Portsmouth City 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 2025/26 performance report. The Ombudsman decided 5 Portsmouth cases in 2025/26 (not counting cases outside its jurisdiction or withdrawn), producing 10 findings.^[4] It recorded maladministration in 6 of them — a maladministration rate of 60%. The rate counts severe maladministration, maladministration and service failure together; 2 upheld findings were severe maladministration, one about damp and mould and one about anti-social behaviour.^[4]

With so few cases, the rate moves a long way from year to year. The Ombudsman's report records 80% in 2023/24, on 3 decided cases, and 56% in 2024/25, on 8.^[4] The 2025/26 rate is close to the national rate of 62%, and below the 70% rate for landlords of a similar size and type.^[4]

The Ombudsman made 15 orders on the cases it decided that year, and its report records that all 15 orders due during the year were complied with. The report's headline compensation figure, which adds compensation ordered and recommended, is £4,698.^[4]

A recurring leak. In January 2026 the Ombudsman found maladministration in the council's handling of a leak a leaseholder first reported in December 2019. Despite repairs, it recurred every year until it was fixed in April 2023. The Ombudsman said the council had repeatedly failed to inspect after the work, and that its compensation offer did not consider "the cumulative effect of the leak recurring for a 5 year period". It ordered an apology from a senior member of staff and £1,200 in compensation, including £200 the council had already offered.^[7]

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 giving larger landlords a consumer grade from C1 (the strongest) to C4, after an inspection or after looking into concerns raised with it.

Portsmouth's grade is C3. In a judgement published on 29 January 2025, the regulator graded the council C3: "Our judgement is that there are serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed."^[1] It was the first consumer grade the regulator had given the council. It began looking at the council in August 2024, after information in the council's own fire safety survey return, and the council referred itself the following month.^[1]

What the judgement found. The regulator's concerns were about the Safety and Quality Standard. It recorded that:^[1]

• fewer than 40% of homes had had a stock condition survey in the last five years, and nearly 10% had no record at all
• the council had identified over 1,000 outstanding fire safety actions, a small number of them high risk. Later figures showed fewer overdue and high-risk actions, but some high-risk actions had been overdue for 12 months or more
• over 85% of homes had not had an electrical condition test for more than five years
• the way repairs were recorded meant their timeliness could not easily be reported.^[1]

The regulator said the council had "engaged constructively" and "acted transparently" by making a detailed self-referral. It was not proposing to use its enforcement powers at that stage, but would keep that under review.^[1]

The council's response. The council said the grade was "not unexpected" and that it had a work plan in place, including surveying all its homes and putting capital spending into fire safety.^[8] In its April to June 2026 figures it reported that 97.1% of its homes had had an electrical safety check in the last five years, and said damp and mould remained "a key area for improvement".^[5] These are the council's own figures.

No regulatory notice in force. As at the date this page was last checked, the regulator has no regulatory notice — a formal published finding of a breach — in force against Portsmouth City Council, and the council is not on its list of gradings under review.^[2] Grades are reviewed from time to time and may change.

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, Portsmouth City Council must keep the structure and exterior of your home in repair — the roof, walls, windows and doors. It must also 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, 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 to investigate hazards such as damp and mould and make homes safe — the disrepair page sets them out.^[10]

Portsmouth's own published repair timescales. The council sorts repairs into emergency, urgent and routine jobs and publishes target times — the disrepair page lists them.^[13]

Where to report and complain. The disrepair page gives the council's repairs team and its complaints route.^[14]