Three in five social landlords make changes following Ombudsman report on noise complaints

The Housing Ombudsman has hailed the response of many social landlords to its October 2022 Spotlight report on noise complaints, saying that 60% of landlords who responded had self-assessed against its recommendations and were implementing an action plan.

“This demonstrates the positive impact these reports can have and the encouraging responsiveness of the sector,” the Ombudsman said.

The follow-up evaluation’s findings included a case study where a landlord responded effectively to a resident that was suffering with PTSD from a former neighbour dispute.

The initial Spotlight report, Time to be Heard, made various recommendations around voids, neighbourhood management and knowledge and information management.

The Ombudsman said it was “encouraged” to find a third of landlords suggesting that since the report, they had made improvements and changes to their void standard, and that the benefits of this were already being seen.

“Amongst the void improvements mentioned by landlords were installation of soft door-closure mechanisms, door pads and/or anti-vibration washing machine mats and reviewing previous reports of noise from the property and conducting noise insulation checks,” it noted.

Almost half (45%) of landlords informed the Ombudsman they now have, or are planning, a neighbourhood management policy.

A further 38% of landlords said they had reviewed their existing policies and procedures and 22% of landlords now have, or are planning, a separate noise policy.

This follows criticism in the original report that many landlords treated all noise cases as ASB, which was leading to poor responses.

Other improvements landlords have made following the Spotlight report are:

• Introducing timescales for responding to noise complaints
• Ensuring these are monitored and that they form the basis of any service level agreements with third parties
• Changing the mediation approach to ‘conversation, not confrontation’
• Triaging noise complaints to ascertain whether they fall under household noise or ASB
• Linking to the Ombudsman’s Spotlight report on attitudes, respect and rights were changes to language such as removal of “perpetrator” and “incidents”.

A small number told the Ombudsman they would make changes to their knowledge and information management around noise complaints.

However, the evaluation also identified areas for further action, including on knowledge and information management and offering a visible presence in communities, with only 16% of landlords saying they had increased home visits or their presence on estates despite this being a key concern of many residents.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “It is positive to see that when landlords engage with the recommendations from our Spotlight reports, effective policy and practice can come from it. This will undoubtedly benefit residents and extend fairness, enabling landlords to deliver more responsive services and potentially prevent complaints arising.

“As part of our plans for the coming years, we have been explicit that we want to improve landlords’ local complaint handling so that fewer cases require our intervention. Engaging with these reports is an important way of doing that and we have seen in some instances where landlords have provided evidence to the Regulator of Social Housing using the self-assessments from our Spotlight reports as proof of learning and progress.

“However, it is important to note that this is just a snapshot of landlords and there is still more work to do. Noise can be a huge issue for the residents that experience it and can cause severe mental health issues, impacting their whole lives. Landlords should be empathetic of this when cases come into them.”

Blakeway added that the Ombudsman’s Centre for Learning had developed, and was continuing to develop, further resources for landlords to learn from the report and its findings.

The Centre for Learning has created expectations for both landlords and residents, has provided case studies on noise, and will soon be publishing a podcast on the findings. New e-learning and noise workshops will be soon free to attend for all landlords.

Harry Rodd