What does "maladministration" mean at the Housing Ombudsman: and what can it order?

Maybe you are thinking about complaining to the Housing Ombudsman. Maybe the Ombudsman is already looking at your case. Either way, you will see the word "maladministration". This page explains what it means. It also explains what the Ombudsman can order when it finds it. And it shows how the result compares to a disrepair claim.

The short answer

Maladministration is what the Ombudsman calls it when a landlord has handled things badly. That could be your complaint, a repair, or another housing matter. When the Ombudsman finds maladministration, it can order the landlord to pay you money, do repairs, or change the way they work. The money is usually less than a court claim can win for serious disrepair. But this route is free, and you do not need a solicitor.

What counts as maladministration?

The Housing Ombudsman says maladministration includes:

• The landlord breaking its own rules. Say your landlord has a repair policy. It says urgent repairs will be done within 24 hours. But they took three weeks. That breaks their own rule, and it can count as maladministration.
• Delays that are not fair. You report a repair. They say they have got it. Then they leave it for months and do nothing. That is a classic maladministration finding.
• Not keeping in touch. Not updating you, not replying to complaints, not explaining decisions.
• Not learning from complaints. The Ombudsman takes it seriously if a landlord keeps making the same mistake.
• Fixes that do not work. Offering you a tiny amount of money, or doing a repair that does not deal with the real cause.

The Ombudsman can also find "no maladministration", which means the landlord handled things fairly. It can find "service failure", which is a lower-level finding. And it can find "severe maladministration" for the worst cases.

What the Ombudsman can order

When the Ombudsman finds maladministration, it can order the landlord to:

• Pay you money. Amounts go from a few hundred pounds for trouble and upset, up to several thousand for long, serious failures. For severe maladministration, the Ombudsman has ordered payments of £10,000 or more in rare cases.
• Do certain repairs. The Ombudsman can tell your landlord to do the repair within a set time.
• Look at the way they work. The Ombudsman can tell the landlord to check how they will stop the same failure happening again, and report back.
• Say sorry to you. This matters more than it sounds. A formal finding of maladministration, with a required apology on the record, affects how the landlord stands with its regulator.

The Ombudsman cannot pay you for personal injury, which means harm to your health caused by the disrepair. For that, you need a court claim.

Compensation amounts in context

In 2024 to 2025, the independent statutory review of social-housing complaints ordered or recommended £5.4 million in compensation across 26,901 orders and recommendations. The average compensation per upheld case was £947, 578 cases had orders over £2,000, and the largest single order was almost £32,000. Source: Annual Complaints Review 2024 to 2025.

A disrepair claim through the courts can win more money. This is more likely where there is personal injury (harm to your health), a long time living with disrepair, or where you have lost the use of a big part of your home. Take a rent reduction of 30–50% for 12 months on a £700/month tenancy. That gives £2,520–£4,200 in general damages on its own, before any personal injury is added.

You do not have to pick just one route. You can have an Ombudsman complaint going at the same time as a disrepair claim. The catch is they must be about different parts of the matter. Or you finish the Ombudsman process before you go to court on the same issue.

Severe maladministration

In 2024, the Housing Ombudsman brought in a new group: severe maladministration. It is kept for the worst cases. The Ombudsman puts these findings on its website and names the landlord. It asks the landlord for a formal response. It also tells the Regulator of Social Housing, which can affect a registered provider's regulatory grade.

For you, a published finding of severe maladministration can be useful proof if you go to court later. It is a public record that your landlord was found to have let you down badly.

The 8-week rule and when to complain

You can only complain to the Housing Ombudsman after one of these:

• You have had a final reply from the landlord's own complaints process (Stage 2), or
• 8 weeks have passed since you made a formal complaint and you still have no final reply

Once one of these is true, you can take your case to the Ombudsman. It does not cost you anything.

When should I contact Support for Tenants?

Maybe your landlord's failures have gone past the Ombudsman process. Or maybe you want money that reflects the full legal value of the disrepair. If so, call us on 0800 030 4669.

No upfront cost. You only pay if you win, and the fee comes out of the compensation, not your pocket. If you don't win, you pay nothing.

Sources

• Housing Ombudsman Service
• Housing Act 1996 (legislation.gov.uk)

Related articles

• How to complain to the Housing Ombudsman step by step
• Should I use a solicitor or an ombudsman?
• Stage 1 vs Stage 2 complaints, what is the difference?
• How courts calculate disrepair compensation