Enabling fair and early dispute resolution

We provide a high quality and effective dispute resolution service to landlords and their tenants who are within our jurisdiction. These are mandatory members in the Registered Social Landlord Sector and voluntary members in the Private Rented Sector.

Under the Housing Act 1996 all registered social landlords (not local authorities) must become members of the Scheme. Other landlords may apply to join voluntarily. There are currently over 2 million homes covered by the Scheme and 2400 landlords are members.

Dealing with complaints

The Housing Ombudsman Service considers complaints made by tenants, leaseholders, applicants for housing and others receiving services from a member landlord. We look at complaints on a wide range of issues related to housing and consider how we can best help to resolve any dispute.

The Housing Ombudsman Service is independent and provides a fair, impartial and effective way of dealing with complaints and identifying any failings by a landlord. When appropriate we investigate the actions taken by a landlord in response to a complaint and we can make orders or recommendations and seek redress for complainants.

Raising awareness and promoting understanding

We are also committed to working to better the relationships of our members and their tenants. Our outreach and promotion policies are crucial aspects of the work that we do, aimed at improving and maintaining positive landlord and tenant relations.

We encourage landlords to foster a positive complaints culture within their organisations. The complaint handling training we provide to staff and complaint panels of our landlord members is well-respected and focuses on effective and early resolution of disputes.

We are also committed to promoting the Housing Ombudsman Service to tenants within our jurisdiction and extending access. We are achieving this by working closely with tenant groups and other organisations to gain access to tenants through activities such as providing workshops at tenant forums and speaking at tenant conferences.