Key Learning from the Housing Ombudsman’s Latest Severe Maladministration Decisions

On 20 May 2025, the Housing Ombudsman released its latest Learning from Severe Maladministration Report, focusing on emergency repairs. 

The Report details issues with triaging, delays in emergency repairs, and prioritising repairs as a result of household circumstances.

The report seeks to identify issues which have led to service failures and sets out key learning from the cases referred to. For your ease, we have set out a summary of that key learning below:

Triaging repair reports

• It is vital that landlords correctly categorise repairs in order to ensure that they undertake the correct repairs to address the issues being experienced by the tenant and their household. 
• Effective triaging will lead to appropriate and timely responses upon reports being received. 
• If emergency repairs do not fully address issues, including wider damage caused, landlords should undertake a risk assessment based upon the individual circumstances of the household. 
• Landlords should ensure that they promptly seek to enforce rights of access in accordance with tenancy terms and conditions, and any relevant policies, where issues with access for repairs are being experienced. 
• Landlords should continue to communicate with residents after completion of emergency repairs to ensure that no further related repairs are required. 
• Landlords should ensure that residents are fully informed of arrangements for inspections and works.
• Landlords should consider review their record keeping arrangements to ensure that records include information about both the repairs history and the individual circumstances of tenants and their households.

Delayed Responses 

• Landlords should comply with their policies in relation to emergency repairs.
• Where a landlord is not able to comply with its own emergency repairs policy, it should ensure that this is properly communicated to the resident. 
• Proactive communication should continue throughout the duration of any repairs. 
• Landlord must consider whether the tenant or their household require any form of support where an emergency repair is reported and ensure that appropriate mitigation strategies (such as decants or the provision of equipment or facilities) are put in place where necessary. 
• In the event that complaints are raised as a result of delays, the landlord’s Complaints Team should ensure that the repairs are progressed in accordance with any findings in relation to that complaint.
• Landlords should ensure that they undertake reviews of any circumstances where delays have occurred in relation to emergency repairs and implement any required changes resulting from any learning.

Prioritising Circumstances 

• Landlords should be aware of the individual circumstances of residents and their households and should ensure that any relevant information in this respect is recorded centrally. 
• The categorisation of repairs as emergency repairs, and the urgency of the response, may result from the individual circumstances of the household rather than the nature of the repair.
• Landlords should undertake risk assessments in relation to residents and their households in order that responses can be tailored to the individual circumstances of those residents. 
• Clear and accurate records should be maintained by landlords as to where responsibility lies within the landlord’s organisation for the maintenance and repair of all properties within their stock. 
• Landlords should consider undertaking training of staff to assist staff in better understanding the landlord’s repairing and other responsibilities.

 A copy of the Ombudsman’s press release, with a link to the Report, can be found at Learning from severe maladministration report | May.