Brighton & Hove City Council

The Housing Ombudsman is the independent body that investigates complaints about social landlords. When it finds a landlord got things wrong, it makes a finding of "maladministration" — or "severe maladministration" for the most serious failings.

The 2025/26 performance report. The Ombudsman decided 17 Brighton & Hove cases in 2025/26 (not counting cases outside its jurisdiction or withdrawn), producing 37 findings.^[4] It upheld 21 of them — a maladministration rate of 56.8%. The rate counts severe maladministration, maladministration and service failure together; 1 upheld finding was severe maladministration.^[4]

The rate has fallen from 83% in 2023/24 and 84% in 2024/25, on 9 and 16 decided cases.^[4] It is below the national rate of 62%, and below the 70% rate for landlords of a similar size and type.^[4]

Managing relations was the largest category, with 16 findings, 63% upheld (national 57%). Responsive repairs followed with 9 findings, 67% upheld (national 72%).^[4] Across the year the Ombudsman made 36 orders, and ordered or recommended £6,394 in compensation.^[4]

A severe finding over anti-social behaviour. In November 2025 the Ombudsman found severe maladministration in the council's handling of a tenant's reports of anti-social behaviour from a neighbour. The tenant reported "at least 60 separate incidents" between June 2022 and September 2023, when her flat was destroyed in an arson attack that the Ombudsman said was intended for the neighbour. In its complaint response the council accepted it had failed to deal with the neighbour within an adequate timeframe. The Ombudsman ordered an apology from the council's chief executive and £3,094 in compensation, including £1,800 the council had already offered.^[6]

An earlier damp case. In June 2023 the Ombudsman found severe maladministration in the council's response to a disabled tenant's reports of damp and mould. The works a specialist report had recommended in March 2021 had not been done, and the council was ordered to pay £1,750.^[7]

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) is the government body that checks social landlords meet required standards for safe, decent homes. Since 2024 it has been giving larger landlords a consumer grade from C1 (the strongest) to C4, after an inspection or after looking into concerns raised with it.

Brighton & Hove's grade is C3. In a judgement published on 9 August 2024, the regulator graded the council C3: "Our judgement is that there are serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed."^[1] It was the first consumer grade the regulator had given the council. It began looking at the council in October 2023, after media coverage suggested a backlog of repairs.^[1]

What the judgement found. The regulator's concerns were about the Safety and Quality Standard. It recorded that:^[1]

• around 3,600 homes had no current electrical condition report, and over 600 communal areas had no evidence of a current electrical safety certificate
• the council could not show it met the legal requirements on smoke alarms in all its homes
• more than 600 properties needed a water risk assessment that had not been done
• over 1,700 medium and low-risk fire safety actions were outstanding, most overdue by at least 2 years
• there was a backlog of around 8,000 low-priority repairs, some dating back to 2021.^[1]

The regulator said it was not proposing to use its enforcement powers at that stage, but would keep that under review.^[1]

The council's response. In September 2024 the council said it fully accepted the findings and apologised to residents, and described more than £15 million of investment in improvements.^[8] In December 2025 it reported that 93% of homes had been inspected within a compliant electrical testing programme. It said routine repairs open for more than 28 days had fallen from 9,653 in June 2024 to 2,479 in October 2025. It added that it was "not yet where we need to be on water safety".^[5] These are the council's own figures.

No regulatory notice in force. As at the date this page was last checked, the regulator has no regulatory notice — a formal published finding of a breach — in force against Brighton & Hove City Council, and the council is not on its list of gradings under review.^[2] Grades are reviewed from time to time and may change.

Whatever a landlord's track record, its legal duties are the same — and they are strong.

Repairs. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, Brighton & Hove City Council 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 council tenancy and cannot be signed away in a tenancy agreement.

Fitness for human habitation. Under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018, 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 to investigate hazards such as damp and mould and make homes safe — the disrepair page sets them out.^[11]

Brighton & Hove's own published repair timescales. The council sorts repairs into emergency, routine and complex jobs and publishes target times — the disrepair page lists them.^[14]

Where to report and complain. The disrepair page gives the council's repairs helpdesk and its complaints route.^[15]