Ilford estate agent expelled from The Property Ombudsman owing a landlord £2,830

Buyers, sellers, tenants and landlords in Barkingside, Ilford, are being warned that a local estate and letting agent, Residential Asset Management Limited (trading as RAM), has been expelled from The Property Ombudsman (TPO) scheme owing a tenant £2,830. This means that the agent can no longer legally trade until the outstanding award is paid. A landlord complained to The Property Ombudsman, stating that Residential Asset Management Limited had failed to evict his tenants as instructed; that they had failed to protect the tenants’ deposit; failed to respond to his Subject Access Request (SAR) or complaints; that they gave the tenants his bank details without his consent and terminated the management agreement, without notice, whilst he was trying to evict the tenants. The Ombudsman supported all of the complaints as it was apparent there had been numerous failures by Residential Asset Management Limited in respect of the issues raised. The eviction was still ongoing and so the review made clear that if any additional issues occurred as a result of the agent's failure to have protected the deposit, or when the landlord tried to reclaim the deposit from the Deposit Protection Scheme after the eviction had taken place (as the landlord had repaid the deposit to the tenants to dissuade them from taking legal action regarding the deposit), then TPO would reconsider the complaint. The Ombudsman made an award of £750 compensation for the shortcomings identified and also directed Residential Asset Management Limited to refund the deposit of £1,730 (which the landlord had paid to the tenant). Residential Asset Management Limited 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. Residential Asset Management Limited (trading as RAM), is not currently registered with a redress scheme, which is a requirement of every sales and letting agent in order to trade legally*.   We are aware that a there is a separate registered legal entity now trading from the last known address, using the same trading name. Residential Asset Management Limited 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 Residential Asset Management Limited 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." 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 Residential Asset Management Limited 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.