The Housing Ombudsman’s latest complaint handling report shows that 95% of landlords have found that its Complaint Handling Code has helped to embed a positive complaint handling culture.

And 92% found that the code has helped them provide a more consistent approach to complaint handling.

The report expands on the previous quarterly complaint handling failure reports (CHFO) to include information on landlords’ engagement with the code, as well as continuing to publish CHFOs issued, including landlord non-compliance with the code.

Most of the report is dedicated to insights from the ombudsman’s review of sector approaches to promoting a positive complaints culture.

The ombudsman has highlighted examples of good practice from the submissions, including a landlord that used a previous severe maladministration decision to overhaul its policies and practice in line with the code and a landlord that went above and beyond to publicise its annual report transparently to residents.

However, whilst there is learning shared in this report, there is still a high number of complaint handling failure orders issued.

There are some landlords now that appear frequently in the report and several with more than one CHFO in the first quarter of this year, including:

• Soho Housing Association
• L&Q
• Haringey Council
• Harrow Council
• Warwick District Council
• Hexagon Housing Association
• A2Dominion Housing Group
• Southwark Council
• Newham Council
• Lewisham Council.

There are several landlords that did not comply with the CHFO, forcing further action to remedy the situation for the resident. These included:

• Warwick District Council
• Soho Housing Association
• London Borough of Barking and Dagenham
• Haringey Council
• North Northamptonshire Council
• Lewisham Council
• Southway Housing Trust
• Hexagon Housing Association
• L&Q
• Hackney Council
• Sandwell Council
• Havering Council
• Metropolitan Thames Valley
• Orchard Housing Association
• Westminster Council
• Sovereign Network Homes
• Newham Council.

To help landlords improve in this area, the ombudsman has created extensive resources through its free to access Centre for Learning, including e-learning modules, workshops and drop-in sessions. It has also updated Complaint Handling Code pages so that residents, landlords and third parties are able to understand how landlords must legally respond to complaints.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “Good complaint handling is not just about ticking a box or meeting statutory obligations. Whilst essential this is done, landlords must adopt an ethical complaint handling stance, which looks at the person behind the complaint and understands the impact the situation can have when services fall short. There is also the need for increased scrutiny and oversight by governing bodies are how complaints are approached.

“I have been encouraged to see a significant improvement in approaches in recent years, but most landlords still have work to do to embed a positive complaint culture with residents and build confidence in their procedures. Landlords must also go further apply lessons from complaints to prevent them, as well as using complaints to test its culture.

“Without tackling the root causes of complaints, trust in landlords will be eroded, with communities and the economy adversely impacted.

“There are two areas of concern. There are ten landlords who received more than one CHFO in the last quarter and in some cases multiple times. In many cases these are also landlords where we have seen high maladministration rates and have had to intervene over several quarters. In some cases these landlords are now subject to regulatory intervention.

“CHFOs are issued rarely and may signal wider concerns – these warnings must be heeded to avoid unnecessary detriment to residents.

“Related to this is the second concern about complaint handling resources and staffing levels. This function is a vital touch point for the resident-landlord relationship which should be central to any landlord’s existence as well as helping the organisation manage risk. Again, under the self-assessment of the code, landlords must be confident they have adequate resources in place so there is not a disconnect between policy intent and actual practice.”