Harrow Council paid out nearly £9,000 in compensation over the past year
Damp and mould issues are consistently one of the top three complaints (Image: Getty Images)
The number of social housing complaints, repair response times, and tenant satisfaction levels in Harrow are “all going in the wrong direction”, a ward councillor has said.
Over the past year, the North London council has received more than 1,000 housing complaints, with the top three concerns relating to repairs, damp and mould, and boiler failures.
Harrow Council is set to submit its annual housing complaints from tenants and leaseholders to the Housing Ombudsman, which relate to its performance as a landlord. In the year 2025/26, the number of complaints has increased dramatically, which the local authority claims reflects both increased demand and “improved access” to the complaints process.
The “substantial increase” in complaints volume is “not something we are content with”, the council has said. The local authority claims to be focused on increasing the number of interventions to improve the quality of its social landlord service – including carrying out more replacements rather than just repairs.
Harrow Council has received more than 1,000 housing complaints over the past year(Image: Harrow Council )
There are two stages to a council’s complaints process – stage 1 and stage 2. If a tenant is dissatisfied with the response at the first stage – which requires an investigation and response within 10 working days – they can escalate it to a senior manager as a stage 2 complaint, which requires a review and response within 20 working days.
Over the past two years, the number of stage 1 complaints increased by 89 per cent – from 249 in the year 2023/24 to 471 in 2025/26, according to council figures. However, during the same period, stage 2 complaints rose from 42 to 135 – a significant increase of 221 per cent.
Harrow Council puts the increase down to “a combination of factors”, including increased awareness of the complaints process, greater compliance with the Ombudsman guidelines, increased service pressures, and improved recording of complaints.
Speaking at a recent meeting of the Governance, Audit, Risk Management and Standards Committee (July 20), Labour’s Cllr Peymana Assad pointed to damp and mould particularly as a “serious and important” issue that needs to be tackled due to the possible health implications for tenants. She also questioned whether actions taken to reduce the problem are making a difference “when they continue to top the list”.
Harrow Council’s Strategic Director of Housing and Regeneration, Emma Talbot, said damp and mould is an issue “we do need to take really seriously”, adding that there has been “underinvestment in our housing stock” that is giving rise to repeat complaints.
She said: “We are doing a repair but probably need to do a replacement. Rather than repairing a ceiling, we probably need to replace a roof.
“We have failed when something’s got to a complaint and, whilst we are looking to improve how we handle complaints, really the focus of the service needs to be on being a really good landlord and avoiding the complaints happening in the first place.”
Alongside residents lodging complaints after being left dissatisfied with the repair works, the delays also result in cost increases for the council. Ms Talbot said that it is “inevitable” that costs will rise if an issue isn’t dealt with in a timely manner and left to get worse, however, the council was unable to provide the total cost of these delays.
There have been 14 Housing Ombudsman determinations this year, with 12 reportable outcomes. Across these 12 cases, there were 30 findings of maladministration, three service failures, and two findings of reasonable redress – meaning a fair, proportionate, and appropriate remedy to correct a wrong was needed.
The compensation the council paid out for these totalled £8,759 – an increase from £3,125 in 2023/24 and £7,694 in 2024/25. A payout was awarded in the majority of cases for “prolonged repair failures, damp and mould, and poor complaint handling”.
Whilst the timeliness of responses has improved at stage 1 – increasing to around 74 per cent – it still remains below the council’s target. Stage 2 performance remains a “key challenge” for the local authority, with only around 50 per cent of responses completed within timescales. The council has said service improvements “are underway”, with changes to staff resources, accessibility for tenants, staff skills, and insight and learning from previous cases.
Cllr Assad said: “In terms of doing replacements versus doing repairs, it’s really important going forward that that is something the council looks at doing because it not only saves us time and money but it also saves people their mental health [with] the pressure of consistently phoning the council about repairs in their house.”
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