The Housing Ombudsman Service

The Housing Ombudsman is an organisation, approved by the Secretary of State under section 51 of and Schedule2 to the Housing Act 1996. The Act requires social landlords, as defined by section 51 (2) of the Act, to be members of an approved scheme. All local authorities and registered social housing providers are required to be members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, several private landlords and letting agents also join voluntarily.

The Housing Ombudsman Scheme sets out the role, of the Housing Ombudsman service, what complaints it can consider and the obligations of its members. It is an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. The Framework Document sets out the respective responsibilities and accountability of the Housing Ombudsman, the Secretary of State and officials within the Department.

The Housing Ombudsman service investigates complaints and resolves disputes involving tenants and leaseholders of social landlords (housing associations and local authorities), as well as voluntary members (private landlords and letting agents). Investigation of these complaints is free, independent, and impartial, funded by annual landlord subscription fees. It works with the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) and the Regulator of Social Housing, under a memorandum of understanding, to agree a common approach to collaborative working.

The New Homes Ombudsman Service is a separate organisation which exists to help customers resolve issues with their new homes, which the Registered Developer has been unable or unwilling to fix. The remit of the New Homes Ombudsman Service covers the whole period from the Reservation and Legal Completion of a property through to after-sales and complaints management for issues during the first two years of a new home purchase.

The primary purpose of NHOS is to provide a free and independent service to customers, which can impartially assess and adjudicate on issues that have arisen that fall within the Ombudsman’s scope. This includes complaints around the Reservation, Legal Completion and complaints management processes, or issues or defects that have arisen at or after occupation and which are not major defects.

For more information about the Housing Ombudsman Service visit https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/

For more information about the New Homes Ombudsman Service visit https://www.nhos.org.uk/

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