Ombudsman urges social landlords to make use of ‘early warning sign’ safety complaints
The Housing Ombudsman has called on housing providers to make use of safety complaints from residents to catch service failures before they affect a larger number of residents.
The Ombudsman’s advice comes as it releases its latest monthly ‘Learning from severe maladministration’ report, this time focused on the ‘Big 6’ building safety compliance areas.
These compliance areas are:
- Fire safety
- Gas safety
- Electrical safety
- Asbestos management
- Legionella (water hygiene)
- Lifting Operations and Lifting Equipment Regulations (LOLER)
The 23 complaints detailed in the report involve landlords being made aware of problems in these areas, with issues sometimes interfacing with other disrepair concerns.
By grouping these cases together, it is possible to map reoccurring points of service failure and identify areas for learning, the Ombudsman said.
“Complaints can act as an early warning sign for landlords to test whether this is an isolated issue or further action is required to prevent repeated failings impacting other residents,” it added.
In one case, a family covered up a hole in the ceiling with a black binbag for 2 years – despite the landlord knowing asbestos may be present.
Another case highlighted in the report involved a fire door not being fitted for 28 months.
A further case involved a resident unable to access drinking water because of black slime coming out of the taps for years.
“The financial hardship these conditions can create as well as the impact on mental health are constant experiences,” the Ombudsman said.
The report describes the delays in landlords’ responses to complaints as “staggering”.
Landlords mentioned in this report are:
- A2Dominion
- Barking and Dagenham Council
- Birmingham City Council
- Camden Council
- Clarion
- Home Group
- Hyde Housing
- L&Q
- Lambeth Council
- Lewisham Council
- Norwich Council
- Peabody
- Richmond Housing Partnership
- Riverside
- Soho Housing
- Southend Council
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “Every property manager will know the importance of complying with the ‘Big 6’ health and safety issues.
“While we know areas such as gas safety compliance are high, these cases show the human impact of key obligations not being fulfilled to individuals.
“Complaints can be an early warning sign of any problems and provide valuable insight to improve services.”
He added: “Concerningly, these cases show issues remaining unresolved for months or even years, despite many of them requiring emergency repairs. And the impact on a household can be profound, with some landlords doing too little to recognize the poor conditions some residents have been left to live in.
“These complaints can also provide vital intelligence for boards to seek assurance that failings in policy, process or systems won’t be repeated and for the executive to deconstruct the case to learn lessons. This includes weaknesses in knowledge and information management.
“I would urge landlords to engage in the lessons in this report and test themselves against them. There is much to be proud of in the sector’s approach to safety, but it must not be complacent because compliance rates are high in certain areas.”
The full report, ‘Taking the key lessons from our severe maladministration decisions, March 2025’ is available here.
Harry Rodd
