The Housing Ombudsman has published a revised special investigation process to allow landlords to resolve issues earlier, following the Renters’ Rights Act becoming law this week.
The process allows the Ombudsman to intervene when a landlord is underperforming based on a series of metrics.
It is aimed at improving landlord accountability for delivering better services, reducing complaints by using a tiered approach that encourages landlords to detect and fix problems early.
At tier one, landlords will have to provide a response plan of how they are resolving the issues identified.
At tier two, the Ombudsman will follow up if there is a continued lack of improvement, or if their performance gets worse.
Tier 3 is a full investigation where root causes for the landlord’s poor performance will be identified and recommendations for improvement will be made in a full report.
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “Complaints are vital tools for learning and continuous improvement.
“This new approach to special investigations enables us to engage landlords earlier, sharing our insights and encouraging the landlord to identify how it can prevent service failings reoccurring.
“This proactive approach to learning from complaints should deliver better outcomes for residents and landlords, improving services, strengthening trust and preventing complaints. This is integral to embedding a positive complaints culture across the sector.”
