The Housing Ombudsman Service is a fair and impartial service which was set up by law to look at complaints about registered housing organisations and councils. The service is free of charge to all residents in social housing.
You can raise a complaint with the Housing Ombudsman Service for investigation if you have completed your landlord’s complaint process and the issues have not been resolved. The Ombudsman can also help if your landlord is not responding to your complaint
If you have reported an issue to your landlord and you do not think they have taken the right action, then you must let them know. Your landlord will have its own procedures for how it responds to requests for repairs, reports of antisocial behaviour, and other issues you might be having in your home.
When you make a complaint to your landlord, you must be clear about what you think has gone wrong.
Your landlord will have a dedicated complaints process on its website. If you cannot access their website, contact your landlord and ask for a copy.
You should make a complaint in writing via email, post, or your landlord’s online resident portal so that you can keep a copy for your records.
Most landlords have a 2 stage process if you are unhappy or your complaint has not been resolved at the end of stage 2 you can take your complaint to the Ombudsman
You can use the online form to raise a complaint with the Scheme about your landlord if you are a resident of a landlord that is a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, or somebody with authority to act on behalf of a resident.
You will be asked to provide
- your landlord and tenure type
- details about the complaint you made to your landlord
- a copy of the complaint you raised
- a copy of any complaint responses
- information about you