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Corporate Structure

The Housing Act 1996 sets out the way the Independent Housing Ombudsman Scheme operates. 

The operational name for the Scheme is Housing Ombudsman Service.

IHO Ltd, a company limited by guarantee not trading for profit, provides the financial, administrative, policy, performance, and strategic support for the Service -- see the next section.


The Housing Ombudsman is Dr Mike Biles. His appointment was approved by the Secretary of State.  He is responsible for the management of the Scheme on a day-by-day basis.  The Ombudsman is in charge of making casework decisions in a way which he considers fair in the circumstances of each case.  He is supported by a milti-disciplinary team, currently numbering 37.

Dr Mike Biles

Dr Biles became the second Housing Ombudsman on 1 July 2001. Before that he was the Head of the School of Law in the Southampton Business School.

His first degree was a BA (Hons) in law. He also has a doctorate in law from Southampton University entitled "The arousal and denial of residential tenants' non-financial remedies for disrepair, unfitness, and lack of amenity in their homes".

Dr Biles was called to the bar in 1983 by Middle Temple. He is also a Member of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and an Honorary Member of the Chartered Institute of Housing.

Dr Biles has taught and researched Land Law, Landlord and Tenant Law and Housing Law extensively. He has published a number of articles in journals and spoken at numerous conferences on Housing Law, Landlord and Tenant Law, and Land Law.

Dr Biles is Visiting Professor in Law in the Southampton Business School.

Before becoming the Housing Ombudsman, Dr Biles was a lawyer member of a Leasehold Valuation Tribunal and a member of the committee of management of a Registered Social Landlord.