Landlords have been urged to foster more positive complaint cultures by the Housing Ombudsman, which also found reasons for greater scrutiny of the sector by governing bodies.
The Ombudsman has made the claims in its first complaint handling report since the Complaint Handling Code was introduced in 2020.
Landlords had been required to self-assess against the code but annual self-assessments are now mandatory since the code became statutory earlier in 2024.
Encouragingly, the Ombudsman found that 95% have found the code has helped them embed a positive complaint handling culture.
Furthermore, 92% of landlords said the code helped them to provide a more consistent approach to complaint handling.
However, the Ombudsman still found a higher number of Complaint Handling Failure Orders (CHFOs) issued.
Several local authorities that received CHFOs did not comply with these, forcing further action to remedy the situation.
The Ombudsman found 17 local authorities had not complied with CHFOs including Lewisham Council, Metropolitan Thames Valley and Hackney Council.
Ombudsman Richard Blakeway, commenting on the report, said he was encouraged by the improvement seen in some areas but argued more needed to be done by landlords to “build confidence” in their procedures.
In summary, he identified two key concerns. First, that 10 landlords had received more than one CHFO in the last quarter with some now subject to “regulatory intervention”.
Secondly, Richard was concerned by complaint-handling resources and staffing levels at several landlords.
“Landlords must also go further apply lessons from complaints to prevent them, as well as using complaints to test its culture,” added Richard.
“Without tackling the root causes of complaints, trust in landlords will be eroded, with communities and the economy adversely impacted.”
