Hammersmith and Fulham 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.

A 2024 special report on repairs. In February 2024 the Ombudsman published a special report into Hammersmith and Fulham Council, after determining 33 of its cases and making 85 findings — an 88% maladministration rate — with 138 orders to put things right.^[4] It found systemic failings in the council's handling of repairs and of complaints, including missed repair timescales, poor record-keeping and delays in escalating complaints.^[4]

What the council said it did. The council told the Ombudsman it was "truly sorry", set up a Chief Executive-led taskforce, and began a £729m programme to modernise its ageing stock.^[4] It said it had cut the number of outstanding repairs by nearly 30% over nine months, with a 90% fall in repairs outstanding for more than 12 weeks, and set up a Housing Hub in June 2023 to improve complaint handling.^[4]

The 2024-25 performance report. The Ombudsman's most recent landlord report covers the 58 cases it decided in 2024-25, which produced 123 findings; it upheld 75 as maladministration, 5 of them severe.^[3] Property condition and complaints handling were the largest failure areas, with responsive repairs the most common specific problem; the council's maladministration rate on property condition, 64%, ran below the national figure.^[3] Across the year the Ombudsman made 165 orders and 53 recommendations, issued no complaint handling failure orders, and recorded £58,495 in compensation.^[3]

The direction of travel. On the Ombudsman's own restated figures the council's maladministration rate has fallen — from 84% across 40 cases in 2022-23, to 84% across 57 cases in 2023-24, to 68% across 58 cases in 2024-25, now below the national rate of 71%.^[3]

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 C1 grade — the strongest. The regulator graded Hammersmith and Fulham Council C1 on 13 May 2026, in its first grading, meaning it found the council delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and no breach of any of them.^[1] As a council, it carries a consumer grade only — the governance and viability grades apply to housing associations, not local authorities.^[1]

What the regulator recorded. The judgement set out that the council reports 99% of its homes meet the Decent Homes Standard, with plans to address the rest, and that it had a clear plan to complete all its stock-condition surveys by June 2026.^[1] It found the council complies with health and safety requirements, and that councillors and tenants have oversight of health and safety performance.^[1]

What a grade means for your home. A consumer grade is about the council's services and its 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 — and the Ombudsman was still upholding repairs complaints against the council in its most recent report.^[3]

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

Repairs. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, Hammersmith and Fulham 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.^[6]

Where to report and complain. The council runs a repairs line and a two-stage housing complaints process — the disrepair page sets out how to report a repair and how to complain.^[9][10]