Nearly half of all cases determined by the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS) in 2023-24 were from residents living in a London postcode, it has been revealed.

According to HOS, the rate of complaints is disproportionate, given just under one in six homes in the Ombudsman’s membership is located within Greater London. No other region of England has such a wide gap between the proportion of social housing and complaints.

The figures are published in the Ombudsman’s latest Insight report, looking into complaints within Greater London.

In line with the acute housing crisis in the capital, most indicators reveal poorer outcomes in London for residents with the Ombudsman’s severe maladministration rate at 9.3% compared with 7.4% for the rest of the country and an overall maladministration rate of 77% compared to 68.5% for England.

The uphold rate on property condition, including repairs and health and safety, is also the highest in the country. This is despite more homes meeting the Decent Homes Standard in the capital.

The report sets out the challenging operating environment for social landlords, including working with third parties like managing agents and historic underinvestment in homes, alongside the need for improvements by landlords in communication, record management and oversight of repair services.

Included in the case studies is one on building safety, in which the landlord failed to provide timely information on fire safety measures and cladding on the building. In another case on decants, the Ombudsman did not uphold the complaint because the landlord went beyond its obligations to address concerns about parking.

In the report, the HOS has provided learning and case studies on a range of topics under two main banners of quality of homes and quality of customer service.

Amongst the learning themes are:

• A positive complaints culture starts from the top – it is crucial leadership and governance are seen to support the complaints function
• It is important a landlord does not lose sight of the person at the centre of a protracted issue, does not blame them for the situation, and there is a continuous assessment of whether the remedial actions taken remain appropriate or whether a decant is now necessary
• Landlords need to be clear on their role and responsibilities and proactive working with third parties, with robust service agreements in place
• Complaint handling is a landlord’s opportunity to regain a resident’s trust after they have had a bad experience. It is far more than just ascertaining what the service failure is and rectifying that situation
• Insight and intelligence from complaints should be used strategically. This ranges from effective root cause analysis of casework through to identifying risks and horizon scanning.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “Although the issues complained about are broadly the same as the rest of the country, the operating environment for landlords in the capital is vastly different from most other areas. This can present unique and acute challenges.

“The housing crisis is intense in London – with under resourcing and pressures that are outside of landlords’ control. These challenges and the impact [they have] on individuals is clear and evident in our casework.

“However, landlords must ensure they are equipped to respond to these operational complexities and neither allow them to obscure poor performance nor be overwhelmed by them. There are far too many cases of residents being treated unfairly or unreasonably.

“Our casework reveals how poor communication and record management can compound existing challenges. It also indicates some poor resource planning, risk assessment and service oversight.

“This report contains both good practice and maladministration cases and landlords should take into account all of that learning when reading through this report. We appreciate the support and engagement that London landlords and other groups have provided in the lead up and following publication of this report.”