Southwark Council 3rd Most Complained About in the Country for Housing

Labour-run Southwark Council has once again ranked among the worst local authorities in the country for housing complaints, new figures from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) have revealed. 

The council had the third highest number of housing complaints referred to the Ombudsman out of almost 370 councils in England, beaten only by Birmingham and Lambeth. The number of housing complaints also was 30% higher than the year before. 

Across all services, Southwark was ranked 4th worst nationally for upheld complaints per 10,000 residents, and continues to appear among the most complained about boroughs in London. 

The figures follow a string of damning reports into the council’s handling of major works, which have exposed serious flaws in contract management, poor oversight, and a culture of signing off huge sums without proper scrutiny.  

These failures have been compounded by repeated criticism from the Housing Ombudsman and the Regulator of Social Housing, which found systemic issues including poor complaint handling, delays, and failure to act on residents’ concerns. 

Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Victor Chamberlain said:

“These new figures confirm what thousands of residents already know from bitter experience: Southwark Labour’s housing department is not fit for purpose. 

The Ombudsman has once again exposed the scale of the failures, and yet no lessons have been learned. Just this year, we’ve seen further damning reports into major works, showing shambolic oversight and residents being left in the dark about what they’re being charged for. 

Labour’s answer has been to promote the person who oversaw these failings in housing to now run the entire council. That won’t give residents any confidence that things are going to get better. 

Southwark deserves so much better. Only the Liberal Democrats have a plan to fix the housing department and put residents first – with transparency, accountability, and respect.”