Letting Agent Complaints Procedure: Redress and Records

A letting agent complaints procedure should explain how to raise a complaint, who investigates it, when the agency will reply and how to seek independent redress. For an agency in England, build the process around a written complaint, an evidence-based decision and a final response that identifies the agency's redress scheme. Keep the underlying repair or service request moving while the complaint is investigated.

What must a letting agent complaints procedure cover?

Lettings agents carrying out covered agency work in England have been required to belong to an approved redress scheme since 1 October 2014. The approved schemes are The Property Ombudsman and the Property Redress Scheme. The duty has defined activities and exclusions; check the government's redress guidance against the work your business actually undertakes.

Make the complaints policy easy to find on the agency website and provide it when requested. Shelter's guidance for tenants tells people to ask for the procedure and set out their problem in writing. Design the receiving end of that process: a monitored address, a named role responsible for allocation and cover when that person is away.

Publish the stages, acknowledgement and response targets, escalation contact and scheme details. Set internal targets that comply with your own scheme's current membership requirements. Label them as the agency's commitments, rather than presenting a locally chosen deadline as a universal legal rule.

Keep client money protection separate from service redress. Private rented sector agents in England who hold client money have needed membership of an approved client money protection scheme since 1 April 2019, according to the government's enforcement guidance. The current client money guidance also distinguishes this from tenancy deposit protection. A complaint about unanswered emails does not become a client money protection claim simply because it mentions rent.

This guide concerns England. Do not copy its legal basis into a procedure for Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland without checking the applicable national rules and scheme arrangements.

How should the agency investigate a complaint?

Use an initial investigation followed by a senior review where the complainant remains dissatisfied. This is a suggested operating structure, subject to your scheme's rules. Choose a reviewer who was not responsible for the disputed decision wherever possible, and explain who will handle escalation before it is needed.

At intake, acknowledge the complaint in plain language. Confirm the issues as you understand them, the outcome requested and the next response target. If someone complains by phone, offer to send a written summary for correction rather than asking them to recreate the conversation from scratch.

Separate the complaint into decisions you can investigate. For example: was the repair report received, what action followed, what did the agency tell the tenant, and was that account accurate? Avoid reducing a detailed complaint to a label such as “maintenance dissatisfaction”.

Use this investigation sheet as a reusable working record:

• Issue raised: copy the specific concern and requested remedy, preserving the original message alongside your summary.

• Agency responsibility: identify what the management agreement authorised the team to do and what required a landlord decision.

• Evidence considered: link the relevant messages, call notes, repair instructions, attendance records and approval requests.

• Finding: explain what happened, which evidence supports it and what remains uncertain.

• Action owner: name the person arranging the remedy and the person communicating progress.

• Review route: record how the complainant can challenge the response and who will examine it.

Treat missing evidence honestly. “We cannot locate a record of that call” is different from “you did not call”. Ask the staff member involved for their account, but distinguish recollection from a contemporaneous note. Preserve conflicting versions and explain which evidence informed the finding.

For repair complaints, run the service response alongside the investigation. Use the damp and mould complaint workflow to organise the repair evidence where relevant. Do not let an internal review become a reason for leaving the next inspection or contractor update unassigned.

When can the complainant go to a redress scheme?

The Property Ombudsman directs consumers to complain to the business first. Its guidance describes referral after completing the business's procedure and an eight-week route where the business has not responded or has not issued a final response. Check the scheme's current acceptance rules and referral time limits when drafting the final letter; do not make an open-ended promise that a referral will always be accepted.

Property Redress tells consumers to write to the agent and allow up to 8 weeks to resolve their concerns. Its complaints-process guidance also says at least 8 weeks must have been allowed before acceptance. Do not assume that issuing a final response guarantees immediate acceptance by this scheme; signpost its current rules instead.

These are escalation rules, not permission to leave a complaint untouched until the waiting period ends. Set diary reminders against the original complaint date and your promised responses. If the investigation needs more time, explain what is missing, what action is underway and when the next update will arrive.

Send people to the scheme your agency belongs to, not whichever logo appears in an old template. Before sending a final response, check the business name, membership details and complaints link. Avoid promising that a scheme will order a particular remedy: acceptance and resolution belong to the independent scheme.

What should the final response letter say?

Write the final response so a reader outside the branch can follow the decision without an explanatory phone call. TPO's evidence guidance asks for the initial complaint and the final response, or the last response if no final response was provided, with visible dates. Make your letter a useful account of the investigation rather than a bare announcement that the file is closed.

Adapt this wording only after completing the investigation:

We have completed our review of your complaint about [specific service issues]. You asked us to [requested outcome]. We considered [identified records] and found [decision on each issue, with reasons]. We accept that [identified failing], and we will [remedy], with [named role] responsible for confirming completion. We have not upheld [other issue] because [evidence-based explanation]. This is our final response under our internal complaints procedure. If you remain dissatisfied, our redress scheme is [scheme name]. Its current referral instructions and time limits are available at [verified complaints link].

Delete any sentence that does not fit the case. If the complaint is partly upheld, say which part. If an apology is due, make it direct. Describe an agreed action accurately and avoid implying that the complainant has accepted an offer when they have not.

Attach or identify the records needed to understand the decision. Keep the original letter, the version sent and evidence of sending with the complaint file. Where a repair remains open, state who owns that continuing work instead of suggesting that the final complaint response also completes the repair.

Which records should stay linked to the complaint?

Keep a complaint log with the received date, complainant, property, issues, requested remedy, responsible manager, response commitments, findings, escalation status and outstanding actions. Link back to source records rather than copying fragments into an isolated spreadsheet and losing the surrounding conversation.

Review closed cases for specific process changes. If a complaint exposes an unanswered approval request, assign an escalation owner. If the outgoing message overstated a contractor's commitment, change the update wording. Record the change and check its use in a subsequent case; “staff reminded” is not a useful description of what changed.

Keep complaints about the agent's service distinct from complaints about the landlord's own conduct. The government's implementation roadmap plans mandatory landlord sign-up to the separate PRS Landlord Ombudsman in 2028. That is a planned landlord route, not today's replacement for agent redress. Our database and ombudsman guide explains the distinction for agency planning.

Aloft supports resident communication across phone, WhatsApp, SMS and email, alongside maintenance triage and repair coordination with configurable approvals and operator oversight. Use the relevant communication and repair records when assembling a complaint file; the agency still owns the investigation and its response.

Leave the next investigator a dated record, not a colleague's memory.

Frequently asked questions

How do I complain about a letting agent?

Ask for the agent's complaints procedure, then explain the problem and the outcome you want in writing. Include relevant dates and copies of correspondence. Shelter sets out this initial route. For the agency receiving it, confirm the issues, identify an investigator and tell the complainant when to expect a response.

Is the Property Ombudsman the same as Property Redress?

No. The government's guidance identifies The Property Ombudsman and the Property Redress Scheme as approved redress schemes. Check which scheme the business belongs to before referring a complaint. Use that scheme's current instructions and acceptance rules rather than combining wording from different schemes into a generic referral letter.

Does a letting agent complaint always need to wait eight weeks?

TPO describes referral after the internal procedure and an eight-week route where no response or final response has arrived. Property Redress asks consumers to allow 8 weeks and sets acceptance conditions. Check the actual scheme's rules for the case; a final letter should not promise automatic or immediate acceptance.

Do letting agents have to belong to a redress scheme?

For covered lettings agency work in England, yes. The government's guidance explains the requirement and its scope, including exclusions. Do not confuse redress membership with client money protection or tenancy deposit protection. Check the activities the business undertakes before deciding which requirements apply, particularly if it operates across national borders.