Unhappy tenants typically don’t bother complaining because they're unwilling to stir up trouble, think it’s too much hassle or fear retaliation by their landlord.

The English Housing Survey – a snapshot of tenant views in the PRS ahead of the Renters’ Rights Act – found that some of the most common reasons they gave for not complaining were that they did not want to cause a problem with their landlord or agent (40%), did not believe something would be done if they complained (35%) or felt complaining would be too much of hassle and take too much time (31%).

Others were concerned about retaliation by the landlord (23%), felt the issue was not important enough to raise (18%), or worried that their tenancy would not be renewed (14%).

Half of private renters who made a complaint were unhappy with the outcome (50%) while 94% of those who raised a complaint with their landlord or letting agent and weren’t happy with the response did not take their complaint any further. Among the small number who did escalate a complaint, most went to the council’s environmental health officer (4%), followed by the tenancy relations officer (2%), and less than 1% contacted the Property Ombudsman or Property Redress Scheme.

Introduce

The Renters’ Rights Act will introduce a PRS ombudsman and digital landlord database. Landlords must become members of the ombudsman scheme, providing private renters with access to a free and independent route for resolving complaints. The database will record landlord registration and compliance information, supporting oversight and enforcement.

Sean Hooker, head of redress at the Property Redress Scheme, says while these figures indicate that tenants are reluctant to escalate complaints, the existing redress schemes have dealt with thousands of complaints and achieved excellent outcomes for them.

“This does not mean the system is perfect, as there are clear gaps such as where a landlord is self-managing there is no redress scheme and the false perception in most; but in reality, in more than a few cases true, that the complainant could suffer a retaliatory eviction,” he explains.

Challenges

The Renters’ Right Act is attempting to rectify these challenges, but will take a while for the positive effects to embed in, however in the meantime, the sector across the board, landlords, agents, their associations, tenant groups, local and national government need to promote and highlight the what options there are for getting help, adds Hooker.

“Equally, those in the rental market who provide the desperately needed homes, should understand the importance of being professional and this includes embracing complaints as they are the best way for them to understand what their customer needs, where things are going wrong and where to put things right.”

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