Housing Ombudsman Bewertungen 

I cannot understand all the terrible reviews posted. My complaint is quite recent but the response and help I have received from this service is well above what I expected. As I have only just raised the complaint to a STAGE 2 I must wait for the response from Vivid before the ombudsman service can fully take it on. But I have had helpfull verbal and email advice about the steps I needed to take. From my experience I can only rate the organisation as excellent.
Another good service is REACH. They offer a 15min telephone service which you can book through their website. I got an appointment within a week and you can have as many calls as you like.

I submitted an extremely well documented complaint, endorsed by my MP, that clearly showed the housing association was failing to make provision for tenants to use an amenity for which we are charged - failing to implement parking management in a residential car park that is sited adjacent to a train station, a high street etc. etc. I even proposed a scheme that could be implemented for a mere pittance, and administered for a bare minimum of time. The ombudsman failed to uphold my complaint ???

This particular ombudsman service (?) is either totally unfit for purpose and/or their remit is in urgent need of radical reform.

The Minister for Housing should address this pressing issue without delay, 92% of reviewers cannot be wrong.

LONG-STANDING COMPLAINT AGAINST A
HOUSING ASSOCIATION.
My complaint against my housing association has been ongoing with The Housing Ombudsman Service since 2020 with no end in sight.
However, as I'd like to base my review on my own experience, I'd like The Service to please respond to my most recent communication of 16 December 2022 which should have received a response after 15 days but has not to date.

This is a very long review, yet really just a synopsis considering my six plus years of hell.
It involves noisy parties, car damaged, driveway blocking.
Even my other neighbour runs machines 24/7, and the environment won't help me.
I have been assaulted 4 times by younger males, and I'm actually 74 years old.

Police attended and simply listened to the harassers, and refused to watch my CCTV, then falsely arrested me, and locked me up.
The Police actually committed perjury on statements in a court trial, but they forgot about the CCTV cameras.
The judge found me Not Guilty.

Then an housing officer (friend of the police) issued me with a bogus warning notice.
These notices threaten eviction!
But he had also forgotten my CCTV and he had to retract his allegations.
Again a few weeks later he sent me another set of false accusations, but he didn't know that I had even more CCTV.
So he was forced to retract that one too, and I forced him to send a full apology.

A year later I had a phone call from another housing officer with a very distinguishable accent, and he sent another eviction warning.
I'd done nothing wrong, but he thought I'd taken down all my CCTV, but didn't know that I also carry a video camera.
He mistakenly sent me an eviction warning letter, and I couldn't believe it.
But then he made the mistake of phoning me again using a different accent, immediately I recognised the voice as the first housing officer.

So I then contacted the Ombudsman to find out if I was right, and I believe that I was, because I got someone to check the name.
And they discovered his name on FaceBook, and it was simply a friend of the original housing officers.
This was something I proved to the Ombudsman, but I'm sure that they already knew because instead of exposing him they simply blocked me from all contact with them.

My emails were blocked, my recorded letters were ignored, and 4 phone calls I made to them resulted in telling me that they would call me back.
They never did. I even tried the main Council, but they ignored 2 recorded letters.
It would be a waste of time phoning police, they don't like losing cases in court, and being exposed on websites.

I'm living next door to drug dealers, and the council ignore my evidence, and simply side with them.
One manager from the noise environment services was caught on my CCTV camera buying from them.
Which makes perfect sense to me as to why I've had to bear 24/7 machine noise with no help from them whatsoever.

Tory cabinet member Michael Gove needs to be updated, because he criticised Birmingham City Council (BCC).
And he recommends that people use the Ombudsman, but he's wrong, very wrong.
They now work together, and if they decide something is too tricky, they side with BCC.

I have now written to Michael Gove, and now I just wait.
These people work together, and there is definitely corruption within these systems!

The Council needs to be investigated, and the noise environment services needs closing down (Useless).
Then De-fund or shut down the Housing Ombudsman Service, (Also Useless).

Why on earth is the Housing Ombudsman even commenting on the news, concerning the horror tenant's are experiencing + having to live with because of ur useless social housing landlords? Because when you do complain to the Ombudsman they zre guaranteed to be on the side of the landlord + they completely ignore anything you say. Housing Ombudsman needs to shut up of maybe start listening to tenants complaints. After my experience with the housing Ombudsman, I can't even see the point in having a housing Ombudsman servicein this country. To be honest in my experience the Ombudsman is part of the problem. So please Ombudsman stop insulting our intelligences by pretending on TV that you care.

BEFORE YOU WASTE YOUR TIME GOING HERE I'D SUGGEST YOU READ THEIR ADD
" WE DON'T TAKE SIDES ! "

OF COURSE THEY TAKE SIDES AS THEY VOTE IN FAVOUR OF ONE , AND AGAINST THE OTHER PARTY - YOU SEE THEY LIE EVEN BEFORE YOU TAKE YOUR COMPLAINTS TO THEM "

Rubbish ,
Had to delete my previous review as the housing ombudsman flagged it !
Shame we live in a society where full grown adult don't like the truth and other people's opinions .

The housing ombudsman weren't even interested in my case and emailed me telling me to go to the citizens advice bureau..
Then a few months later they emailed me saying my case was closed .
It's no wonder the council housing department you complain about ignores your concerns and tries fobbing you off with the parliamentary housing ombudsman , just look at the reviews for these people ..
The parliamentary housing ombudsman is there to back up the organisation a person complaints about ..
A waste of time and space if you ask me and every other person who leaves a negative review about them.
No wonder the councils housing departments get away with doing what they are doing .
The parliamentary housing ombudsman as with any parliamentary ombudsman service is a waste of time and space and should be shut down as they are never held accountable for their disgraceful behaviour

What a pointless organisation, decisions are not based on law, and they are unwilling to use words that could be taken as being based on law.

This organisation should not be called an Ombudsman as it doesnt do the job as an Ombudsman.

Not willing to take complaints about it's own standards, or lack off..

Don't waste your time with this outfit. Along with my landlord they have caused me nothing but stress and tine wasting.

No matter I have a complaint upheld and an amount awarded to me. The letter goes missing I receive it after the 20 days timescale to reply and this matter has taken 18 months amd is still ongoing.

The housing ombudsman does not help but hinders. Just another process to delay resolution. It'll very shady and not fit for purpose. Needs abolishing.

If possible I'd give no stars at all since the only response I received was an automated email. When I used their online chat to find out the status of my complaint I was told I'd have to email..... !

Such a time wasting and vile company. Why do they exist? Every other ombudsman gives a certain amount of days for a response then action is taken. Not these guys, oh no. You'll barely get a reply, on the phone they will sound like they're still actually in bed and do not care. They kept giving 10 days, then another, and another, and another...this went on for 3 months before I just gave up.
They were my last hope.

My mother passed away abruptly from sepsis November 20th 2020. I sent in the death certificate, etc, required for succession of tenancy and everything else. The council did not contact me for 5+ months (during my grief and lack of housing knowledge I had assumed they were moving housing benefit, etc, over to my name). After those 5+months had passed, with no contact, they then informed i owed them 5k worth of arrears (bearing in mind I am also a vulnerable person)
Ombudsman did NOTHING. The council did not care, happy for me to take 20 years to pay that off. Thankfully my renting officer somewhat did resolve the issue and reduced them down to, just under, £300 because of a grant she just so happened to find.

You are an absolutely seriously vile service. You made my mental health situation worse by full out lying. Whoever funds this needs to stop. Whoever works at this place is either ridiculous or just desperate. Genuine shame on this company.

Housing Ombudsman Service is not fit for purpose and needs to be defunded. Waste of money to run an organisation that is useless and corrupt. Just like FOS they don’t conduct indept investigations and side with Housing associations not tenants. Looking at the reviews it clear to see that they are inept and need to be shut down.

To say this whole time dealing with this organisation is a farce is an understatment!

I made a complaint to them about my landlord not allowing me to have solar panels installed, and I was told I would get a callback in 2 weeks. I made allowances for the fact that there was an extended weekend due to the Queens funeral service on Monday, but that is as far as I went.

On day 17 (with allowances made) still no call...

I called in yesterday to see what was going on, and to say that these fruit cakes call people liars is also an understatement.

I sent in an email attaching a copy of my landlords decision and saying I had the right to involve the Housing Ombudsman was described as not enough, despite it in my view clearly stating I had that right.

With energy prices increasing to the point that energy becomes prohibitively expensive. I am asking for permission for solar panels so I can attempt to reduce my energy costs by generating my own power. I also mentioned that if my landlord were that whingy about attaching solar to my electrics, I would go battery storage instead, as in off grid. It is, in my view, the only way to cut my power bills to a point where they are either more affordable, or zero.

When you call the Housing Ombudsman, it says clearly on the recording that they were "...set up by law as a free impartial service..." This is laughable!

I agree with many other posters here, and now, they ARE deliberately delaying call backs as long as possible!

I am thinking I may have to take them to court, not just for me but for anyone else who has posted here in a similar situation.

**UPDATE**

It gets better...

After accusing them of deliberate delays and getting increasingly frustrated with them and deliberate delays, now they are refusing to take calls from me.

This so called "independant organisation" ARE corrupt, and discriminate against tenants, ALL THE TIME. It is also possible they are also taking bribes from landlords to always rule in favor of the landlord every time someone complains.

I intend on taking them to court now.

I am also going to seek legal advice on what I can do with them and the way they are treating me.

Waste of time complaining to ombudsman and council and housing association

Contact the housing disrepair team
Enquiries.housingdisrepair@gmail(dot)com

They help claim with solicitors on no win no fee basis

No wonder social housing is in crises. The ombudsman are a waste of time. I gave all the details they wanted, and yet they still ask for the same information. This is why the council and housing associations get away with not responding to tenants. These ombudsman get paid big wages to do nothing.

Didnt take a group complaint because shared ownership and social tenants. Complete stitch up took over a year to come to conclusion that couldnt take case. No transparency and unclear policies that fail residents. Just a limbo for the HAs to drag out complaints. Needs abolishing.

It would seem my experience with this ombudsman is different to the majority of people, but they were actually quite good at handling our complaint.
Our landlord (Derwent Living) were becoming insufferable with their relentless stupidity and the handling of our complaint, so it eventually went to the ombudsman, who quickly found in our favor, describing Derwents behavior as bullying, which is exactly what it was.
They ordered an apology and compensation, they even called my wife saying if it starts again to get back in touch.
Very happy with the service provided.

Please do not spend any time contacting these people . Industry stooges like all regulation in the UK . They work to a script , invite you to complain and then the charade begins and the inevitable happens . Gormless puppets that the establishment uses to project an image of accountability - a cruel deception and tentacles of corruption that span out from all of whitehall .

complaint submitted Jan 2021 and is still unresolved by June 2022. despite evidence of damp prior to me moving to the property and 7 years of me reporting it ombudsman dismissed that part of my case. cannot adhere to their timescales and are utterly utterly useless. should be disbanded as not fit for purpose and do nothing to help people.

Unbelievably ineffective and useless service which allows and perpetuates terrible standards in social housing. I contacted the Housing Ombudsman because my housing association (Places for People) was refusing to deal with or investigate a complaint.

Basically, raw sewerage backed up into residents domestic/drinking water supplies after my housing association carried out work on the mains supply.

Instead of forcing my landlord to deal with the complaint and compensate their tenants, I got a voicemail from the Housing Ombudsman claiming that there was no merit in progressing this complaint and they were closing my case - without even talking to me!

Essentially, they just allow landlords to completely ignore complaints and provide tenants with no assistance or redress, which is supposed to be their function in the first instance. Why do they even exist as an Ombudsman?

I'm going to approach a solicitor, local press and a renter's union instead.

I've an experience that will tell you all you need to know about this disgraceful organisation.

I made a complaint about my housing association, and the HO's response was completely inadequate: basically, it said my housing association had done nothing wrong. Suspecting collusion between them, I made a Subject Access Request to see what had passed between them. I was told that there was one telephone call made between a HO caseworker and a housing officer but that 'they couldn't find the recording'. I persisted, they finally 'found' the recording, but they wouldn't let me have a copy of it, just a transcript.

When I got the transcript, it was heavily redacted. They are required to redact names and anything that could identify someone, but these redactions went way beyond that - some pages were mostly blacked out.

I figured out a way to get around the redactions and what I saw shocked me. Those redactions were there to cover up (1) the caseworker openly colluding with the housing officer and (2) the caseworker making highly unprofessional remarks about me. A few examples of remarks that were blacked out:

1) The caseworker described my complaint as a 'real tale of woe'.

2) Her describing my allegations as 'inflammatory' which probably means she thought I was lying, even though she could have had no reason to.

3) Her saying that if I mounted an appeal about the Ombudsman's decision, they would, in her words, 'bat it away'.

4) Her saying to the housing officer, "You know, we get these people (meaning me). You get them, we get them..." Basically saying that I was one of those people addicted to making vexatious complaints.

5) Just before ending the call, the caseworker, referring to me, saying, "Oh, he's a pleasure, but we'll see what we can do with him".

No wonder these remarks were redacted.

I sent the Ombudsman my own version of the transcript, with the redacted passages highlighted, and an explanation of just how this caseworker's conduct was unprofessional. I got a reply from the Ombudsman himself: he said she'd done nothing wrong.

And one last thing that you're probably not going to believe: he actually asked me how I'd got around the redaction, and told me he wanted to know this to prevent anyone else doing it in the future.

Is the Housing Ombudsman Service corrupt? I think you can guess what my answer is.