What is the PRS Landlord Ombudsman and Do I Have to Join?

The Private Rented Sector Landlord Ombudsman is one of the least-discussed elements of the Renters' Rights Act 2025, but it will affect every private landlord in England. Unlike the abolition of Section 21 — which grabbed the headlines in May 2026 — the Ombudsman has slipped under the radar for many landlords.

It should not. Membership will be mandatory, non-compliance will carry penalties, and tenants will have a free, accessible route to make formal complaints about how their landlord manages their tenancy.

Here is what every London landlord needs to understand.

What the PRS Ombudsman is

The Private Rented Sector Ombudsman is a mandatory dispute resolution scheme that will give private tenants the ability to complain about their landlord's conduct without going to court. The scheme is being introduced under Part 2 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025, alongside the PRS Database.

The concept is not new — letting agents have been required to belong to an ombudsman scheme since 2014 under the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013. Landlords who use managed letting agents have therefore been indirectly covered by a scheme for over a decade. The new obligation brings all private landlords — including self-managing landlords who have never engaged with an ombudsman scheme — within scope.

Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all have equivalent schemes already in operation. England is the last of the four nations to introduce mandatory landlord ombudsman membership for the private rented sector.

What the Ombudsman will and will not handle

Based on the government's published guidance and the framework established by comparable schemes, the PRS Ombudsman is expected to handle complaints about:

• Delays in responding to or completing repairs
• Failure to protect a deposit or provide prescribed information within the required timescale
• Poor communication or failure to respond to reasonable requests
• Failure to provide required documents (gas safety certificate, EICR, How to Rent guide)
• Entry to the property without proper notice
• Conduct during the tenancy — harassment, unlawful eviction attempts

The Ombudsman will not handle:

• Possession proceedings — these remain in the County Court
• Rent arrears — these remain in the courts
• Major disrepair claims worth significant sums — these are better handled through the First-tier Tribunal or courts
• Disputes about whether a tenancy exists — a legal matter

The key distinction is that the Ombudsman is a property management quality scheme, not a substitute for legal proceedings about fundamental tenancy issues.

When it launches and what landlords must do

The PRS Ombudsman is expected to launch as part of Phase 2 of the Renters' Rights Act implementation, alongside the PRS Database rollout beginning 15 December 2026. The government has not confirmed the exact launch date for the Ombudsman scheme itself, but landlords should expect to be required to join at some point in 2027.

The practical requirement will work similarly to existing agent ombudsman requirements: landlords will join a government-approved scheme, pay a membership fee, display membership information to tenants (likely as part of the PRS Database registration), and commit to the scheme's rules and decisions.

What makes an Ombudsman complaint successful — and how to protect yourself

The vast majority of successful ombudsman complaints against landlords in comparable jurisdictions (Scotland's Letting Agent Code of Practice, for example) relate to failures of basic communication and process — not to complex legal disputes.

The landlords who end up facing ombudsman awards are typically those who:

• Ignored or delayed responding to repair requests
• Could not produce records showing when they responded and what action they took
• Failed to provide required documents at the start of the tenancy
• Did not keep a written record of communications with tenants

The landlords who successfully defend ombudsman complaints have records. They can show the date they received a repair request, the date they acknowledged it, the date they inspected, the date they commissioned works, and the date works were completed. They have copies of the gas safety certificate they provided, the EICR they provided, and the How to Rent guide they provided.

Good record-keeping is the single most effective preparation for the PRS Ombudsman — and it is something every London landlord can improve right now, before the scheme launches.

Practical steps to prepare before the Ombudsman launches

Build a paper trail for every tenancy. Keep copies of all communications with tenants — WhatsApp messages, emails, and text messages. Log repair requests with the date received, the date acknowledged, and the date resolved.

Get your certificates in order. The Ombudsman will be able to see whether your compliance certificates were valid and provided to the tenant. An expired gas safety certificate or EICR creates an immediate vulnerability in any complaint.

Create a move-in pack. Document the documents you provide at the start of each tenancy: gas safety certificate, EICR, EPC, How to Rent guide, deposit protection certificate and prescribed information, and (from 2027) the PRS Database registration information. Get the tenant to sign a receipt.

Set up a repair log. Whether you use a spreadsheet, a property management app, or a dedicated platform, record every repair request with a date stamp. This is your primary defence against an ombudsman complaint that misrepresents the timeline of events.

Respond promptly to all requests. You do not need to fix everything immediately — reasonable timescales apply. But acknowledging a repair request promptly and communicating about the timeline is the behaviour the Ombudsman scheme is designed to reward.

The connection to your compliance certificates

The PRS Ombudsman and the PRS Database will be linked. A landlord who is registered on the database and whose compliance certificates are current is in a significantly stronger position when defending an ombudsman complaint than one whose certificates have lapsed or who is not registered.

The overall direction of the Renters' Rights Act is to create a system where professionally managed, compliant properties are easy to identify and non-compliant properties are easy to find and enforce against. Landlords who invest in compliance — keeping their EICR, gas safety certificate, and fire safety certificates current — are building the foundation of their defence against the enhanced enforcement environment.

If any of your certificates are due for renewal before the Ombudsman launches, book online or call 020 3996 1070. We cover all 33 London boroughs with next-day appointments and certificates emailed within 24 hours.

Frequently Asked Questions