Housing Ombudsman Omdömen 

contacted this so called independant service, it isnt it will never back you if you live in council or housing association. wasted over a year to get a straight answer from these all they did was avoid giving a straight answer to me. even after the court decided i was put at risk by my housing council. they still refuse to say or do anything even if you manage to contact them they have a list of answers, to endlesley delay them doing anything. they ended up just completely ignoring me and refusing to reply to any emailes etc. this is there help for a disabled 76 year old who lives alone and considered vulnerable, who was put at risk by the council housing him in so called supported housing. this ombudsman is a waste of taxpayers money should be closed down straight away to prevent them causing more problems to tenants. dont bother even trying to use them they avoid doing anything although it is supposed to be there job, i would not trust any of them to go and get me a newspaper. useless.

The ombudsman decided it was OK for my Housing Association to deny a refund for undelivered services. The weekly communal area cleaning was not undertaken for several weeks but we were still charged. So what do we make of this?

What an absolute joke
1. Stated would offer mediation, never did
2. States they do not take documented evidence and reports into consideration
3. Length of time to review case over two years

I have escalated complaint to complaintsaboutthehousingombudsman

They are not fit for purpose and waisted two years, when could of been taking legal action.

INITIALLY COMING ACROSS AS HELPFUL , they decided to split my case into 2 which mad everyone confused and watered down the casework. the two caseworkers said completely different rules applied and worked differently, at times I didn't know what was going on. they assed each case after cherry picking and then actually creating things that were fantasy . I had no idea why the manufactured things and then assed them. I asked for clarification and was not listened to , I asked for call backs that were agreed and never happened , I had actual timed appointments that disappeared and then I was told I would receive a manager call back, instead she write saying they would not be calling. I made complaints that were ignored and fobbed off, I asked for head office and the directors contact and told they would not give it to me.Basically when they get it badly wrong they just decide to write clients off rather than correct themselves. they are rude officious and discourteous, but to actually make stuff up is unacceptable. they are not fit for purpose and need to stop being so rude to clients.

Having Rachel run me off the phone is a complete joke the fact I'm trying to explain stuff to her and she states "I have other people waiting" well I've also waited to get to speak to an adviser.

This service is beyond a joke if you think about it when it takes over six months just to get something done, no wonder landlords don't care and decide to have the tenant go to the ombudsman because they know this is a long drawn out process where the ombudsman have no bite.

The customer service despite it to be an UK based is rubbish and might as well be in a third world country

Q: Who regulates the Housing Ombudsman?
A: The Department for Levelling Up Housing and Communities

Q: Who regulates the Department of Levelling Up Housing and Communities?
A: Michael Gove

Q: How will you vote in the next general election?

I absolutely agree with the comments made. I always believed the Ombudsman were independent support, absolute waste of time and tax payers money.

Most unsupportive referral I have ever made, put your energy and time into another channel.

Close this institution down to prevent further anxiety to those who reach out for support. You should all be ashamed of your methods allowing housing associations to exploit vulnerable tenants. If I thought the MPs were any better I would take the matter up with them! I hope you all sleep at night!

They get paid for nothing! Either the government need to restructure this "impartial" Ombudsman or close them down. Absolute disgrace i would never use them again for anything better off coughing up for a lawyer.

ABSOLUTE JOKE
today after 24 months of ongoing property issues, i call the ombudsman to find out how the case is being escelated, to be told nothing is happening and no one assigned. That, regardless of the 1 year old that has been suffering due to their malpractice for the last 18 months.

Avoid!! Raised a case back in March 2023 and not even assigned to an investigator yet because they are still waiting for my landlord to send them evidence…. Clearly my landlord is not going to send them it to avoid answering the complaint! But they are happy to continue and wait with no timeframe in force….

I have waited for a year regarding this investigation below and the outcome is totally unfair and unexpected.Unfortunately it is very dissatisfying and waste of time for tenants. Don't bother to use it as you are likely to get a response and satisfaction from the housing ombudsman services.

Well over 8 months and my plead for support was accepted but it pass from one to another asking that I followed the procedures which I have had done so. In November 2023 they said it is being dealt with Hammersmith and Fulham Council THOUGH my council is LAMBETH. Ombudsman staff appears not to understand! Today I sent another email they probably will be pondering on that as well.
Minus 1 I am afraid. Waste of tax payers money.

The Housing Ombudsman allows landlords to defraud & target complainants...

Landlords use the Housing Ombudsman as a way of NOT dealing with complaints. For example, forcing customers to use HOS when the landlord knows that HOS will not investigate the customer’s concerns and will not find fault with the landlord

The more serious the issue is, the more likely you are to be damaged by the Landlord’s insistence on using HOS. If, for example, you are suffering harassment, antisocial behaviour or fraud; you will suffer additional losses because the HOS takes an extremely long time

When your case is finally dealt with, HOS will ignore all of your suffering - especially if the damage occurred because the landlord’s process was abused. As an 18 month or two year delay is common, you might have lost a lot in terms of your finances and personal health - HOS will ignore all of this. HOS cannot admit to these form of harm because HOS is a major cause of the harms - it’s not simply the landlord that is abusive, the process itself is abusive and is designed to be that way

HOS conspires with landlords to rig the outcome of complaints. This is achieved by cornering the customer and forcing him/her to answer very narrow questions that…

1 absolve the landlord of any substantive blame AND/OR
2 present the customer as unreasonable AND/OR
3 minimise the issues in the case

I can prove this & it is well known within the industry

Rather than try to justify its approach, HOS makes intimidating references to its ‘constitutional role’ - as if its own corrupt practices were fully endorsed by the state. We shall see whether this is true

If you challenge how HOS operates you will be ignored. If you push the issue, like many landlords, HOS will label you as ‘unreasonable’ and take action against you

HOS does nothing to protect the UK public. As long as HOS exists, landlords will have a ‘process’ that they can use which silences customers and penalises them when they try to hold landlords to account

HOS bears responsibility for tragedies like Grenfell because it is part of the corrupt system & culture of buckpassing that silences customers and enables landlords to endanger the public

HOS is also discriminatory as it requires the Customer to have significant technical ability and excellent language skills. This ensures that many elderly people, those with disabilities, those with English as a second language, etc are unable to access the service or make their case

Make no mistake - HOS gets people killed

I’d welcome the opportunity to prove this but British justice seems to be a rigged game

Look after your own health and sanity and don’t believe the lies of your landlords, HOS or the British state

I only give one star to leave a review. It has taken a year and 3 months to get my case looked at against Hyde Housing. If I’d have read the reviews here first I would not have bothered.
Whilst the ombudsman have found failings they have basically given Hyde the green light to continue with their failings and not be held accountable for their actions, even though I had submitted so much evidence. I still have questions to my complaint unanswered to which the ombudsman have failed to get answered, but that’s ok ‘apparently’

To anyone thinking of using this service don’t waste your time, try and find an alternative, I wish I had.

Waste of time and head space.waited 2 years for my case to be looked at relating to mould and damp what i suffered for 8 years and with the outcome I cringed in fear because I was ashamed at the pittance they awarded me and then they had the cheek to ask me to fill in a survey perhaps to big them up when really it was thumbs down all the way.I personally wouldn't use the service never ever again.Really they need shutting down because they're not helpfull and need to be put under investigation themselves.Watch dog really need to find out what are they really doing to help the public (nought) please if you have any sense after reading this don't even think about asking them for help. Absolute RUBBISH.They all need to be arrested even the resolution officers GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

Its a joke!!! they work with them
what a waste of time and tax payers money

Waste of time, and an insult. You'll wait well over a year for a response, only to be told that they don't take into account photographic or medical evidence, and that anything the landlord records cannot be challenged- so landlords can lie and fiddle records, and get away with it. On top of a long list of disrepair issues, my landlord didn't wire in a new storage heater properly, as they only connected the day-time supply for the boost and LCD display- they didn't wire in the night- time supply! They initially tried claiming that I hadn't switched it on (!) and I was left without heating for weeks. In the end, they had to admit I was able to work basic electrical switches, and arrange for electricians to come and wire it in properly. I was there when they did it- it took all afternoon, but apparently , the landlord lied again, and had recorded that I hadn't set the timer correctly! The re-wiring, which demonstrates the electrics were unsafe, and that 'void' procedures had not, in fact, been followed, appears not to have been recorded. It's clear the landlord were covering the fact that the electrics hadn't been checked before the property was let. Nonetheless, the caseworker just said that there was no evidence against the landlord as it was my word against theirs! Remarkably, during the complaints process, another heater the landlord had fitted burned through it's switch and nearly caused a house fire, but the ombudsman didn't even advise the electrics should be checked. Also, they won't compensate you if you have receipts for repairs that were the landlord's responsibility. No wonder there are so many reports on the news of people living in damp, mouldy slums- the housing ombudsman are quite openly allowing it to happen, and sadly, human life is cheap to the housing ombudsman service (if you're a social housing tenant, anyway). If you're lucky you'll get a couple of hundred quid for what they think of as minor inconvenience due to 'service failures ', when you've lost several thousand and been left with nothing, but I guess you should be grateful you're still alive after one episode of anaphylaxis and a major electrical fault. Dickensian attitudes, at best .

I had a complaint and the Ombudsman found in my favour and awarded me £500 compensation. Unfortunately, they did not order my landlord, Catalyst, now Peabody to look into my actual complaints.

I have a complaint dating back to 2021. The Housing Ombudsman gave my landlord, Peabody, so many excuses to not provide a Final Response letter. This was done mid 2022.

However, in almost 18 months since then I am still awaiting a caseworker to look into my complaint.

The Ombudsman is simply too slow

Without the Housing Ombudsman's involvement I would not of been able to resolve my issue with my housing association, after 9 months of not getting anywhere with my housing association once the housing ombudsman contacted them they sprung into action with the repair and actually communicated with me, after a slight delay everything was resolved and I received financial compensation from them as recommended by the Ombudsman. I am very relived this has been resolved as the situation was becoming very stressful.

My adjudicator was very helpful in analysing and pinpointing this South London local authority's failings and following his report, the repairs were made. The outcome took time, but I guess that is because more people are putting in complaints about boroughs that are not looking after their residents and the investigations will take time. I am very pleased with the service I received from the Housing Ombudsman as if not for them, the local authority would never have undertaken the repairs. Thank you! : )