Southampton 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, or "service failure" for a lesser one.

The 2025/26 performance report. The Ombudsman decided 8 Southampton cases in 2025/26, not counting cases outside its jurisdiction or withdrawn.^[4] Its rate counts service failure as well as maladministration: 18 of the 20 findings it counted — 2 severe maladministration, 11 maladministration and 5 service failure — a rate of 90%.^[4] That compares with a national rate of 62% and 70% for landlords of a similar size and type.^[4] With 8 cases, a single decision moves the rate a long way.

What the findings were about. Managing relations was the largest category, with 8 findings and a 75% rate. Responsive repairs followed, with 6 findings and a 100% rate, against 72% nationally.^[4]

Orders and compensation. The Ombudsman made 33 orders, all complied with within three months, and its report's headline compensation figure is £5,525.^[4]

The trend. The Ombudsman's figures put the council's rate at 76% in 2023/24 and 88% in 2024/25, on 8 decided cases each year.^[4] Since October 2025 it has examined complaint handling in every case, which it says affects how this year's rates compare with earlier years.^[7]

A ceiling leak and an asbestos test. In April 2025 the Ombudsman found severe maladministration twice in one case — the 2 severe findings in its 2025/26 figures.^[8] A leak from the flat above damaged a secure tenant's living room ceiling in September 2021. The tenant, who has a lung condition, was worried the ceiling contained asbestos. The Ombudsman found the council tested it more than two months after the leak, once an elected representative was involved. The test was negative.^[8] In its complaint response the council apologised for the delays and offered £150. The Ombudsman ordered £1,300 in total, including that £150, and an updated asbestos survey of the home.^[8]

What tenants say. In the council's own 2025/26 survey, 71.2% of tenants surveyed were satisfied with its overall service.^[5] 28.9% of tenants who had complained were satisfied with how their complaint was handled.^[5] In the council's 2025-26 housing complaints report, its cabinet member for housing wrote that complaint handling was "not good enough yet", and set answering complaints faster as a priority.^[9]

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 larger landlords and giving each a consumer grade from C1 (the strongest) to C4.

Southampton's grade is C3. In a judgement published on 27 November 2024, after a planned inspection, the regulator graded the council C3.^[1] It said: "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.^[1]

“Our judgement is that there are serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed.”^[1]

Regulator of Social Housing, Southampton City Council (00MS) Regulatory Judgement: 27 November 2024 (27 November 2024)

What the judgement found. The regulator's concerns were about two standards: Safety and Quality, and Transparency, Influence and Accountability. It recorded that:^[1]

• 47% of the council's homes did not meet the Decent Homes Standard, and earlier stock surveys had not assessed health and safety hazards in its homes
• the repairs service was not effective, with poor performance on routine repairs, long times to re-let empty homes and long call waiting times
• communal asbestos re-inspections were overdue
• there was little evidence that tenants' views shaped decisions, and complaints were not handled promptly.^[1]

The regulator also found the council dealt effectively with anti-social behaviour and hate incidents, and was meeting the Tenancy Standard.^[1] It said the council had been engaging constructively and had a housing improvement plan, and that it was not proposing to use its enforcement powers at that stage but would keep that under review.^[1]

The council's later figures. For 2025/26 the council reported that 31.8% of its homes did not meet the Decent Homes Standard.^[5] It reported 99.9% of homes with all required gas safety checks, and 100% for asbestos safety checks.^[5] It says it plans to spend over £78 million on improvements to its homes and estates in 2026-27.^[6] 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 Southampton 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, Southampton 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, including councils, to investigate hazards such as damp and mould and make homes safe — the disrepair page sets them out.^[12]

Southampton's own published repair timescales. The council sorts most repairs into emergency, urgent, prioritised standard and standard jobs, and publishes target times for each — the disrepair page lists them.^[15]

Where to report and complain. The disrepair page gives the council's repairs routes and its two-stage complaints process.^[16]