Who Do You Complain To About A Landlord Or Agent?
Something has gone wrong and the landlord or agent isn't fixing it. The question is who you go to next, and the answer depends on what kind of problem it is.
Most of these routes are free. The one that matters most is the one almost nobody uses.
The short version
- Complain to them first, in writing. Every route below expects you to have done this.
- Agent problems go to a redress scheme. Free, independent, and they can award compensation.
- Property condition goes to environmental health. Free, and legally enforceable.
- Fees, licensing and safety go to the council or trading standards.
Step one, whatever the problem
Put it in writing to the landlord or agent, using their formal complaints procedure if they have one. Most agents publish theirs on their website.
Keep it factual and specific: what happened, when, what you've already done, and what you want. Give a reasonable deadline.
Every escalation route below will ask whether you complained first and what the response was. Skipping this step sends you back to the start.
Then, depending on the problem
The property is in poor condition
Environmental health, at your council. This is the strongest free tool available and the one most renters never reach for.
They can inspect, assess hazards, and serve an improvement notice that's legally enforceable. Ignoring one can bring prosecution or a civil penalty, and the council can do the work and bill the landlord.
Damp, cold, electrical danger, fire safety, disrepair, infestation. Ask for "private sector housing" or "environmental health". When a landlord won't repair.
A letting agent has behaved badly
Their redress scheme. Every letting agent in England must belong to one, either The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme. It's a criminal offence to trade without.
Free to use, independent, and they can order an apology, an explanation, and compensation. You normally need to have used the agent's own complaints procedure first, and to have waited eight weeks or received a final response.
What The Property Ombudsman does.
Your landlord manages the property themselves
Here's the gap. If there's no agent, there is currently no redress scheme to complain to. Your routes are the council, or the courts.
That changes from late 2026, when a Landlord Ombudsman becomes mandatory for private landlords under the Renters' Rights Act. Free for tenants, binding decisions, and able to require an apology, information, remedial action or compensation.
Until then, environmental health is usually the practical answer for anything about the property itself.
You've been charged an unlawful fee
Trading standards, via the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133. Councils enforce the Tenant Fees Act and can fine up to £5,000 for a first offence.
You can also apply to the First-tier Tribunal to recover the payment. The tenant fees ban explained.
Your deposit is the problem
The deposit scheme's free adjudication, if it's about deductions. Independent, binding, and the burden of proof is on the landlord.
If it was never protected, or the prescribed information never arrived within 30 days, that's a county court claim for the deposit plus one to three times its value. When they won't return your deposit.
The property should be licensed and isn't
The council's licensing team. Ask whether your address is licensed, which they'll tell you free.
An unlicensed HMO is also a ground for a Rent Repayment Order, now worth up to 24 months' rent. Claiming money back from your landlord.
Gas or electrical safety
The Health and Safety Executive for gas safety failures, and the council for electrical. No gas safety certificate in twelve months is a criminal matter, not an oversight.
Harassment or illegal eviction
The council's tenancy relations team, and the police. This is criminal, and it's urgent rather than a complaint. Landlord harassment.
Discrimination
Refusing you for claiming benefits or having children is unlawful. Complain to the agent and their redress scheme, report the advert to the portal, and get advice about a discrimination claim. Can a landlord say no to benefits, children or pets.
Free advice, at any point
- Shelter, including an emergency helpline on 0808 800 4444
- Citizens Advice, for housing and consumer problems
- Your council's housing options team, particularly if your home is at risk
None of them charge, and all of them deal with this daily.
Making a complaint that works
- One issue at a time. A list of fifteen grievances gets triaged into the too-hard pile.
- Dates and facts, not feelings. "Reported 3 September, chased 18 September, no response" is powerful. "They never listen" isn't.
- Say what you want. The repair done by a date, the fee refunded, an apology. A complaint without a remedy is hard to resolve.
- Attach the evidence. Photographs, the email thread, receipts.
- Keep copies of everything, including what you send.
One thing that changed
Complaining used to carry a real risk. A landlord who didn't like it could serve a Section 21 notice and be rid of you in two months, no reason required.
That was abolished on 1 May 2026. A landlord now needs a specified ground and has to prove it in court, and complaining is not one. What the Renters' Rights Act changed.
The honest summary
Complain in writing first. Then: environmental health for the property, the redress scheme for the agent, trading standards for fees, the deposit scheme for deposits, and the police and tenancy relations for anything criminal.
All free. The main thing that decides whether they work is whether you kept a written record.
And whatever the outcome, review your landlord and agent. Complaints processes fix your problem. Reviews are the only thing that warns the next person.
This guide covers England and reflects the position at August 2026. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own schemes. General information rather than legal advice. Sources: GOV.UK, private renting complaints, GOV.UK, Guide to the Renters' Rights Act.