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Landlords hand over evidence late in nine out of 10 cases, says ombudsman
Landlords are late to hand over evidence to the Housing Ombudsman in nine out of 10 cases, Inside Housing can reveal.
In an exclusive interview, new ombudsman Richard Blakeway said a trial found that in November last year, 91% of the service’s evidence requests received a late response from the landlord. The figure was 88% in December.
One case saw the landlord supply evidence 60 days after the 15-day period requested by the ombudsman.
Mr Blakeway, who joined the Housing Ombudsman Service in September, warned that late evidence submissions are “a real issue” that “undermines trust in the system” for residents.
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He suggested that the problems could be “systems related” or to do with organisational culture, while also admitting that the ombudsman “need[s] to be clear about what evidence we need”.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL INTERVIEW
The Housing Ombudsman is awaiting ministerial sign-off on proposed new powers including being able to declare “complaint handling failures” to landlords that routinely submit evidence late.
Landlords hit with complaint handling failures will likely be named “so it’s clear where the problem lies”, Mr Blakeway added.
The ombudsman has a key target to cut average resolution times to less than six months – and the time it takes for evidence to be provided will be included in that figure.
Its average performance was eight months at the start of 2018/19 and 6.7 months by the end of the year, while the service is currently working within the six-month target, according to Mr Blakeway.
Over the next two years, the ombudsman aspires to slash determination times to three months.
The Social Housing Green Paper, published in 2018, highlighted the speed of complaint resolutions as a significant issue.
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