Housing Ombudsman urges social landlords to learn from outcomes of independent reviews pre-dating poor gradings from regulator

The Housing Ombudsman has published four independent reviews that identified weaknesses in handling repairs prior to the social landlords concerned – three councils and a major housing association – being handed low gradings from the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) over their compliance with the consumer standards.

The Ombudsman said the assessments showed how landlords can scrutinise their own performance following a complaint to see if there are any extensive issues that may be rearing their heads.

The landlords highlighted by the Ombudsman were Southwark Council, Wandsworth Council, Notting Hill Genesis, and Newham Council.

All four subsequently received either C3 or C4 gradings from the RSH.

A C3 grading means the RSH considers that “there are serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed”.

A C4 grading meanwhile reflects the Regulator’s judgement that “there are very serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards. The landlord must make fundamental changes so that improved outcomes are delivered.”

Southwark Council (27 March 2024)

In March 2024, Southwark was in need of a leaks policy and was advised to create mechanisms to assess whether residents were happy with the works carried out and revise its online repairs portal to speed up the process for residents to report an issue in their home.

The Ombudsman ordered £17,000 in compensation for the case, in which the landlord failed to deal with a leak for over five years, significantly affecting the family relationship and their children would often not want to return home.

Southwark was handed a C3 grade by the RSH eight months later, in November 2024.

In response, the council shared that it “apologise[s] unreservedly to our residents who were affected by this leak, and for how we handled their complaint and disrepair claim.”

The council’s statement conceded that service was not good enough and it commissioned an independent, external review which was completed in 2024 and had resulted in a number of recommendations.

“We have already put in place actions relating to our repairs processes and more joined-up working,” it said.

Wandsworth Council

Wandsworth was asked via an independent review in November 2024 to be more explicit about any timelines or communication protocols for reporting, raising, or processing repairs.

A leaseholder complained about a leak from their roof, but Wandsworth did not take decisive enough action for four years or go far enough to put things right for the resident following that length of inconvenience. 

Wandsworth was handed a C3 grade in February 2025.

The council’s statement said that it had “made significant changes since the issues occurred in this case”.

Following the determination, Wandsworth has:

• made staff changes within the area housing team
• delivered training to the council’s co-operatives on complaint handling, communication, and repairs
• undertaken a review of the process in place for co-operatives to report, raise, and process repairs with that updated standardised process shared with them
• acquired a new software application to help programme and deliver annual roof inspections
• introduced a new standing agenda item at the co-operative forum to review complaint outcomes and lessons learned

Newham Council (20 February 2024)

In February 2024, Newham implemented a repairs policy detailing key timescales, performance accountability, and what is within its remit and what it would expect residents to fix, at the recommendation of the Ombudsman.

In the case that initiated this wider order, the landlord delayed in resolving leaks and did not offer a temporary move to the resident, leaving her living with damp and mould, dripping water, and no usable toilet for months.

She was also concerned about the impact on her health and about the safety of electrical installations.

The RSH handed Newham a C4 (the lowest grade) in October 2024.

Newham said it “fully acknowledged the Ombudsman’s findings” and had complied with all the orders and recommendations issued.

“We have also completed all works to the property and carried out a post inspection to ensure the completion of work.

“Additionally, we conducted a thorough service review into the case, including lessons learned which was shared with relevant services.”

Notting Hill Genesis

Notting Hill Genesis granted residents a greater say in the procurement of repairs contractors and scrutiny over the landlord’s performance after an Ombudsman finding in December 2023.

The landlord had failed to act promptly after a resident reported damp and mould, and unnecessarily prolonged the repairs process, leaving the household living in disrepair for an unreasonable length of time, the Ombudsman said.

Notting Hill Genesis was hit with a C3 grade in November 2024.

In its statement the landlord said: “Our handling of the repairs needed to the resident’s home, along with the failures in the subsequent complaints process, were unacceptable and fell below the level of service we aim to provide.”

It has committed £770m through its Better Together strategy to improve the quality of its homes and introduced a new dedicated complaints department.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “Complaints are a valuable tool for landlords as the sector actively seeks to improve services. 

“These cases pre-date inspections by the Regulator of Social Housing. While issues identified in inspections will not always be evident in individual complaints, these complaints indicated concerns which were then identified in the inspection.  

“The lessons from these independent reviews offer important insights for those landlords as they transform services. It also underscores how complaints can be an early indicator of emerging trends or unresolved issues that the landlord needs to grip.”

Blakeway added: “We know landlords are doing more to learn from complaints.  However, this can still be inconsistent and only in response to our decisions rather than landlords themselves asking if issues could be wider than an individual case. 

“Proactive learning from complaints can prevent resident’s experiencing distress, provide intelligence to the landlord on its services and support landlords to deliver outcomes against regulatory expectations.” 

Harry Rodd