Oakhill Estate Agents become an approved trader with the Consumer Code Approval Scheme

Members of The Property Ombudsman scheme celebrate their Sales Code approval with the Trading Standards Institute

As a member of the UK’s largest property ombudsman scheme, Oakhill Estate Agents are one of 11,745 residential sales agents that have signed up to TPO’s Sales Code of Practice.

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) has now become the first property organisation to have a Code of Practice approved by The Trading Standard Institute (TSI) under their Consumer Code Approval Scheme.

More than 95 percent of the residential sales market is signed up to TPO’s Sales Code of Practice and redress service, which is a free, independent and impartial dispute resolution service for consumers.

This news means all home owners and buyers using Oakhill Estate Agents are all covered by TPO’s Sales Code of Practice.

Oakhill Estate Agents are now listed on TSI’s online directory of approved traders. Consumers will be able to look for TPO sales agents through TSI’s dedicated database on www.tradingstandards.gov.uk and through the Citizens Advice Bureau’s website, to find a member of an approved code in their area.

TPO sales agents will now be able to display the TSI Approved Code logo in their advertising, branches and within company literature.

Confirming the news, Property Ombudsman Christopher Hamer said:

“I am delighted that TPO has become the largest organisation to win approval from TSI for its Consumer Code Approval Scheme. The TPO Code is a recognised set of standards throughout the industry but it is important that it is also seen as being independently approved by a credible organisation.

“With the OFT’s withdrawal from the code approval process it is good news that TSI have stepped in to fulfil the important role of rigorous examination and approval for consumer-focussed codes.”

Mr Hamer added: “This news means that agents who are members of TPO actively offer the highest level of consumer protection for buyers and sellers. We are in active discussions with TSI to achieve scheme approval for the Lettings Code of Practice.”

Citizens Advice Chief Executive Gillian Guy said: “We deal with over a million consumer problems each year and know how difficult it is for people to find a seller they can trust, the Approved Trader Scheme will help to combat this.”

TPO is among the first trade bodies sponsoring the new code and has also become the largest organisation to be accredited by the scheme since it replaced the Office of Fair Trading’s scheme earlier this year. There are now with 26,530 approved traders signed up to one of the ten codes of practice