What is better Property Redress Scheme or The Property Ombudsman?

BedOfRoses

I've been on this forum before, as I'm finally almost shot of my 1st useless estate agent who over valued by property. in fairness, I also believe many are waiting for the autumn budget, in the hope that the Gov will scrap stamp duty.

I'm now picking between 2 new agents. One is with Property Redress Scheme, the other The Property Ombudsman.

The PRS Agent has a clause which I don't think applies with a TPO agent....within their T&Cs they have defined what the term "introduced" means as follows;

"MINIMUM TERM

The agreement will be for a minimum period of 0 weeks from the date of this agreement.

SOLE SELLING RIGHTS The standard rate of sales commission should we be favoured with SOLE SELLING RIGHTS is tiered plus VAT 20% of the final contractual price, subject to a minimum commission of £XX plus VAT XX.

Should the property realise a higher or lower figure the commission payable will increase or decrease accordingly. You will liable to pay remuneration to us if unconditional contracts for the sale of the property are exchanged in the period during which we have sole selling rights, even if the purchaser was not found by us but by another agent or by any other person, including yourself, or if unconditional contracts for the sale of the property are exchanged after the expiry of the period during which we have sole selling rights but to a purchaser who was introduced to you during that period or with whom we had negotiations about your property during that period. Upon expiry of our SOLE SELLING RIGHTS period, unless we are instructed otherwise, we will continue on a SOLE SELLING RIGHTS basis until you notify us in writing giving fourteen days notice of your intentions to instruct other agents. In this instance our MULTIPLE AGENCY fee will apply.

JOINT SOLE AGENCY
A joint sole agency will apply if you appoint us and one other estate agent to market and sell your property. You will be liable to pay our fee in addition to any other costs or charges agreed, if, at any time, unconditional contracts for the sale of the property are exchanged:

(i)  A purchaser introduced by us during the period of joint sole agency or with whom we had negotiations about the property during that period.
(ii)  A purchaser who became aware of the property as a result of our marketing /advertising.

A fee payable may be shared between us and one other estate agent that you appoint (as agreed between us and the other estate agent) regardless of which estate agent introduces and/or negotiates with a purchaser."

Is this a really dodgey clause?

theartfullodger

I'm confused (probably my age..) but these schemes are LETTING agent redress schemes not selling agents.. see this very helpful link from the experts, Shelter....
https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/private_renting/letting_agent_redress_schemes

Did I misunderstand you please??

BedOfRoses

I understand they are both Estate Agent schemes, recognized by the government, to deal with any complaints regarding their estate agency services.

I believe that TPO have a code of conduct, so I just wondered if it was better than PRS?

The agency who's a member of PRS has this "introduction" clause which includes making "A purchaser who became aware of the property as a result of our marketing /advertising"

Whereas, TPO members don't define an "introduction" in this way - they regard an introduction as them having made a purchaser aware of a property, after conducting a physical viewing of the property with them.

theartfullodger

You may well be right: Strange Shelter refers to 

Letting agent redress schemes

eddddy

theartfullodger said:

You may well be right: Strange Shelter refers to 

Letting agent redress schemes

Just to clarify...

• The Property Ombudsman has redress schemes for Estate Agents and for Letting Agents

• The PRS has redress schemes for Estate Agents and For Letting Agents

The Shelter article is targeted at private renting tenants, so they correctly state that The Property Ombudsman and the PRS have redress schemes for letting agents.

@Feebs77 is asking a question about Estate Agents (who sell properties), so @Feebs77 correctly states that The Property Ombudsman and the PRS have redress schemes for estate agents.

So Shelter and @Feebs77 are both correct.

eddddy

Feebs77 said:

Is this a really dodgey clause?

In your first post - which aspects of the contract terms you posted do you feel is dodgy?

Are you considering having a joint agency? If not, obviously you can ignore that part of the contract.

Feebs77 said:

I believe that TPO have a code of conduct, so I just wondered if it was better than PRS?

The agency who's a member of PRS has this "introduction" clause which includes making "A purchaser who became aware of the property as a result of our marketing /advertising"

Whereas, TPO members don't define an "introduction" in this way - they regard an introduction as them having made a purchaser aware of a property, after conducting a physical viewing of the property with them.

I think I would share your concern.

TPO members are required to use the TPO definition of "Introduction".

So if a TPO member used a different definition of "Introduction" in their contract, and they sent you a bill accordingly, you could complain to TPO and probably get the bill cancelled. 

But if you didn't complain to TPO, and waited for the estate agent to take you to court - the court would probably rely on what the contract said. (The court isn't bound by TPO rules). So you're likely to lose.



The PRS don't appear to mandate a definition of "Introduction" - so they might allow the estate agent to use any definition of "introduced" that they want. So you might or might not win a similar complaint to the PRS.

(The PRS do say that estate agents must treat their clients fairly. So perhaps they would feel that this agent's definition of "Introduction" is unfair. Who knows?)

BedOfRoses

PRS doesn't have a Code of Conduct compared to TPO.

So I'm thinking you're more likely to get a better standard of service with a TPO registered office and less issues if you have to move on to another Agent.