Who can use the Housing Ombudsman Service?

The Housing Ombudsman can consider a complaint from people that are (or were) in a landlord and tenant relationship with a landlord that is registered as a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.  

A landlord and tenant relationship includes:

• tenants that have a secure, assured or assured shorthold tenancy with a member landlord
• leaseholders - including those that lease a property owned by a member or own part of their home (shared ownership)
• those who have a licence or other arrangement directly with the member landlord

It does not include:

• people that own their home (freeholders) – even where they are paying an estate or service charge
• those who are squatting without a legal relationship
• a lodger or family member staying with the tenant and not listed as a tenant on the tenancy agreement

If you no longer live at the property you are complaining about, you must have had the landlord and tenant relationship at the time the complaint issue arose. The landlord’s complaints policy may set out how long after the issues arose it will consider a complaint. The Ombudsman also has restrictions for how long after the issues happened, it will consider a complaint.

The Housing Ombudsman will also consider a complaint where one of the following applies:

• people who have applied for a property with the landlord member - this does not include a homeless or rehousing application to the council
• those who have or are applying to take over (succeed) the tenancy from somebody else
• those who have matrimonial home rights
• somebody bringing a complaint on behalf of a deceased tenant - the Ombudsman will require that the representative has a grant of probate (where there is a will) or a grant of papers of administration (where there is no will or a partial will), without this, we will not be able to consider the complaint
• those who have signed authority to bring a complaint on behalf of a tenant
• those who have a court order or power of attorney for someone in a landlord-and-tenant relationship

Find out more about bringing a complaint to this service for somebody else

If you are not sure whether you can bring a complaint to the Ombudsman, please contact us and we will be able to tell you.