Ask the Ombudsman

Hello

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.

Hello, thank you for your question.

The Spotlight report: Repairing Trust was published on our website in May 2025. 

We are aware of issues with the chat function in last week's meeting and are considering other options to ensure this does not happen again. 

Hello Roz

Thank you for your questions. We have broken down by question to respond. 

1. How should a landlord be held accountable if they pay contractors in full despite failing to apply NEC3’s KPI penalty structure? We are not placed or the right organisation to answer to this question.

2. Does the Ombudsman consider failure to enforce a framework as a breach of the landlord’s duty under Section 19 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985? We are not placed or the right organisation to answer to this question. 

3. How should a council be scrutinised when it awards a new framework to a contractor who has previously delivered non-compliant or unsafe work — especially where no performance audits were applied? Procurement is not within our remit to comment on. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman may be able to provide more in depth answers on council specific queries or complaints.

 4. Is it maladministration for a landlord to reappoint a contractor after documented complaints, without consulting affected leaseholders or applying the framework’s early warning or compensation event provisions? Although we cannot comment on whether a matter is or isn’t maladministration without having reviewed any evidence, in general terms, we expect landlords to thoroughly investigate complaints about their contractor and take appropriate action. If, after investigating, the landlord believes it is appropriate to reappoint the contractor, they should be able to provide the rationale for this, including any measures they will take to improve performance. This rationale should be available to residents. We would also expect landlords to seek residents’ feedback and consult with them on their repairs and maintenance service as a matter of course.

5. How does the Ombudsman deal with conflict of interest concerns when a senior officer holds roles in both the local authority and the regional framework governance body that selects and approves contractors? We are not placed or the right organisation to answer to this question.

6.What safeguards are expected to prevent conflicts when the same person oversees contractor appointment and contract performance enforcement?   We are not placed or the right organisation to answer to this question.

7. If leaseholders are charged for major works but the landlord cannot produce survey reports, final inspection records, or pricing verification, does that breach consultation and reasonableness duties? We may look at a complaint about the landlords record keeping and information provision to a resident surrounding charges.

8. How far does the Ombudsman believe transparency should go in procurement scoring — especially when all bidders are awarded identical scores, and leaseholders are left without justification? The report sets out good practice, however, we are not procurement specialists and organisations should adhere with their own policies and the procurement Act: Spotlight report: Repairing Trust

9.Is the Ombudsman aware of any cases where procurement frameworks were systemically abused to favour known underperforming contractors? We wouldn’t look at “systematic abuse of frameworks” as part of our function.

10. Should the Ombudsman support a central register of contractor performance that leaseholders can access when Section 20 works are proposed? We don’t make any recommendations on this in the report and it is not something we plan to do. The https://www.leaseholdadvicecentre.co.uk/?msclkid=7bf0db26042e1da6e70ab3b28790ea8dLeasehold Advice Centre may be able to help more with section 20 queries. 

Thanks.

Hello

Thank you for your suggestion. 

The Regulator of Social Housing is responsible for Tenant Satisfaction Surveys. You can send your feedback to them: enquiries@rsh.gov.uk 

The Ombudsman was set up to investigate individual complaints about landlords. We do not regulate or oversee landlord performance or tenant satisfaction.

Hello. Thank you for your question. 

It is not the role of the Housing Ombudsman to enforce or regulate Registered Providers to inform tenants about 3rd party consultations. You can check the government activities page for open consultations Find activities - Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government - Citizen Space 

We will invite panel members to take part in any consultations we run. 

Hello. 

There are many reasons why some cases may take longer or less time to investigate. Cases that are not high risk are always allocated by oldest first, sometimes we are still waiting on information from either resident or landlord. This can mean that investigations do not get underway as quickly as we would like. 

Some cases may have more evidence to look through to make a fair and proper decision, and others may be complex legal aspects of housing that require more scrutiny internally before determining the case. Additionally, a case may be in our system but not at the point we can investigate. As part of our Business Plan for 25-26, we are aiming to investigate all complaints within 6 months. This is an ambitious target to tackle exactly the issue outlined, that residents are waiting too long for us to make a decision. We will take positive steps this year as we aim towards 95% of cases being completed within 6 months by 2030.

You can read our Business Plan and 5-year Corporate Strategy here: New Business Plan and Corporate Strategy | Housing Ombudsman 

Hello Sue

Thank you for your comments and making us aware of the meetings, it is helpful. We will not be hosting any meetings from 6.30pm-9pm and we will bear in mind the Tuesday 11-12. We try to vary meeting times to work for everyone. 

Thanks.

Cases that come to us for investigation are risk assessed against factors such as:

• how long the issue has been going on 
• whether the issue remains unresolved
• household vulnerability and the (reported) extent of the impact from this issue

We do not have the authority to determine that a landlord has breached equality and disability legislation. Our investigation will consider whether the landlord has taken household vulnerability into account when providing housing related services. We expect landlords to update their records with details about these vulnerabilities and to take appropriate steps in response, such as risk assessing and acting on the conclusions of these assessments. We expect landlords to have their own policies as to how they will manage vulnerability. 

We take an inquisitorial approach to investigations. We ask for relevant evidence and will speak to the resident before beginning an investigation so that the investigating officer is fully aware of their views and any exceptional circumstances on the case. Our team are trained on how to use evidence, including how to identify any gaps. 

We will make findings against a landlord if we find record keeping impacts service provision.  When we make an order, we will keep the case open until we are satisfied that there is evidence of compliance from the landlord. If a resident felt that our orders did not go far enough, they are entitled to seek a review of our decision. 

If we identify a pattern of failures in our casework from a single landlord, we will carry out a further investigation into that landlord, working with them to improve those specific elements of their service delivery. 

Hello - we do not have any guidance on this topic. I had a look and gov.uk have this guidance: Check if you need an SIA licence to use a bodycam - GOV.UK 

Alternatively, you may wish to speak to Citizens Advice.