Landlords are often the scapegoats for pretty much all the ills of the property market; another redress scheme that would exist to handle complaints and grievances about the industry sounds like the last thing we need. But I think it’s essential that this new body is formed – and landlords should be a part of it.
At the moment the ombudsman set-up in property is confusing and most homeowners will have no idea who they can turn to. Unlike in financial services, which has the very effective Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS), the property sector is disjointed when it comes to redress. For this reason alone it’s important to have a change – a clearer, centralised service will be much more useful to homeowners.
And landlords must be covered by the new scheme. At present unless they have properties in a city which has its own statutory licensing scheme, landlords are not required to register with a complaints scheme. And while this is bad news for tenants who have the misfortune of having a landlord who they need to complain about, it’s also bad news for landlords who do abide by the rules.
Having a property ombudsman whose remit includes landlords would ensure that the cowboys in the sector were weeded out, which would be a good thing for everyone.
But more than that, having a property ombudsman that covers buy to let would surely help to lessen the criticisms lobbed at landlords. If there is no real redress scheme for landlords and no official body to complain to it is far too easy to criticise the sector and scapegoat those in it. If no one has to make an official complaint and there is no resolution or outcome of such complaints, accusations can fly around freely.
If the property industry has a service similar to the FOS in place then hopefully those who are misbehaving will be found out and penalised and those who are unfairly targeted will be vindicated.
