Thurrock 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 12 Thurrock cases in 2025/26.^[1] Its rate counts service failure as well as maladministration: 20 of the 33 findings it counted — 18 maladministration and 2 service failure, with no severe maladministration — a rate of 61%.^[1] That compares with a national rate of 62% and 70% for landlords of a similar size and type.^[1]

What the findings were about. Repairs was the largest category, with 17 findings and a 59% rate, against 72% nationally. "Managing relations" had 8 findings and a 38% rate, against 57% nationally. Estate management had 4 findings, all of them maladministration, against 54% nationally.^[1] Complaint handling was the most common sub-category, with 8 findings. Damp and mould had 4: 2 maladministration, 1 service failure and 1 with no maladministration.^[1]

Orders and compensation. The Ombudsman made 52 orders and 11 recommendations, and records every order that fell due during 2025/26 as complied with. It issued no complaint handling failure orders. It ordered £5,025 in compensation and recommended a further £100.^[1]

The trend. The Ombudsman's figures put the council's rate at 52% across 12 decided cases in 2023/24, as it now counts them, and 78% across 14 in 2024/25.^[1] From October 2025 the Ombudsman started examining complaint handling in every case it investigated, which it says affects how this year's rates compare with previous years.^[4]

Recent cases. In February 2026 the Ombudsman found maladministration in how the council handled a tenant's reports of leaks, damp and mould, among other repairs. It found "delays and poor communication". It noted the council could not finish some works because the tenant had declined access, but said it had not done enough to reassure him or considered his request for a temporary move.^[5] It ordered an apology and £1,825 in compensation.^[5] In January 2026, in another tenant's case, it found no maladministration in the council's handling of damp and mould, but maladministration in its complaint handling.^[6]

“There were delays and poor communication in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of leaks, damp and mould.”^[5]

Housing Ombudsman, Thurrock Council (202502229) (13 February 2026, 202502229)

“There was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould.”^[6]

Housing Ombudsman, Thurrock Council (202404967) (14 January 2026, 202404967)

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) is the government body that checks social landlords meet required standards for safe, decent homes. It grades the landlords it inspects from C1 (the strongest) to C4. It has not yet published a consumer standards grade for Thurrock Council.

A peer review in autumn 2025. A team led by the Local Government Association reviewed the council's housing service from 30 September to 2 October 2025, at the council's request.^[2] A peer challenge is a review by officers and councillors from other councils. It is not a regulatory inspection and does not give a grade.

What the peer team found. It found the service faced significant challenges in meeting regulatory expectations.^[2] Among them:

• the council's figure of 95% decent homes rested on survey data from only 35% of its homes, copied across to the rest^[2]
• the council relied on its own checks of safety compliance, with too little external assurance^[2]
• its damp and mould policy was out of date and needed urgent updating for Awaab's Law^[2]

The team also recorded strengths, including tenant satisfaction, the speed of repairs and partnership working.^[2]

What the council says it is doing. In December 2025 the council said it had completed a gap analysis against the regulator's consumer standards, and listed an external compliance audit among its next steps. It said it was surveying all its homes and had drafted an updated damp and mould policy reflecting Awaab's Law.^[3] It said it had shared the findings with the regulator and invited early, voluntary engagement.^[3] In February 2026 its Cabinet approved a housing improvement action plan, with an independently chaired board proposed to monitor it.^[7]

What the council reports now. For 2025/26 the council reports that:

• 99.8% of homes had all required gas safety checks^[8]
• 98.8% had all required fire risk assessments^[8]
• 5.6% of its homes did not meet the Decent Homes Standard.^[8]

The peer team said the council's decency figures relied on survey data for about a third of its homes, and that a full survey had been commissioned.^[2]

In a telephone survey of 2,009 tenants, 72.5% were satisfied with its overall service.^[8][9] Among those who said they had complained in the last 12 months, 24.4% were satisfied with how it handles complaints.^[8] These are the council's own figures, not the regulator's.

What this means for your home. A review or a grade is about a landlord's systems across all its homes, not the state of any one home. If yours has damp, mould, a leak or an unfixed repair, your rights are the same whatever a review or grade says.

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, Thurrock 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.

Safety checks. Thurrock Council must also meet health and safety duties for its homes, such as gas safety checks and fire risk assessments.

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.^[10]

Thurrock's own published repair timescales. The council sorts repairs into categories, each with a target time — the disrepair page lists them.^[13]

Where to report and complain. The disrepair page gives the council's repairs line and its two-stage complaints process.^[15][18]