Housing Ombudsman Reviews 235

I first contacted the Housing Ombudsman Association in Preston on the 17th June 2024. It is now 16th October 2025. I totally agree with previous reviewer. When ever I contact HOA they state the case has not been assigned. Now after making complaints about Progress Housing and completion of Stages 1 and 2 of there complaints procedure, HOA operator MIKKI has told me I need to start another complaint process. This is in complete contradiction to staff members Karen who stated my case is still live and email from Kelah Renee Rayner stating and I quote " the information you have provided re ASB is added to your case file. This has effected my health so much so my doctor has even written to Progress Housing, Leyland. I have also emailed Mr Paul Foster MP for South Ribble and am awaiting his reply

I would advise anyone not to let these people deal with your housing issues as they will make things 100 times worse than when you contacted them 6 months ago . Your mental health will be a lot worse .

If I could review no stars I would I fell sick in 2017 I was bedridden for a year and in a wheelchair for three and a half years I had to learn how to walk talk wash dress and feed myself from scratch I underwent lots of chemotherapy and Iloprost Infusions and other physical mental and emotional impacting treatment, my housing association Southway Housing Trust refused to help me, I was critically ill, and they did not help, the Ombudsman's determination mainly filed in Southway's favour, utter disgrace they don't care about sick tenants asking for help for over 8 years, they all stick together:(

they are slow and always side with the landlord

My experience with the Housing Ombudsman Service has been a complete waste of time. I submitted a detailed complaint regarding severe damp and mould in my property, caused by a council-managed external drain pipe. This issue was a clear breach of the landlord's duty to provide a safe home, especially for tenants with a baby.

Despite providing all the necessary evidence and highlighting the legal basis of my claim, the Ombudsman has dismissed my case without addressing the core issues. Their final response was a generic email stating the case is closed and that I should "consider legal advice."

This outcome shows that the Ombudsman failed to provide an effective or impartial resolution. Instead of holding the Royal Borough of Greenwich accountable for their negligence and delay in repairs, the service simply acted as a gatekeeper, leaving me with no choice but to pursue expensive and time-consuming legal action.

The Housing Ombudsman Service has proven to be a dead end for my genuine complaint. It does not provide the reliable last resort for dispute resolution it claims to be. I am deeply disappointed with the lack of due diligence and accountability.

Submitted a SERVICE COMPLAINT to this organisation but because it doesn't like to record how many complaint's it receives about it's service statistically; it closed the complaint at Stage 1 and denied my right to escalate it to Stage 2 of it's own complaint procedure. It should be disbanded, it's ethos is all about providing a social housing complaint service but it's own service complaints procedure is worse than the landlords it claims to protect us all from

I have been waiting 14 months so far for my complaint to be handed to an investigator. It’s been over 2 years since I originally complained to my housing association! The Secretary of State for housing needs to do their job and actually regulate this organisation!!

Using the housing ombudsman is the most painfully slow experience. They’re absolutely no help and enable the landlords to treat us so poorly. I’ve had a couple of serious complaints with them this year and 8 months later they still haven’t done a single thing. Avoid, they don’t give a f.

So disappointed, i went to Housing Ombudsman because I had no one to help with a repairs hoping to get rehouse because of it. In 2019 the property where I live with my 2 children. Keep has been having on and off leaking in my kitchen ceiling and couple of months ago I started having leaks in my hallway and rusty water come from a pipe, though they have fixed the leaks in the kitchen it's keeps coming back. And cause me and my children to have chest infections, I also am suffering from Mental health. I was offer compensation, but not what I was hoping for as my home is making me and my children ill all the time and I don't think it's healthy for us to live here. I also hoping the Housing ombudsman will help us get out of here and the compensation was a lot higher, i know things are difficult at moment with Housing and money, but I see on Google about the Housing ombudsman has given a family a large amount of compensation, and what i was offer was a lot less. Me personally think since the Labour Party been in power, us British people have been push a side. I know what I was offer was better then nothing and we got roof over our heads, but we can't live like this anymore. God for bid, but I feel our health gonna get a whole lot worse. 😭😭😭🙏🙏🙏🙏 if our health does get worse. I will never forgive the Housing Ombudsman for this. I really don't understand how the man i chatted to call me when I was suffering from a chest infection. It's no wonder the reviews on here are 1 star. No has so far called me and told me when these repairs are going to be done. 😭😭

Housing Ombudsman
“A dismal service; slow (over 2.5yrs) inaccurate, and in my honoured opinion, detached from the reality of my case. Personal loss was reduced to paperwork, facts were misrepresented, and the final report read more like a defence of the landlord than an independent investigation. I went through a exhausting, fruitless process that left me feeling profoundly let down. I consider myself a forensic honest individual, who would not gain anything through fabrication, but was our plight really understood, even inclusive of their investigative parameters? For me, its a lingering sceptisism that will never be abated.
Phone the refuse dept to help you — at least they have an excuse for their rubbish service.”

What is the point of the ombudsman service. Thay are only looking after the landlord not the tenant. It's time now to take a stand and fight for our rights. Ombudsman you are useless.
Boycot them dont use them it's a free service yes thay make money out of the landlord. Funny how the ombudsman services have not committed once on here. It all fake.

A 0 was not there but this Housing ombudsman team should not exist it's corrupted organisation who close a blind eye to all the pictures & videos i sent them . Totally rubbish & failed my case twice with full evidence sent to them its a corrupted organisation 100%

Initially the housing ombudsman were superb in dealing with my complaint although I waited well over a year for them to make a start!

However when I contacted my case worker back to ask some very important questions he never replied! I was told of I still continue to get problems with my hoysi g association to contact housing omb again however I did and was met with a rude unhelpful lady on the phone who saud she would get them to call me and no one did. I then asked to make a formal complaint abd was refused the right to make this complaint!

Incidentally I had made a second complaint to my housing association on the grounds if discrimination which was ignored so on the time frame provided I sent it onto the ombudsman and had an initial email with someone introducing themselves as my case worker only I never heard from them ever again!
I have today made another complaint to my housing association about discrimination and don't expect I will hear back. We are supposed to rely on the housing ombudsman for impartial and fairness but yet can't even rely on them to help at all anymore!? So where on earth am I supposed to go now?
I am literally being messed about still by my housing assoc, repair works are still not done and they are still lying and the housing ombudsman won't even follow it up. I am disabled with severe mental illness and this is making me more ill.

I really don't know why the ombudsman exists. I have been waiting 3 years for them to "allocate a caseworker to investigate" my complaint.
There is no sense of urgency in anything they do. No understanding of how poor housing affects people.
WHAT ARE THEY BEING PAID TO DO?
It seems that they are working with social landlords to obfuscate and undermine tenants rights. They know that most people can't afford to take our landlords to sort so we are left to suffer in sub-standard housing.

For three months they have been doing nothing but rejecting my complaint for some nonsense reason. And every time this complaint goes back to them.

At that pace, maybe they will finally read the complaint in full in 2030.

In September 2024, I contacted the Housing Ombudsman to help resolve a long-standing issue with caretaking in the council estate where I live. Unfortunately, it took around seven months before I was finally connected with an adviser. During that time, I had to repeat the same information multiple times, which gave the impression that my previous emails had not been read. The responses I received from Housing Ombudsman staff felt generic and impersonal.
When I was eventually put in contact with the Dispute Resolution Adviser, I initially felt optimistic. He responded promptly to my emails, took initial steps to address the issue, and gave me the impression that it would be resolved by April 2025. I even provided positive feedback regarding his performance at the time.
However, the issue was never actually resolved. When I followed up with the adviser a few weeks later to raise this, his attitude had changed significantly. He was unresponsive and seemed to have forgotten about the matter altogether. He informed me that I was once again on a waiting list and that it could take another 6 to 12 months for someone to look into my case.
I find it difficult to understand why residents are directed to the Housing Ombudsman to resolve unresolved issues with the council, as in my experience, the process has been ineffective and frustrating.

I have waited over 1 year regarding complaint against Lincoln City Council leaving a disabled lady for 5 months without any heating or hot water and as usual the housing ombudsman has sided with the Council, they are an absolute disgrace .

The Government is thinking of reviewing Ofwat but should be looking the same for the Housing Ombudsman. They do not realise the issues and consequences they have caused. Notwithstanding the Social Regulator condemned our freeholder for lack of safety for tenants 2023. Not all the reviews can be wrong and no response to these complaints over the years
Evidence appears least of the HO investigations

My time working at the Housing Ombudsman was unexpectedly cut short under distressing and unprofessional circumstances, leaving me feeling unsupported, misrepresented, and dismissed.

I joined as an Administrator – Dispute Support and Resolution in February 2025 via Morgan Hunt, on a 6-month contract. A key condition of my accepting the role was the ability to work remotely from abroad—this was clearly communicated in writing and confirmed as agreed prior to my start date. I also reiterated this directly to the interim manager, Davide Matteo, who raised no objections.

Despite this, when I attempted to log in from abroad in April, I found my access suddenly revoked with no prior notice. I was told by IT that special approval was required—something neither Morgan Hunt nor management had ever informed me about. I immediately reached out for clarity, but received no real support or explanation.

Worse still, I learned days later that my line manager, Ayesha Begum, had told the wider team I had “left the organisation”—a false and damaging statement. At that time, my situation was still supposedly “under review,” and no one had spoken to me directly. I was also wrongly accused of taking equipment without informing management, despite having discussed my travel plans with Davide.

Throughout, there was a total lack of transparency, communication, and due process. I was never given a fair opportunity to resolve the issue or explain my side. As a public body tasked with resolving disputes, the Housing Ombudsman failed to uphold even basic fairness and respect toward a contractor.

This experience has seriously affected my mental health and employability. I expected more from an organisation that claims to value integrity, inclusion, and accountability. Sadly, their internal culture told a very different story.

Utterly worthless. Completely misunderstood my complaint, ignored my repeated clarification, and closed the case. All while beinng galcially slow and dumb as a post. They simply don't care. They're box-ticking morons.