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Ombudsman Services: Property
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GDB2222
Posts: 26,240 Forumite
I need to instruct estate agents, and I asked the front runners for their draft contract, which says:
Set out below are our standard Terms of Business issued in accordance with the Estate Agents Act 1979 and the Residential Estate Agency Code of Practice for the Ombudsman Services: Property.
Ombudsman Services: Property
We are members of this Ombudsman Scheme. You agree that we may disclose information relating to the sale of your property to The Ombudsman if you have registered a complaint. You also agree that we may disclose your contact details to The Ombudsman, if they ask for it, to assist in their monitoring of our compliance with the Code of Practice.
As far as I know, OS:P ceased to function 6 years ago. What is more, the estate agency is part of a firm of surveyors, and I am fairly sure they are actually regulated by the RICS.
They have quite a lot of good reviews on Google, and they have been around a long time. Am I right that their paperwork seems to be hopelessly muddled, and should I worry about that?
Set out below are our standard Terms of Business issued in accordance with the Estate Agents Act 1979 and the Residential Estate Agency Code of Practice for the Ombudsman Services: Property.
Ombudsman Services: Property
We are members of this Ombudsman Scheme. You agree that we may disclose information relating to the sale of your property to The Ombudsman if you have registered a complaint. You also agree that we may disclose your contact details to The Ombudsman, if they ask for it, to assist in their monitoring of our compliance with the Code of Practice.
As far as I know, OS:P ceased to function 6 years ago. What is more, the estate agency is part of a firm of surveyors, and I am fairly sure they are actually regulated by the RICS.
They have quite a lot of good reviews on Google, and they have been around a long time. Am I right that their paperwork seems to be hopelessly muddled, and should I worry about that?
No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
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Comments
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That's sloppy at best - anyone registered with OS:P had until 6 August 2018 to find another scheme or National Trading Standards were supposed to be chasing them.2
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There are two ombudsman schemes and estate /letting agents must sign up to one of them by law.It's unclear from your quote whether they are refering to one of these, but I suspect you are right - very out of date literature. Do they have a logo on their paperwork for the 'Ombudsman services: housing'?This is separate from the RICS scheme: regulation runs in parallel.
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There was a third, called Ombudsman Services: Property until 2018. Would seem odd for them to be referring to one of the two present schemes using exactly the name of the defunct one.propertyrental said:There are two ombudsman schemes and estate /letting agents must sign up to one of them by law.2 -
Does a firm regulated by RICS need to also be signed up with one of the two ombudsman schemes?
Well, I found them on the list of TPOS members, so they seem to have that sorted out. It’s extraordinary that there’s no mention of it on their website or their contract, though.No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?2 -
GDB2222 said:Does a firm regulated by RICS need to also be signed up with one of the two ombudsman schemes?my understanding is that yes, they need to sign up to one of the 2 ombudsman schemes.RICS is a separate issue.
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