The Complaints Process

Before you complain to us you must first have complained to the Chartered Surveying Firm, Surveyor or Estate Agent. You must follow their complaints procedure and have given them a fair chance to sort the problem out. If you are still not happy with the way things have been handled, you can contact us.

There are some rules about when we can accept your complaint:

• You must have told the Chartered Surveying Firm about the problem within 12 months of first knowing about it. So, for example, if you realised there was a problem on 21 September 2007, you need to have told your Firm about it by 20 September 2008.
• The Surveyors Ombudsman Service is a new Service introduced on 1 June 2007 and the complaint must have been noticed and raised with the Chartered Surveying Firm or Surveyor after 1 June 2007.
• If the Chartered Surveying Firm you are complaining about is in Scotland, the problem you are complaining about must have occurred after 1 October 2003.
• If you are complaining about an Estate Agent the problem you are complaining about must have occurred after 1 October 2008.

If you have already complained to one of our members there are three situations where you can involve us. These are as follows:

1. Not making satisfactory progress

You must follow the member firm's complaints procedure, and allow up to eight weeks for them to sort out the problem. if after eight weeks of making your complaint you're still not happy with the way the member firm is dealing with it, you can pass it to us. For example, there might have been no reply to your complaint or you may not be satisfied with the solution that has been offered.

The deadline for bringing it to our attention is nine months from the date you first told the Chartered Surveying Firm about the problem.

2. Getting a deadlock letter from the Chartered Surveying Firm

You might get a letter from the member firm that says they will no longer be considering your complaint. The letter for example might say that they can't do anything for you and that this is their final position. We call this a "deadlock letter".

You then have six months from the date of the letter, to pass your complaint to us.

3. Unable to Complain

You have encountered sustained difficulty in registering or progressing a complaint even if eight weeks has not yet passed.

If you are unsure if the Surveyors Ombudsman Service can look at your complaint, please give us a call.