Bristol City Council

The Housing Ombudsman 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 2024-25 performance report. The Ombudsman's landlord report for Bristol covers the 19 cases it decided between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025 (excluding those outside its jurisdiction), which produced 57 findings.^[3] Of the 50 findings it counted towards its maladministration rate, it upheld 39 — a rate of 78%, above the national rate of 71% but below the 80% for landlords of a similar size and type.^[3] Two of the findings were severe maladministration, the most serious category.^[3]

What the findings were. The condition of people's homes was the largest area of complaint, with maladministration found in 85% of the 20 property-condition findings — above the national rate of 73% for that category.^[3] The most common individual issues were responsive repairs and damp, mould and leaks.^[3] Complaint handling was upheld in all 12 of its findings, and anti-social behaviour in 50% of 8.^[3]

Orders, compensation and compliance. Across the year the Ombudsman made 81 orders and 13 recommendations, issued no complaint handling failure orders, and recorded £9,160 in compensation.^[3] Every one of the 81 orders with a target date that year — 100% — was complied with within three months.^[3]

How the picture has moved. On the Ombudsman's own restated figures, Bristol's maladministration rate was 53% in 2022-23 and 60% in 2023-24, so this year's rate is a rise on both earlier years.^[3] The regulator's separate view of the council's homes is in the next section.

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 inspecting social landlords and giving each a consumer grade from C1 (the strongest) to C4.

A grade of C3. On 9 July 2024 the RSH published a regulatory judgement giving Bristol City Council a consumer standards grade of C3 — meaning serious failings were found in delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed.^[1] The judgement was against the Safety and Quality Standard, and covers the council's roughly 26,700 social housing properties, including 62 high-rise buildings — a wider count than the 26,226 homes the Housing Ombudsman records.^[1]

What the regulator found. The RSH said Bristol had more than 1,900 open damp and mould cases, more than 200 of them over 12 months overdue, and more than 16,000 outstanding repairs, around half of which were overdue by more than a year.^[1] It also found that over 80% of the council's stock-condition surveys were more than five years old, that the council could not evidence a current electrical safety certificate for over 50% of its homes, and that it could not evidence meeting smoke and carbon monoxide alarm requirements for more than 85% of them.^[1]

What the council has said and done. Bristol referred itself to the regulator in April 2024 after an external review, and the judgement records that the council is delivering a detailed improvement plan — including new compliance reporting and a new programme board with senior oversight — and is engaging constructively with the regulator, which expects intensive engagement while the work continues.^[1]

What the grade means for your home. A C3 grade is about standards across the council's stock as a whole, not the state of any one home. It does not decide anything about disrepair in an individual home: if yours has damp, mould, a leak or an unfixed repair, your rights are separate and still apply.^[1]

Whatever a landlord's track record, its legal duties are the same.

Repairs. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, Bristol City Council must keep the structure and exterior of your home in repair — the roof, walls, windows and doors — and 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 (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, including councils, to investigate hazards such as damp and mould and make homes safe — the disrepair page sets them out.^[4]

Safety certificates. The council must keep gas and electrical installations safe and certified, and fit and maintain working smoke and carbon monoxide alarms — the very areas the regulator found it could not fully evidence.

Where to report and complain. Report a repair through the council's repairs line, and make a housing complaint through its two-stage complaints process.^[7][8]