The 8-week wait for the landlord's final response, what to do during it

Direct answer

The Housing Ombudsman usually requires you to complete your landlord's two-stage complaints process before they will investigate. The whole process should take 8 weeks. During the wait, do not just sit and wait, keep the file building, keep the pressure on, and make sure the landlord cannot run the clock down by stalling. Call us free on 0800 030 4669 if disrepair is in the picture.

Why the 8 weeks exists

The Ombudsman expects landlords to try to resolve complaints themselves first. The Complaint Handling Code (since 2022) sets clear deadlines:

• Stage 1 response: usually within 10 working days of acknowledgement.
• Stage 2 (final) response: usually within 20 working days of escalation.
• Total from your complaint to final response: usually within 8 weeks.

If 8 weeks pass without a stage 2 response, you can go to the Ombudsman without waiting longer.

Things to do during the wait

The waiting time is the most useful time of the whole process. Make it count.

1. Keep documenting

Every new incident, every new visit, every new repair attempt, every email and text. Date and save them. The file you build now is the evidence the Ombudsman will read.

2. Take new photos

If the home has visible disrepair, photograph it every 2 weeks during the wait. Show that the problem persists.

3. Track every chase email

Every time you chase the landlord, save the email. The chasing pattern shows whether the landlord is engaging or stalling.

4. Note any new costs

If you are paying for storage, replacements, extra heating, lost work time, food spoiled, doctor's appointments, keep receipts and notes.

5. Get any new doctor's letters

If anyone's health is being affected, ask the doctor for a brief letter linking the symptoms to the home. The doctor's view at the time is much stronger than recollection later.

6. Watch the deadlines

The landlord's stage 1 should land at day 10 working days. Stage 2 at day 30 working days. If those slip without explanation, that itself becomes evidence of complaint-handling failure (which is its own category of maladministration).

7. Make sure the complaint includes everything

If the original complaint was narrow, you can widen it at stage 2. Add anything else that has emerged. Make the complaint comprehensive.

Things to avoid during the wait

• Do not withhold rent. It will not speed the landlord up; it will create a separate eviction risk. See withholding rent vs offsetting against repairs.
• Do not stop reporting new issues. Each new report is more evidence.
• Do not accept a token payment at stage 1 without checking what you would be giving up. Some landlords offer £50 to make the complaint go away.
• Do not give up if the landlord ignores you. Time running out is the landlord's problem, not yours.

If the landlord stalls or refuses to engage

You can still escalate even if the landlord is not playing along.

After 8 weeks from the initial complaint, you can ring the Ombudsman on 0300 111 3000 and say "my landlord has not given me a stage 2 response within the 8-week deadline." The Ombudsman can investigate without it.

You can also use:

• Escalation to the landlord's senior management in writing.
• Your local councillor (especially if the landlord is the council).
• MP intervention, your MP can write to the landlord's chief executive.
• Your council's tenancy relations officer if there is harassment alongside.

Will the Ombudsman investigate every complaint

The Ombudsman has discretion to decline investigations that are:

• About something older than 12 months at the time the complaint was made (with limited exceptions).
• About a matter that is also at court.
• Inside the landlord's complaints process still (use the 8-week rule to get past this).
• About a landlord they do not have jurisdiction over (see what if your landlord isn't HO registered).
• A complaint that has already been decided.

In other cases, they almost always investigate.

Run a disrepair claim in parallel

The Ombudsman wait is the perfect time to also start a disrepair claim. The two routes work together:

• Ombudsman handles complaint-handling and modest compensation.
• A disrepair claim handles compensation for the time you lived with the problem.

Call us free on 0800 030 4669.

How we can help

We deal with the disrepair side. Call us during your 8-week wait. We can run a claim in parallel without slowing the Ombudsman complaint.

Free call: 0800 030 4669 | Start your claim

Sources

• Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 (Complaint Handling Code) (legislation.gov.uk)