Property Ombudsman reports on estate agent complaint figures

Estate agents have never been known as one of the best loved professions in the UK, and many people joke about how wary they are of estate agents. However, is seems that many people actually are not huge fans of people in this profession and this has been reflected in recent complaints figures that have been released by the Financial Ombudsman, Christopher Hamer.

According to Hamer the number of complaints that were made last year against estate agents in the UK soared to their highest level since records began two decades ago. The previous peak when it came to complaints about estate agents was seen during the peak of the financial crisis and recession back in 2008, but last year’s levels surpassed even this by a massive 28 percent according to the figures.

There were a number of main reasons why people were complaining and in total there were 1338 official complaints that were made against estate agents last year. These related to matter such as lack of communication from the estate agent, marketing and advertising used by the estate agent, and the way in which estate agents had handled complaints made by consumers. Hamer said that the level of complaints was unacceptable and that people were simply not willing to put up with poor service, bad communication, etc. any longer when they were having to shell out a lot of money in the difficult financial climate.

Hamer said: “People are less ready to be satisfied in times of economic stress to accept less than perfect service, especially when they are spending a lot of money.”

The figures showed that the vast majority of complaints related to lack of communications between the estate agents and the consumer. The highest levels of complaints were made against estate agents in the South East.

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