The Home Owner Housing Panel (HoHp) was established by the Property Factors Act 2011 to act as a dispute resolution mechanism for problems between homeowners and their factors. The HoHp are now actively receiving complaints from homeowners alleging that their property manager has failed to meet their factoring duties or has failed to comply with the Property Factors' Code of Conduct which is set out in the Act. Where a homeowner's complaint cannot be resolved through the factor's own complaints procedure a homeowner can make an application to the HoHp asking for them to become involved. 

On receipt of an application, the HoHP may enter into correspondence with the factor and the homeowner to attempt to resolve the complaint. If a resolution cannot be found a hearing is fixed and held before the HoHP. A decision can then be taken and a Property Factor Enforcement Order (PFEO) made, if appropriate.

The decisions made by the HoHp are made public on the website and many property managers will be keeping an eye on these to keep up to date with the types of decision that the panel are making. This page also lists the forthcoming panel hearings.

The recent decisions taken by the HoHp bring into clear focus the requirement for property factors to:

• maintain communication with their customers
• ensure that any complaints are taken seriously and are dealt with timeously

In the event that a homeowner can demonstrate that the property factor has failed to meet their duties, or comply with the code of conduct, the HoHp will not hesitate to issue a PFEO requiring the property factor to take action in whichever form they feel is appropriate.

Don't forget! - the annual update for the Property Factors Register is to be returned by all property factors between April and 30 June each year.

Should you require any help with meeting any of these deadlines, have any general factoring queries or have a query about the home owner housing panel then feel free to contact our Property Team.