The Housing Ombudsman warns that “relieving anger under bad housing conditions” could lead to social tensions as his office has increased 474% since 2019/20 for complaints about unqualified living conditions.

Richard Blakeway, a housing ombudsman in England, said repairs are now the biggest complaints from his office deal, accounting for 45% of his workload.

"There is no change, and we effectively risk the management decline of one of the European social housing regulations," he said. "Replacing these homes will take more than 60 years at the recent construction speed."

He said that showing that growing anger in housing conditions could turn into “social unrest” and said “the deaths of Grenfeltta and Awab Isaac still resonate.”

"I traveled around the country to attend different public meetings, people felt invisible, voices were not heard, their problems were not taken seriously, and lack of respect and dignity for the way residents were treated. This led to a very serious division of trust, which in some cases was irreparable."

In a new report on social housing repair and maintenance, the Housing Ombudsman Services reported that complaints about unqualified living conditions increased by 474% between 2019/20 and 2024/25, of which 72% were due to poor practice.

Despite the social landlord spending a record £9 billion on repairs and maintenance in 2023/24, the Ombudsman, which resolves the dispute between residents and social landlords, ordered £3.4 million in living conditions compensation in 2024/25.

"We have seen an unprecedented increase in complaints, which is far beyond complaints from other departments. What we are seeing is exponential compared to other ombudsmen," Blakeway said.

The report is based on a review of hundreds of cases and over 3,000 responses to the appeal for evidence. It takes dozens of examples of bad practice, including a child's bedroom windows being mounted for four years instead of replaced and collapsed ceilings that contain asbestos and have two years left.

Aging, poor quality housing stocks, and rising maintenance costs and complexity are two key drivers of increased complaints. Before 1964, nearly half (45%) of social housing were built in England, and the percentage of wet and mold had risen from 4% in 2019 to 7% in 2023.

Blackway said the policy has not kept pace with living standards, saying the rules say kitchens and bathrooms only need to be replaced every 20 and 30 years respectively "the desire of the richest country in the world has no desire."

He added: "The benchmarked social housing quality is completely out of the reality of consumer experience elsewhere. It is completely inadequate in the 21st century."

The report found that landlords “efficiently ration repairs”, with one of the landlords’ policies referring to only performing some repairs when “resources are available”, while others say they can only handle emergencies.

It also found that due to the claim that residents have denied access rights, dangerous events occur before the harm, and cases are closed."

Blakeway calls for a “transformative overhaul” of the industry, which includes a national tenant agency to strengthen residents’ rights and increase landlord accountability and provide long-term funding for the industry.

“These homes just get older, so we need basic thinking about the way we maintain them and the investments needed to maintain the social housing heritage that previous generations have worked hard to build,” he said.

He called for the maintenance of existing social families' models "unsustainable" and "significant risks to the government's important housing ambitions".

The government has announced plans to build 1.5 million units of housing to deal with the country's housing crisis, but internal disputes over the level of social housing funding are reported.

Awaab’s law is named after two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who was killed by Moore in 2020 in a social housing in Rochdale, and he will take effect in October, but the government has been criticized for postponing its entire implementation until 2027.

Starting from October, social landlords in England will conduct 24-hour emergency repairs, including moisture and mold, but other hazards will not be immediately addressed until 2027, including asbestos and contaminated water supply.

Blakeway called the law a “decisive need” but was still too responsive. "It improves the response, but it doesn't stop the problem," he said.

"Where is our desire? The landlord system is not modernized from reactive methods for maintenance to predictive methods, which often leads to prolonged repair delays," he added.

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Community and Local Government said: “Everyone should live in a safe, secure house and despite the terrible situation we have inherited, we have taken decisive actions to achieve this.

“We will introduce Awaab’s laws to the Social Rental Department starting in October to limit moisture, molds and other hazards in social residence, while we will also introduce capabilities to the Social Rental Department and to ensure employees have the right skills, knowledge and experience to get the job done effectively.”