Agencies face rising tide of AI-generated complaints

When did AI-generated tenant complaints become an admin time sink for agencies?

Former Propertymark president Greg Tsuman warns that agents are increasingly getting tied up in long, complex and often groundless complaints by tenants using AI ill-advisedly.

Stats from The Property Ombudsman, which provides alternative dispute resolution for property businesses and consumers, reveal a 50% jump in tenant complaints in the first six months of 2026. Chief Ombudsman Lesley Horton says this is partly down to use of AI.

Of course tenants’ AI use isn’t bad in itself, Horton says. It can help tenants communicate more clearly and reference the law when making complaints. But when used improperly it can generate complaints that are long, repetitive, and misstate the law – leaving agents to sift through the mess.

How to deal with AI-generated complaints

The problem is unlikely to go away. Tsuman has already called on The Property Ombudsman to require tenants to disclose when they’ve used AI to write a complaint, but they have no plans to do so, reportedly arguing that this would create barriers to complaining.

Experienced letting agents will understand rental regulations well enough to know which complaints are well founded, and which are just AI hallucinations. Good communication skills will also be critical when talking to tenants who are convinced they are right.

AI may however help agents as well as tenants. Greg Tsuman says his agency now uses AI to summarise tenant complaints, hastening to add that any communication with the tenant is still handled by a person.  

Even so, it will be crucial for agents to have a good understanding of the law so that they know if their AI-generated summaries are accurate.