The PRS Ombudsman: How Councils Will Interact

The Renters' Rights Act 2025 establishes a new Private Rented Sector Ombudsman, requiring all private landlords in England to belong to the Ombudsman scheme. This is a significant addition to the existing enforcement landscape, sitting alongside local authority powers, the courts, and existing redress schemes. For council housing teams, understanding how the Ombudsman operates and where the boundaries lie between council enforcement and Ombudsman jurisdiction is essential for effective service delivery. The PRS Ombudsman is designed to handle individual tenant complaints about landlord behaviour, service failures, and disputes that do not rise to the level of criminal offences or serious hazards. It provides a faster, cheaper alternative to court proceedings for tenants and aims to reduce the burden on local authority complaint systems.

The PRS Ombudsman will have jurisdiction over complaints from tenants about their landlord's behaviour and service. This includes: - Failure to carry out repairs in a reasonable timeframe - Poor communication or unresponsive management - Disputes over deposits, fees, and charges - Anti-social behaviour by the landlord or their agents - Breaches of tenancy terms The Ombudsman will not have jurisdiction over criminal offences (such as operating an unlicensed HMO), serious Category 1 hazards under the HHSRS, or matters already subject to court proceedings. These remain the responsibility of local authority enforcement teams. Landlords who fail to join the Ombudsman scheme commit an offence. Councils will be responsible for enforcing this requirement, using civil penalties of up to £7,000 for a first offence and £40,000 for repeat offences.

Councils and the Ombudsman will need clear, well-established referral pathways. In practice, this means: Council to Ombudsman: When a tenant contacts the council about a matter that falls within the Ombudsman's jurisdiction (e.g., poor communication, minor repairs delays), the council should refer the tenant to the Ombudsman rather than attempting to resolve the dispute informally. Ombudsman to Council: When the Ombudsman receives a complaint that reveals a potential criminal offence, serious hazard, or licensing breach, it should refer the matter to the relevant local authority for investigation and enforcement. Both directions require formal protocols. Councils should begin drafting memoranda of understanding with the Ombudsman service, even before it is fully operational, to establish data sharing arrangements, referral criteria, and response timescales. The PRS Database will be central to these referral pathways, as both the Ombudsman and councils will be able to check landlord registration status and compliance history.

All private landlords must be members of the PRS Ombudsman scheme. Failure to join is an offence under the Renters' Rights Act 2025. Councils are the enforcement body for this requirement. Enforcement will require councils to: 1. Check the Ombudsman's membership register (likely accessible via the PRS Database) 2. Identify landlords who are registered on the PRS Database but not members of the Ombudsman scheme 3. Issue compliance notices and, where appropriate, civil penalties This creates an additional enforcement workload, but it also provides another lever for improving landlord behaviour. A landlord who is not a member of the Ombudsman scheme is likely to be non-compliant in other respects too, making Ombudsman membership a useful proxy indicator for broader risk assessment. Government guidance on civil penalty amounts for non-membership offences has not yet been published, but councils should develop penalty matrices consistent with their existing policies for licensing and registration offences.

Council housing teams should take the following steps to prepare for the Ombudsman's launch: - Train all complaint-handling staff on the Ombudsman's scope and referral criteria - Update complaint intake forms to include questions that help triage between council enforcement and Ombudsman matters - Establish a named contact within the team for Ombudsman liaison - Review existing enforcement policies to incorporate Ombudsman membership offences - Consider how Ombudsman findings might support council enforcement (e.g., a pattern of Ombudsman complaints about a specific landlord could inform a council investigation) The £18.2 million enforcement fund provides an opportunity to invest in these preparations. Councils that establish effective working relationships with the Ombudsman early will be better positioned to deliver joined-up enforcement.