Complaints and Feedback
The NRLA is a membership organisation, providing help and support to landlords. We aim to strike a fair balance between the interests of landlords and tenants. The NRLA is not a statutory or regulatory body and cannot accept complaints in relation to potential legal matters, or which involve any regulatory bodies such as deposit or redress schemes etc.
Neither the Code of Practice nor our complaints process can supersede the normal operation of the law. A complainant retains the right throughout the process to choose to go to law; in this event, the complaint would be halted, as the courts take precedence over the Code. Similarly, the Code of Practice cannot be used to review or re-open an issue on which the courts are reviewing or has already been adjudicated. If your complaint refers to an issue relating to your deposit this in turn must be taken up with the individual deposit provider.
We operate a Code of Practice for our members to follow which covers every aspect of letting residential properties and is designed to raise and maintain standards in the private rented sector. However, we cannot intervene when it requires the involvement of formal process, regulatory bodies, or legal matters.
If the Landlord or Agent is an NRLA member and any legal judgement, such as a court award or documentation of enforcement action by the council be made in this matter that constitutes a breach of our code of conduct, we will then be able to look into this. If the landlord / letting agent is an active member of the NRLA, we may take any appropriate action as outlined in the Code of Practice. In all cases evidence will be required and verified to substantiate the complaint. To view our Code of Practice click here.
What to do if you have a complaint about a landlord:
- Notify your landlord both verbally and in writing the nature of your complaint
- Provide evidence of the breach
- Give your landlord reasonable time in which to respond to your complaint
- If you are still not satisfied you can contact one of the following:
Where to seek advice on a complaint against a landlord or letting agent:
For complaints about letting agents, you can seek advice from the independent complaints body by contacting the relevant redress scheme or the Property Ombudsman. You can ask your letting agent which body they belong to or check on the relevant website. If your letting agent isn’t a member of a complaints body you can get help from Citizens Advice.
Deposit Protection Dispute:
If you don't agree that your landlord or agent should have kept all or part of your deposit, or you disagree with some of the costs that they have taken out of it, then you can contact the tenancy deposit protection scheme your landlord, or agent has used, who will offer a free service to help resolve disputes.