About us

TPO is a not-for-profit independent company. Its unitary Board has 8 non-executive directors, including its independent Chair, Claire Bassett. The Board appoints the Ombudsman, sets the Terms of Reference for the scheme and has responsibility for raising sufficient funds for the administration and functioning of the scheme. The Board has no role in the discharge of the Ombudsman’s duties or decisions. An Independent Reviewer is appointed to review and respond to complaints from consumers or registered businesses about the level of service provided by the Ombudsman’s Office.

Independent Reviewers

Roseann Ayton has significant complaints and policy experience in a range of public interest organisations and those in the housing sector. She has recently spoken, by invitation, alongside the Housing Ombudsman at the Housing 2025 summit. Roseann designed the complaints process for train-operating companies and is currently a Board Member of a Housing Association. Her career also has a strong training and mentoring element; she has a number of qualifications and accreditations in personal development.

John Withington has a strong track record as a leader in quasi-public bodies. He led significant organisational change in the legal regulatory sector and helped set up the Independent Funeral Standards Organisation. John is the Waterways Ombudsman and is an associate Ombudsman with the Financial Ombudsman Service, so has substantial knowledge of Ombudsmanry and examining complaints.

• Service Complaints Process
• Independent Reviewer: Roles and Responsibilities

TPO is a government-approved scheme to provide independent redress in relation to disputes between consumers and businesses. Statistics and commentary for each of TPO’s approvals from the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Chartered Trading Standards Institute and the National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team, can be found in our Approval reports.

You can share your feedback with the organisations that approve us:

• The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) – for matters involving lettings and property management agents.
• The National Trading Standards Estate Agency Team (NTSEAT) – for matters involving estate agents.

Please note that MHCLG and NTSEAT cannot review or change any decisions we make, nor do they regulate us. Their role is to provide approval and engage in governance processes to ensure the conditions of that approval are being met. This includes performance monitoring to ensure we provide an appropriate standard of service to consumers. Your feedback will help these organisations understand customers’ experience of our service. However, please be aware that you may not receive a response tailored to your specific case.

As we operate independently from government, they cannot become involved in individual complaints or alter the outcome of your case, nor will they direct us to take a particular action in regard to an individual case. This includes decisions about whether your complaint has been upheld, the type and amount of any award you have been offered, and any compliance action taken against property agents, for example, if they do not comply with our decisions.

If you would like your case considered based on the service we have provided to you, please get in touch with us directly.

If we have already told you that we cannot take your complaint any further, you may wish to seek independent legal advice to understand how best your issues about the business can be resolved.

If you have not done so and would like to raise a complaint about a business registered with the Property Ombudsman, please get in touch with us directly.

TPO Scotland has been set up as a separate legal entity. The company’s sole aim is to work with Scottish bodies to produce and maintain specific TPO Codes of Practice for properties that fall under Scottish legislation. TPO Scotland has worked with representatives from organisations including the Scottish Government, Shelter, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Scottish Association of Landlords and Propertymark as well as industry representatives to produce Scotland-specific Codes of Practice.

The Ombudsman provides redress, where appropriate, to consumers whose complaints are considered on a case-by-case basis. The Ombudsman is not a regulator and does not have the authority to take regulatory or legal action against an agent, impose fines or dictate the way agents conduct their business, that is the role of Trading Standards.

Report a business to Trading Standards

TPO is a full member of the Ombudsman Association and has adopted the Association’s Service Standards Framework (which sets out best practice for ombudsmen schemes).  TPO has been validated by the Association as adhering to its principles of good governance for ombudsmen schemes (independence, transparency, accountability, integrity, clarity of purpose, effectiveness).

The Property Ombudsman is approved by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute under the Alternative Dispute Resolution for Consumer Disputes (Competent Authorities and Information) Regulations 2015. A list of schemes approved by CTSI can be found on the CTSI website.

TPO has 22 ADR officials, who are appointed on a permanent basis after a rigorous interview check.