2.1 The Housing Ombudsman

The Housing Ombudsman Service provides an independent and impartial service to investigate complaints against registered providers of social housing in England and other member landlords.

The Ombudsman will determine whether a member landlord has been responsible for maladministration while carrying out its functions. Maladministration can include where a landlord:

• failed to comply with any relevant legal obligations
• failed to comply with any relevant codes of practice
• failed to apply its own policies and/or procedures
• delayed unreasonably in dealing with the matter
• behaved unfairly, unreasonably or incompetently; or
• treated the complainant personally in a heavy-handed, unsympathetic or inappropriate manner

Where the Ombudsman determines there has been maladministration, it can order the housing provider to take steps to put things right or to compensate the complainant, including undertaking repairs or inspecting the property to identify and resolve hazards. These orders have to be complied with by landlords under the Housing Act 1996 and the Ombudsman monitors compliance with them before a case is closed.

The Housing Ombudsman is a free service for residents and seeks to promote dispute resolution between registered providers and residents.

The Housing Ombudsman sets a code of practice for landlord complaint handling, called the Complaint Handling Code, which its members are required to follow under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023. If a complaint is unresolved following the landlord’s final response, the complaint can be escalated to the Ombudsman for investigation.

The Housing Ombudsman can also refer cases to the Regulator if there is evidence of a potential systemic issue.