Learning from severe maladministration report – February 2025
Taking the key lessons from our severe maladministration decisions.
About this report
This report focuses on inspections and knowledge and information management within damp and mould complaints.
It comes as the government announces the implementation of Awaab’s Law in October 2025. Awaab’s Law will apply to social landlords responding to damp and mould.
The sector has 7 months left to mobilise.
We hope these cases help landlords learn from complaints to improve responses to an issue which dominates our casework.
Learning from severe maladministration report (PDF)
Inspections
It is important that landlords undertake inspections in a timely fashion when an issue is reported, and that any recommendations from that survey are actioned. This report has split the failings we see in our casework into 4 groups that look at inspections from inception to the actions that should come from it.
- No or delayed inspection cases.
- Multiple or conflicting inspections cases.
- Disconnect between inspections and schedule of works cases.
- Poorly communicated inspection cases.
Cases highlighted in the full report relating to inspections:
- A2Dominion Group 202229072*
- RHP 202347109*
- Lambeth Council 202401512
- Westminster City Council 202331494*
- Metropolitan Thames Valley 202308147*
- L&Q 202342217*
- Bristol City Council 202340989*
- Cornwall Council 202346623*
- Freebridge Community Housing 202347029
- Ealing Council 202306717*
- Together Housing Group 202327540*
Key learning relating to inspections
Damp and mould are potential category 1 hazards that fall within the scope of the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Landlords should be aware of obligations under HHSRS and where a potential hazard is identified, conduct inspections and additional monitoring of the home.
Inspections should be carried out as soon as possible after an issue is reported, with any recommendations being followed up and actioned. Communication with the resident during this time is essential to set out clear expectations and timescales for the works that have come from the inspection. Vulnerabilities should also be considered if an inspection and remedial action is needed more urgently, and effective triaging of cases by landlords can help at this stage.
Awaab’s Law, when implemented in October 2025, will provide landlords with stricter timescales in this area and landlords should prepare accordingly for that so they do not find themselves on the backfoot from the start of an issue being reported.
While reasonable for the landlord to trust the advice of their expert surveyors, if there is a dispute about this from the resident, it may be fair to commission an independent surveyor to ascertain if the same conclusions are met.
When an inspection gets arranged, if it were to be cancelled or missed, a new appointment should be scheduled as soon as reasonably possible. Any appointment should be communicated with the resident and takes the resident’s life into consideration when doing so.
If a landlord undertakes multiple surveys with conflicting results, it should reconcile the differences. Landlords should be careful to avoid opting for the recommendations that require the most limited action or continue to commission inspections as an alternative to decisive action.
Another key element of getting the flow from inspection to works right is internal communications within a landlord. Too often there is poor communication or single points of failure. This poor communication can be exacerbated by inadequate record keeping.
Centre for Learning resources
Damp and mould key topics page
Knowledge and information management
Knowledge and information management is the foundation of an effective service delivery. The consultation on Awaab’s Law stressed the importance of record keeping for landlords to fulfil their obligations and this will be a core component of effective communication with residents. Better knowledge and information management will be vital from October 2025 onwards.
Key learning relating to knowledge and information management
Landlords’ systems should enable them to keep accurate records of repair reports, responses, inspections, and investigations.
A successful response to Awaab’s Law relies on effective knowledge and information management. It is key landlords get this right and put in place effective policies and processes to help them accurately record and store data.
This enables landlords to inspect and raise works correctly, reducing the need for clarifications or delays in works being progressed. Repairs logs are a vital source of intelligence for landlords, showing a clear activity plan of what has been achieved. When these are not done, the Ombudsman often sees it lead to more delays and frustrations for the resident.
It is also vital that landlords have clear records of any vulnerabilities within the household which might inform its approach.
Ensuring that accurate, robust, and accessible records of key data support a risk-based approach to issues, which can be essential when tackling a complex case such as a leak or a hazard with multiple touch points.
Centre for Learning resources
Learning from severe maladministration report
Download the full learning from severe maladministration report to see the case studies in more detail.
Learning from severe maladminsitration full report (PDF)
*All decisions are anonymised so residents’ names are not used, but landlords are named. In some cases, we may decide not to publish a decision if it is not in the resident’s or landlord’s interest or the resident’s anonymity may be compromised.