Housing Ombudsman publishes new special investigations process to help landlords detect and fix problems early 

We have published our revised special investigation process. This aims to allow landlords to resolve issues earlier without the need for a full investigation. 

It allows us to intervene when we see a landlord performing less well than others on a series of key metrics.  

The new process is designed to improve landlord accountability for delivering better services, helping to prevent complaints. It uses a tiered approach that encourages landlords to detect and fix problems early. Each tier in the process brings a higher level of scrutiny. 

Landlords will be asked at Tier 1 to provide us with a response plan of how they are resolving the issues we see in our casework. 

At Tier 2 we follow up with landlords if there is a continued lack of improvement, or if their performance based on our casework gets worse, despite having previously undergone Tier 1 engagement. 

Tier 3 is our full investigation where we will identify the root causes for landlord's poor performance. We will make recommendations for improvement through a full report. 

We maintain contact with the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) during this process, following our Memorandum of Understanding. We also share information with other stakeholders when appropriate, such as the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman and the Building Safety Regulator. 

You can read the full process, including how we escalate between tiers, on our special investigations page. 

We have been trialing this new model with several landlords. The open Tier 1 investigations we have currently are: 

• A2Dominion 

• Amplius 

• Hexagon Housing Association 

• London Borough of Redbridge 

• London Borough of Wandsworth 

• Norwich City Council 

• Soho Housing 

We have closed several investigations in recent months following a Tier 1 intervention. For these landlords, we will continue to monitor performance to make sure we see improvements. They are: 

• London Borough of Ealing 

• London Borough of Waltham Forest 

• Notting Hill Genesis 

• Richmond Housing Partnership 

• Wandle