Complaints to the UK Property Ombudsman up 16% last year

Complaints to the Property Ombudsman increased by 16% in 2018 and more than £2million is returned to consumers in compensatory awards, the latest annual figures show. Overall there was a record number of enquiries in 2018 at 29,023, up 22% on 2017. Of these, 4,246 went on to be formal complaints, which also rose significantly year on year by 16%. The Ombudsman supported 2,782 complaints, of which 2,381 required a financial award to be paid and for the first time, compensatory awards paid by agents to consumers reached in excess of £2 million at £2.17 million, a total which has more than doubled since 2016.