Housing Ombudsman annual review reveals disrepair to be biggest area of complaint
The Housing Ombudsman has written to 21 local authorities and 11 housing associations where it found maladministration in at least half of its decisions in 2021-22.
For five of those landlords, maladministration was found in more than 75% of the Ombudsman’s decisions. This compares to an overall rate of 48%, where the Ombudsman upheld at least one part of the complaints in its cases.
Data from the Ombudsman's annual complaints review for 2021-22 also show that property condition remains the biggest area of complaint about social landlords, and more action is needed by social housing landlords to improve the quality of homes and service.
Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said the report suggests that poor performance in some service areas is at "unacceptably high levels".
The review, which covers April 2021 to March 2022 and draws insight from data concerning 115 annual landlords, found that landlord complaint handling also needs "significant improvement", with 66% of the complaints about complaint handling investigated by the Ombudsman upheld.
Of the 21 councils written to, East Devon District Council had the highest rate of maladministration findings at 89% of decisions. Housing association Golding Homes Limited had the highest rate of maladministration findings of any provider at 90% of decisions.
In 59% of property condition complaints, the Ombudsman found there had been service area failures by the landlord, 20% of which were resolved through the landlords' own complaints procedure.
However, the Ombudsman upheld 39% of all property condition complaints. There were failures in 86% of complaint handling complaints, 20% of which were put right during the landlord's own procedure, and 66% upheld following the Ombudsman's investigation.
Residents' feedback through the annual survey shows there has been a 17% decline in the number of residents who think making a complaint would make a difference compared to the previous year.
Only 36% of residents agreed that their landlord shares learning from complaints, compared to the feedback from landlords, where 60% agreed that they share learning with residents.
On the accessibility of complaints procedures, residents who considered that the ease of access to their landlord's complaint process was acceptable or better dropped from 68% to 51%.
Commenting on the findings, Richard Blakeway said the Ombudsman recognised that social landlords and residents are facing "unprecedented challenges, with a cost of living crisis and ageing homes, but a positive complaints handling culture remains vital".
Blakeway added: "Our review highlights the challenges with embedding this and also shows poor performance in some service areas still at unacceptably high levels.
"Too often landlords can focus on managing the reputational risk to their organisation when things go wrong, rather than learning and improvement.
"Landlords' performance on complaint handling is concerning as is the feedback from residents in our annual survey, particularly after the first full year of our Complaint Handling Code. It makes the role of the Member Responsible for Complaints, set out in our strengthened Complaint Handling Code, essential and reinforces the need to maintain an accessible and empowered complaints team, even as budget pressures increase.”
Blakeway said it was “deeply concerning” that a small proportion of landlords had excessively high maladministration rates.
"These landlords in particular should identify the areas where service failure occurs most and address any common causes. Demonstrating change and service improvement will be essential for ensuring trust with residents,” he said.
"There is learning for all landlords in this review and I would encourage the 115 landlords where we have published a performance report to share it with their governing body and to review the determinations made to identify any lessons for service areas."
The 2021-22 review was based on data from 115 annual landlord performance reports where the Ombudsman investigated five or more complaints, together with results from annual surveys of landlords and residents.
Adam Carey
