Thursday, February 27, 2025
This guide provides some of the resources we use to make our decisions and some other organisations and resources which may be of use to you in circumstances where we have been unable to help.
At Property Redress, we are authorised by the Government to deal with consumer complaints which must relate to alleged act/s or omission/s by our member under the following criteria:
A1. Your rights have been affected or breached
A2. You have suffered a loss due to the member not acting in line with any code of practice they have signed up to
A3. You have suffered unfair treatment by the member; examples include:
- A3.1 Poor or incompetent service
- A3.2 Rudeness or discourtesy
- A3.3 A lack of clear explanation
- A3.4 Not completing a transaction efficiently or as reasonably expected
- A3.5 Avoidable delays in delivering agreed or expected service/s
In these situations, we will provide you with the reasons why and where possible, will point you towards organisations or resources to help you find the right information.
For more information on our authority and the type of complaints we can and cannot accept, please see our Terms of Reference and Conditions of Complaints in the key document section of our resources.
We do not have the authority to:
• deal with any breaches of the tenancy agreement by the tenant where the landlord is making the complaint. While a landlord may have/has losses, it is the tenant who is responsible for any breach of the tenancy agreement and the agent cannot be held responsible. In these circumstances, a landlord should contact the relevant government authorised tenancy deposit protection scheme or take independent legal advice, to make a claim for damages:
myd - https://www.mydeposits.co.uk
TDS - https://www.tenancydepositscheme.com
DPS - https://depositprotection.com
• assess any breach of data protection regulations by the agent. It more appropriate for this part of the complaint to be dealt with by the Information Commissioner’s Office https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint
• take regulatory or legal action against an agent, impose fines or dictate the way agents conduct their business This may be more appropriately dealt with by the local trading standards https://www.gov.uk/find local trading standards office, relevant codes of practice or taking independent legal advice
• deal with a complaint where no formal complaint raised with member see ‘The right way to make a complaint’ Property Redress resources here
• deal with a complaint that would be more appropriately dealt with elsewhere court, tribunal
• deal with a complaint if the complainant is not a consumer, e.g. a neighbour of the consumer local council, legal advice, environmental health https://www.gov.uk/findlocal-council
• lacks supporting evidence (the CAB would also be an option see below)
• alleges discrimination
• alleges criminal activity
• is asking for compensation over £25,000
Leasehold Advisory Service - https://www.lease advice.org/advice-guides
Redress for leasehold consumers - www.lease advice.org/wales-page on redress for leasehold matters
Shelter - https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice
Citizens Advice Bureau - https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing
Tenant Fees Act 2019 (TFA) - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2019/4/contents/enacted
……..and guidance - https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/922900/Tenant_Fees_Act_ Act_--_Tenant_Guidance.pdf
House in Multiple Occupation - https://www.gov.uk/private-renting/houses-in-multipleoccupation
Housing Ombudsman - https://www.housing ombudsman.org.uk/residents/make-a-complaint
Banning Order Offences under the Housing and Planning Act 2016 - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/banning-orders-for-landlord-and-propertyagents-under-the-housing-and-planning-act-2016
- Guidance for Lettings Professionals on Consumer Protection Law (2014) - consumer protection guidance for lettings industry
- Private Rented Sector Code of Practice (2015) - rics.private rented sector code 1st edition
- Tenant Fees Act 2019 - Tenant Fees Act
- Guidance on Property Sales - NTSEAT_guidance_on_property_sales_Apr19
- Service charge residential management Code and additional advice to landlords, leaseholders and agents - rics.code 3rd edition.2016
- Consumers Rights Act 2015
part 3/chapter 3 Duty of letting agents
- Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations
- Guidance of transparency of fees involving property sales
https://www.nationaltradingstandards.uk/site_assets/files/Guidance%20for%20EABSs.pdf
(although ‘sales’ is in the title, it also applies to lettings)
- First Tier Tribunal
https://www.gov.uk/courts tribunals/first tier-tribunal property chamber
- Action Fraud
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/
