The Ombudsman for Estate Agents (OEA) is an independent, non-statutory dispute resolution service for dealing with disputes between Member Agencies and customers who are buying and selling residential property in the UK.

Dispute resolution services must be free of charge to the customer, easy to use, transparent and effective.

In September 2005, we were granted Stage II approval for our Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agency work, by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). This means that Estate Agents that have signed up to our Scheme are expected to display the OFT’s Approved Code Logo alongside the OEA Logo. Members will also be listed on the OFT website.

The OEA membership application pack explains how the Scheme operates; how your company can take part and what would be expected of your company. All these documents are on the OEA website.

We are committed to providing a service which combines quality with efficiency using the resources that we have in a responsible manner.

Lettings and Property Management

As from 3 April 2006 we will also be taking Lettings and Property Management Estate Agents. To enable both yourselves and this Office to effectively adapt our policy and procedures it has been agreed by all parties that the Ombudsman will not take complaints from the consumer until 1 June 2006 unless you specially request it. What this means is that for approximately 2 months it gives you the opportunity to adapt your procedures to reflect the Code of Practice and the Ombudsman Terms of Reference – should you need to.

Should you need any help or clarification please do not hesitate to contact one of the team in the Membership Department.

Bill McClintock

March 2006

Back to top