The Housing Ombudsman's 2025 annual report shows complaint volumes in social housing at a record high. Here is what the figures mean for tenants and what you can do if your landlord has let you down.
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In short
The Housing Ombudsman's recent annual reporting shows complaint volumes from social tenants at their highest recorded level. The most common failure categories stay the same: repairs, damp and mould, and complaint handling itself.
For tenants the key finding is simple: more complaints are upheld, and more landlords are found to have acted unreasonably. If you have a problem and have not used the formal complaints system yet, you may be leaving a legal remedy on the table.
What the annual report covers
Each year the Ombudsman reports how many cases it handled, what it found, and how landlords performed. The 2025 report covers decisions across social housing: councils, housing associations and arm's-length management organisations.
The report gives a breakdown of:
- Complaints received and decided
- How many ended with the landlord found at fault (maladministration)
- The most common failure categories
- Whether landlords obeyed the orders and paid what was ordered
The trend is clearly upward. Both the number of complaints and the share upheld have risen year on year.
What maladministration and severe maladministration mean
When the Ombudsman investigates, it reaches one of three outcomes:
No maladministration. The landlord acted reasonably; no finding against it.
Maladministration. The landlord erred, failed to act, or handled things poorly. This can bring an order for compensation, an apology, and a requirement to put things right.
Severe maladministration. The most serious finding, made where the failure caused deep distress, harm to health, or a serious breach of rights. Compensation runs much higher, and the landlord may be ordered to fix its systems, not just the one case.
Severe findings are publicly named: the landlord appears in the published decisions and the press releases. That reputational pressure works separately from any money paid.
The most common failure categories
Three categories keep taking the largest share of upheld complaints:
Repairs. Everything from leaking roofs and broken boilers to windows that will not close and lifts out of service. Landlords are typically found to have taken too long, kept tenants in the dark, or left the job half done.
Damp and mould. The highest-profile category since Awaab's Law arrived. Landlords must investigate reports promptly and do lasting work, not cosmetic surface treatment. Cases touching a child's bedroom, or a vulnerable resident's health, draw the most serious findings.
Complaint handling. The category that surprises tenants. Many upheld cases carry a separate finding about how the complaint itself was handled. Even a landlord who eventually fixed the problem can be found to have failed: answering late, offering an unfair outcome at Stage 1 or 2, or never admitting what went wrong.
How the Ombudsman's powers have grown
The Social Housing (Regulation) Act 2023 widened the Ombudsman's powers. The key changes:
- It can now investigate a landlord's wider policies and practices, not just single complaints. A "systemic investigation" can end in orders affecting thousands of tenants.
- Every landlord must name a staff member responsible for complaints, and a board member who oversees complaint handling at the top.
- It can share intelligence with the Regulator of Social Housing, so a pattern of serious failures can trigger a regulatory inspection.
So one tenant's well-documented complaint can feed a wider investigation, where the failure reflects a pattern across the landlord's homes.
What tenants can learn from the report
The report is not just figures about other people's cases. It is a guide to what your landlord is expected to do.
If your landlord sits on the wrong side of the report's findings, your own case is more likely to succeed. The most common failing is repairs left too long. If that is your situation, you are in exactly the territory the Ombudsman upholds.
A few practical lessons from the patterns:
Keep everything in writing. Upheld cases come from tenants with a clear paper trail: when they reported it, what the landlord said, what was and was not done. Failed cases are often ones where the timeline cannot be rebuilt.
Use the formal complaints system, in stages. The Ombudsman cannot investigate until you have been through the landlord's own procedure, usually two stages. Informal repair requests alone do not open the door to an Ombudsman investigation.
Do not take a low offer without checking it. Landlords sometimes offer a small goodwill payment to close a complaint. Taking it does not always block a court claim, but it can complicate one. Check with a solicitor or advice service before signing anything.
What has not changed
The system works better than five years ago, but problems are not being fixed at source. Waiting lists stay long, repair backlogs stay deep, and many tenants still feel they cannot afford to challenge their landlord. The report documents the tenants who pushed back. A larger group never did.
What to do if you have not complained yet
If your home has an unresolved repair, damp, mould or another problem, and you have never made a formal complaint, this is the moment to start.
You do not need a solicitor to complain to your landlord. Write to them (email is fine) with the problem, what you asked for before, and what you want done. That is Stage 1. If it fails, escalate to Stage 2. If that fails, the Housing Ombudsman can take the case after eight weeks.
While the complaint runs, you may also have the right to a court disrepair claim, where the problem harms your health or your use of the home. The two routes can run side by side.
We assess cases free. If your landlord failed on repairs, damp, mould or complaint handling, call us. We will tell you honestly whether a claim is worth it, and how to build the evidence.
Check if you have a claim, free | Free call: 0800 030 4669
Sources: Housing Ombudsman annual reports and data.
Support For Tenants is a trading name of Cyntex Group Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority as a Claims Management Company. FRN 1020217. Registered in England and Wales.
Reviewed against current housing law for England and Wales as at 29 May 2026. Checked by our SRA-regulated panel solicitors. This is general information, not legal advice for your specific case. Any compensation figures or ranges shown are illustrative only, not a promise; every case is different.
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