Posted 07.09.20
Housing Ombudsman Service: Further reading
The Housing Ombudsman Service has published a report bringing together its insight from handling almost 2,000 complaints from leaseholders and shared owners over the last two years.
These resulted in more than 800 formal investigations with redress required in some form in just over half of the cases investigated.
The report shows complaint handling itself being the area of most consistent concern where maladministration (including partial maladministration) was found in 72% of cases.
Key issues identified are difficulties getting through the complaints procedure, delays and periods of inaction.
The report provides learning points on complaint handling plus three other areas where maladministration or partial maladministration are found most often. They are repairs, estate management and charges.
It also looks at staircasing and issues related to cladding and building safety, areas where we have now received several complaints.
In almost 40 recommendations, landlords are urged to improve lease agreements at the outset, strengthen systems and improve approaches to capturing and sharing knowledge and information within their organisations.
The above link gives access to the report - 'A new lease of life: Spotlight on leasehold, shared ownership and new builds'.
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