Ombudsman Services:Property: Independent Means Independent No, "Buts" About It. (664)

To the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Secretary / Chair, Ombudsman Services.

For Clarity - Attempt 664.

664. Ombudsman Services:Property: Independent Means Independent No, "Buts" About It.

Dear Mr Clark and Lord Tim Clement Jones,

Once upon a time the average financial award made by the Property Ombudsman stood at £1.511.75p and DJS Research reported widespread complainant dissatisfaction, saying these, "awards" were insufficient to cover the financial losses incurred as a result of RICS surveyors failings when it came to surveys and/or valuations.

Thanks to DJS Research, the peoples' voice had spoken. Unfortunately, it wasn't heard.

Within a year these so-called, "financial awards" were down to £900. A drop of £611.75p. The justification for this remarkable fall in complainants' fortunes was equally staggering. We're told,

"We always need to ensure the resolution we offer is the right one but during a strained economic climate our outcomes are looked at more closely. The stakes are not only high for the consumer - because their home is important to them - but our decisions have important ramifications for property professionals. It can be of great consequence for them to pay out to a complainant, especially as the maximum award is £25.000."

This is an Ombudsman who is independent in name only and once her, "outcomes" were looked at more closely by unnamed individuals that independence instantly evaporated.

Q. Lord Tim Clement Jones, doesn't an independent ombudsman always need to ensure that the resolution she/he offers is the right one no matter what the climate is?

Q. Lord Tim Clement Jones, why has this independence been qualified with the word, "but?"

Q. Lord Tim Clement Jones, why has."a strained economic climate" interfered with this ombudsman's independence to ensure the right resolution in every case?

Q. Lord Tim Clement Jones, during a strained economic climate, do gas and electricity bills go down? do bus fares go down? do rents or mortgages go down? why are average financial awards at OS:Property treated so very differently?  

Q. Lord Tm Clement Jones, who is looking at your outcomes more closely?

Q. Lord Tim Clement Jones, haven't those who looked more closely at your outcomes and who caused your average financial awards to be reduced by £611.75p directly interfered in the independence of the ombudsman to make the right resolution in every case?

This extraordinary statement by the Property Ombudsman which suggests that, "it can be of great consequence for them (surveyors) to pay out to a complainant" implies that as a consequence of this great consequence, this particular Ombudsman will abandon the need to ensure that the resolution offered to complainants will be the right one.

Instead, this Ombudsman will offer the complainant the wrong resolution - the excuse being that there's, "a strained economic climate."

Q. Mr Clark, your department has a close and continuing relationship with this private redress scheme, is it not extraordinary how a strained economic climate gave us austerity but passed RICS surveyors by?

Q. Mr Clark, how does this clear bias on the part of the Property Ombudsman satisfy the requirements of the European Directive - EU/11/2013 - to be independent and have the integrity to crucial in gaining citizens' trust that ADR mechanisms will offer them fair and independent outcomes?

Tim Wallace, of The Telegraph tells us that growth is accelerating as the economy bounces back. The strained economic climate has changed.

Q. Lord Tim Clement Jones, although the financial climate has changed and the economy has bounced back, average financial awards made by your RICS Ombudsman haven't, they remain at 50 quid an all-time low. Why? 

The Property Ombudsman's decisions defy logic and independence but still politicians and government monitors do nothing about it. Scandalous.

Yours sincerely,

Steve Gilbert - Workstock Number - 510458.

The Ombudsmans61percent Campaign is at: www.blogger.com and www.facebook.com - Ombudsmans Sixtyone-percent.