Telling residents about our service

Landlord responsibilities

Landlords that are members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme must inform its residents about their right to bring a complaint to us. All member landlords must have a published complaints procedure that is compliant with the Ombudsman's statutory Complaint Handling Code and details about our service and how to access it.

We encourage landlords to have a positive culture of complaints and treat them as valuable feedback and learning that helps to make continuous improvements to complaint handling and housing services.

Assistance through the complaint procedure

Unlike many other Ombudsman schemes, we can assist residents to get a response from their landlord if it is not responding in line with its internal complaints procedure. Where possible, we may also provide dispute support to find or suggest a resolution that can help avoid issues worsening and improve landlord and resident relationships.

Residents and landlords can contact us at any time while a complaint is going through the landlord’s complaints process for advice on complaint handling. We cannot accept a case for investigation or make a formal decision on a case at this stage.

We are fair, free, and impartial and cannot advocate for either party during a dispute.

Information about our role

Landlords must provide details about the Housing Ombudsman Service in all information it provides to residents about its complaints process. The information should be accessible via a variety of channels, for example; on its website (if there is one), leaflets, posters in communal areas and as part of regular correspondence with residents when they have made a complaint or expressed dissatisfaction with the landlord's service.

There is a poster available for landlords to print in the helpful links section at the top of this page.

A landlord’s stage 2 (final) response to a complaint must be in writing and it must state that it is the final stage of the landlord's complaint procedure. It must include details on how residents can bring their complaint to the Housing Ombudsman Service if they remain dissatisfied with the response to their complaint.

We suggest having a line such as the below at the end of the stage 2 response.

Our online complaint web form explains our process and asks residents for further information so that we can establish what assistance they require.

Other resources for landlords

We have other information in the helpful links (top of this page) that landlords can use to inform residents about our service:

• a poster that can be downloaded and displayed in communal areas and community spaces to inform residents about our service
• an information sheet that can be emailed or printed and given to residents explaining our role in more detail and the help we can provide at different stages of the complaints process
• resident information pages on our website about who can use our service, our process, and how we investigate complaints