The Renters' Rights Act 2025 creates a new PRS Ombudsman. All private landlords in England must join. Here is what it will cover and what it will not replace.
On this page
What is the new PRS Ombudsman?
The Renters' Rights Act 2025 creates a brand-new body: the Private Rented Sector (PRS) Ombudsman. Once it opens, every private landlord in England must join by law. The scheme is planned for late 2026 or 2027. No exact date is confirmed yet.
It will give private tenants a free, independent complaints route when things go wrong with a landlord. Nothing like it has existed for private renting before. The Housing Ombudsman has always covered social housing only, councils and housing associations. Private tenants had no equivalent.
What the PRS Ombudsman will cover
The scheme is expected to handle complaints about:
- Repairs left undone past a reasonable time
- Day-to-day management of the home
- Rent rises and how they are announced
- Deposit rows not already handled by a deposit scheme
- Landlord behaviour generally, where a formal complaint went unresolved
The process will trace the Housing Ombudsman's broad pattern. Complain to the landlord first. Wait out their set response period. Then take a poor outcome up to the Ombudsman.
How it differs from the Housing Ombudsman
The Housing Ombudsman covers social landlords only, councils and housing associations, and holds no power over private ones. The PRS Ombudsman fills that gap. The two bodies stay separate.
A social tenant with a repairs complaint still takes the Housing Ombudsman route, beside any formal disrepair claim. A private tenant will one day hold the PRS Ombudsman as the match.
What the PRS Ombudsman will not replace
This matters. The new Ombudsman replaces neither the civil courts nor the disrepair claim route.
A landlord in breach of Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, or the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, may owe you compensation. Only a court awards that, never an ombudsman. The Ombudsman can order works or a modest payment. Next to a winning county court claim, its remedies run limited.
The two routes run together: an Ombudsman complaint about the landlord's behaviour sits fine beside a civil claim for compensation.
What private tenants can do right now
The PRS Ombudsman is not open yet. Meanwhile, private tenants hold these options.
Report to the council's environmental health team. Serious problems let the council inspect under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, the HHSRS. That covers damp and mould, cold, electrical faults, and structural trouble. A Category 1 hazard found means a legal duty to act, not a choice.
Follow the pre-action protocol for disrepair. Before any court claim, you send a formal letter setting out the disrepair. That letter also starts the legal clock on the landlord's duty to respond.
Bring a civil disrepair claim. A landlord told about the problem who left it past a reasonable time may owe you compensation. Call us on 0800 030 4669 for a free assessment. No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.
Get help
A private landlord ignoring repairs, and options wanted now? Call Support for Tenants on 0800 030 4669. We are a regulated company, not a law firm, and we connect tenants with solicitors who handle disrepair cases.
Sources: Renters' Rights Bill: overview, GOV.UK; Housing Ombudsman, about us.
Support For Tenants is a trading name of Cyntex Group Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a Claims Management Company. FRN 1020217. Registered in England and Wales.
Reviewed against current housing law for England and Wales as at 29 May 2026. Checked by our SRA-regulated panel solicitors. This is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. Any compensation figures or ranges shown are illustrative only, not a promise; every case is different.
Related on Support for Tenants
Renting with damp, mould or leaks your landlord won't fix?
No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.