Landlords
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Understanding the Code and the Scheme
The Complaint Handling Code
The Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out best practice for landlords to handle resident complaints effectively. The Code helps to:
- create a positive complaints culture
- strengthen landlord-resident relationships
- ensure residents know their rights to complain
The Code is a legal requirement for landlords to follow. We check landlords' complaint procedures and responses comply.
The Housing Ombudsman Scheme
The Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme) sets out what we can investigate and who can complain to us.
The Scheme helps to:
- define our powers to consider complaints
- make clear what landlords must do when problems arise
- support fair outcomes for residents
It explains the responsibilities of landlords who are members of the Scheme.
Our investigation process
How we investigate complaints about your service
We investigate complaints from residents of landlords that are members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.
There are 4 stages to our casework process: enquiry, assessment, investigation, and review.
Find out what each stage means for your organisation.
About the Housing Ombudsman Service
About us
Our aim is to improve landlords’ services and residents’ lives through housing complaints.
We also help you strengthen your complaint processes and learn from issues to prevent problems happening again.
What we do
We investigate disputes between residents and their landlords.
We make fair, independent decisions to resolve issues.
Others we work with
Explore other organisations we work with under a Memorandum of Understanding.
The aim is to agree a common approach to collaborative working.
Membership information
Membership
Find out about the types of membership (mandatory and voluntary) and your obligations under the Scheme.
Your digital Portal
The interactive Portal lets you securely upload evidence, track your case, and communicate with us in one place. It makes the complaints process easier and faster.
Member Responsible for Complaints
Member Responsible for Complaints
The Complaint Handling Code requires landlords to have a Member Responsible for Complaints (MRC) on their governing body. This is to provide assurance to the governing body on the effectiveness of its complaints system.
Find out about the role and who should be the MRC within your organisation.
Centre for Learning
Reports and data
View all our reports, latest publications, and key data.
This helps you understand the main issues, trends, and learning from our casework.
Key topics
Key topics pages help you learn about common issues in our casework.
They bring together guidance, reports, case studies, and learning on our key issues.
Landlord training
Looking for training on a specific topic? We've made it simple.
Browse by theme to see all the relevant resources from the Learning Hub in one place.
Our commitment to you
Our commitment
Explore our values of fairness, learning, openness, and excellence.
Find out what residents and landlords can expect from us and how we show our commitment to you.
Helpful resources
Meet the Ombudsman
Host an online Meet the Ombudsman event. These events are a chance for your residents and colleagues to ask questions directly to us.
Landlord guidance
Our guidance helps you build policies that meet our expectations, reduce complaints, and strengthen your approach to resolving issues.
Telling residents about us
As a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, you must tell your residents about their right to bring a complaint to us.