Membership of The Property Institute is voluntary and many managing agents and property managers are not members. As a professional body, TPI has no statutory powers of redress.
If you wish to make a complaint, please check our Members Directory first to verify they are a TPI member.
In the event that TPI needs to review a complaint against its member, it will use an independent body to do so.
The steps below will help you resolve your complaint as quickly as possible.
Before following the steps below, please confirm who the landlord is and who has overall responsibility for the management of your property. If it is a Residents’ Management Company (RMC) or a Right to Manage Company (RTM), then you should take up any issue with your directors at the RMC or RTM first in most cases. It will help in the long run if you are able to demonstrate that the directors support the complaint.
If you are not happy with the service you have received from a TPI member then you should first of all ask for a copy of their in-house complaints procedure.
Complaints are then required to be dealt with internally by the member firm either by their complaints department or a designated individual. How this will be dealt with and time scales will be detailed in their in-house complaints procedure and this should detail which ombudsman scheme they are registered with.
Members have eight weeks to resolve the complaint under the ombudsman rules. The ombudsman will only investigate complaints which have initially gone through the member’s own in-house complaints procedure, so it is important to undertake this in the first instance.
It is a condition of TPI membership that companies must have a published complaints procedure and make it available when requested. If your managing agent is refusing to provide their complaints procedure, then you should contact The Property Institute. Alternatively, you may go directly to the relevant ombudsman.
You may also find the Government Lease Advisory Service (LEASE) useful. It provides free information, initial advice and guidance to members of the public about residential leasehold. They are independent and impartial, and all of their advisers are legally qualified.
You can book an appointment with them online.
Company members of The Property Institute must offer access to one of the two Government approved redress schemes for their leaseholders and clients, who will be able to complain to an independent body about the service they have received. This is where unresolved disputes can be addressed, free of charge to consumers. This means complaints are handled independently and leaseholders can be confident that there is no bias.
The two Government approved schemes are:
If the member fails to address or resolve the issues within an eight-week period, then you should contact the member’s ombudsman.
If the dispute is “deadlocked” (i.e. the agent has issued their final decision or confirmed in writing that they will not deal with the matter further) the complaint can be taken directly to the ombudsman at that time, although still within the eight-week period. From receipt of the agent’s final decision/deadlock letter, a period of 12 months is allowed for the dispute to be taken to the ombudsman/redress scheme.
If your issues relate to service charges/estate charges/ground rent/administration charges including reasonableness of expenses paid from services charges and whether these can be charged to leaseholders, then these may only be suitable for referral to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).
Further information on making an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) can be viewed here.
The Property Institute is a professional organisation whose objective is to promote and stimulate improvements in the technical and general knowledge of individuals and companies engaged in residential property management. In doing so, it aims to achieve high standards of practice and professionalism.
If you have a complaint about The Property Institute or a person from our team, please complete the form on this page with your details and the details of the person you wish to complain about. This will be sent to our complaints team.