Lost in the system? Getting help from the Housing Ombudsman Service to progress social housing repairs

Mark Rayfield explains how to avoid getting stuck in a landlord’s drawn-out repairs system

Extent: England only

Summary:

If the landlord’s disrepair process is taking too long:

• Make a formal complaint to the landlord
• If there are still delays, contact the Housing Ombudsman Service (HOS)
• HOS dispute support can get involved if the complaint isn’t being dealt with properly

Delays

Social landlords and their contractors sometimes seem to take a long time to get repairs done and tenants can be confused about where they are in the process. Clients may have been complaining about disrepair for months or even years, but the landlord may not have registered this as a formal complaint. The client may not be sure whether they are in a disrepair or a complaints process — these are separate systems or processes for the landlord. Once an internal complaint is registered, the landlord could still take weeks or months to come to a decision on the complaint.

The key to progressing this may be by getting assistance from HOS as early as possible. To do this, the client should start the landlord’s complaints process promptly, as soon as there are unreasonable delays in repairs being done. Then the client should give the landlord reasonable time to resolve the complaint, in line with the landlord’s published timescales for complaint handling, before contacting HOS.

What constitutes an unreasonable delay varies from case to case. For example, a family with young children waiting a week for heating to be repaired in the middle of winter is likely to be unreasonable. However, the same delay might not be unreasonable in the summer for a single person who is out working most weekdays.

In (Lambeth Council 202119227 — Housing Ombudsman) the landlord took over 9 months to open a formal complaint from when the tenant’s first email titled “complaint” was sent to them.

The landlord took over 3 1/2 years to complete the repairs.

HOS said that the resident had made it clear that she was expressing dissatisfaction with the service being provided but the landlord failed to recognise this and didn’t start the formal complaint process with the resident.

To get a complaint to HOS the client needs to:

1. Ask the landlord to do repairs (a “service request”)

HOS refers to a tenant’s request to a landlord for repairs to be done as a service request — while it is at this stage, HOS cannot get involved.

The client may have repeatedly complained to the landlord about the time being taken to sort repairs, but the landlord may be treating it as a service request to get repairs done rather than as a formal complaint. The client needs to make sure the disrepair is registered with the landlord, and that they are cooperating with getting the repairs done.

2. Make a formal complaint to the landlord

A complaint is defined by HOS as: “Confirmation, usually in writing or electronically, of dissatisfaction with a service or services provided by a landlord”.

If the client is not satisfied with how the landlord has responded to requests for repairs to be done, for instance if there have been unreasonable delays, they should make a complaint to the landlord — and check that it has been registered as a formal complaint. Every social landlord’s complaints process must be published and will have its own stages and timescales. You should be able to find details of the landlord’s complaints process online.

HOS can’t get involved until the landlord’s formal complaints process has been started.

3. Contact the Housing Ombudsman Service

HOS is not there to manage the landlord’s disrepair process, its role is to investigate complaints and resolve disputes involving the tenants and leaseholders of social landlords.

Normally, therefore, your client needs to have completed their landlord’s internal complaints procedure before they can take their complaint to HOS.

There are two scenarios where HOS have discretion to get involved even if the landlord’s complaints procedure has not been exhausted:

a. where there is evidence of a complaint-handling failure and the Ombudsman is satisfied that the landlord has not taken action within a reasonable timescale. They could consider opening an investigation.

b. if there are unreasonable delays in complaint handling. They could intervene with “dispute support” to provide advice and guidance to residents and landlords.

Legal action and HOS

HOS will not investigate matters:

• that are the subject of court proceedings, or
• that were the subject of court proceedings where judgement on the merits of the case was given.
• if the tenant has the opportunity to raise the subject matter of the complaint as part of legal proceedings, or
• if it considers it quicker, fairer, more reasonable or more effective for the tenant to seek a remedy through the courts

Preparation for legal action, in accordance with the Pre-Action Protocol for Housing Conditions Claims (England), can be done at the same time as a complaint to the landlord and/or HOS. However, once the client actually issues a county court claim, then the complaints process should stop. Just because the landlord stops their consideration of the complaint, they can and should still take action to get the actual repairs done

If a court claim is under way, HOS will not consider a complaint about the legal matter being considered by the court, however, HOS could still consider a complaint about a different issue. HOS could also consider a complaint, after the conclusion of court proceedings, about the landlord’s handling of the process.

If in doubt, contact HOS anyway and they will advise if they can investigate.

Note that even when a court claim is issued the court might order a tenant to follow a landlord’s complaints process to try to resolve the disrepair. This would put the claim on hold.

Action

If the client’s housing repairs are taking too long or the process seems to have stalled there are some steps you can take to help:

• Ask the landlord to confirm that the request for repairs has been registered
• Ask what progress is being made
• Make sure the client is allowing access to the landlord and their agents
• If repairs are taking too long to get done, consider whether a complaint or legal action is the next appropriate action
• Local Citizens Advice could seek assistance from the Expert Advice Team (Freshdesk) or NHAS (National Homelessness Advice Service consultancy service)

Complaint — See Advisernet 11.8.18.34 Complaining about your landlord’s failure to make repairs if you are a social housing tenant

• Start the landlord’s formal complaints process
• If the landlord is not following their complaints process correctly or if there are unreasonable delays, contact HOS. See Make a complaint — Housing Ombudsman

Legal Action — See Advisernet 11.8.18.49 Taking court action because your landlord won’t make repairs

Consider if legal aid is available:

• Is the matter in scope (serious risk to health & safety)? And,
• Is the client financially eligible?

Check if your client qualifies for legal aid

• Warn the client they may still have to make a contribution toward costs.
• Refer the client to a legal aid provider:

Find a legal aid adviser or family mediator,

If the client cannot get legal aid

• Signpost the client to a reputable housing solicitor (e.g. for assistance under a Conditional Fee Arrangement such as “no win-no fee” — client must ensure they understand and are happy with the contract)
• Warn the client about potential costs

Check the SRA | Solicitors Register

For general guidance see Advisernet: Repairs — what are your options if you are a social housing tenant? See The Housing Ombudsman Scheme for more information about HOS.

Mark Rayfield works as a housing expert in the Expert Advice Team at Citizens Advice.

The information in this article is correct as of the date of publication

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