We continuously work to maintain a safe online experience, and part of that is having trusted and compliant agents on our site. After all, we want the home viewing and buying/renting journey to be stress free and easy, for all our users and home seekers.
We apologise if you have been left dissatisfied by an agent or have a complaint. We take matters like this very seriously and so this article has been designed on the off chance that you have had a bad experience with an agent through our site.
Agent Compliance
All estate and lettings agents that advertise on Zoopla are required to be compliant with applicable laws, regulations and codes of practice in the United Kingdom. Our aim is to ensure that information on our site is as comprehensive and accurate as possible.
Also, each agent is required by law to be affiliated to a property redress scheme to ensure that, should you need to make a complaint, you can do so to the relevant scheme.
If you have had a bad experience with an agent or, are currently experiencing what you believe are some 'red flags' or unusual practices, we suggest that you:
- No longer engage with the agent going forward
- Contact our Customer Support team. Click Chat below and the virtual assistant will assist you. We may ask you to include the URL link to the property listing in question on our site and the agent that is marketing it
- We will then report this to our Compliance team who will investigate this further by speaking to the agent directly
Upon identifying the 'Rogue Agent' in question, we can remove the agent's details from our site and provide you with the name of the property redress scheme they are affiliated with, and the link to their website.
Whilst we will do everything we can to help you, we advise you to contact the national fraud and internet crime reporting centre, Action Fraud, as soon as possible.
We also recommend that you contact the relevant scheme regarding your matter as they will be better equipped to help you with your complaint. However, please bear in mind that before you are able to contact them, you must first follow the internal complaints procedure of the agent in question.
If you feel that you have not had a satisfactory resolution to your complaint, or if you have not received a response, you must allow for up to 8 weeks before you can contact the redress scheme and they investigate the matter.
Once again, we apologise that you have not had a satisfactory experience with the agent and hope your issues are resolved quickly.
Arranging viewings safely
Zoopla does not engage in direct sales or lettings activities for properties. We are a UK property portal providing estate agents with advertising through our website and our affiliated partner websites.
With that in mind, as part of your buying/renting journey, it's still sensible to follow a few safety principles when arranging viewings.
- Take someone else with you to a viewing if possible. After all, it’s handy to have a second opinion, right?
- Let a friend or relative know where you are, what you’re doing and that you’ll give them a quick call when you’re done. You can use certain apps, such as WhatsApp, to share your location for extra peace of mind
- If you're viewing a room share, ask to meet everyone who lives/will be living at the property. This will help you get to know all of your potential flatmates, and gives you a sense of their characters
Remember if you feel at all uncomfortable, you can leave the viewing at any time. Always trust your instincts – if something doesn’t feel right, it’s time to go.
If you’re worried an advertiser isn’t who they say they are, share your concerns with us straight away. We suggest that you:
- No longer engage with the advertiser going forward
- Contact our Customer Support team. Click Chat below and the virtual assistant will assist you
- We will then report this to our Compliance team who will investigate this further