The arm of the law
The housing ombudsman looks set to take on some of the Tenant Services Authority’s responsibilities. Lydia Stockdale gets the lowdown on the new lawman in town
‘Watch out, there’s a new sheriff in town.’ Okay, so he’s not actually a sheriff - he’s the housing ombudsman, and he’s not exactly new - he’s been handling disputes between residents and their landlords for 13 years. But there sure has been a lot of a hootin’ and a hollerin’ about him recently.
It began last month when housing minister Grant Shapps revealed to Inside Housing his plan to scrap the housing regulator, the Tenant Services Authority. The minister intends to expand the housing ombudsman and his Housing Ombudsman Service to take on some of the TSA’s role as England’s housing watchdog.
Next, came the news that government is considering merging the HOS, which handles complaints from housing association residents, with the Local Government Ombudsman - the service which deals with complaints from local authority residents.
It’s looking as though the HOS - which already saw complaints from housing association residents soar by 43 per cent last year - could soon be a whole lot busier.
Yet, in spite all of this talk about the HOS, and the fact that more and more tenants are asking it to handle their disputes, there is still some mystery over the role of the service. A number of common misperceptions about its work roll like tumbleweeds throughout the housing sector.
So, before we examine how the HOS could adapt according to Mr Shapps’ wishes, we need to set out exactly what the ombudsman is and what it does.
Inquisitorial approach
Housing’s sheriff, the ombudsman himself, Dr Mike Biles, describes the HOS’s work as ‘an inquisitorial process’. He says it can enable tenants to challenge their landlord’s conduct, without having to go through the ‘expense and trauma’ of court proceedings.
The ombudsman only deals with individual complaints about housing-related services, including problems with repairs, estate services, anti-social behaviour, charges and allocations. If, during the course of an investigation, the HOS uncovers mismanagement that appears to run deeper within an organisation than the one-off case in question, it hands the information over to the housing regulator, the TSA.
The HOS has the legal power to order a landlord to fix an individual problem. If a housing association then fails to comply, the TSA would be asked to intervene. Any concerns about deep-rooted problems are also shared with the Audit Commission.
Set up on 1 April 1997, the HOS offers a dispute-resolution service for residents. While it is contacted by complainants, it is not an advocate working on their behalf; it is neither on the side of landlords or tenants. The aim of the HOS is to help the two to work together to deal with problems. With this emphasis on resolution, the ombudsman will only investigate a grievance on behalf of a resident if they have already taken it through their landlord’s own complaints process.
Dr Biles, previously head of law at Southampton Business School, joined the service in 2001. Members of his 37-strong London-based team investigate residents’ grievances, and Dr Biles gives a final judgement. He will rule whether or not the landlord is guilty of a failure in service delivery - a bit like a judge or a magistrate. Mostly though, the HOS tries to direct landlords and residents through their own specific complaints procedures, working together to resolve disputes.
Under the 1996 Housing Act, housing associations must be members of the HOS, enabling their tenants access to the service. Private landlords such as Grainger, have chosen to join, giving their customers a chance to hold them to account.
Unlike the majority of other ombudsmen services, which exist for everything from telecommunications to pensions, the HOS is not funded by the taxpayer. Instead, it’s paid for through an annual fee of £1.33 per social home. This, applied to 2.7 million tenancies, adds up to more than
£3 million per year. It may be that the landlord physically signs the cheque, but it is tenants who pay for access to the HOS through their rents, argues Dr Biles.
New values
Figures released by the housing ombudsman earlier this month suggest tenants are beginning to demand value for money. The number of tenants and leaseholders complaining about their landlord reached 5,519 between 1 April 2009 and 31 March 2010 - a 72 per cent rise over the past three years. This does not necessarily mean that landlords’ services are getting worse - but it certainly reflects a rise in the number of tenants who feel they are able to challenge their housing provider.
In a complainant expectations survey, conducted by the HOS with independent assistance from Barclays and published last month, 78 per cent of residents who had contacted the HOS during the previous six months said they were happy with their experience. Others, however, feel disappointed with the service they received. Tenant Colin Worthington wrote a letter to Inside Housing, published last month, which said, ‘I took my own case to them, I found they swept the worst offences of my landlord under the carpet.’
The HOS annual report figures bare out the limitations on the current service. Of the 5,519 complaints received by the ombudsman last year, it actually investigated 458 grievances - a 62 per cent increase on the past two years. In 81 per cent of these cases it found that the housing association was not guilty of any wrongdoing. Failures were found in just 82 cases.
A sizeable chunk of residents who contacted the HOS will have had problems that do not fall within the HOS’s remit, in which case it will have directed them to other bodies including, where grievances are governance-related, to the TSA. Many will have received guidance before being referred to their landlord’s own complaints process.
Mr Worthington and others who have commented on Inside Housing’s website, argue that the HOS should come down harder on landlords. Yet Dr Biles’ deputy, Rafael Runco, stresses that this is an example of how the role of the service is misperceived. He says it is there to delve into the details of a complaint and look for evidence of ‘maladministration’ - it isn’t there to fight the resident’s corner.
Nic Bliss, chair of the Confederation of Co-operative Housing and a well-know tenant activist, says that it’s difficult to give a truly informed opinion on the HOS’s track record, because the cases it handles are confidential. He thinks the service it offers generally ‘seems positive’. ‘I don’t get the impression that it is there for landlords rather than tenants,’ concludes Mr Bliss.
An ombudsman’s powers only extend as far as individual cases. Where the HOS finds more systemic, widespread problems within an organisation, it currently refers this on to the TSA. At the moment, Dr Biles does not know what exra work the housing minister is going to ask him and his team to take on.
It may be that Mr Shapps decides that the HOS should be responsibile for dealing with a wider range of complaints, such as grievances about landlords’ governance - including Mr Shapps’ proposed tenants’ panels. It could also potentially be asked to take on more of a regulatory role in the absence of the TSA, investigating and acting upon wrongdoings at an organisational level although that power could also potentially go to the Audit Commission or the Homes and Communities Agency.
Dr Biles doesn’t want to speculate on the future, but says that ‘if that was something people would want us to do, then we would have to think carefully about our role, our processes and our team.’
Mr Runco says that the HOS has managed to deal with a 43 per cent increase in demand for its services over the past year, but if it was asked to handle an even bigger workload, the service would have to be restructured. ‘We couldn’t just expand, hiring more and more investigators - we’d have to think about how the service is structured from top to bottom,’ he says.
As for the housing minister’s contemplation of merging of the HOS with the Local Government Ombudsman, which would almost double the number of potential complainants, Mr Runco argues that ‘couldn’t happen overnight’. ‘It would require consultation with the relevant parties and the introduction of new legislation,’ he says.
As the sheriff waits to find out whether his town is going to experience an influx of new folk, it’s worth bearing in mind that he whipped 82 wrongdoers into shape last year. He has the power of the law behind him and a job to do - whether or not he can handle more is for the housing minister to decide.
Common misperceptions about the Housing Ombudsman Service
Misperception number one: The HOS only helps tenants
Rafael Runco, deputy ombudsman, says that even landlords get confused about which of their customers can go to the HOS with a complaint. The service is, in actual fact, there for anyone who receives a housing service from a landlord member - that includes tenants, leaseholders and shared owners. It is not, however, a service for employees, or users of services offered by social landlords that fall outside of bricks and mortar, such as those set up to help tackle worklessness.
Misperception number two: The HOS is supposed to be an advocate for residents
‘If we do not uphold a complaint, they [residents] can get upset because they expect us to be an advocacy service,’ says Mr Runco. The HOS is meant to be completely impartial. ‘We are neither pro-landlord or pro-tenant.’
Misperception number three: The HOS is there to help complainants work through their complaints with their landlord
Residents should have already exhausted their landlords’ complaints process before approaching the HOS. However, if they do contact the service ‘prematurely’ it will advise them on which of their grievances to focus on and contact their landlord to explain that their customer has been in touch and that it has advised them to pursue a particular complaint.
‘We can’t tell [the landlord] what to do,’ says Mr Runco. The only instance in which the HOS can lay down the law is when it has taken on an investigation and found evidence of wrongdoing - or ‘maladministration’.
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Readers' comments (10)
Richard Colledge | 30/07/2010 1:26 pm
“78 per cent of residents who had contacted the HOS during the previous six months said they were happy with their experience.”
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I think these words are chosen very carefully indeed. This survey was conducted by who ? - - the HOS themselves - - with “independent assistance” from Barclays and was published last month. Who paid Barclays fees then ?
Do we believe the ‘survey’ ? It is not the same thing as “78% satisfied with the eventual verdict” – which is a very different matter, and can take up to a year. The only honest test is for an independent body to talk directly to folk who have used the service. Let’s have some proper surveys covering the past few years ( not just a few months) , and have a body such as the Audit Commission carry it out.
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kass | 30/07/2010 10:28 pm
Even those residents who win their cases with the Ombudmsan are extremely unsatisfed, because instead of redress all the Ombudsman does is "recommends" the Housing Ass not to do the same mistake or wrong doing again.
So a tenant has wasted maybe a full year or even more in distressing sistuation going through complaingt procedure and then the Ombudsman and that's all s/he gets.
A set of recommendation for the landlord but no or very little finanancial compensation.
and if residents who win their cases are unsatsifed how do you think those who lose their cases feel?
Which resident is so crazy to even try this system or even go through it a second time?
and because residents are put off by all this, HAs claim their complaints are being resolved!
Well, if all these complaints were resolved in a fair way how do the Ombudsman and the HAs explain so much dissatisfaction amongst residents then?
HAs and Ombudsman can go doing this crazy way of making it look on paper residents are satisfied, but believe me sooner or later this whole cover up will explode and God knows what the consequences will be.
the ombudmsan is not there to deliver either justice nor redress to aggrieved residents. Therefore Residents should forget the Ombudsman and demand for a return of FREE LEGAL AID. With free legal aid if a resident has a dispute the HA fails repeteadly to solve just takes the HA to court and ask for damages.
How come if you are in arrears the landlord can take you to court and get you evicted for breach of tenancy, but if the landlord breaches the tenancy there is no legal aid for you to take the HA to court. How can that be just?
Only Free Legal Aid for housing issues will deliver a protection to residents, that's why they abolished it and put the Ombudsman in its place.
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Junior | 02/08/2010 11:42 am
I agree with you Kass whom want to go down that painstacking Complaint Procedures under Stage 1 to 3 taking away months of your life to find at Stage Three the Board Members sitting on the Complaint's Panel and only best interest and loyal is to the Housing Association and then you have to keep chasing the Ombudsman and our was going to put a clause under Complaint's then your off the Committee Group Members i.e. no involved.
Bring back Legal Aid fight the "b's" with the law.
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Anonymous | 03/08/2010 10:22 am
The HOS are totally correct - the main problem is tenant perception. The HOS dismiss a lot of cases because they genuinely have no remit to resolve them (ie: service charges). Tenants also regularly skip the complaints process and run straight to the HOS, who can't look at it until the HA resolve it through the complaints process. If the complaints process fails, that it where the HOS will find maladministration. Even if tenants go to Court, there is no guarantee you will win anything. The Courts in their current state cannot decide whether a leaking pipe got repaired quickly enough or an ASB case was dealt with properly. They need to overhaul the justice system before these kinds of cases are dealt with via the law. The HOS is the best independent reviewer tenants have at this time until the Government make up their minds! And Stage 3 panels ARE independent and NOT just loyal to their HA. This is about high expectations by residents, not about HA failings.
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kass | 04/08/2010 1:42 pm
Anonymous | 03/08/2010 10:22 am
"The HOS is the best independent reviewer tenants have at this time until the Government make up their minds! And Stage 3 panels ARE independent and NOT just loyal to their HA. This is about high expectations by residents, not about HA failings."
Yet another example of the social landlords atittude, about the customers expecting too much, or being too stupid to understand the (very complicated) complaint procedures, in other words, isthe customers to blame for even thinking of complaining.
And to say the STAGE 3 (more like stage 4 or 6 or even 12 with complaints thrown back to precedding stages rather than onto the next one) is INDEPENDENT is total rubbish fooling nobody.
It is made up of members of the organisation one is complaining against, so how independent is that?
When I complained aqgainst London and Quadrant the Panel members were made up by people like David Montague, current CEO.
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Anonymous | 05/08/2010 9:17 am
"The HOS is the best independent reviewer tenants have at this time until the Government make up their minds!
Says who? Ask folk who have actually used the service. HOS are very inventive in finding ways to cover up bad practice by landlords. The % of cases upheld is in single figures. So 90% + of tenants were wrong ?? Utter rubbish. Let's hope Mr Schapps gives us an honest service to replace this farce.
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Anonymous | 05/08/2010 9:50 am
In reference to my previous post, as a complaints officer for an RSL it might appear I am biased but we work really hard with the HOS to get the procedure right. We were nearly in serious trouble with them for not dealing with complaints properly and completely turned our process around. We have a residents committee who decide how they want complaints dealt with, produce information packs and make it really accessible and easy to understand. I can't comment on other panels but ours are made up of board members, not employees so are totally independent. We welcome complaints and report them at the highest level. Our CEO takes them very seriously. The HOS are fair and you are not happy because your outcomes were not what you wanted.
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Richard Colledge | 05/08/2010 10:09 am
"I can't comment on other panels but ours are made up of board members, not employees so are totally independent"
Amazing! Board members have to sign a pledge of 'first loyalty to the company'. Standard practice. Tenants perceive Board Members to be part of the company heirarchy.
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kass | 05/08/2010 1:32 pm
If your read the atricle comments on this website on the article CESTRAI PROBES STAFF GRIEVANCES, some housing staff commentators there are very angry that the allegation of bullism is lbeing looked at by an INDPENDENT investigation done by organisations members. they say such investigation is not INDEPENDENT because carried out by the same organisation the yare complaining about.
So how comes that when it suits staff they protest these investigation are not independent and instead they are independent in the case of tenants complaints?
Is not that hipocrisy towards tenants?
The fact is that with the complaint procedures and the Ombudsman the unsatsifed are not those who lose but those who win!... It is a joke that after months and years of complaining and maybe losing your job and your health while doing it all you get if you win is the Ombudmsan telling your landlord is a recommendation that he must not do it again. Where is the proper compensation or the proper justice for being abused or even worse?
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Andrea | 12/08/2010 10:23 am
Richard Colledge | 05/08/2010 10:09
Well if tenants perceive that and don't believe or accept the fact that they are not, there is probably little we can do to change that view. Our board members have a service level agreement, but have no day to day operational involvement. There is no "pledge of loyalty" - I have seen their agreements because its part of my job. OUR members are independent. I cannot comment on other RSLs.
Kass - I read that article but that is not the same. As I said, you clearly didn't get what you wanted and I am sorry if that is the case but the HOS is all there is for now.
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