Hyde

The Housing Ombudsman investigates complaints about social landlords, calling a serious failing "maladministration" — or "severe maladministration" in the most serious cases.

The 2025-26 rate. The Ombudsman's latest report on Hyde covers 157 cases it decided ("determinations") from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026, excluding cases outside its jurisdiction or withdrawn. It recorded a maladministration rate of 61.6% (210 of 341 findings). That is close to the national rate of 62%, and above the 52% for landlords of a similar size and type.^[1] Relative to its size, Hyde had 5.1 maladministration findings per 1,000 homes, against medians of 1.2 for similar landlords and 1.5 for all landlords.^[1]

Severity, repairs and compensation. Ten findings were severe, nine of them about responsive repairs. Condensation, damp and mould drew 30 findings, two of them severe.^[1] The Ombudsman made 451 orders, and Hyde complied with all of them within three months. The report records £105,053 in compensation ordered or recommended.^[1]

Earlier years. The report restates Hyde's rate as 83% for 2023-24 and 75% for 2024-25.^[1] From October 2025 the Ombudsman started examining complaint handling in every case it investigated, which it says affects how this year's rates compare with earlier years.^[1]

The December 2024 special report. The Ombudsman's special report on Hyde covered cases decided between April 2023 and June 2024. It made 353 findings, 23 of them severe maladministration, and put Hyde's rate at 82%.^[6] It concluded that "residents have experienced the same problems repeatedly over a number of years", and made 11 recommendations.^[6]

Individual decisions. In April 2026 the Ombudsman found maladministration over leaks, damp and mould. Hyde had taken 15 months to replace a door it committed to replace within eight weeks, and the Ombudsman ordered £1,050 in total, including £550 Hyde had already paid.^[7] In December 2025 it found severe maladministration over noise a shared owner had reported for more than three years.^[8]

What Hyde has said and done. In the special report, Hyde apologised "to those customers where we could have done things better". It said it had doubled the staff handling complaints and brought its two main repairs contracts in-house, in 2022 and 2023.^[6] It also reported spending an extra £2 million on damp and mould in 2023.^[6]

The Regulator of Social Housing (RSH) is the government body that checks social landlords meet required standards for safe, decent homes. Since 2024 the RSH has been inspecting social landlords and giving each a consumer grade from C1 (the strongest) to C4.

Hyde's grade is C1. In a judgement published on 25 March 2026, after its first consumer-standards inspection of Hyde, the Regulator graded Hyde Housing Association Limited C1, the strongest consumer grade. It graded governance G1 and financial viability V2.^[3] The Regulator said "this is the first time we have issued a consumer grade in relation to this landlord", and concluded that overall Hyde is "delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards".^[3] On repairs, it wrote that "Hyde provides an effective repairs service to tenants and takes action to improve the service and outcomes for tenants when issues occur"; on safety, that "Hyde provided evidence-based assurance that it has appropriate systems in place to ensure the health and safety of its tenants".^[3]

How the C1 grade and the Ombudsman's findings fit together. These findings come from different bodies, looking at different things, and it is worth holding both. The Ombudsman decides individual complaints after the event. Its December 2024 special report looked back at casework from April 2023 to June 2024 and found widespread failings in repairs and complaint handling.^[6]

In the year to March 2026, the Ombudsman made ten severe maladministration findings against Hyde, nine of them about responsive repairs.^[1] The Regulator's C1 grade (March 2026) is an inspection of how Hyde is run now, and it is the top consumer grade.^[3]

The C1 does not erase what the Ombudsman found, or mean every problem has been dealt with. Equally, past complaint findings are not the Regulator's verdict on how Hyde is governed today. If you are living with unresolved damp, mould or disrepair in a Hyde home, what matters is your own situation and evidence. The grade on the door does not change that.

A housing association's repair duties are just as strong as a council's — and they do not depend on its track record.

Repairs. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, Hyde must keep the structure and exterior of your home in repair — the roof, walls, windows and doors — and keep the installations for heating, hot water, gas, electricity, water and sanitation in proper working order. This applies to almost every tenancy and cannot be signed away in a tenancy agreement.

Fitness for human habitation. Under the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 (section 9A of the 1985 Act), your home must also be fit to live in — free from serious hazards, including damp and mould that could harm your health.

Awaab's Law. Awaab's Law now sets legally binding timescales for social landlords, housing associations included, to investigate hazards such as damp and mould and make homes safe — the disrepair page sets them out.^[9]

Hyde's own repair and damp timescales. Hyde also publishes its own target times for emergency and routine repairs, and its own damp and mould response times — the disrepair page lists the figures.^[12][13]

Where to report and complain. Report a repair through Hyde's repairs service, and make a complaint through its two-stage complaints process at hyde-housing.co.uk/contact-us/making-a-complaint.^[12][14]