Nearly 22,000 orders made against landlords in a year, reveals ombudsman

The ombudsman also revealed it wrote to 126 landlords where failings were found in 75% or more of its decisions, compared with just 25 landlords last year. There were 8,619 maladministration findings in total.

Severe maladministration made up 7% of all findings, jumping from 131 to 856. Landlords with 10,000 homes made up 88% of all severe maladministration findings.

Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “These figures are another stark reminder of the scale of the housing emergency and the urgent need for landlords to improve essential services and some living conditions.” 

The ombudsman said 73% of decisions resulted in maladministration because the landlord did not follow its legal requirements, policy or process.

London was the area where the highest proportion of decisions were upheld (77%), compared with the lowest (62%) in the North East and Yorkshire.

Mr Blakeway added: “Behind every statistic is a resident’s life that has been disrupted by landlord inaction or ineffectiveness.

“Our cases show this leads to children missing school, reports of declining health or people forced to sleep on sofas or floors.

“This could be avoided with more investment into existing homes, improved systems and technology, and stronger service management. Without tackling the root causes of complaints, trust in landlords will be eroded, with communities and the economy adversely impacted.”

Nine landlords received more than five failure orders for non-compliance with the agency’s Complaint Handling Code or failure to co-operate with investigations, the ombudsman reported.

The agency also said it will publish a report on disrepair early next year, ahead of the government introducing a new Decent Homes Standard.