Reading estate agent expelled from The Property Ombudsman owing a landlord nearly £5000

Buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords in Reading, are being warned that a local estate and letting agent, Concept Lettings Ltd (trading as Concept Sales & Lettings), has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme owing a landlord £4,704.79. This means that the agent can no longer legally trade until the outstanding award is paid. A landlord, who instructed Concept Sales & Lettings on a Tenant Find Only basis, complained to TPO about referencing of a tenant and the tenant’s guarantor. The complaint was supported by the Ombudsman as the agent had not sought to verify the identification of the tenant’s guarantor which, had they done so, would have established that the signature on the form had been forged. The Ombudsman considered that the referencing in this case was reckless as there was simply not enough information to determine whether the tenant or the guarantor could afford to pay the rent and the results of the referencing provider's credit score checks could not reasonably be relied on as the reports lacked sufficient detail. The shortcomings in this case were severe; neither the tenant or the guarantor had been adequately referenced and there was no evidence that the landlord was aware of the significant risks involved when she accepted the tenant's tenancy application (i.e. she was not in a position to reach an informed decision as she had not been provided with the full facts). The Ombudsman concluded that this situation was entirely avoidable. Had the agent complied with their relevant responsibilities, it is very unlikely that the landlord would now be in this position. The complaint was supported and an award of £4,704.79 for the actual, proven financial losses the landlord had suffered as a direct consequence (court costs, rent arrears, legal costs etc) was made. Concept Sales & Lettings failed to pay the award and The Ombudsman referred the agent to the scheme’s independent Compliance Committee, which ruled it should be expelled from The Property Ombudsman scheme. Concept Sales & Lettings is not currently registered with a redress scheme, which is a requirement of every sales and letting agent in order to trade legally.   They also do no not appear to be a member of a Client Money Protection scheme, also a legal requirement, do not have any professional memberships or advertise on the any of the main property portals, Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket. Concept Sales & Lettings has been referred to Trading Standards. 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 Concept Sales & Lettings has failed to do. It appears that this agent is no longer trading, which is frustrating for those complainants who are owed outstanding monies.  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." *N.B. 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 Concept Sales & Lettings 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.