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Findings the Housing Ombudsman can make

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About our findings

We investigate how landlords respond to a resident’s complaint. This includes how they handled a report or request. We review evidence to decide if the landlord acted fairly and reasonably.

At the end of our investigation, we make a finding (also called a determination). We can make different findings.

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Different types of findings

Type of finding What it means
No maladministration

 

 The landlord followed their obligations, policies, and procedures. We may have found minor issues, but these did not cause detriment to the resident.
Service failure We found minor failings, but the landlord still needs to put things right. Service failure is a form of maladministration.
Maladministration The landlord failed in a way that negatively affected the resident.
Severe maladministration The most serious finding. The landlord’s failure caused the resident significant harm.
Resolved with intervention The resident and landlord reached an agreement with our help that resolves the complaint.
Reasonable redress The landlord identified and acknowledged a failure before our investigation and took steps to put things right.
Outside jurisdiction We cannot consider the complaint under the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. Where possible, we will make this decision at the earliest opportunity.
Withdrawn The resident withdrew the complaint, and we are satisfied with the outcome.

Multiple findings – If a resident raises more than one issue, we investigate and make a finding on each. This may result in partial maladministration, where we find maladministration on some issues but not others.