Tenancy Deposit Scheme Member

TDS is an insurance-based deposit and dispute resolution scheme. From April 2009, TDS is limiting membership to landlords and letting agents who belong to a professional body which requires its members to take client money protection insurance. The deposit must be held by a landlord residing, or an agent established, in the UK.

A fee is payable to insure the scheme against any misappropriation of the deposit. The scheme is supported by a dedicated call centre and an independent dispute resolution service. For more information, visit www.tds.gb.com or call 0845 226 7837.

The National Approved Letting Scheme

The National Approved Letting Scheme (NALS) is an accreditation scheme for lettings and managements agents. NALS is backed by the Government who provide funding, and is supported by various property industry professional bodies including ARLA (Association of Residential Letting Agents), NAEA (National Association of Estate Agents) and RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors).

What does that mean for me?
Peace of mind! Basically, if a letting agent is NALS accredited, it lets you know that they've been vetted and deemed to meet designated criteria. It also means that if anything does go wrong, there's a complaints procedure in place run by an independent body.

How am I protected?
NALS' members must have the necessary insurances in place to protect clients' money, and they must also keep this money in a separate account from the firm's funds. Member firms must also adhere to a customer complaints procedure which offers independent redress in the case of disputes.

Property Ombudsman Lettings

The Property Ombudsman (TPO) Scheme provides a free, fair and independent service for dealing with unresolved disputes between member agents and tenants & landlords of property in the UK. The TPO is a member of the British and Irish Ombudsman Association and follows the standards and rules of the association. The Ombudsman is totally independent of the TPO Scheme member agents and reports directly to the TPO Council, which has a majority of non-industry members.

To find out more information visit the TPO website.

Property Ombudsman Sales

All estate agents are required to register with an Estate Agents Redress Scheme that has been approved by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) and which investigates complaints against estate agents. The Property Ombudsman (TPO) is one of the schemes approved by the OFT. Many estate agents have in addition voluntarily agreed to follow the TPO Code of Practice for Residential Estate Agents, approved by the OFT under its Consumer Codes Approval Scheme. Estate agents signing up to this Code of Practice are required to provide additional consumer protection that goes beyond that required by law.

To find out more information about how the Property Ombudsman protects both buyers and sellers please see the TPO website here.

Safe Agent

Poppy Residential Ltd is a SAFE agent. SAFE – Safe Agent Fully Endorsed – is a mark denoting firms that protect landlords and tenants money through a client money protection scheme. Full details of the scope of the scheme can be obtained from the scheme operator.

For more information on SAFE agent click here.