The latest report from The Property Ombudsman* reveals that the biggest cause of people contacting and asking for help is still frustration with letting agents.

The Ombudsman Christopher Hamer says there were more than 110 people a week  asking for assistance with problems over property lettings during the period of  Q2 2009. Since the end of June last year, enquiries regarding lettings have gone up by 44% .

Mr. Hamer stresses in the introduction to his report that estate agents must take much greater care when explaining fee structures to clients and ensure that clients are aware of what they are signing up to.

‘My message to consumers in the lettings market is that they should only use agents who are covered by The Property Ombudsman scheme and are therefore following the standards in our Lettings Code of Practice.

Download the full report here (*pdf)

You can check if your letting agent is covered by The Property Ombudsman scheme HERE.

*The Property Ombudsman Scheme (www.tpos.co.uk) offers a free, independent, and impartial service to members of the public who are dissatisfied with the service provided by an estate agent who is a member of the scheme during the buying, selling, or letting of a residential property.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 14th, 2009 at 2:15 pm and is filed under Legal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.