Half of complaints decided by Housing Ombudsman come from residents inside London

The Housing Ombudsman has revealed that almost half (47%) of the cases determined in 2023-24 were from residents living in a London postcode, despite just under one in six homes in the Ombudsman membership being located within Greater London.

The Ombudsman said: “This rate is disproportionate…. No other region of England has such a wide gap between the proportion of social housing and complaints.”

In its latest Insight report, the Ombudsman said the severe maladministration rate is 9.3% in London, compared with 7.4% for the rest of the country. There is an overall administration rate of 77% in the capital compared to 68.5% for the rest of the country

The uphold rate on property condition, including repairs and health and safety, is also the highest in the country. This is despite more homes meeting the Decent Homes Standard in the capita, the report said.

The Ombudsman, Richard Blakeway, acknowledged the “unique and acute challenges” faced by social landlords in London.

Cases covered in the report include one on building safety, in which the landlord failed to provide timely information on fire safety measures and cladding on the building. Another case, involving Notting Hill Genesis, led to a resident being left for seven months with sewage gases affecting their property.

The Ombudsman identified the following key learning points for housing providers:

• A positive complaints culture starts from the top – "it is crucial that leadership and governance are seen to support the complaints’ function, including promoting internal cooperation and engagement with the complaints process".
• Some issues for landlords can be outside its control to fully rectify, but there are always steps that a landlord can take to ameliorate the impact on the resident. "It is important a landlord does not lose sight of the person at the centre of a protracted issue, does not blame them for the situation, and there is a continuous assessment of whether the remedial actions taken remain appropriate or whether a decant is now necessary."
• Good customer service is founded on demonstrating that the resident’s experience is important to a landlord –"that includes ensuring that details are taken and recorded appropriately so that resident feels listened to, the right solution is found to resolve the issue swiftly and the communication to the resident is courteous and accurate".
• Complaint handling is a landlord’s opportunity to regain a resident’s trust after they have had a bad experience. "It is far more than just ascertaining what the service failure is and rectifying that situation." It is vital complaint handling also focuses on rebuilding relationships between resident and landlord.
• Insight and intelligence from complaints should be used strategically by landlords. This ranges from effective root cause analysis of casework through to identifying risks and horizon scanning.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “Although the issues complained about are broadly the same as the rest of the country, the operating environment for landlords in the capital is vastly different from most other areas. This can present unique and acute challenges. 

“The housing crisis is intense in London – with under resourcing and pressures that are outside of landlords’ control. These challenges and the impact it has on individuals is clear and evident in our casework.

“However, landlords must ensure they are equipped to respond to these operational complexities and neither allow them to obscure poor performance nor be overwhelmed by them. There are far too many cases of residents being treated unfairly or unreasonably."

Blakeway added: “Our casework reveals how poor communication and record management can compound existing challenges. It also indicates some poor resource planning, risk assessment and service oversight.

“This report contains both good practice and maladministration cases and landlords should take into account all of that learning when reading through this report. We appreciate the support and engagement that London landlords and other groups have provided in the lead up and following publication of this report.”

Harry Rodd