Southwark 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's most recent landlord report for Southwark covers cases it decided — the Ombudsman calls these "determinations" — between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026. It decided 135 cases. Of the 280 findings counted towards the rate, 211 were maladministration — a rate of 75%, above the national rate of 62%.^[1] Six findings were severe maladministration. Across the year the Ombudsman made 445 orders — the directions it issues to put things right — issued 2 complaint handling failure orders, and recorded £97,743 in compensation.^[1]

Where the failings clustered. The two categories with the most findings were the Ombudsman's "managing relations" category — largely complaint handling, the single biggest sub-category at 113 findings — and responsive repairs, with 110. Southwark's maladministration rate was 73% in the first and 77% in the second, against national rates of 57% and 72%.^[1] Within repairs, condensation, damp and mould (30 findings) and leaks (28) were the largest problems. In anti-social behaviour cases the rate was 93%, across 14 findings, against 66% nationally.^[1]

An earlier severe case. In May 2023 the Housing Ombudsman published severe maladministration findings against Southwark in two cases. In one, a family lived with a worsening leak that spread across several rooms for eleven months, and with damp and mould for seventeen months; children in the home had eczema and allergies that the conditions made worse. The Ombudsman found severe maladministration and ordered the council to pay £7,541 in compensation.^[4] The Ombudsman, Richard Blakeway, said: "It's inexcusable for young families to live with disrepair for an extended period, especially as the landlord's own records showed it was monitoring the issue."^[4]

What the council has said and done. After the May 2023 findings, the council apologised and said it had set up a dedicated damp and mould team, improved its procedures for empty homes, reviewed its complaint handling with staff training, and streamlined repairs linked to mutual exchanges.^[4] Responding to a further pair of severe maladministration findings that July, the council said: "We take all complaints very seriously and thank the Ombudsman for highlighting these cases in which we have failed our residents."^[5]

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) is the government body that checks social landlords meet required standards for safe, decent homes. Since 2024 the RSH has been inspecting social landlords and giving each a consumer grade from C1 (the strongest) to C4.

Southwark's grade is C3. In its judgement published on 27 November 2024 — its first grading of the council — the regulator graded Southwark Council C3, saying "there are serious failings in the landlord delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards and significant improvement is needed."^[2]

What the regulator found. The judgement set out a series of safety and quality failings. The regulator said the council had "almost 2,000 overdue fire safety remedial actions, of which almost 100 actions were categorised as high risk"; that more than half of its homes did not have an up-to-date electrical safety test carried out in the last five years; and that around 30% of its homes did not meet the Decent Homes Standard — the government's minimum standard for social housing. It also noted that the council's last full survey of the condition of its homes on a representative sample was carried out in 2010, and that its allocations strategy had not been formally approved since 2013.^[2]

How the case reached the regulator. The council had referred itself to the regulator, and in July 2024 the regulator placed Southwark's grading under review before carrying out its inspection.^[6]

What the council has said. The council said it accepts the findings. Its Leader, Councillor Kieron Williams, said: "I want to apologise to tenants who have been let down." The council said it is investing more than £250 million over three years to make its homes safe and decent — including completing electrical checks and smoke-alarm installations, and commissioning a new borough-wide survey of the condition of its homes.^[7]

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, Southwark 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. Since 27 October 2025, the first phase of Awaab's Law has set legally binding timescales for social landlords, including councils, to investigate and act on emergency hazards and on damp and mould.^[8] A second phase — not yet in force — will extend the rules to a wider range of hazards from 30 November 2026.^[9] The disrepair page sets out what those timescales require.

Repairs and complaints. The council publishes target timescales for emergency, urgent and routine repairs,^[12] and runs a two-stage complaints process where work is not done^[13] — both are set out on the disrepair page.