Housing Ombudsman Reviews 265

been waiting since april 2024 for them to deal with my case, as of today 29/05/2026 (2 years 1 month) they have still not allocated an adjudicator and im sat here just waiting to have my issue dealt with, they need to get rid of the entire staff and rebuild from the bottom.

I have been waiting for over a year and a half for my case and ongoing issues to be properly resolved, yet nothing seems to move forward. Communication is extremely poor, responses take forever, and most of the time it simply feels like you are being ignored.
You are constantly told to wait longer, but there is no real progress, no accountability and no proper support. It is incredibly frustrating to deal with a service that is supposed to help tenants, yet leaves people waiting endlessly with little or no communication.
The entire experience has felt deeply unprofessional and unnecessarily stressful. Very disappointing service overall.

What a complete sham!

They claim they will allocate a Case Worker and respond within 15 working days.

3 months later, we’re still waiting. They say they are Short Staffed..

Turns out they are Funded by the Landlords they are supposed to be making judgments on.

And our Complaint is on behalf of our 92 year old Mum. Time is of the essence.

Ref. : 202551044

This Organisation is Primarily Funded by Annual Subscriptions by its Member Landlords who are all Virtually Housing Associations & Local Authorities. Landlords have to pay £9.64 for Every Property owned by the Landlord. Some Local Authorities own over 20,000 Properties making it a Big Business that is Funding this Organisation & keeping it Running. You can only make a complaint about a Landlord "Registered" on this Scheme. In other words you can only complain about Landlords that are "Funding" this Organisation making this Organisation far from "Impartial" or "Independent" by any means & Assists and is in constant communication with the Landlord throughout the Entirety of your your complaint from Day One of Submitting it. It takes this organisation between 2 Months to a Year to even "Acknowledge" your Complaint once you have submitted it Online. It then takes a Minimum of another year from the date of your Complaint Acknowledgement Letter to reach the final stage where it is basically left on a Pile for your complaint to go in front of an Adjudicator to Reach a Determination / Decision. Don't be surprised if your complaint is sat with this Organisation for over 2 Years with no movement at all...The Landlord is paying their wages. The HO Complaints about us service and HO complaint Service Investigators are exactly the same when you make a complaint regarding the service received from this organisation HO Service Investigators are "Corrupt" and will "PROTECT" the landlord at all costs regardless of how much Rock Solid Evidence you submit. I have emailed the CEO of this Organisation directly who has never responded to present date. The HO will "Re-Word" the content of your original complaint & send you a totally different complaint summary again in favour of the Landlord who is paying their wages. One constant excuse used by this organisation is that they are constantly "Short Staffed" and recruiting more staff to deal with the backlog they state they have. This Organisation will work against yourself and do everything in its power to "PROTECT" its member landlords. Any "Recommendations" made in a final Determination / Decision by a HO Adjudicator are never adhered to due to the fact they are only "Recommendations" & not "Orders" Civil Servants are NOT above the law. 95% of Reviews made on TrustPilot only have a 1 Star Rating and this organisation receives Extremely Bad Reviews on a "Daily" Basis by Members of the Public. The HO Staff & its Offices are Paid by The Mandatory Subscriptions of its Member Landlords...In other words the "Accused" is "Paying" the Investigator. HO Staff Wages are paid by its Member Landlords hence why this Organisation will Never Assist Members of the Public Making a Complaint about their Member Landlords

If you are looking for a swift resolution to housing failure, look elsewhere. The Housing Ombudsman (HO) is a masterclass in "performance theatre," using high-level legal jargon like "statutory body" and "maladministration" to mask a system that is fundamentally unfit for purpose.
Here is the reality of how this "independent" process actually works:
The Landlord Pays the "Judge": Large landlords like L&Q pay millions in mandatory subscription fees to fund the Ombudsman’s staff and offices. It is a compromised relationship where the accused pays for the investigator. No matter how many "Severe Maladministration" findings they publish to look busy, the funding model ensures the HO remains tethered to the very industry it oversees.
The 1-2 Year Waiting Room: After months of being ignored by your landlord’s broken internal process, you are met with a "one-year wait" just for an investigator to look at your file. This is an absolute travesty. Telling a tenant to wait 12–24 months while living with damp, mould, or leaks is not a service; it is a calculated denial of justice.
Empty Words vs. Meaningful Action: They use terms like "Complaint Handling Code" and "Failure Orders" to create the illusion of authority. In reality, while you are stuck in a massive triage queue, your landlord faces zero immediate consequences. The HO doesn't fix your home; they simply manage a backlog and exchange letters while your living conditions deteriorate.
A Shield for the Powerful: This system exists to keep housing disputes out of the courts. By funneling tenants into years of "triage," they protect the landlord from immediate legal accountability. It is an insult to suggest that this process protects the vulnerable.
Conclusion: Do not be fooled by the official-looking website or the claims of "fairness." This is a taxpayer-backed, landlord-funded waiting room where your health and safety are secondary to their "processes." If you have a serious issue, don't waste years in this queue—seek legal advice and take them to court.

Its almost two years and my case still hasn't been given a case manager. My case which was submitted in 2024 was accepted in August 2025. It's April 2026 and still awaiting a case manager!
I'm post for words beyond this!

The service is utterly useless. After 12 months of submitting an application there is nothing coming out of this strange lot. I chased my case 202503908 several times. There is still no response, no communication and no decision. Can I actually sue these guys for wasting my time?

Shit service, staff, a crack den has more integrity

Almost 3 years from start to finish
No contact to tenant making them aware of delays
Didn't take into account tenants property damaged through penny pinching social landlord ...
Be aware have contents insurance and claim even if its not your fault because these clowns wont help and couldn't care less

The Housing Ombudsmen is NOT fit for purpose.
There are no staff to deal with cases.
They took 2 years and then updated me saying they are busy.
Don't waste your time with this outfit.
There was no resolution to my complaint, communication was misleading and vague.
I had complained that my council failed to respond, but the HO was even worse than dealing with my local council.

Tried to make a complaint on their site and it can't make complaint unless 15 working days. It's 16 working days since! So now I need to go and make complaint to about the Ombudsman because they are more substandard than the HA . Imagine the humiliation of working for this group. You literally cannot sink any lower than the Ombudsman.

After a 112 week wait for an answer to my complaint the HOS unsurprisingly sided with L+Q even though they treated me terribly.

No teeth, what are HOS for? The government should get rid of them and come up with a fairer solution.

Just don’t understand what’s the point of having this service as it’s shambolic. The case that started in Nov 2024 has not been allocated a case worker and an assessment has not been completed to progress the case. They don’t respond to emails and when you call them there is no clear update as to who is doing what and how it will take. Waste of time.

When will the government realise that the Housing Ombudsman Service is not only no longer fit for purpose, but has failed so many people, there should be a collective action case brought against them for serious misconduct.

Ive now waited over a year for the ombudsman to investigate an issue with Believe Housing & its corrupt housing officials. Despite there being significant evidence to show fault by the housing group, they'd rather sit on the information hoping it would go away. It was only after the evidence was given to a local online newspaper did the corrupt housing official finally 'retire' supposedly from the company, after lying their way in & shafting their tenants and applicants on the way out. Corruption at its finest & shielded by those supposedly the ones to restore justice and fairness in the housing sector. Totally not fit for purpose.

Zero stars. The housing ombudsman are a waste of time and public money. They do not deal with complaints with respect or in a timely manner . Disorganised and inconsistent. They always side with the landlord. I have made several complaints in the last 4 years and I still have not heard back from them yet. Don’t bother contacting them they will never respond.

Been waiting over two years now for the ombudsman to get around to my case. I write, they don't respond. When they first took the case on, they were horrified at NCHA's neglect, since then, NCHA's officer dealing with it has done a runner, and the ombudsman has gone ominously silent. Who is the ombudsman working for, the tenants or the housing providers?

Never got back to me. They say 15 working days, it's been 21 working days later, still nothing. Not fit for purpose. Going straight to money claims online now. Watchdog needs watching! Useless

If I could give the HO no stars I would. This is an organisation that works for and on behalf of Landlords, not tenants. Severe corruption by Riverside Housing Organisation has gone ignored for over a year by the HO and any follow up communications are ignored. What the HO does acknowledge however is that one has made “a complaint" and then communicates with the same person the complaint is about. If this isn’t corrupt I don’t know what is. All across the land housing associations must be laughing at having no oversight whatsoever. In London the decent homes act is ignored, disabled tenants are left without a lift, fire alarms have been disabled, Riverside lie and bully with impunity (e.g. ‘we will no longer accept standing orders, you must pay by direct debit) - we have learnt to ignore - and flats decorated and ready to move in - have been left void for over 15 months. And what does the Housing Ombudsman do? Nothing.

Extremely poor organisation. The UK seems to be full of inept organisations like this. I firmly believe that none of these companies like the Housing Ombudsman would ever act in the best interests of homeowners or leaseholders. Instead they align themselves with fraudulent and corrupt councils and freeholders throughout the UK. An organisation not fit for purpose and should be thoroughly investigated for lack of transparency and deceit. They are complicit in their actions.

Awful misleading harassment , unacceptable behaviour