Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask His Majesty's Government what forms of redress are available for those with complaints against letting agencies where they are not members of recognised industry standards associations.

As part of a fair and just housing system, the Government is committed to making sure that landlords and tenants are protected from abuse and poor service. This is why we introduced in October 2014 a legal requirement for letting and managing agents in England to belong to one of the two Government-approved redress schemes. Agents who fail to comply can be fined up to £5,000. The two schemes are: The Property Ombudsman (https://www.tpos.co.uk/) and the Property Redress Scheme (https://www.theprs.co.uk/).

Whether or not letting agencies choose to also be members of an industry standards association, landlords and agents have access to redress via the redress schemes.