How landlords can make a complaint against letting agents

One of the most important decisions landlords make is whether to use letting agents to find tenants and/or manage the property once the tenants have moved in. Great letting agents and property managers can totally transform the experience for landlords and tenants alike. I’ve personally had two fantastic letting agents who helped me enormously and I had no problems with them at all.

However, I’ve also had one dreadful letting agent, whose continuing incompetence has caused me a lot of problems and stress as a landlord. I was continually ignored, despite numerous calls and emails. I eventually went through the complaints procedure, and a resolution of sorts was reached. But it left me feeling very unhappy.

These experiences led me to decide to help other landlords by setting up The Independent Landlord in 2022. In March 2026, I published my bestselling book, The Good Landlord Handbook, which helps landlords select and manage letting agents, as well as explaining how to self-manage for those who want to do it themselves.

If the number of emails I get from other landlords about problems with letting agents is anything to go by, my experience is not unusual. To make things worse, it can be difficult to find out what rights landlords have when things go wrong with their letting agents, and they feel like their letting agents are ignoring them. Many agents don’t have their complaints procedure on their website.

The good news is that I set out in this comprehensive blog post everything landlords need to know about complaining about letting agents, and how to avoid problems in the first place.

In writing this blog post, I draw on my own experience as a landlord who has gone through the complaints procedure of my letting agents and as a lawyer experienced in dispute resolution.

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The steps for landlords to make a complaint against their letting agents

These are the steps that landlords should take to make a complaint about their letting agents and/or property managers:

1. Explain your concerns to the local office. You can do this informally, but if you get no joy, put it in writing in an email. If they don’t resolve it, either download their complaints procedure, or ask for it.
2. Follow the complaints procedure. If it’s a branch office, there might be an option of escalating it to the head office / group (eg Countrywide).
3. Go through the full complaints procedure of the agent until you have a decision.
4. If unsatisfied with the decision, or if you don’t get an answer within 8 weeks, escalate the complaint to the relevant redress scheme, by submitting an on-line form. (I cover this below).
5. If unsatisfied with the outcome, submit a complaint to ARLA Propertymark, if the agent is a member.
6. If a complaint about poor service is turned down by the property manager, get advice on how to terminate the contract, and take your custom elsewhere!

>> Related Post: How to terminate the management contract with your letting agent

Escalating a letting agent complaint to a redress scheme

In 2014, the government introduced a legal obligation for those undertaking lettings agency work and/or property management work in England to become a member of a redress scheme for dealing with complaints from landlords and tenants.

Government Guidance states that redress schemes would “help weed out bad agents and property managers and drive up standards”. More detail is in the Explanatory Memorandum that accompanied the regulations:

The process for escalating a complaint about a letting agent differs according to the redress scheme that an agent belongs to.

Overview of The Property Ombudsman’s complaints process

Members of The Property Ombudsman (TPO) are required to maintain and operate an in-house complaints procedure, as part of their General Membership Obligations.

The complaints procedure must be in writing and available on their website, as well as being available at the office. Members must display the relevant TPO logo on their website, letterheads and office window.

Members of TPO have the option of signing up to the Code of Practice for Residential Letting Agents (effective 1 May 2026). The Code is significantly more detailed and extends to 14 pages. For instance, it states “all verbal and written complaints must be recorded by you at the time they are made”, with all written complaints acknowledged within 3 working days, a proper investigation carried out, with a written outcome of the investigation sent to the landlord within 15 working days.

Members who sign up to the Code of Practice can display the Approved Code logo. Check your agent’s website to see whether they have the Approved Code logo.

If landlords are dissatisfied with the outcome of any complaint to the letting agent and/or property manager which belongs to The Property Ombudsman, they can escalate their complaint to the Ombudsman by filling in an on-line form.

When I checked this on 12 July 2026, there was a note saying that they will review your submission and decide whether they can accept it under their Scheme Terms of Reference, and that this review takes around 25-30 working days.

Overview of the Property Redress complaints process

Unlike The Property Ombudsman, Property Redress doesn’t have a Code of Practice and refers to “just reasonable standard industry practice”. This is not defined, and I’ve not been able to find out what this means.

Members are required to agree to abide by the Property Redress Terms of Reference and the decisions of the scheme.

Property Redress only accepts complaints from landlords where they have followed the agent’s formal complaints process, at least 8 weeks have passed, and there’s no response or “the resolution offered is unsatisfactory”.

There is an on-line form for complaints.

The Property Redress website says they will allocate the complaint to a case assessor who will contact both parties within five working days, and request evidence, if needed. The case assessor will decide in the following 10 working days if the complaint can be accepted for investigation, in line with their conditions of resolution.

They will also consider whether an early resolution is appropriate. If agreed by both parties, the early resolution will become the final decision. If the early resolution route is not taken, it will eventually be considered by the Head of Redress.

Must on-line letting agents belong to a redress scheme?

Yes. On-line letting agents such as OpenRent and Hello Neighbour enable landlords to advertise for tenants on the portals such as Rightmove, Zoopla and On The Market, without using a high street agent. The landlord has the choice of doing the viewings themselves, or booking someone else to do it.

Even though on-line letting agents don’t have physical offices, they still carry out lettings agency work and/or property management work, and as such, must belong to a redress scheme.

Both OpenRent and Hello Neighbour belong to The Property Ombudsman.

>> Related Post: Landlord Guide to Self-letting

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What if letting agents and property managers don’t belong to a redress scheme?

It is compulsory for letting agents and property managers to belong to a redress scheme.

Under the Redress Schemes Order, an “enforcement authority” (ie a local authority) can impose a fine of up to £5,000 on anyone in England who carries out lettings agency or property management work without being a member of a redress scheme.

What is the role of Propertymark in resolving letting agent complaints?

If landlords are unhappy with the outcome of a decision of the agent and either redress scheme, they can refer the complaint to Propertymark, provided the agent is a member of Propertymark. Not all agents are members of Propertymark, so it is wise to check the agent is a member before engaging them. This means there will be another layer of scrutiny, if needed.

Propertymark requires members to follow The Property Ombudsman Codes of Practice, even if they belong to Property Redress.

Propertymark will investigate the following complaints:

• Failure to provide a complaints procedure
• Misuse of client money
• Failure to uphold high standards of ethical and professional practice
• Failure to protect and promote clients’ interests
• Conflicts of interest
• Failure to answer correspondence
• Any act of dishonesty or conviction of a criminal offence

Appropriate cases will be heard at a formal disciplinary hearing in front of an independent tribunal. The complainant must have used and completed the agent’s internal complaints procedure. There must also be a case to answer with enough evidence to proceed. If the member admits the breach, it won’t go to the independent tribunal.

>> Related Post: How to avoid fake or rogue letting agents

How to terminate a property management contract with letting agents

Sometimes it’s not possible to resolve issues with property managers. Many landlords come to regret outsourcing property management, as the service isn’t always what it should be. Unless you’re very lucky, the agent won’t care about the property as much as you. And unfortunately, some are just not very good.

The best thing is to negotiate your termination rights up-front, before you engage a property manager. They tend to be more flexible with termination provisions in a bid to win your business. But usually landlords don’t think of this at the time.

It can be difficult to extricate yourself from property managers, without paying a fee or giving due notice. However, it has thankfully become easier since the Office of Fair Trading won a landmark case against Foxtons in the Court of Appeal in 2009 banning unfair tie-ins.

They may try to talk you out of it, using the standard scare-mongering tactics about the “x pieces of legislation”, the Renters’ Rights Act and “how will you deal with emergencies?”

However, you will be able to terminate your agreement. Just be determined about it. Most management contracts require landlords to give a certain period of notice, ranging from 2-6 months. During this notice period, you may have paid another 7% of your annual rent in fees, but then you’ll be free. You can argue it’s an unenforceable penalty to negotiate an earlier exit, particularly if it’s after the first year, but it’ll be a hassle.

Don’t forget that if you do take over from a managing agent, you’ll need to check the tenancy agreement to see if the address for the service of notices is your agent’s address. If it is, you’ll need to send a Section 48 Notice with a revised address for the service of notices. Click here for details of which addresses you can use in a Section 48 Notice – it’s not necessarily your home address.

The easiest way to start to self-manage is to wait until the tenants move out, and then go it alone. Above all, don’t worry about finding the next lot of tenants given the high levels of demand at the moment. You can either do a “let only” service with an estate agent, or use an on-line letting service like Hello Neighbour or OpenRent.

>> Related Post: How to terminate the management contract with your letting agent

What if your letting agent is ignoring you?

Being ignored is one of the most common frustrations landlords email me about. Calls not returned, emails left hanging, the property manager always “in a viewing”. I have experienced this myself, which is why I ended up going through the complaints procedure with my then letting agent.

The first rule is to get everything in writing. A phone call is easy to ignore, but a dated email trail isn’t, and you’ll need it if the complaint goes further. Email the branch manager directly, and if the branch is part of a group (eg Countrywide), escalate to head office. It’s surprising how quickly a silent branch finds its voice when the group compliance team is copied in.

When I made my complaint, I was able to show months of unanswered emails, and calls not returned.

The good news is that silence has a shelf life. Send a formal complaint under the agent’s complaints procedure, and ask for a copy if it’s not on their website.

If the agent is a member of The Property Ombudsman and has signed up to the Code of Practice, they must acknowledge a written complaint within 3 working days and send you a written outcome within 15 working days.

And if you get no answer at all, that doesn’t put you at a dead end. Once 8 weeks have passed without a response, you can take the complaint straight to the agent’s redress scheme by submitting the on-line form.

In other words, ignoring you doesn’t make the problem go away for the agent. It just starts the clock for when you can escalate it to the redress scheme.

How to avoid problems with letting agents in the first place

Prevention is better than cure, and many problems with letting agents are there from the start because of a misalignment between what landlords think they are getting, and what is in the terms of business.

To avoid unrealistic expectations, be clear about exactly what you’re engaging the agent to do, and what will be charged as an extra, over and above the standard fee. The services and the basis of charging differ from letting agent to letting agent, even those within the same group (eg Countrywide).

Do negotiate with letting agents and property managers at the start on their fees, what’s extra, and your termination rights, particularly if you have a portfolio. That’s the moment you have the most leverage, as they’re keen to win your business. Make sure anything you agree that differs from their standard terms is confirmed in writing.

Letting agents also have a legal obligation under Section 83 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to publish their fees for letting agency and property management work on their website.

My advice is to print off the list of fees before you even talk to them, and highlight anything you don’t consider reasonable, including any extra charge for “compliance checks”, which in my view should be included in the standard management fee. Ask for it to be waived, and if they won’t, go elsewhere.

Also ask to see the terms of business, to see if there are any unfair terms.

Remember, we landlords can and should vote with our feet.

>> Related Post: Letting agent contracts: small print to check before you sign

>> Related Post: The law on unfair terms in letting agent contracts

Final thoughts

Prevention is definitely better than cure when it comes to dealing with problems with letting agents, so they don’t escalate to the stage of needing to make a complaint. It’s really important for landlords to do their due diligence on fees, and what’s extra.

Landlords should not have to put up with poor service, and should follow the complaints procedure if they are unhappy with their letting agent. If that fails, there are one or two levels of independent appeal, depending if the agent is a member of ARLA Propertymark.