Estate Agencies expelled by POS still able to deal with lettings

tbs624

Two Estate Agencies expelled by the Property Ombudsman Service, after failing to pay awards made against them, may apparently *still* be allowed to deal with Residential Lettings

See here for report.

Some of the complaints at the root of the awards are reported elsewhere to be related to fee charging and that one of the EA firms:

"failed to provide a copy of the tenancy agreement prior to occupation by the tenant; did not notify the landlord of key terms in the new tenancy agreement; showed a “destructive / unprofessional” attitude because another agent was instructed to sell the property; and omitted to meet complaints with appropriate response and failed to respond to phone calls and emails throughout the period 2005-2007." (Source: Estate Agent Today)

Gingernutmeg

I can see the wider issue here ... However, not wanting to sound cynical, but having dealt with the Ombudsman due to a problem with a letting agent I really can't see what difference their 'protection' makes. They are probably one of the most toothless, over-blown and useless organisations that I've ever had the misfortune to deal with, especially when it comes to lettings.

tbs624

I'd agree with you on the "toothless" bit. It's that air of respectability/semi-professionalism, as in "we are signed up to x, y, z scheme/code of practice" that makes everything sound reassuring & yet the reality is that none of it seems to do a great deal to prevent tenants (& LLs) getting shafted by some LAs.

Gingernutmeg

The issue I have with the OEA regarding lettings is that the OEA make it very, very clear that they do not deal with 'landlord issues'. The problem I've found is that bad LAs and bad LLs tend to go hand in hand, and the misbehaviour of a LA is often exacerbated when combined with a LL who simply isn't bothered - it can be very hard to separate the two, and I suspect this is the case in a lot of complaints about LAs. You've also got the issue that ultimately, it's the LL who is responsible for pretty much everything in a tenancy - a LA can misrepresent a property, fail to protect a deposit, bully and harrass a tenant, act totally unprofessionally and generally border on the criminal, and still the OEA seem to push it all back on to the LL so that they can say it's 'LL issues' and not have to deal with it. Sorry to sound cynical, but that was our experience.

I'm also very cynical of any kind of organisation like the OEA where the LAs have to pay to join. Ultimately I really don't believe that they're going to come down that heavily on their paying 'customers/members', and our experience bore this out ...