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Housing Ombudsman Service
Welcome to your monthly update from the Housing Ombudsman, featuring the latest news and insights on complaint handling.
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Business Plan 2026-27 published
We have published our Business Plan for 2026-27, setting out how we will respond to rising demand and deliver faster outcomes for residents.
Cases accepted for investigation have risen nearly 500% in five years, from 2,253 in 2020-21 to over 13,000 in 2025-26. We predict a further 60% increase in 2026-27. Our plan sets out a phased approach built around three priorities:
- stopping the number of open cases from growing
- resolving older cases more quickly
- delivering faster outcomes for residents
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Awaab's Law
Key topics
As Awaab's Law expands later this year, use our key topics page to understand what it means for you — including when landlords must act on reported damp, mould, and other serious hazards.
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New guidance
STAIRs guidance from NHF
The National Housing Federation has released new STAIRs guidance.
Landlords can use this guidance to understand what is required of them under the new STAIRs policy, and how to respond to information requests.
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Celebrating good practice |
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Bury Council
Free webinar
Join our free webinar to hear how Bury Council reduced their maladministration rate by 19%, the improvements they have made, and how they learn from complaints. There will be time for questions at the end.
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Onward Homes
Overhauling their approach
Following a severe maladministration finding where a vulnerable family was left in poor conditions for nearly two years. Onward Homes issued a wider review and made significant changes to how it responds to reports of damp, mould, and hazards. Its approach is now in line with Awaab's Law.
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Thank you for joining us
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Thank you to all those landlords who attended the landlord forums in March 2026 series. Make sure to join us on Landlord Connect, a new digital community for landlord forum delegates, keep the conversation going and let us know we can improve and develop the forums in the future.
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Stay compliant with complaints |
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Annual submission form 2026-27 now live
The annual submission form for 2026-27 is now open and accepting submissions.
Key dates
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landlords with over 1,000 homes must submit the form by 30 September
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landlords with under 1,000 homes must submit the form within 6 months after their financial year-end
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Microlearning on annual submissions process
Microlearning
Understand and master your annual submissions with ease.
This quick course breaks down each step. It helps you stay compliant, meet deadlines, and submit confidently.
You can access this learning on the Centre for Learning.
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Let residents know about our new tool
We have added the Recite Me assistive toolbar to our website, making it easier for residents to personalise their experience and access information in the way that works best for them. Share this with residents who may find it useful.
Explore our accessbility tool on our website
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Effective complaint handling workshops
Due to high demand, we have added three new dates for our effective local complaint handling virtual workshops. Book your place on 8 July, 20 August, or 22 September.
Book your place onto a workshop
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About the Housing Ombudsman Service
We are a free and impartial dispute resolution service. We investigate complaints from residents and leaseholders of member landlords (housing associations and local authorities) and voluntary members (private landlords and letting agents).
Our vision is to improve residents’ lives and landlords’ services through housing complaints.
Residents | Landlords | Contact us
Connect with us on LinkedIn
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