Our jurisdiction

We cannot consider every complaint we receive.

What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. This is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme which sets out what issues fall under our remit to investigate and when we can decide that a complaint is not for us. 

Watch this video to understand more about our jurisdiction

We look at complaints from social housing residents about their landlords' actions and provision of housing management. We decide whether we can consider a complaint case-by-case depending on the case's facts and the evidence available to us.  

View the jurisdiction guidance

When we receive a complaint, we assess it against a set of rules – the first thing we consider is the non-discretionary rules – as set out in our Scheme. For example, we will never consider a complaint where: 

• the resident bringing the complaint to the service does not have a landlord/ tenant relationship with a member of the Scheme 
• the landlord or managing agent being complained about is not a member of the Scheme 

Once we have made a non-discretionary decision, we then assess our discretionary decision.

For example, we may decide that we are not able to consider a complaint that has been referred to us before having exhausted the landlord’s complaints procedure.  

If we decide we cannot consider your complaint, we will tell you why and set out our reasons in writing.  

Some complaints we receive fall under the remit of both the Housing Ombudsman and the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO). For example, a complaint about a local authority in its capacity as a provider of social housing and its actions and provision of housing management.

Occasionally a complaint may be considered by both Ombudsman schemes, and we may be able to complete a joint investigation.