Consumer complaints in the sector jumped 55% in the first half of the year, as reported by Estate Agent Today. It's easy to read a number like that as an industry getting worse. There's a more useful way to read it.
Most complaints aren't really about the thing that went wrong. They're about someone finding out late something they feel they should have been told early. The problem is rarely the fact itself. It's the surprise.
The pattern is almost always the same. Complaints cluster around whatever was left vague at the start. Say the awkward thing up front, in writing, and most of it never happens. Leave it to be discovered and you've handed someone a genuine grievance.
So a rise in complaints isn't only a warning. It's a map. It shows you exactly where expectations and reality are drifting apart, which is precisely where a bit of honesty early would have paid for itself many times over.
If your own complaints doubled tomorrow, do you already know which part of the process they'd be about?
Co-founder of Propalt and a property investor and developer for 20 years
