comment or make a Representation - but is allowed four weeks to do so.
10. In cases where a Complainant's Representation results an increase in the Award, the matter is again referred to the Member Agency before a Final Decision and Award is produced - and the Complainant now given two weeks to consider its acceptance.
11. This Award (which may be up to £25,000 - although the maximum awarded to date has been £17,948 and the majority of Awards are for less than £500) is binding upon the Member Agency.
12. The decision whether or not to accept the Award remains with the Complainant.
- He/she may choose to accept it in Full and Final settlement of their Complaint.
- Or he/she may, instead, elect to reject the Ombudsman's decision and the Award - and to pursue the Case through some other channel.
Negotiated Solution
13. Where (during the in-house Complaints Handling process) the Member Agency has made a Without Prejudice or Ex Gratia offer in settlement of the Complaint, two situations may arise.
14. The first is where the Complainant refuses the offer and refers the Case to this Office for formal Review. In such cases the likely outcome is confirmation that the Complainant has a Case and a judgement as to whether the amount of the offer is or is not appropriate. The result of the Ombudsman's judgement is then conveyed - first to the member Agency verbally and then to the Complainant - in much the same way as described in Paragraphs 8-12 above.
15. The second is where the Complainants (very occasionally) ask this Office whether we consider the offer to be fair. Where the Ombudsman has felt able to do so, and in the interests of a speedy resolution of the Complaint, he has chosen to use a format as follows:
'While not prepared to make a Formal Decision without having seen all the available evidence relating to your complaint, on the basis of what I have read, the offer made by the (Member Agency) appears to be not unreasonable'.
16. Should the Ombudsman consider any such offer to be on the low side, he contacts the Member Agency direct at Partner/Managing Director/Chief Executive level to seek an improved offer, which he can then put using a slightly amended format to the Complainant. The decision whether or not to accept the offer remains with the Complainant.
Not Supporting the Complaint
17. If, on studying the evidence placed before him, the Ombudsman is unable to support a complaint, he writes to the Complainant explaining why this is the case - concluding:
'I am therefore of the view that, without the production of significant new evidence to support your complaint against (Member Agency) it would be unfruitful for you to pursue it further through this Office. You are, of course free to do so by whatever other means you wish, without Prejudice from anything I have written'.
18. The Complainant then has the right to produce such evidence, which constitutes a Representation.
Representations
19. All Representations are considered and, where appropriate, the Ombudsman's assessment of the case in question amended to take account of a successful Representation.
20. If no Representation is received from a Complainant within four weeks, then the Member Agency is informed of the Ombudsman's finding and the case is closed. However, if the Complainant can convince the Ombudsman that there was a good reason for his failure to respond, very occasionally a case is reopened.
Commission and Court Proceedings
21. Following a sale, some Member Agencies retain their right to seek the recovery of their Commission Fee through the Courts - even when they are aware the Defendant intends to bring a complaint to the Ombudsman for formal Review. Although initially uneasy about the existence of this practice within an Ombudsman Scheme, the Ombudsman has seen enough evidence - of successful vendors pursuing their complaint through this Office and attempting to use the inevitable delay associated with an Ombudsman Scheme to help their personal cashflow - not to seek to modify this right of Member Agencies.
22. The Ombudsman advises Complainants facing such a situation -and who do not wish to go to Court - that they have the right to settle the outstanding account Without Prejudice, thus heading off any related summons and bringing the case back within the Ombudsman's Terms of Reference for Review.
The Courts
23. In a very small number of cases, the Ombudsman takes the position - as his Terms of Reference allows - that either the circumstances of the case or a complete disagreement on essential facts between the parties in dispute make that case better suited for resolution in a Court, where the key witnesses can be cross-examined under oath.