Newcastle City 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 2024-25 performance report. The Ombudsman's landlord report for Newcastle covers the 6 cases it decided between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025, which produced 15 findings.^[1] Of the 14 findings it counted towards its maladministration rate, it upheld 11 — a rate of 79%, against a national rate of 71% and 80% for landlords of a similar size and type.^[1] Two of the findings were severe maladministration, the most serious category.^[1]

What the findings were. Complaints handling and the condition of people's homes were the largest failure areas: the Ombudsman upheld all 4 of its complaints-handling findings and all 4 of its property-condition findings, and both severe maladministration findings were about property condition.^[1] Delays in responding to or escalating complaints, and general responsive repairs, were the most common specific problems.^[1] Across the year the Ombudsman made 19 orders and 7 recommendations, issued no complaint handling failure orders, and recorded £3,325 in compensation; Newcastle complied with every order that fell due, within three months.^[1]

The direction of travel. On the Ombudsman's own restated figures the council's maladministration rate has risen — from 60% across 3 cases in 2022-23, to 57% across 10 cases in 2023-24, to 79% across 6 cases in 2024-25.^[1] The council reported itself to the regulator three times during 2024 and says it is working through an improvement plan, developing a new stock-condition survey programme and plans to reduce its repairs backlog.^[2]

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 C3 grade — serious failings. The regulator graded Newcastle C3 on 15 January 2025, meaning it found serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and that significant improvement is needed.^[2] It found the council in breach of the Safety and Quality Standard and the Transparency, Influence and Accountability Standard.^[2] As a council, Newcastle carries a consumer grade only — the governance and viability grades apply to housing associations, not local authorities.^[2]

What the regulator recorded. The judgement set out that the council's last stock-condition survey was completed more than 10 years ago, and that it had identified category one hazards — the most serious, under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System — in more than 3,000 of its homes.^[2] It recorded over 1,800 overdue repairs as at November 2024, works outstanding on over 1,000 damp and mould cases, around half of communal areas and a quarter of homes without a current satisfactory electrical condition report, and more than 850 overdue fire-safety remedial actions.^[2]

What the council has done. The engagement followed the council's own self-referrals to the regulator — in January 2024 over its handling of damp and mould, in May 2024 over the quality of its information about its homes and Decent Homes Standard compliance, and in September 2024 over its tenant data.^[2] The council says it is developing a stock-condition survey programme, plans to reduce its repairs backlog, and an improvement plan.^[2]

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.^[2]

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

Repairs. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, Newcastle City 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.^[5]

Newcastle's own repair timescales. The council sorts repairs into priorities and publishes a target time for each — the disrepair page lists them.^[8]

Where to report and complain. Report a repair through the council's repairs line on newcastle.gov.uk, and make a housing complaint through its two-stage complaints process.^[8][9]