The Property Ombudsman Reviews 

We spent over 9 months of our time complaining about a surveyor that had completed a survey on a property we purchased. (Level 3 survey the most in depth one)
The building surveyor missed in excess of 30 issues with the property which we provided the TPO with documentary and pictorial proof of. After having to chase the TPO for 9 months, their decision was that there were NO faults what so ever in the survey. E.g. A clearly bulging wall which was described as being true by the surveyor was not seen as a fault by the TPO, nor was a clearly split MAIN roof support beam which was missed, seen as a problem! (we could go on and on) A sham organisation that can't even keep to its own timescales that gives the impression of being "independent" but is clearly not. We will be going legal with the appalling surveyor (We estimate they have cost us north of £40000) and we will also be considering legal action against the TPO themselves. Furthermore we will be forwarding details to our MP.
UPDATE:- Following the (below) request for further information about our case we provided this 7 days ago. Guess what!! Yep you guessed it zero response. What a surprise. We are now instructing solicitors.
6 weeks later still no update. You be the judge! Further further update. So after nearly 3 months later still NO response. We are now in the process of instructing solicitors.

It looks like TPOS are a useless organisation whose objectivity is hindered by their being funded by the real estate agents.

I've had a dreadful experience with one of their agents and after waiting 6 months, the adjudicator rushed to a decision without even having reviewed all the evidence. My advice to all investors: do not invest in property in the UK, the industry is full of cowboys and unfortunately organisations such as TPOS who seemingly cover for them.

Save your hard earned capital for another market.

SHOCKING SERVICE- they fail to accept or acknowledge legitimate information, and chose to stand behind a decision which is factually incorrect. It has taken almost a year to try to get a resolution to an issue, and they have failed to even communicate with me, other than now, saying that they have closed their file. I have told them that their assumption is wrong, and that the estate agent spent money they did not have approval from me to do, and they are ignoring this. There is no right to appeal their decision, and if you want to complain about them the rules prevent such miscarriage being overturned. This is an organisation that serves no purpose whatsoever and there needs to be one created that does.

This Ombudsman are not for real. It is a waste of time to write to them. They are backed by their financial supporters - their members and they always side with them.
The property market is broken by rogue letting agents supported by TPO.
The present letting agents took over from another letting agent and lost the key fob for the car park. Despite getting in writing from their employer that the key fob was handed to them, TPO would not do anything to replace it. Additionally, the property was left in a mess by the tenant and letting agents would not entertain because I did not renew with them. TPO did not do anything about it despite all the evidences in the inventory. This organisation should be closed down permanently. The government should intervene a form a new regulator before the property market collapses by rogue letting agents such as Northwood Letting agents.

Totally useless service, pointless even trying to communicate with them. They serve no purpose what so ever.

Still waiting after many many months for my case to even be looked at. I opened a case in Nov 2023 but sadly am yet to receive any outcome other than an email to say the issue could not be resolved by early resolution. As far as I’m aware it still hasn’t assigned an agent. In the meantime the estate agent I have raised the issue about continues to request that the matter is resolved. I live in the hope that at some point this will happen, but am sadly coming to the conclusion that the ombudsman has no intention of ever looking at the case.

Logged in two complaints way back in October 2023. told they have a high number of complaints will take five months. Now 7 months down the line, despite them sending emails with deadlines, nothing ever happens. They are allegedly so busy doing nothing ie covering for the companies that pay them that they are as independent as fish in the ocean.
No evidence provided they are overwhelmed and if they are how come more than one letting agent isn't expelled from their scheme at least weekly, so they are an actual threat, not a paid for 'adjudicator'?

You only have to read the reviews to make an informed decision not to use this organisation.
Cannot believe they still exist. There should be a completely independent firm to act for individuals and where there is not better to seek information from a solicitor who will inform you whether you have a case or not. Don't waste a year on this organisation they work in favour of the people you are complaining about.
You have all the details of my case you have full access.
My personal experience is not to use your services, wasted more than a year to be told there is no CCTV to provide evidence. Took a full year, what a joke!!!!!!

If you think they can help, you are wrong, you are just wasting your time.

From their e-mail response " I would begin my making you aware that, unfortunately, the property industry in the UK is largely unregulated. We are not a regulator and do not have the authority to take regulatory or legal action against an agent. This means that we cannot impose fines or dictate the wat in which an agent conducts their business."

Summary, Landlrods and agents can do whatever they want.

We approached the Property Ombudsman after we received (what we believed) to be poor customer service from Gascoigne Pees lettings Camberley Branch (Countrywide Group).
We found the Property Ombudsman website informative clear and concise the steps/information required in order for our complaint to be submitted and subsequently viewed upon independently.
Whilst it does take time we were kept fully informed and updated at each stage. For us it concluded with the Adjudicator Mr Alan Bowers providing us & the agent with a detailed report. Mr. Bowers was diligent and fair minded, findings were made against Gascoigne Pees Camberley branch lettings and an award was directed to us accordingly.
We have no hesitation in recommending The Property Ombudsman & would like to take this opportunity of thanking all involved in our case/Mr Alan Bowers.

If I could rate no star I would.

Please do not waste your time on the property ombudsman.

Absolute useless service.

I got a defined answer five months of raising a valid complaint where the outcome was basically that there is nothing that they can do to help resolve the complaint.

From the low rating in general it's obvious to not use them.

Absolutely disgraceful .
Few days in their language means several months .
After nearly a year of looking into a complaint it is yet to be understood. Extremely disappointing.

I have had an ongoing complaint with "purplebricks" for over a year, with regards to their fees,and the fact that they operate in a very villainous manner.
Although it took a year from the initial contact made with the property ombudsman for a resolution... I am over the moon to say that they agreed with my complaint, upheld it, and as a result had £1300 worth of fees removed.
I should never have even had this debt in the first place and would urge no body to use purplebricks to begin with... But I am very thankful to Karen Radford from the property ombudsman for her help.

The case/complaint, 5065 was closed without understanding the issue or asking for more information. Wasted time to fill out their useless complaint form, and they closed the case without our Consent
Edit: How to contact you, your all mails including given are unresponsive

Absolutely useless service. They are dealing with my case for over 8 months time and I do not feel they have actually done anything about it. It is a joke! They are waste of time and lost hopes! They should not exist if they are not fit for purpose! Waste ofbtax payers money!
Updated after response from TPOS 02.05.2024 asking me to contact them when they never reply to their emails.
Automated message says they reply within 5 days and they never reply!
The government should ban them from operating when they do not follow their own polices!

Waste of time. Borderline corruption. Supposed to judge the members that pay them. Clear conflict of interest. After almost a year of back and forth, the company I was going against were found to be guilty by TPO of failings that resulted in thousands of pounds to fix from our end. What did TPO attempt to award us as compensation? Less than 100 pounds. Naturally, I told them they are useless and the amount was pitiful.

Private company funded by subscriptions from property management companies etc, ie the very people you're complaining to them about.

On my very first complaint they admitted they can't direct companies to deal with complaints. At best, they get you a bit of compensation for your time/inconvenience. The compensation may or may not mean much to you, but it definitely doesn't hurt the company being 'penalised' - it's peanuts to them.

So I've complained a number of times and got a number of payouts. I hoped the property management company would start to feel the pain. My approach was basically "another 8 weeks has gone by when this company has not dealt with my complaints." But now they've decided that as I've already complained about the company not dealing with complaints and received a 'resolution' (aka pathetic payout), I can't complain about the company not dealing with complaints anymore!!!

As other reviewers have said, they are also constantly overwhelmed. It took them 24 weeks to pick up one of my complaints, only after me chasing them many times. Their business model is aimed at providing a cheap membership to bad actors like themselves, not at supporting people stuck in poorly-managed estates.

TPOS also changed their online complaints process in late 2023, as the old process gave complainants too much space to set out their complaints. Now you have to attach a single evidence file with a very low size limit, and even when your file is well below that limit it tells you it is too big. They don't want complaints, they just want to collect their fee and have a quiet life.

Unfortunately, if you're looking to complain about TPOS, you'll find they are members of an association that has no care about what its members are doing. I think that's where TPOS got the idea from.

I don’t understand how this place is still operating. I filed a complaint and my complaint was lost. They are now unable to retrieve my most recent complaint. The customer service is shocking, the lack of communication through out the process is shocking. I truly am wondering WHY it’s obligatory to be signed up with the ombudsman if you’re an agent if they don’t do anything to help. It’s a laughing stock. Avoid like the plague. If you have an issue you’re far better off trying to resolve it yourself. This place should be shut down and by the looks of it a hell of a lot people on here seem to think so too!!

TPO are appearing to be incompetent in dealing with my 9 month long complaint against my surveyor who failed to recognise roof failings costing me tens of thousands of pounds. However what they are actually doing is mascarading as an impartial service but in reality they will support their paying member by dismissing your evidence, make incorrect assumptions from your evidence to support their biased decision, not address all points of complaint in their decision. This company should be investigated just as the PO has recently been.

I've never seen a company with such a bad trust pilot review continue in its operations, they need to be investigated. Completely skewed towards assisting landlords and lettings agents, has nothing to do with being impartial or helpful toward those who lodge complaints. Months and months of zero help, no communication and excuses as to why they were not escalating it. They seem chronically overwhelmed with disputes and cannot provide timelines it's been around 8 months since providing all evidence. Save yourself the time and go to court instead of dealing with this mess. They are just another scam, masquerading as being impartial or helpful to tenants who've suffered due to their landlords, they shouldn't be in operation

Edit: I just spoke to a member of staff who said that me questioning their time frame has become "unreasonable behaviour" ahahahahahahaha - what an absolute joke