Several landlords overhaul complaint procedures as ombudsman uses new investigations powers

Several landlords have made changes to their governance arrangements, reporting and key policies following ombudsman interventions under its new investigation powers.

In its latest report, the watchdog shared learning from A2Dominion, Amplius, Ealing Council, Redbridge Council, Wandsworth Council, Karibu, Norwich City Council and Soho Housing Association after concluding investigations into high levels of maladministration and severe maladministration.

It comes seven months after the ombudsman introduced a new approach to further investigations, which uses a tiered system that aims to help landlords identify and fix problems early. Each of the three tiers brings a higher level of scrutiny.

The latest report details improvements made by landlords following tier one interventions, which checks the provider understands its issues as and has a clear plan to improve.

In the case involving Amplius, the ombudsman found poor handling of repairs, complaints, vulnerabilities and estate management. This led to an increased maladministration rate following the merger of Longhurst and Grand Union to form Amplius in December 2024.

Amplius has apologised to its customers and said the merger “provided a catalyst for improvement”. A spokesperson said the landlord has now “increased investment in our repairs service, expanded our research to give us a full understanding of our customers, and developed a new customer influence and involvement framework including our Complaints Focus Group to scrutinise performance and better hold us to account.”

Meanwhile, the London Borough of Redbridge was investigated due to the landlord’s overall maladministration rate being “higher than average for landlords of a similar size.” This included a 100% maladministration rate for managing relations in complaint handling and a “poor rate of complying with [the ombudsman’s] orders.”

The council said it has now implemented a programme of improvement across four areas: people, policies and procedures, governance and systems and organisational learning.

The landlord’s performance has improved as a result, including complaint responses increasing from around 70% compliance in July 2025 to 100% in March 2026.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “The new process has demonstrated how lessons from complaints can be identified earlier and actions implemented sooner. This has been beneficial for landlords looking to prevent complaints and also meet expectations within the consumer standards.”

The watchdog currently has open tier one investigations for Hexagon Housing Association, London Borough of Southwark, Orbit Group, Origin Housing and Southend-on-Sea Council.