Number of complaints about letting agents rising
News Category: Industry News
Published: 23-Oct-2009
This article was brought to you by Rentman the premium rent management software.
The number of letting agent-related cases being investigated by The Property Ombudsman has soared in the last 12 months.
Figures published by The Property Ombudsman show that 1,679 calls about letting problems were received during the third quarter of 2009, compared to 1,446 in the second quarter.
It was the fourth consecutive quarterly rise in letting issues, a trend which has previously been attributed to the number of people now choosing to rent instead of buying property.
As a result, Christopher Hamer, The Property Ombudsman, is currently examining 127 cases - 79 per cent more than at the same time last year.
He noted that the main causes of complaints from landlords were that letting agents had not carried out inspection visits frequently enough or had failed to complete proper tenant reference checks.
The most common issue raised by consumers was the forfeiture of holding deposits after they backed out of renting a property.
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