The year 2020 was a difficult one for many, including in the lettings industry, with recent research showing that complaints against letting agents rose from 2019.

The UK's Ministry of Justice is piloting a new dispute resolution service to help avoid disagreements between tenants and landlords from escalating and reaching costly and time-consuming court proceedings. While mediation is something that a number of letting industry trade bodies support, including ARLA Propertymark, the group says any investment needs to focus on ensuring the service is available to those involved much earlier in the process.