Hackney 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 2024-25 performance report. The Ombudsman decided 55 Hackney cases in 2024-25, producing 118 findings it counted.^[6] Of those, 88 were maladministration — a rate of 75%, against a national rate of 71% (and 80% for landlords of a similar size and type).^[6] That figure covers the full range of upheld findings: 7 severe maladministration, 49 maladministration and 32 service failure.^[6] Repairs to leaks, damp and mould was the largest single failure sub-category, with 32 findings.^[6] Across the year the Ombudsman made 182 orders and recorded £50,448 in compensation (ordered and recommended).^[6]

The May 2025 special investigation. In May 2025 the Ombudsman published a special investigation into Hackney — a deeper investigation carried out where casework suggests wider problems. It investigated 56 cases decided between October 2023 and June 2024, including 14 findings of severe maladministration.^[7] On repairs, the report said: "A significant driver for complaints is repairs, with 46% of our maladministration findings related to property condition. A significant cause of this is the landlord's repairs backlog, with residents waiting for repairs for over 3 years in some cases."^[7]

“A significant driver for complaints is repairs, with 46% of our maladministration findings related to property condition. A significant cause of this is the landlord's repairs backlog, with residents waiting for repairs for over 3 years in some cases.”^[7]

— Housing Ombudsman Service, Housing Ombudsman Special Report on Hackney Council (22 May 2025)

The cyber-attack and the council's records. The special report also records that Hackney suffered a cyber-attack in October 2020, and had still not fully recovered its data at the time of the investigation.^[7] The Ombudsman found record-keeping issues in 76% of the cases it reviewed — though staff told it many of the data and system problems pre-dated the attack.^[7]

What the council has said and done. In a statement printed in the Ombudsman's report, Cllr Guy Nicholson, Deputy Mayor and Cabinet member for Housing Management and Regeneration, said (in part): "The Council acknowledges the Housing Ombudsman's assessment that tenants have not received the service they should be receiving from the Council. On behalf of the Council I apologise for this shortfall".^[7] The council also said it would invest £48m in improving and maintaining its housing stock over the year from April 2025, with commitments including a complaints-handling review and reducing its repairs backlog — those figures and plans are the council's own.^[10]

Repairs satisfaction. In Hackney's 2024/25 tenant satisfaction survey, 63.1% of tenants said they were satisfied with the repairs service.^[4]

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

Hackney's grade is C3. In a judgement published on 9 August 2024, the regulator graded Hackney 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] The judgement did not follow a routine inspection: the council referred itself to the regulator in June 2024, after an external review of its landlord services gave those services an overall rating of no assurance.^[1]

What the judgement found. At the time of the judgement, the regulator found Hackney failing to meet a number of legal health and safety requirements:^[1]

• over 400 homes without a gas safety inspection within the statutory timeframe
• over 15,000 homes without a current electrical safety certificate — around 7,000 never inspected
• more than 1,400 open damp and mould cases reported by the council, over 600 identified as severe
• almost 1,800 overdue repair orders dating back to October 2023.^[1]

Hackney's last full stock condition survey was in 2018-19, and later survey data was lost in the 2020 cyber-attack — so the regulator also said it could not be assured the council is providing homes of decent quality.^[1] It said it was not proposing to use its enforcement powers at this stage but would keep that under review.^[1]

Those figures are as at August 2024. In its 2024/25 return in the regulator's official statistics, Hackney reported 99.8% of homes with a completed gas safety check and 100% with a fire risk assessment.^[4]

No regulatory notice in force. As at the date this page was last checked, the Regulator of Social Housing has no regulatory notice — a formal published finding of a breach — in force against Hackney.^[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, Hackney 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]

Hackney's own published repair timescales. The council sorts repairs by priority and publishes target times — the disrepair page lists them.^[14]

Where to report and complain. Report a repair through the council's repairs page at hackney.gov.uk/repairs, and complain through the council's complaints process at hackney.gov.uk/complaints.^[7][14]