Incommunities

The Housing Ombudsman investigates complaints about social landlords. It records failings as "service failure", "maladministration" or — the most serious — "severe maladministration", and its maladministration rate counts all three. These figures are for Incommunities Limited.^[1]

The 2025-26 performance report. The Ombudsman's report covers 23 Incommunities cases decided between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026, excluding those outside its jurisdiction or withdrawn. It recorded a maladministration rate of 45.3% — 24 of 53 findings counted — below both the national rate of 62% and the 52% for landlords of a similar size and type.^[3] Of those 24 findings, 14 were service failure and 10 maladministration; none was severe maladministration.^[3]

“The number of 'Mal' findings recorded for Incommunities Limited is 24, which gives the Maladministration rate of 45.3% (24 / 53).”^[3]

Housing Ombudsman Service, Landlord Performance Report 2025/2026 – Incommunities Limited (15 September 2026)

Where the findings fell. By category, responsive repairs drew the most findings, 18, with a maladministration rate of 67% against 72% nationally. By sub-category, complaint handling was the most common, followed by condensation, damp and mould, and other responsive repairs.^[3]

Orders and compensation. The Ombudsman made 41 orders and 19 recommendations, and recorded £5,850 in compensation, ordered and recommended combined. All 41 orders due in the year were met within three months.^[3]

Case volume. The Ombudsman received 4.0 cases per 1,000 Incommunities homes, against a median of 5.4 for landlords of a similar size and type.^[3]

Earlier years. The report puts Incommunities' rate at 57% in 2023-24 and 60% in 2024-25, across 21 and 22 decided cases. The Ombudsman restated the 2023-24 case count to exclude cases outside its jurisdiction or withdrawn, so it may not match the report first published.^[3]

In individual cases. In a decision dated 30 July 2025, the Ombudsman found maladministration in how Incommunities handled a resident's reports of damp and mould. Some works a surveyor recommended in January 2023 did not start until March 2024, and it ordered £500 on top of the £75 Incommunities had offered.^[5] In a December 2025 anti-social behaviour case, it found Incommunities had already offered reasonable redress.^[6] Earlier, in a February 2024 decision, it ordered £1,600 and a senior review of Incommunities' repairs service and its oversight of contractors.^[7]

What Incommunities says. Its own 2025-26 complaints report shows Stage 1 complaints falling from 2,918 to 2,546 on the year, and complaints about damp and mould from 215 to 145. It says it has strengthened its damp and mould risk assessments.^[8]

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) grades social landlords for consumer standards — the homes and services tenants get — from C1 (the strongest) to C4, and for governance (G1 to G4) and financial viability (V1 to V4).

Incommunities' consumer grade is C2. In a judgement published on 15 April 2026 — the first time it had graded Incommunities against the consumer standards — the regulator graded it C2: "Our judgement is that there are some weaknesses in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and improvement is needed."^[1] The weaknesses were under two standards: Neighbourhood and Community, and Safety and Quality.^[1] Grades are reviewed from time to time and may change.

Safety and Quality: repairs. The regulator found faster emergency and routine repairs. But it said the board needs reporting that gives it enough assurance on repair quality, given how many tenant complaints are about repairs.^[1]

Neighbourhood and Community: anti-social behaviour. The regulator found Incommunities works with local partners to tackle anti-social behaviour and hate crime. But it found the board gets too little information on whether prompt and appropriate action is being taken.^[1]

Where it gave assurance. The regulator found appropriate health and safety measures, and processes to manage damp and mould and meet the legal timescales for significant and emergency hazards.^[1] It found Incommunities meets the Tenancy Standard and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard, with a fair, prompt and timely complaints service.^[1]

Governance and viability. The regulator graded Incommunities G1 for governance and V2 for viability: it meets the requirements but has less capacity to respond to adverse events while it invests in existing homes and builds new ones.^[1]

What Incommunities says. On its website, Incommunities says its consumer grading shows "strong performance across all standards", including keeping people safe, listening to customers and delivering effective services.^[9]

Regulatory notices. In July 2022 the regulator published a regulatory notice — a formal finding of a breach — after Incommunities referred itself. It found Incommunities had set rents wrongly and overcharged tenants, breaching the Rent Standard, and said affected tenants would be repaid.^[10] The regulator's page for Incommunities now lists only its current judgement, and no regulatory notice.^[2]

A housing association's repair duties are just as strong as a council's — and they do not depend on its grade or its record.

Repairs. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, Incommunities 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 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, housing associations included, to investigate hazards such as damp and mould and make homes safe — the disrepair page sets them out.^[11]

Incommunities' own repair timescales. Incommunities sorts repairs into emergency, urgent, routine and major priorities, each with a published target time, which the disrepair page lists.^[14]

Safety and complaints. Incommunities must also meet its gas, electrical and fire-safety duties, and handle complaints under the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code.

Where to report and complain. Report a repair by phone, by email or through Incommunities' customer portal, and make a complaint through its two-stage process at incommunities.co.uk.^[15][18]