News: Press releases

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Severe maladministration for Catalyst’s handling of complaint on new build defects prompts wider investigation

20 October 2022

We found severe maladministration for Catalyst’s significant failings in handling a complaint from shared owners about cold and draughty rooms and other defects in their new build house. The landlord’s responses did not sufficiently identify what had gone wrong, what action would be taken to remedy the defects or assess to what extent it had met its responsibility. 

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Ombudsman focuses on noise cases ahead of report on sector’s approach 

18 October 2022

Cases relating to complaints about noise feature in our latest decisions published as part of our regular fortnightly publication. It comes ahead of our next systemic investigation focused on noise complaints to be published later this month, which will make recommendations and share learning across the sector.

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Ombudsman stresses importance of complaints in challenging times as 22 complaint handling failure orders issued

8 September 2022

We issued 22 complaint handling failure orders in the first quarter of 2022-23, April to June 2022. In 17 cases, landlords complied with the orders and there were five cases of non-compliance.

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Severe maladministration for Metropolitan Thames Valley’s response to silverfish infestation

3 August 2022

Metropolitan Thames Valley’s failings in responding to a silverfish infestation at a resident’s flat led to a finding of severe maladministration by the Housing Ombudsman.

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Severe maladministration for Birmingham’s delayed repairs and wider investigation started

19 July 2022

The Ombudsman found severe maladministration for Birmingham City Council’s delays in repairing an extensive water leak that caused damage to the resident’s property. The landlord failed to offer any compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident, in contravention of the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.

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Ombudsman plans systemic investigation into record keeping as latest cases published

12 July 2022

Poor record keeping features among the latest decisions published by the Housing Ombudsman. Strong record keeping practices are core to good services and will be the focus of a future systemic investigation by the Ombudsman with the aim of making recommendations and sharing learning across the social housing sector.  

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