believe housing

The Housing Ombudsman is the independent service that investigates complaints about social landlords. When it finds a landlord got things wrong, it records "service failure", "maladministration" or, for the most serious failings, "severe maladministration" — and its maladministration rate counts all three.

The 2025-26 performance report. In 2025-26 the Ombudsman decided 11 cases about believe housing. They produced 26 findings; three fell outside its jurisdiction and are not counted in the rate.^[3] It recorded a maladministration rate of 78.3% — 18 of 23 findings counted — above the national rate of 62% and the 52% for landlords of a similar size and type.^[3] None of the findings was severe maladministration.^[3]

“The number of 'Mal' findings recorded for Believe Housing Limited is 18, which gives the Maladministration rate of 78.3% (18 / 23)”^[3]

Housing Ombudsman Service, Landlord Performance Report 2025/2026 — Believe Housing Limited (15 September 2026)

Where the findings fell. Managing relations — the Ombudsman's category for how a landlord deals with its residents, which includes complaint handling — was the largest, with 10 findings and a maladministration rate of 70%, against 57% nationally. Responsive repairs came next, with 8 findings and a rate of 88%, against 72% nationally. Complaint handling was the most common single issue.^[3]

Orders and compensation. The Ombudsman made 31 orders — 18 of them to pay compensation and 7 to apologise — and 2 recommendations. It recorded £5,479 in compensation, ordered and recommended combined, and made no complaint handling failure orders. The report records that believe housing complied with all 31 orders due in the year within three months.^[3]

What believe housing says. It says it reviews every Ombudsman determination at a director-level learning workshop, and that it had expected its 2025-26 rate to rise. In 2025 it set up a tenants' Customer Complaints Panel to review its complaint handling.^[5]

Against its size. The Ombudsman received 3.8 cases and recorded 1.0 maladministration findings per 1,000 homes; the medians for landlords of a similar size and type were 5.4 and 1.2.^[3]

Earlier years. The rate was 62% across 6 cases in 2023-24 and 56% across 5 in 2024-25. The Ombudsman adjusted the 2023-24 figures to leave out cases outside its jurisdiction or withdrawn.^[3]

What tenants say. In the landlord's own survey for 2025-26, 81.8% of tenants were satisfied with the overall service, and 84.9% of those who had a repair with the repairs service.^[4] Of those who had complained, 36.5% were satisfied with how it handles complaints. The landlord notes that only 23% of the tenants who answered that question had been through its complaints process.^[4]

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) is the government body that checks social landlords meet required standards. It grades landlords in three ways, and on each scale 1 is the strongest:^[1]

“Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.”^[1]

Regulator of Social Housing (GOV.UK), Believe Housing Limited (5071) - Regulatory Judgement: 17 December 2025 (17 December 2025)

• consumer (C1 to C4) — the homes and services tenants receive;
• governance (G1 to G4) — how well the landlord is run;
• viability (V1 to V4) — its finances.

Governance G1, viability V2. In a judgement published on 17 December 2025, after a stability check, the regulator kept both grades unchanged. For governance: "Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements."^[1] For viability, the second-strongest grade: "Our judgement is that the landlord meets our viability requirements. It has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance."^[1]

“Our judgement is that the landlord meets our governance requirements.”^[1]

Regulator of Social Housing (GOV.UK), Believe Housing Limited (5071) - Regulatory Judgement: 17 December 2025 (17 December 2025)

“Our judgement is that the landlord meets our viability requirements. It has the financial capacity to deal with a reasonable range of adverse scenarios but needs to manage material risks to ensure continued compliance.”^[1]

Regulator of Social Housing (GOV.UK), Believe Housing Limited (5071) - Regulatory Judgement: 17 December 2025 (17 December 2025)

Why the viability grade is V2. The regulator said believe housing continues to invest in the quality and safety of its existing homes. It said this, alongside building new homes, reduces the landlord's capacity to respond to adverse financial events.^[1]

No consumer grade yet. A stability check looks at governance and finances only; it does not assess how a landlord delivers the consumer standards. The regulator lists believe housing's consumer grade as not yet assessed — an assessment that has not happened, not a finding either way.^[1] A governance grade measures how the organisation is run, not the state of any home or how repairs and complaints are handled.

No regulatory notice. There is no regulatory notice — a formal published finding of a breach — currently in force against Believe Housing Limited; the regulator's page for it lists only its judgements.^[2]

A housing association's repair duties are just as strong as a council's — and they do not depend on its track record.

Repairs. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, believe housing must keep the structure and exterior of your home in repair — the roof, walls, windows and doors. It must also keep the installations for heating, hot water, gas, electricity, water and sanitation in proper working order. This applies to almost every tenancy and cannot be signed away in a tenancy agreement.

Fitness for human habitation. Under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 (section 9A of the 1985 Act), your home must also be fit to live in — free from serious hazards, including damp and mould that could harm your health.

Awaab's Law. Awaab's Law now sets legally binding timescales for social landlords, housing associations included, to investigate hazards such as damp and mould and make homes safe — the disrepair page sets them out.^[7]

Safety checks. The landlord must carry out the gas and fire safety checks the law requires for its homes. It reports that all required gas safety checks and fire risk assessments were done in 2025-26.^[4]

Complaint handling. It must handle complaints under the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code, through a two-stage process with set response times — the disrepair page explains how to use it.^[6]

Its own repair timescales. The landlord sorts repairs into emergency, appointment and planned repairs, each with a target time, which the disrepair page lists.^[10]

Where to report and complain. Report a repair through the customer portal (opens in new tab) or by phone, and make a complaint through believe housing's complaints page (opens in new tab).^[6][10]