Birmingham City Council and the London Borough of Hackney are among a list of social landlords to be ‘named and shamed’ by the Government.

Both had received a ‘severe administration’ finding from the Housing Ombudsman Service this year.

In July Birmingham was ordered to apologise and pay its tenant £800 over its handling of a complaint about a leak. It was also ordered to make appropriate repairs and pay insurance excess charges.

Hackney’s failings had also concerned its handling of complaints about Water damage.

In May it was ordered to pay its tenant compensation of £1,500, and to carry out a thorough investigation of the issues at the property, to carry out repairs and review its complaints handling processes.

The two councils were cited in an update of the policy statement Naming and shaming failing landlords, published this week.

‘The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities will highlight poor practice by landlords including on its social media platforms. This will include published findings by the Housing Ombudsman of severe maladministration, and judgements of the Regulator of Social Housing that consumer standards have been breached’, it warns.

‘Where appropriate, the Secretary of State will contact landlords to understand how they are taking appropriate steps to address the Ombudsman’s and Regulator’s findings’.

In 2020/21 the Ombudsman issued a total of 3,455 orders and recommendations following investigations and made awards of compensation totalling £450,000.