All letting and managing agents in England must belong to a Redress Scheme since 1 October 2014.
Currently, there are three schemes suitable for compliance with the legislation and one of those is Ombudsman Services. However, this scheme has previously announced that they are ceasing to be a redress scheme for the purpose of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 which requires membership by agents.
The date they are due to cease operations in this area is close upon us and they will be ceasing from 6 August 2018.
This means therefore, any letting or managing agent in England who belongs to this scheme must join one of the other two schemes before this date in order to ensure that they continue to comply with the requirement to belong to a redress scheme.
The other two schemes are:
- The Property Redress Scheme (link goes to our discount for this scheme page)
- The Property Ombudsman
Subscribers to the Guild can get a discount to the Property Redress Scheme.
If you are a landlord using an agent who is a member of Ombudsman Services, it may be worth checking with your agent that they are aware and are going to be a member of one of the other redress schemes by 6 August. By law, agents must display who they are a member of prominently in their office and on their website (if they have a website).
