Landlord Ombudsman Exempt Properties: Which Landlords Don't Have to Join in England?

The Default: Every Private Landlord

The starting position under the Renters' Rights Act 2025 is broad. The Act allows regulations to require landlords under assured or regulated tenancies in England to join a landlord redress scheme; the government expects mandatory membership in 2028. The membership regulations have not yet been made.

This covers sole owners, joint owners, corporate landlords, trusts, overseas owners, and accidental landlords with a single property. Portfolio size is irrelevant. The duty attaches to the act of letting, not the scale of the operation.

But the Act's current definition and underlying tenancy law exclude some arrangements. The Act also allows regulations to change which tenancies are in scope, so the final membership rules may add detail.

Excluded: Social Housing

Social housing tenancies — provided by housing associations, local authority landlords, and registered providers — are excluded from the PRS Landlord Ombudsman's jurisdiction. Social housing has its own mandatory redress body: the Housing Ombudsman Service, which has operated since 1997 under the Housing Act 1996 and the Localism Act 2011.

If you're a registered provider of social housing, your complaints go to the Housing Ombudsman, not the PRS Landlord Ombudsman. The two schemes cover different sectors.

Excluded: Resident Landlord Arrangements and Lodgers

If you live in the property and rent out a room to a lodger, the arrangement is typically classified as a contractual licence or an excluded tenancy under Schedule 1 of the Housing Act 1988. These are not assured tenancies, so they fall outside the ombudsman's mandatory scope.

The critical test is whether the tenant has exclusive possession of a self-contained unit. A lodger who shares your kitchen, bathroom, or living space does not have a tenancy covered by the Renters' Rights Act. A tenant occupying a self-contained annexe or converted basement with its own entrance might have an assured periodic tenancy even though you live in the main building — in which case, the ombudsman applies.

Excluded: Purpose-Built Student Accommodation

Some student lettings are excluded from assured-tenancy status under Schedule 1 of the Housing Act 1988, as amended by section 32 of the Renters' Rights Act 2025, where the statutory institution or housing-code conditions are met. Section 62 concerns HMO licensing, not an Ombudsman exemption. Do not assume every purpose-built or institution-managed student property is excluded.

Private student lets under assured periodic tenancies remain within the Act's landlord-redress scope. A qualifying code-based student letting may be excluded from assured status; the tenancy's legal classification is what matters.

Excluded: High-Value Company Lets

Tenancies granted to companies (not individuals) at rents exceeding £100,000 per year fall outside the assured tenancy framework under Schedule 1 of the Housing Act 1988. These are typically corporate relocations or high-end commercial arrangements. They fall outside the Act's current relevant-tenancy definition; future regulations may change the scope.

Excluded: Holiday Lettings

Short-term holiday lets and vacation rentals are not assured tenancies. Schedule 1 of the Housing Act 1988 excludes a tenancy whose purpose is to give the tenant the right to occupy the dwelling for a holiday, so it falls outside the Act's current assured-tenancy scope.

The boundary can blur for longer "holiday" lets that start to resemble permanent residences. If a tenant occupies a property as their main home and the arrangement has the characteristics of an assured periodic tenancy (regardless of what you call it in the contract), the ombudsman may have jurisdiction.

Included: HMOs

HMO status by itself is not an exemption from the landlord-redress scope. Whether tenants in an HMO hold individual or joint tenancies, the tenancy classification determines whether the Act applies.

HMO landlords face additional complexity because they may receive complaints from multiple tenants about the same issue (communal area maintenance, shared heating systems, noise management). The approved scheme's rules will determine how related complaints are handled.

HMO licensing under the Housing Act 2004 (Part 2 mandatory licensing, Part 2 additional licensing, or Part 3 selective licensing) is a separate obligation from ombudsman membership. When the landlord membership duty takes effect, an in-scope landlord may need both the local HMO licence and scheme membership. The PRS Database is a separate registration; do not treat it as a replacement for local licensing.

Included: Properties in Selective Licensing Areas

If your property falls within a council's selective licensing designation (under Part 3 of the Housing Act 2004), you need the local selective licence and, when the membership duty takes effect, scheme membership if your tenancy is in scope. The national registration requirements do not replace local authority licensing — the two regimes operate in parallel.

Properties Between Tenancies

The Act allows future regulations to require membership before a dwelling is marketed and to require a former landlord to remain a member for a specified period after a tenancy ends. Those regulations have not yet set the start and end points for a membership duty during a void period. Former tenants are within the Act's complaint definition, subject to the scheme rules.

Check Your Specific Situation

The exemptions are narrower than most landlords expect. The vast majority of private lettings in England are assured periodic tenancies, and the vast majority of private landlords will need to join.

The PRS Landlord Ombudsman guide includes a property-type decision tree that maps your letting arrangement to the correct compliance requirements — covering HMOs, mixed portfolios, and borderline cases like live-in landlord conversions.

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