Voluntary membership

Most landlords and agents in the private rented sector want to provide a good service to their tenants and to maintain a good reputation as a landlord. The Ombudsman’s vision is improving residents’ lives and landlord’s services through housing complaints.

The Housing Ombudsman Scheme provides a high quality and effective dispute resolution service between residents and landlords. We carry out fair and impartial investigation into complaints if the issues cannot be resolved via a landlord’s complaints process.

The Ombudsman’s rulings are conclusive, and decisions are made according to the circumstances of the dispute. The Ombudsman will also set out any good practice recommendations and orders to the landlord to put things right.

As a condition of membership of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, members will be expected to:

• agree to be bounds by the terms of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme
• establish and maintain a complaints procedure with good practice recommended by the Ombudsman, including the Complaint Handling Code
• publish its complaint procedure
• complete an annual self-assessment against the Ombudsman’s Code - Complaint Handling Code annual submissions
• provide information as requested by the Ombudsman in a reasonable timescale
• ensure the Ombudsman is provided with up-to-date contact details

Failure to comply with the conditions of membership may result in an Ombudsman’s determination of complaint-handling failure and an order to rectify within a given timescale.

What is the membership fee?

Our current membership fee for 2024-25 is £8.03 per unit.

Members will be billed for a subscription payment on an annual basis.

How do you calculate the membership fee?

Between the months of January and March, we conduct a verification process. Members will receive an email requesting confirmation of the number of units they hold, prior to billing being issued.

If you have any questions regarding invoicing/finance, please email membershipfinance@housing-ombudsman.org.uk

Landlords and agents who are interested in joining the Housing Ombudsman Scheme can complete this application form and send to membership@housing-ombudsman.org.uk

In addition to the completed application form, we require copies of your:

• tenancy agreement
• complaints procedure
• example redacted complaint response

Voluntary member application form (ODT)