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Revealed: Housing Ombudsman names landlords in latest complaints failure list
The Housing Ombudsman has unveiled the names of social landlords to have been issued with complaint-handling failure orders in the past three months.
The ombudsman published its latest quarterly report into complaint-handling failures, listing 29 instances of complaint-handling failures across 20 landlords.
Complaint-handling failure orders are issued by the ombudsman when it has taken reasonable steps to seek engagement from a landlord but residents are still unable to progress a complaint. They may also be issued when there appears to be a systemic issue within a landlord’s complaint-handling.
Out of the 29 instances, 26 landlords complied once the order was issued. However, in three cases there were instances of non-compliance by landlords. Non-compliance orders are issued when it is found that the landlord did not comply within target timescales and are in formal remit of investigation.
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This list saw London-based Catalyst listed twice, alongside Lambeth Council.
The Housing Ombudsman began publishing lists of landlords that were issued complaint-handling failure orders in January.
In the period covering January to April, a total of 10 orders were issued. This grew to 23 between April and June, and the number went up to 30 between June and September.
The report also includes a number of case studies of complaints failures, where the ombudsman has had to step in.
In response to the latest report, the Housing Ombudsman has published new guidance for landlords to highlight effective complaints responses. The guidance, which is based on resident feedback and casework, sets out a number of recommendations for landlords.
The latest report comes just weeks after the ombudsman published a report that listed the worst-performing landlords on dealing with damp and mould.
Hammersmith & Fulham topped the list at 10.8 findings per 10,000 homes, followed by A2Dominion at a rate of 3, Camden Council at 2.5, and Lambeth Council at 2.
Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “Complaints provide a valuable opportunity for landlords to listen to residents’ concerns, treat them fairly and put things right where they have gone wrong.
“It is important that complaints are progressed in a timely way and in line with our Complaint Handling Code, which sets out clear expectations for landlords on handling housing complaints. We issue orders where landlords fail to meet them and in most cases landlords comply. However, it is disappointing that in six cases the landlord did not comply.
“In our new guidance we have outlined our expectations of landlord communication and how effective correspondence can help resolve disputes between residents and landlords, as well as the resident’s right to refer an unresolved complaint to the ombudsman. I encourage landlords to make use of the best practice identified and to consider the recommendations.”
UPDATE: at 09.00am, 16/11/21 This article has been updated. The original article said that L&Q and Evolve had been named as being non-compliant once the issue had been raised. The Housing Ombudsman had made an error and duplicated these names in its original release. These have now been removed and the article amended to reflect this.
Complaint-handling failure orders where the landlord complied
| Date issued | Landlord |
| 1 July 2021 | Lambeth Council |
| 1 July 2021 | Wandle |
| 7 July 2021 | Spitalfields Housing Association |
| 12 July 2021 | L&Q |
| 20 July 2021 | Camden Council |
| 20 July 2021 | Sovereign |
| 22 July 2021 | Hammersmith and Fulham |
| 4 August 2021 | Haringey |
| 5 August 2021 | Cornwall |
| 5 August 2021 | Catalyst |
| 14 August 2021 | Hyde |
| 16 August 2021 | L&Q |
| 16 August 2021 | Stonewater |
| 17 August 2021 | Sheffield city Council |
| 19 August 2021 | Housing for Women |
| 19 August 2021 | Redditch Council |
| 20 August 2021 | Hammersmith and Fulham |
| 24 August 2021 | Wandle |
| 26 August 2021 | Chisel |
| 27 August 2021 | Wandle |
| 27 August 2021 | Northwards Housing |
| 10 September 2021 | Cornwall Council |
| 15 September 2021 | Southway |
| 23 September 2021 | Catalyst |
Complaint-handling failure orders where the landlord did not comply
| Date issued | Landlord |
| 16 July 2021 | Catalyst |
| 21 September 2021 | Lambeth Council |
| 24 September 2021 | Catalyst |
Landlord responses
Meric Apak, cabinet member for Better Homes at Camden Council: “I am extremely disappointed that an administrative error has led to a failure to submit and publish our self-assessment of the Complaints Handling Code within the deadline.
“Processes are now in place to ensure this mistake is not repeated. It is also important to note that this failure did not impact any tenants and am pleased to see that there have been no findings of non-compliance with regard to any complaints.”
Guy Revans, head of environmental and housing property services at Redditch Borough Council: “We have taken on board the ombudsman’s comments. We are currently carrying out substantial changes to the way we manage our housing services, and the ways we interact with our tenants are one of several areas under review.”
Northwards statement: “Northwards was sent to the ombudsman because the tenant didn’t think her repair request was actioned quickly enough, which related to damp in her property.
“The complaint has been dealt with and the tenant has already had a number of works completed to her property recently – and there is a final job on the system which has been scheduled.”
Dave Lockerman, customer experience director at Stonewater: “I can confirm that Stonewater were issued with a complaint-handling order by the Housing Ombudsman on 16 August 2021. On this occasion we had failed to follow our complaints process and had not escalated the complaint to stage two and sent a formal response to the customer.
“However, once the mistake was highlighted, we were able to quickly resolve the customer’s complaint and comply with the order.
“We’re absolutely committed to our customer promise and ensuring the voice of our customers is at the heart of our services. We value the positive relationship we have with the Housing Ombudsman and share their commitment to openness and transparency.”
A Haringey Council spokesperson said: “Over the past 15 months our housing service has been under intense pressure due to the impact of the pandemic, which has contributed to some delays in complaint and repair handling.
"We however recognise that significant improvements can be made to provide a better future service to residents, which is why Homes for Haringey is currently undergoing a transformation programme, with complaint management as one of its top priority areas.”
“Our current work to address this includes rolling out a new customer care training programme for our staff, reengineering processes so they are more customer centric and introducing new technology to better support complaints management.”
A spokesperson for Cornwall Council said: “Cornwall Housing Ltd and Cornwall Council are continuing to work to resolve both cases and are in contact with the HOS.”
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