North London Estate Agent expelled from The Property Ombudsman owing a landlord £1,820

Buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords in Winchmore Hill area of London (N21) are being warned that a local estate and letting agent Assetgrove Prime Sales & Lettings Ltd (trading as Assetgrove Prime) has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme owing a landlord £1,820.50. A landlord made a complaint to The Property Ombudsman after claiming that the agent failed to pass on the last month's rent and failed to compensate him for a new cooker which was missing at the end of the tenancy. The landlord was also dissatisfied that when he raised the issue with Assetgrove Prime, as the employee he had been dealing with stopped responding, the agent denied that the tenancy was anything to do with them and said it should be directed towards the employee who actually worked for another agency. The absence of an inventory meant the issue with the cooker was difficult to prove, however, it was clear that the landlord was owed 25 days rent. Despite the agent protesting that an employee of another agency was sharing their office and therefore only given a temporary email address, Assetgrove Prime’s actions in allowing this led to a Tenancy Agreement being entered into between the landlord and the agent, and a sub-tenancy between the agent and sub-tenants. As such, the Ombudsman was satisfied that the liability for any issues arising as result of the tenancy lay with the Assetgrove Prime. The Ombudsman made an award of £1,820.50, which included the rent owed and £300 compensation. Assetgrove Prime failed to pay the award and the Ombudsman referred the agent to the scheme’s independent Compliance Committee, which ruled the firm should be expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme. Assetgrove Prime is not currently registered with a redress scheme, which is a requirement of every sales and letting agent in order to trade legally.  Trading Standards have been informed of the expulsion. They also do no not appear to be a member of a Client Money Protection scheme, also a legal requirement, and do not have any professional memberships, but do appear to still be registered with Zoopla. Gerry Fitzjohn, Non-Executive Director and Chairman of TPO’s Finance Committee: “As a member of TPO, agents are obliged to comply with awards made by the Ombudsman, which Assetgrove Prime has failed to do. This is a warning to consumers as the company’s website http://assetgrove.co.uk still appears active, although this refers to different legal entity – Assetgrove Lettings Limited. It is not registered with either of the redress schemes and Trading standards have been informed. We would like to remind consumers to ensure they always use an agent which is a member of a redress scheme (The Property Ombudsman or The Property Redress Scheme) and holds Client Money Protection.” Every sales and lettings agent in England is required to register with a Government-approved redress scheme, which enables consumers to have their complaint reviewed independently in the event of a dispute arising that the consumer is unable to resolve with the agent directly. An agreement between the two Government-approved redress schemes (The Property Ombudsman and The Property Redress Scheme, means Assetgrove Prime will not be able to register for any form of redress until the award is paid. Redress registration is required for the agents to trade legally.