Organisational stretch can ‘undermine’ benefits of mergers, ombudsman warns

The report warned that where landlords are undergoing structural changes, it is a “time for careful planning and risk management by leadership”. 

“In one investigation, we commented on how merger planning had focused on the financial and governance aspects, but had failed to consider the experience of residents fully. This had a negative impact on residents who received a poorer quality of service,” it said.

When it comes to culture, the ombudsman found that it is now less common to hear residents’ “lifestyle” attributed to damp and mould than it used to be, “but that does not mean attitudes have changed enough”.

Mr Blakeway said: “Tenants experience a strong sense of stigma. They will be unfairly blamed for things outside their control. 

“This is deep-rooted in society and can spill over into landlord services. It can create barriers to putting things right for an individual.”

He said that put together, it can lead to the “othering” of social tenants and social landlords “not living their values”, such as tolerating poor performance, issues not being escalated, “indifferent communication and the normalisation of conditions which are unacceptable”.

The ombudsman found that transparency and openness in relation to the root causes of complaints are essential. 

The report highlighted early lessons from Awaab’s Law and warned that some landlords had no policies in place before the law came in, while others struggled to identify relevant cases.

One landlord told the ombudsman about improvements it had made to the length of time taken to inspect reports of damp and mould. However, when asked if the landlord had seen reductions in the time taken to treat damp and mould, it said its software did not capture that information. 

The ombudsman’s case work related to the landlord showed that delays following inspection was the “more pressing issue” affecting residents. 

“This led us to be concerned that the landlord was focusing on the wrong metrics, impeding improvement of the service delivery,” according to the report. 

Another landlord reported taking a new approach to improving its repairs service by using automated appointment reminders. 

This led to ‘no access’ visits almost halving, while the time taken to complete repairs reduced from 66 to 20 days. 

“Both performance metrics reflect a significant improvement in the service provided to residents,” the report said. 

The report also forms part of the watchdog’s response to managing the demand for its interventions. Its case volumes have risen 500% since 2021-22. 

Mr Blakeway said: “We can see the Complaint Handling Code is embedding, promoting fairer and more consistent handling across the sector. But the last published tenant satisfaction measures show stage one complaints rising.”

He added that this “calls for a renewed effort” to address root causes and respond to the lessons identified in complaints.

At Housing 2026, delegates heard that the sector is “a lot less educated” on hazards covered by Phase 2 of Awaab’s Law and will likely need to move residents to temporary accommodation more often.

Ahead of last week’s conference, in an exclusive exit interview with Inside Housing, Mr Blakeway explained why the sector “deserves credit” for positive changes in the past seven years.