Lewisham 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. Across 105 Lewisham cases decided in 2024-25, the Ombudsman counted 248 findings, of which 215 — 86.7%, which the report's front page rounds to 87% — were maladministration, against a national rate of 71% (and 80% for landlords of a similar size and type).^[9] That covers the full range of upheld findings: 31 severe maladministration, 139 maladministration and 45 service failure.^[9] The condition of people's homes was the largest failure area, and every one of the year's 31 severe findings was about it; repairs to leaks, damp and mould were the largest single sub-category, with 68 findings, 17 of them severe.^[9] Across the year the Ombudsman made 483 orders, and its headline compensation figure — ordered and recommended together — was £130,064.^[9]

The October 2025 special investigation. In a special investigation published on 7 October 2025, the Ombudsman examined 28 Lewisham cases decided between July and October 2024, recording a maladministration rate of 92%, nine findings of severe maladministration — six about leaks, damp and mould — and 140 orders.^[1] In one case it found "a mother and her 2 young children, one of which is disabled and asthmatic, was forced to live with leaks, damp and mould for a number of years", having had to order repairs that surveyors had identified three years earlier.^[1] Its conclusions opened: "The landlord is on a long road towards improvement."^[1]

“In case 202335783, a mother and her 2 young children, one of which is disabled and asthmatic, was forced to live with leaks, damp and mould for a number of years. The landlord sent 3 separate surveyors to the property to assess the extent of the issues but each time the landlord failed to carry out the recommended repairs and was unable to provide evidence of previous surveyors or its record of the household vulnerabilities. … We had to order the landlord to carry out the repairs that had been identified at the property 3 years prior. By leaving the work outstanding, the resident was then forced to live with an avoidable hazard of potential structural collapse of the ceiling and damp and mould.”^[1]

Housing Ombudsman Service, Housing Ombudsman Special Report on Lewisham Council (7 October 2025, 202335783)

“The landlord is on a long road towards improvement. … The landlord has work to do in dealing with hazards and being prepared to meet its legal obligations under Awaab's Law. Currently, the landlord does not appear sufficiently prepared for the change and with only a few months until Awaab's Law comes into force, the landlord needs to assess its current plans and priorities to be ready for the October 2025 start.”^[1]

Housing Ombudsman Service, Housing Ombudsman Special Report on Lewisham Council (Conclusions) (7 October 2025)

What the council has said and done. In its published statement, the council acknowledged "the significant impact that failures in our housing services have had on residents", and said it has reduced open damp and mould cases and improved its stock-condition data through a survey of over 80% of the homes it manages, with a major focus on meeting the new Awaab's Law requirements — the council's own account.^[1]

What tenants say. In the 2024/25 tenant satisfaction measures, 50.8% of Lewisham tenants were satisfied with the overall service, 57.9% with the repairs service and 26.4% with how the council handles complaints; the same return recorded 17.4% of homes not meeting the Decent Homes Standard.^[8]

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.

A self-referral, then a regulatory notice. In December 2023, shortly after bringing its housing service back in-house, Lewisham reported itself to the regulator, saying it had found failures to meet statutory health and safety requirements in some homes.^[4] In a regulatory notice published on 26 March 2024, the regulator concluded that Lewisham was not meeting the required outcomes of its Home Standard — the standard covering the quality and safety of tenants' homes — and that there was the potential for serious detriment to tenants.^[4]

What the notice found. Behind that conclusion sat more than 5,000 overdue fire safety remedial actions (over 200 of them high-risk), over 18,000 work-in-progress repairs with fewer than 55% completed on time between April and December 2023, 17% of homes not meeting the Decent Homes Standard on incomplete data, and damp and mould cases recorded without the standard hazard-rating system being used to assess how serious they were.^[4] Kate Dodsworth, the regulator's Chief of Regulatory Engagement, said all social landlords must provide good-quality homes and services underpinned by robust data, and that Lewisham had failed to do this.^[4] The regulator said it would not take statutory action at that stage, as it had assurance the issues were being remedied.^[4]

No consumer grade — and the notice still stands. The regulator has not published a consumer grade for Lewisham: as at the date this page was last checked, the March 2024 notice remains in force and is its only published finding on the council.^[5] Regulatory notices are reviewed from time to time and may be withdrawn or superseded.

What the council has said and done. The council has published its own account of the work since: a Housing Transformation Programme launched in November 2023 covering repairs, complaints, temporary accommodation and IT, monthly progress reports to the regulator, and a commitment of around £320 million over five years to home improvements — the council's own figures.^[4]

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, Lewisham 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.^[13]

Lewisham's own published repair timescales. The council's repairs policy sorts repairs by priority and publishes target times, and makes its own commitments on serious hazards — the disrepair page lists them.^[16]

Where to report and complain. Report a repair through the council's housing repairs service — online through its housing portal or on a freephone line — and complain through its two-stage housing complaints process. The disrepair page carries the contact routes and the complaint stages.^[4][18]

Some Lewisham homes are managed day-to-day by other organisations — homes in the Brockley and Ladywell areas under a private finance initiative (PFI) contract, and a smaller number run by tenant management organisations — which run their own repair schemes. Where the council owns the home it remains your landlord, and the legal duties above still apply.^[8]