Action is needed to sort out and reduce confusion when it comes to housing and property complaints in the UK with the best solution suggested as a single ombudsman across the industry.
Currently there is a ‘baffling patchwork’ of schemes which are failing consumers, according to the Ombudsman Services (OS) which is withdrawing from handling complaints in the industry next month.
It says that the system is too complex and confusing with almost 40 services, charities, advice groups and trade bodies involved. Matthew Vickers, chief ombudsman designate at Ombudsman Services, said there are overlaps and gaps that make it virtually impossible for consumers to get complaints resolved.
‘Our research shows the vast and baffling patchwork of schemes that people are faced with when they have an unresolved complaint. The current system is fragmented, complicated and ineffective. Consumers deserve better,’ he added.
OS is urging the Government to introduce a single ombudsman for the housing sector, an idea that was put forward in a Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government consultation earlier this year but there is no timescale been made public yet.
‘By following the model used in energy, where strong regulation is backed up by a single ombudsman and effective advocacy, redress in housing could be transformed for the better. Our research shows that the vast majority of the public support this approach,’ Vickers pointed out.
The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Excellence in the Built Environment has recommended the creation of a New Homes Ombudsman and a single consumer portal, which would signpost consumers to multiple redress schemes.
However the OS argues that the creation of such a portal would fail to address the fundamental problems with the current system. ‘The approval of new schemes and portals in the sector would add more layers of complexity to a system that is already failing consumers. The Government must take action to reduce confusion and detriment,’ Vickers said.
In a recent OS survey, seven in 10 respondents said they found the current system for making a housing complaint confusing, while more than half, some 55%, didn’t know where or how to complain.
