Haringey 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 July 2023 special report. In July 2023 the Housing Ombudsman published a special report on the London Borough of Haringey, prompted by concerns about the council's handling of leaks, damp and mould. It covered 32 cases determined in the first five months of 2023, which produced 77 findings and a maladministration rate of 82%; 18 findings were severe maladministration. The Ombudsman found a "culture of apathy" underpinning the issues at the council, and ordered it to apologise to 19 residents and pay more than £50,000 in compensation.^[6]

“Our investigation found that at the heart of service failure within the London Borough of Haringey is a culture of apathy and an acceptance of poor practice. We are conscious we have only seen a sample of staff behaviour and that is not necessarily reflective of the approach of all. The landlord is understandably quick to point out that it has many hard-working and dedicated staff.”^[6]

Housing Ombudsman Service, Housing Ombudsman Special Report on London Borough of Haringey (4 July 2023)

In one case, a resident reported damp and mould in the home she shared with her young daughter and elderly mother. The Ombudsman found severe maladministration and increased the compensation the council had offered.^[6]

“We ordered it to increase its compensation offer from £226 to £1,832.”^[6]

Housing Ombudsman Service, Housing Ombudsman Special Report on London Borough of Haringey (4 July 2023, 202210902)

The 2024-25 performance report. In its most recent landlord performance report, for 2024-25, the Ombudsman made 147 findings about Haringey; 25 were severe maladministration (17%, against 5% nationally), including 11 for leaks, damp and mould. It also made 6 complaint handling failure orders and recorded £97,943 in compensation across the year.^[1]

A June 2026 report. The Ombudsman also named Haringey in its June 2026 report on severe maladministration involving roof leaks, in a case where the Ombudsman said it was unclear whether the council had assessed the risk to a household whose children had asthma, or considered temporary measures such as rehousing.^[8]

What the council has said and done. When the special report was published, Council Leader Peray Ahmet and Chief Executive Andy Donald said in a joint statement: "We fully recognise that residents in Haringey deserve the best possible housing services and after bringing our Almo in-house last summer, it became clear that we were not managing or maintaining our homes as well as we should have been." The council said it invested almost £5 million in its services and £2.7 million more in repairs;^[9] it adopted a "zero tolerance" damp and mould policy in April 2023;^[11] and in June 2025 announced almost £600 million over ten years for its homes.^[13]

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) is the government body that checks social landlords meet required standards for safe, decent homes.

The 2023 breach notice. On 6 March 2023, the RSH published a regulatory notice finding that Haringey Council had breached its Home Standard, with the potential for serious detriment to tenants.^[2] The regulator said the council:

• had failed to complete a significant number of remedial fire safety actions, including 4,000 that were high risk
• did not have up-to-date electrical safety reports for thousands of homes
• had over 100 homes with serious "category one" hazards — the most severe category of housing hazard
• had nearly 5,000 homes that did not meet the Decent Homes Standard, the government's minimum standard for social housing.^[2]

The notice followed the council referring itself to the regulator.^[2]

The notice was withdrawn in December 2025. On 17 December 2025 the regulator withdrew that notice, recording that the issues giving rise to the regulatory notices "have now been resolved". The council said the work behind this included thousands of fire and electrical safety fixes and bringing 1,000 homes back to Decent Homes standards. Cllr Sarah Williams, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Housing and Planning, said: "When we took our housing service back in-house in 2022, we were determined to transform it… We are turning things round and giving our residents the high level of assurance they deserve."^[2]

No inspection grade yet. Since 2024 the RSH has been inspecting social landlords and giving each a consumer grade from C1 (the strongest) to C4. The regulator has not yet published an inspection grading for Haringey Council — Haringey's case ran under the earlier regulatory-notice process.^[3]

Where the homes stand now. The council's own published figures for 2025-26 report that 15.9% of its homes did not meet the Decent Homes Standard at the year end.^[5]

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

Repairs. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, Haringey 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.^[15]

Haringey's own published repair timescales. The council sorts repairs by priority and publishes target times — the disrepair page lists them.^[18]

Where to report and complain. Report a repair through the council's repairs pages on haringey.gov.uk, and make a housing complaint through its feedback and complaints process.^[18][19]