Housing Ombudsman
The Housing Ombudsman Service is a statutory independent body that handles complaints from tenants of social housing landlords, primarily housing associations and local authority housing departments, about the way their landlord has handled a matter. It operates under the Housing Act 1996 and subsequent legislation, and its decisions are binding on landlords where a complaint is upheld. It is entirely separate from the Property Ombudsman (TPO), which handles complaints about estate agents and letting agents in the private sector.
For private landlords in England, the Housing Ombudsman is relevant in two respects. First, understanding what it is and what it does clarifies the regulatory landscape for social housing, including the standards that are now being extended to the private rented sector. Second, a separate Private Rented Sector (PRS) Landlord Ombudsman is being created under the Renters' Rights Act 2025, and the Housing Ombudsman Service is the leading candidate to administer it. When it launches, all private landlords in England will be legally required to join.
The Housing Ombudsman Service (social housing)
The Housing Ombudsman Service was established under the Housing Act 1996 and currently handles complaints from tenants of registered providers of social housing, housing associations, local authority housing departments, and arm's length management organisations. Tenants can bring complaints about repairs, damp and mould, antisocial behaviour handling, estate management, and any other aspect of the landlord's service. From April 2024, the Ombudsman's powers were strengthened to include a new Complaint Handling Code requiring all social landlords to operate a two-stage internal complaints process before a tenant can escalate to the Ombudsman.
Where the Ombudsman upholds a complaint, it can order the landlord to apologise, take specified action, and pay compensation. Findings of maladministration, which range from service failure to severe maladministration, are published in the Ombudsman's decisions database and can trigger regulatory review by the Regulator of Social Housing. Persistent or serious failures can result in regulatory downgrades with significant reputational and financial consequences for the housing association concerned.
The Housing Ombudsman has no jurisdiction over private landlords under the current framework. A tenant in the private rented sector who has a complaint about their landlord has no equivalent statutory ombudsman to go to, which is the gap the incoming PRS Landlord Ombudsman is designed to fill.
The PRS Landlord Ombudsman (forthcoming)
Part 2 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025 establishes a mandatory landlord redress scheme for the private rented sector, the PRS Landlord Ombudsman. All private landlords of assured and regulated tenancies in England will be legally required to join the scheme. This applies regardless of whether the landlord self-manages or uses a letting agent. Non-compliance will be a civil penalty offence, with penalties of up to £7,000 for a first breach and up to £40,000 for a serious or repeated breach.
Under the scheme, tenants will be able to bring complaints about their private landlord, covering repairs, communication, deposit handling, and other aspects of the tenancy, and the Ombudsman will investigate independently. Where a complaint is upheld, the Ombudsman can require the landlord to take or cease taking an action, provide an apology or explanation, and pay compensation. Decisions will be binding on the landlord. Where both a landlord and their letting agent are at fault, the PRS Landlord Ombudsman and the existing letting agent redress schemes (the Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme) will cooperate on joint investigations and, where appropriate, issue joint decisions.
The scheme administrator has not yet been appointed as of May 2026. During the Bill's committee stage, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook indicated that the existing Housing Ombudsman Service is considered best placed to deliver the new PRS scheme, providing cross-tenure redress from one body. This remains subject to formal designation by the Secretary of State.
Implementation timeline
The PRS Landlord Ombudsman is being introduced in Phase 2 of the Renters' Rights Act implementation, after the PRS Database. According to the government's implementation roadmap, the PRS Database roll-out begins from late 2026, with mandatory landlord registration expected in 2027. The PRS Landlord Ombudsman is expected to launch in 2028, when the Secretary of State is confident the service is ready for delivery. Landlords will be given advance notice of the membership requirement and sufficient time to register before the obligation takes effect.
Practical preparation for the Ombudsman should begin now, even though membership will not be mandatory until 2028. The Ombudsman will investigate how landlords handled complaints before they were escalated, which means a landlord who does not have a clear, documented internal complaints process in place will be at a structural disadvantage from the moment the scheme launches. The requirement to operate a two-stage internal complaints process, similar to what the Housing Ombudsman already requires of social landlords, is expected to be part of the PRS scheme's framework.
The PRS Database will be introduced before the Ombudsman, for an explanation of what the database requires from landlords and when registration becomes mandatory, see the August definition of the PRS Database.
August's document management feature stores maintenance requests, repair correspondence, and compliance certificates, the paper trail landlords will need to respond effectively to any Ombudsman complaint.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Housing Ombudsman?
The Housing Ombudsman Service is a statutory body that handles complaints from social housing tenants, tenants of housing associations and local authority housing departments, about how their landlord has handled a matter. Its decisions are binding on landlords. It operates under the Housing Act 1996 and has no current jurisdiction over private landlords. It is separate from the Property Ombudsman (TPO), which covers estate agents and letting agents.
Will private landlords have to join an ombudsman scheme?
Yes. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 establishes a mandatory PRS Landlord Ombudsman scheme that all private landlords of assured and regulated tenancies in England must join. The scheme is expected to launch in 2028 following the roll-out of the PRS Database from late 2026. Failure to join will be a civil penalty offence. The Housing Ombudsman Service is the leading candidate to administer the new scheme, though the formal appointment of a scheme administrator has not yet been made.
What is the difference between the Housing Ombudsman and the Property Ombudsman?
They are entirely separate bodies covering different parts of the housing market. The Housing Ombudsman handles complaints from social housing tenants against their social landlord (housing association or council). The Property Ombudsman (TPO) handles complaints from buyers, sellers, landlords, and tenants against estate agents and letting agents. Neither currently has jurisdiction over complaints from private tenants against their private landlord, that is the gap the new PRS Landlord Ombudsman will fill.
What can a private tenant currently do if they have a complaint about their landlord?
Before the PRS Landlord Ombudsman launches, a private tenant's options are to raise the matter with the landlord directly, contact the local housing authority to report a hazard or licensing issue, apply to the First-tier Tribunal for a Rent Repayment Order where an offence has been committed, or pursue civil proceedings in court. There is currently no specialist ombudsman for private tenant complaints against private landlords, which is why the Renters' Rights Act 2025 introduces one.
