Upheld complaints over landlords’ anti-social behaviour responses rise, BBC reports

The Housing Ombudsman found failings in social landlords’ handling of anti-social behaviour complaints 609 times in 2025–26, compared with 159 in 2021–22, the BBC reports. The figures count upheld complaints; they do not show whether anti-social behaviour itself became more common.

Nor do the totals establish that a higher proportion of complaints was upheld. That would require comparable figures for how many anti-social behaviour complaints were assessed in each year. The ombudsman introduced new categories for such complaints in 2025–26 and, from October 2025, began examining formal complaint handling in every case it investigated. How much those changes affected the BBC’s comparison is unclear.

Across all complaint categories, the proportion upheld fell from 71% in 2024–25 to 62% in 2025–26, according to the ombudsman’s annual review, even as the number of upheld findings rose. Anti-social behaviour, abuse and nuisance accounted for about 7% of findings in each of those two years. Neither figure establishes the uphold rate for anti-social behaviour complaints across the four-year period in the BBC’s comparison.

James Daniel told the BBC that seven years of living next to neighbours whose behaviour he had complained about had been “absolute hell”. His complaint to the ombudsman awaits a decision. His housing association, North Devon Homes, said it had fully cooperated with the investigation and takes reports of anti-social behaviour seriously.