Housing Ombudsman calls on landlords to provide “‘meaningful apologies” in complaint handling

The advice details how landlords can build better apologies that provide more meaningful outcomes and how an apology can sometimes “be enough to remedy the situation”, the Ombudsman said.

The guidance on apologies comes from the latest ‘learning from severe maladministration’ report and shares several cases where an apology was important and while the landlord often apologised during its own complaint process, it could have been stronger.

One case involves a resident experiencing overheating for more than three years because of faulty windows.  

In another case, a resident was unable to leave her home because of a faulty step and a further case involves a mother sleeping on a sofa with her child because of the impact of antisocial behaviour.  

The Ombudsman believes that given the imbalance of power with residents, saying sorry for mistakes is especially important for social landlords.

It states that rebuilding trust matters when most residents will still live with the same landlord, regardless of its performance or any failings.

The report on apologies is aligned with the Housing Ombudsman’s long-standing Apologies Guidance, and lays out the following key aspects of addressing tenant’s complaints:

• Timely: A timely apology given as soon as the problem is understood is most effective.
• Personal and sincere: Make sure the apology is personal and written for the specific occasion.
• Empathetic: Empathy shows the resident that you have listened to them.
• Responsibility and regret: A good apology acknowledges the impact on the resident and includes an explanation of why the problem happened.
• What you have learned: An apology should include evidence of what has been learned from the complaint.
• Remedy: An apology should explain the remedy being offered to the resident.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “Genuine apologies can be restorative. It makes the resident-landlord relationship stronger. It shows an open, healthy culture. It provides residents with dignity and respect. And it offers the landlord a moment for reflection. 

“Given the imbalance of power with residents, saying sorry for mistakes is especially important for social landlords. Rebuilding trust matters when most residents will still live with the same landlord, regardless of its performance or any failings. 

“Using our powers to facilitate a meaningful apology is an important aspect of our work. It can foster behaviour and culture change at little financial cost. Today, our service typically orders more than 4,000 apologies every year.”

Blakeway added: “An apology is a human way to acknowledge the pain organisational failings can cause. Complaints handled well can be restorative. Handled badly, and the complaints process compounds earlier service failings and further erodes trust. 

“We know saying sorry isn’t always easy. Nor is it always enough. But we encourage social landlords not to shy away from it.” 

Harry Rodd