Ask the Ombudsman
This form will be open to submit a question for the Ombudsman when there is an upcoming Meet the Ombudsman meeting. You can also use the form to ask us general queries about the panel, meetings, and our service.
To submit a question to the forum you will need to register for an account via the home page.
Please note, we will not respond to questions about individual cases or landlords and cannot provide an update on a case that you have with the service.
This form will be open to submit a question for the Ombudsman when there is an upcoming Meet the Ombudsman meeting. You can also use the form to ask us general queries about the panel, meetings, and our service.
To submit a question to the forum you will need to register for an account via the home page.
Please note, we will not respond to questions about individual cases or landlords and cannot provide an update on a case that you have with the service.
Ask the Ombudsman
Please feel free to submit a question for the Ombudsman. Where possible, we will answer the question publicly on this forum and may ask the question at any upcoming Meet the Ombudsman meeting.
Please note, we will not respond to questions about individual cases or landlords and cannot provide an update on a case that you have with the service.
We aim to respond to all questions within 15 working days, however, we may sometimes take a little longer as we need to ask experts across the organisation.
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Southern housing so far has taken 7 months and still nothing changed. We are struggling to use our communal door and getting loads of bruises,its so heavy everyone is struggling and it doesn't shut automatically. Its a health and safety, fire and security risk. Stage 1 told nothing they can do after workmen made it even heavier, told us to go to occupational therapist, we join council queue the visit they did AD2 with alterations that needed doing but told us NOT an occupational therapist issue as heavy for all. I took to stage 2 (due outcome dec 17th but if other complaints anything to go by thry will extend)Months later still nothing has changed. We cant keep damaging our bodies what do you suggest. Am at wits end and sent message to ceo please can you advise what to do to get action.
Tracey asked 3 months agoHi Tracey. We are sorry to hear you are having issues with your landlord and repairs to the communal door. If it has been more than 20 working days and the landlord has not provided a stage 2 response, you can bring the complaint to us via our helpful webform: When to get help from the Housing Ombudsman Service
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Happy new year to you. Can a housing association revisit a complaint, once you have received it? They may have new information about the complaint.
Long legs 72 asked about 1 month agoHello, happy new year to you too. Once the landlord has issued a final response it is unlikely it would revisit the complaint. Our Code sets out that the landlord must have a complaint process that is a maximum of 2 stages. Therefore, if new information has come to light since the stage 2 response it should be raised as a new complaint and the landlord should consider any relevant information from the first complaint (since the issue was first reported) in its handling of the complaint. Alternatively, if you are happy for the landlord to provide another stage 2 response to consider new information you can tell it you are happy for it to do so.
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Reading your email about each housing association having an MRC it was news to me, so I contacted southern housing to ask who it was they didn't tell me just said contact service centre so I emailed about 2 complaints at stage 2 one is 7monyhs in the other 5months I said send email directly to MRC but instead they just sent it to the complaint resolution lead for each case. Is this right that residents are not told who the MRC is and dont get contact with them??.? The complaints seem never ending our bodies are bruised with heavy communal door etc and we cant seem to get any action
Tracey asked 3 months agoHi Tracey. The Member Responsible for Complaints is not operational and would therefore likely never have involvement in individual complaints. The role is appointed for someone to have oversight of the overall complaints performance for the organisation and report this, risk, and area for improvement to the governing body or board.
If you have complaints at stage 2 and the landlord is not responding you can use our online complaint form to bring a complaint to us: When to get help from the Housing Ombudsman Service
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Hello, could you give guidance on how to access 'decisions' for individual landlords. I can't seem to use the filter to get to the information. It just doesn't seem to work. What I would like to get is an overall listing of the decisions across a number of years. Could you describe how to achieve that? Many thanks.
May asked about 1 month agoHello.
We are sorry if the filtering isn't working in the decision library. There is an option to search by landlord and date, however, we do apologise if it is not showing for you. If you would like to make an information request about a specific landlord for a certain time period, you can send an email to the Freedom of Information team at: inforequests@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
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I would be grateful if you could clarify the following point regarding your jurisdiction under the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. If a landlord applies to the court for an access injunction in circumstances where the parties have not been able to agree on access arrangements, and the application does not concern the substance of disrepair (i.e. there is no claim or judgment about the condition of the property or the landlord’s repairing obligations), would the existence of such an injunction prevent the Ombudsman from investigating a resident’s complaint about the underlying disrepairs? Further, would the position be any different depending on whether the injunction was granted or refused, given that the court proceedings in either case have not made a determination about the disrepair itself? I am particularly concerned that access injunctions may be used as a procedural device to suggest that “the matter has been before the courts,” thereby excluding the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction, even though the core issue of disrepair has not been subject to legal consideration. Could you please confirm: 1. Whether an access injunction alone affects the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to investigate disrepair complaints; and 2. Whether the outcome (granted or not granted) makes any difference to your ability to investigate. thank you mr. P
MR P asked 6 months agoThe presence of an injunction alone does not stop us investigating a case. If the complaint is about the injunction and a court has already made a judgement on that matter, we would not investigate. We can still investigate other issues (like repairs) if they meet our Scheme requirements. Read our Scheme: The Housing Ombudsman Scheme
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a) Would Awaab's Law apply to an outbuilding that is attached to the structure of the house, which requires the social tenant to pass through to get outside, and that the social landlord is responsible for? (This has mould currently in it.) b) Also, what is classed as emergency repairs, please?
DL asked 4 months agoYes, if the outbuilding forms part of the residential dwelling in the tenancy agreement. The government's guidance for residents was published on Monday. The guidance sets out that an emergency hazard is 'something in your home that needs to be fixed right away because it is causing or could cause serious harm to your health or safety - or the health or safety of anyone living with you'.
Awaab’s Law: Guidance for tenants in social housing - GOV.UK
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I would like to clarify your position on the following points regarding; 1. Complaint vs Early Resolution • From your perspective, what is the difference between a landlord’s complaint process and an early resolution submission? • If a landlord cancels an active complaint without the resident’s consultation or approval, and instead sends it to the early resolution team, would this constitute a breach of your rules? • Is a landlord allowed to take this step unilaterally? 2. Concurrent Processes • If the resident and the early resolution team do not agree on the proposed resolution, would that count as a valid Stage 1 complaint response? • Should a complaint remain active and run concurrently with any early resolution attempt until the matter is genuinely settled, rather than being cancelled? 3. Upheld Repair Complaints • If a repair complaint is upheld by the landlord but the repair itself is not completed, how is that defined in your view? • It seems pointless to uphold a repair complaint if the fault remains unrectified. • Shouldn’t “upholding” a repair complaint include completing the work as part of the resolution? 4. Compensation Process • If a repair complaint is upheld, should compensation (if applicable) be offered automatically, or is it acceptable for the landlord to require the tenant to make a separate application? • what is your view on the landlord instructing the tenant to resubmit the repair request again themselves (for the fourth time in six months) and to apply separately for any compensation, despite the complaint already being upheld. M Parker
MR P asked 6 months agoHello. Thank you for your question. We cannot discuss an individual landlord's complaint handling on this platform. If your landlord is handling your complaint via an 'early resolution' process and not in line with a 2-stage complaint procedure, you can speak to the Dispute Support team for assistance with your complaint. Find out more: Contact us | Housing Ombudsman Service
In terms of upholding a complaint we will keep a complaint open until the orders we have made to a landlord have been actioned.
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Quote from a Stage 2 response from landlord: I think it is important to explain at this point too the process when a complaint is escalated to the second stage of our process. My review has not been a complete re-investigation of the issue, rather it has been done in a manner not unlike that undertaken by the Housing Ombudsman Service, which is a review of how well the case was investigated at stage one of our process, and to make sure that nothing was missed when we responded to your complaint initially. My question: is this correct? Does the stage 2 response not have to re investigate the original complaint? If so, what is the point of the complainant escalating the complaint to the 2nd stage, or even to the ombudsman? The reviewer went on to say that he didn’t believe anything had been missed in the Stage 1 response. If that were true, surely the complainant wouldn’t have continued to Stage 2. Are the second stage review and the ombudsman’s service only in place to scrutinise the procedural details of complaint handling rather than the actual issue/concern brought by the complainant?
Aes asked 6 months agoHello. Thank you for your question. The purpose of stage 2 in the complaint handling process is for landlords to have another opportunity to put things right if a resident states they are not happy with the resolution offered at stage 1. When a resident requests to escalate a complaint, it is helpful to tell the landlord why they are not happy/ if they think the landlord has not considered or responded to anything at stage 1. Our Code sets out that the person considering the complaint at stage 2 must not be the same person that considered the complaint at stage 1. This is to allow an impartial view into the handling of the complaint at stage 1. Our role is to independently review how the complaint has been handled and how the landlord responded to the reports made to it and whether it acted fairly in the circumstances.
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What is the Ombudsman’s view where a landlord has upheld a complaint, but then fails to take any action to address the subject matter of that complaint? For example, this might involve a relatively minor but necessary repair. Would such a failure in practice be regarded as a service failure for the purposes of the Scheme, and therefore reportable to you? Given that your current waiting times from complaint acceptance to investigation are over a year, it does not appear feasible for residents to raise such issues with you where the matter concerns minor (but still needed) repairs. Could you confirm whether referral to the Ombudsman in those circumstances remains the only available option? Finally, has the Ombudsman considered introducing a form of “fast-track” procedure for cases such as these? For instance, where a landlord has already upheld a complaint but not acted, could the Ombudsman issue a short formal notice to the landlord identifying this as a service failure, with the understanding that non-compliance would then trigger a full investigation? This would provide a proportionate and timely remedy, and act as an incentive for landlords to resolve issues without unnecessary delay. I note that under the Complaint Handling Code, landlords are expected to act on the outcomes of upheld complaints and to demonstrate that learning has taken place. Where no such action is taken, it seems inevitable that a further service failure has occurred. Mr P.
MR P asked 5 months agoHello. Thank you for your question. We will not close a complaint until there is compliance with our orders. This does not need a new complaint to resolve. If the landlord provides evidence it is going to do something, like a repair, but then does not, we can make sure the landlord complies with our order.
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I'd like to ask when the next residents panel meeting is taking place? Thank you.
Lucinda asked 5 months agoHello
We took a short break from meetings and panel activities over the summer months. We will send an update around in the next couple of weeks with details of our next meeting and activities to take part in.
Thank you for your continued interest and support.