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Ombudsman improvement orders to landlords up 54%
The number of orders and recommendations the Housing Ombudsman has issued to social landlords to improve services and help tenants is up by 54%.
The watchdog’s latest Insight report, covering October to December 2022, showed it made 796 orders and 467 recommendations following investigations – totalling 1,263.
This is up from 819 orders and recommendations in the previous quarter.
The maladministration rate has also risen, with the ombudsman finding full or partial maladministration in 55% of cases, compared with 43% in the same period last year.
The report also showed that the watchdog received 8,123 enquiries and complaints in the quarter, representing a 24% increase.
Property condition remains the top complaint category and has risen from 41% to 51% of all complaints.
Poor conditions in social housing have come under the spotlight in the past two years following a series of reports from ITV News.
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Damp and mould issues have been a particular focus since a shocking coroner’s report last year found that two year-old Awaab Ishak died due to prolonged exposure to mould in his family’s housing association flat.
The ombudsman’s latest report revealed that the second highest complaint category was complaint-handling, with 13%, and third was anti-social behaviour (ASB) with 10%.
The report included several case studies involving landlords operating in the North West and North East of England, as well as Yorkshire and the Humber.
The ombudsman praised Rotherham and Leeds councils for their complaint-handling, Doncaster Council’s inspection process and timely repairs, and Gateshead Council for how it dealt with an ASB case.
Housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: “We’re seeing the continuation of the surge in complaints we’ve experienced since last year.
“And not only that, we’re now finding more maladministration than before, showing some of the issues we’re uncovering are serious and have needed dealing with for some time.
“This also means we are issuing more orders and recommendations to make residents lives better and improve landlord’s services so that residents do not suffer in the future.”
The ombudsman will be publishing a Spotlight report on knowledge information management, which includes record-keeping.
Mr Blakeway said he hopes the sector “takes the learning from that to improve in this key area of complaints”.
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