The Secretary of State for the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Mr Gove MP, has now named and shamed 14 social landlords (at the time of writing) for a variety of service failures.
In an article posted on the Government website dated 28 December 2022, which describes a letter penned by Mr Gove, he urged lawyers to direct tenants to the Housing Ombudsman to save tenants time and money. He further remarked that the Ombudsman should be the first port of call for reporting complaints about their landlord (presumably after the internal complaints process has been exhausted).
He also noted that it was unacceptable that landlords let legal proceedings get in the way of repairs. This would appear to be a thinly veiled remark to the policy of Rochdale Borough Housing not to undertake repairs once a legal claim had been initiated unless it had been agreed with the tenant’s solicitors.
Mr Gove sought to remind tenants (and lawyers) that the Ombudsman is free to use and complaints can be made directly without a lawyer. He went on to say that “I’m urging everyone offering advice, from solicitors to voluntary organisations, to always direct social housing tenants with complaints to the Housing Ombudsman”.
The Birketts view
Many social landlords would, we are sure, be more than happy for complaints to be made via the internal procedure and then via the Ombudsman rather than through third party solicitors. Indeed we expect many landlords already explain the benefits of the complaints process and the Ombudsman as a free to use measure of resolving disputes quickly and efficiently without the involvement of costly third party lawyers. However, it is anticipated that third party solicitors will be much more reluctant to encourage their clients to use the Ombudsman service, as it stops the lawyers from making money. Therefore, whilst the Government seems to be relying on the good conscious of the claimant lawyers to do this, it may require an amendment to the Pre-Action Protocol, or the Courts penalising the Claimant Lawyers in costs for not advising the tenants to try this route first, before we see it being widely used.
If you would like more information on the contents of this article, please contact Clive Adams, or a member of the Social Housing Team.
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Birketts have a specialist team of Housing Management lawyers to assist our clients stay ahead. Our expert lawyers can advise on all aspects of housing and asset management from complex ASB claims, Equality Act defences, Building Safety issues, defending disrepair claims/EPA prosecutions, subletting/housing fraud cases, service charge disputes, s.20 consultation issues, applications to vary defective leases, to name but a few of the issues we can assist with. Our experts have decades of experience acting for Registered Providers and Local Authorities and offer a truly ‘one stop shop’ for the issues facing the sector
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The content of this article is for general information only. It is not, and should not be taken as, legal advice. If you require any further information in relation to this article please contact the author in the first instance. Law covered as at January 2023.