Two Estate Agencies Have Been Dismissed

Two estate agencies, located in Merseyside and one in London have been informed that they are being expelled for a failure to pay the awards made against them by the property ombudsman scheme. Both agencies asked to delay the dismissal until they pay their outstanding sums, however this had not been done and the expulsions have been confirmed. Awards amounting to £3,724 were made by Property ombudsman Christopher Hamer against Brooklands, estate agency located in Merseyside, as a result of two complaints; also, awards amounting to £817 were made against DP Estates, estate agency located in London, as a result of a single complaint. Bill McClintock, who takes the post of chief operating officer at the Property Ombudsmen service commented that as for now the two estate agencies are no longer registered with the scheme as it is required by the law for all companies, involved in residential property sales. He added that the authority will proceed by informing and requiring other estate agency bodies and the Office of Fair Trading to take the dismissal of the 2 estate agencies into consideration and to follow the suit. He said that the general public has to be aware of the fact that the 2 agencies will need to register with another redress scheme if they wish to continue the residential property sales business. He added that legally the 2 companies will still be able to operate, however their consumers will be protected to a lesser extent compared to those, who use the services of estate agencies signed up for the ombudsman schemes. In case the 2 companies ignore the legal requirement to register with at least some redress scheme, they might face a fine of £1,000 by trading standards officers, who are already aware of the Ombudsman decision regarding the 2 estate agencies.