The number of real estate agencies expelled from real estate relief has increased to a third last year, with the award given to the complainant increasing by 56% to £1.5 million, revealed.
The government-approved relief scheme publishes the latest industry figures in its annual report covering 20,000 member offices. 
It also states that despite a 20% increase in complaints, 50% of the cases it handled were resolved through early resolution.
Property Redress, one of two organizations offering essential relief memberships for the industry, says it will increase its membership by 7% from 17,459 to 18,802 agents, covering more than half of its domestic letting agents, including 1,459 registered branches across the UK.
Other highlights include:
•The average rate of complaints for each member remained slightly above 8% in the second year, from over 10% in 2022.
•The complaints were averaged approximately 40 days after the property received it. This leads dispute resolution providers and coincides with the past two years
• Top 3 complaints of Letting include deposit retention, poor service and management, tenant payments and rent collection:
•The early resolution awarded a total of £194,878 in 2024. This is 45.8% less than the amount awarded in 2023 (£359,426) and 44.8% less than 2022 (£353,053). An early resolution is a settlement between the parties. This means that property relief does not require a formal decision
•81% of consumers received the full amount they received.
Resolution time has been reduced
“Even with the increasing amount of petitioners, the time to resolve the issue has decreased and there have been greater satisfactory results,” says Shawn Hooker, the remedy manager for the relief, (main image).
“Our unwavering commitment to early resolution has proven effective and effective, reflecting the common willingness between parties to arrive at a friendly solution.
Tim Frome, head of government schemes for Total Property, a group that includes property relief, added: “2024 has been a very busy year for us.
“Not only did we increase membership by 7%, including adding large corporate agents, we also handled more complaints, achieved earlier resolutions, gave consumers more compensation, and removed more members from the scheme for non-compliance.”
Read the Annual Report in full.
