Our investigation process

Once we receive your complaint enquiry, we will work out the best way to help.

This might include:

• telling a landlord to respond if it has missed its deadline
• checking we have the landlord’s stage 2 response
• checking the landlord is a member of our Scheme
• passing your case to our Assessment team to prepare for investigation
• recording any reasonable adjustments needed
• supporting you to the end of your landlord’s complaint procedure
• issuing a Complaint Handling Failure Notice (CHFN) to a landlord does not respond to the complaint despite our intervention

Who can use this Service

Once we receive a complaint for investigation, we will decide the best route to resolution.

For every case, we will:

• assess the risk the complaint issue could have on a household
• confirm that the resident wants us to investigate the complaint
• find out what resolution the resident wants and why they're unhappy with the landlord’s response
• let the resident know if we can consider the complaint

Actions we take:

• refer the complaint back to the landlord to take further steps to resolve the dispute
• ask the landlord for more evidence - this can be a small amount or more detailed evidence due to the complexity or risk involved
• make a decision based on the information we have
• prioritise and progress the case for investigation

Landlords must provide:

• a copy of the occupancy agreement, including all terms and conditions, and resident handbook
• current rent charge and rent charge for the years relevant to the complaint issue
• a brief description of the property
• details of any resident vulnerabilities or relevant circumstances recorded by the landlord, including safeguarding or other referrals
• all formal complaint correspondence, including the resident’s complaints and any responses you have provided

How we assess cases

Our investigation looks at how a landlord responded to a complaint. This includes how it handled a report or request made.

We use the evidence available to decide if the landlord acted fairly and reasonably.

We will consider whether the landlord:

• gave a suitable response and resolution
• followed relevant legal obligations and codes of practice
• applied its own policies and procedures
• took too long to respond or take action
• behaved unfairly, unreasonably, or incompetently
• treated the resident fairly and appropriately

At the end of our investigation, we will make a finding. We can make 8 possible findings. Findings include service failure, maladministration, and severe maladministration.

How we share the decision

Once we complete our investigation, we send a determination letter and investigation report to all parties.

The report sets out:

• the issues we investigated
• the background to the case
• the evidence we used to assess the case
• our findings, decisions, and reasoning
• what the landlord must do to put things right (orders or recommendations)

We publish decisions on our website as part of our commitment to be open and transparent.

What we tell landlords to do

Depending on the outcome, we may set out orders and recommendations in our report to put things right.

Orders and recommendations include:

• pay compensation
• apologise
• review its policies and procedures
• complete any outstanding repairs

Learn more about our orders.

If you disagree with a decision made by the Ombudsman, you can request a review.

You can ask us to review our decision if:

• you have new facts or evidence that may affect our original decision
• you are challenging the facts or evidence we relied on

We will not review our decision simply because you disagree or have a different view. A review looks at how we reached our decision. We will not look at your original complaint again.

You must request a review within 3 weeks of the determination being made.

Requesting a review of our decision