Peabody complaints record: ratings & how to complain

Peabody Trust is one of the largest housing associations in England, with a substantial published record at the Housing Ombudsman. In the Landlord Record index, Peabody has 535 published decisions and 473 adverse findings , including 89 severe maladministration determinations . Its maladministration rate is 88%. This article explains what the record means, how Peabody compares to other landlords, and what you should do if you are a Peabody resident considering a complaint.

Peabody operates primarily in London and the South East and manages a large portfolio of social housing. Because of its scale, Peabody naturally appears more often in Ombudsman determinations than smaller providers. That does not mean every finding is equally serious, or that the raw count tells the whole story. The fairest way to read the record is to look at the maladministration rate, the severity of individual findings, and the themes that recur across decisions.

The data below comes from published Housing Ombudsman decisions released under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Landlord Record does not collect complaints from tenants or landlords directly. We structure, index and analyse the published determinations so they are searchable by landlord, issue, outcome and compensation. Every statistic on this page is drawn from those published decisions. Landlord Record analysis of Housing Ombudsman decisions (OGL v3.0).

If you are researching Peabody because you are considering renting from them, because you are already a resident with a complaint, or because you are comparing housing associations, the record gives you a factual baseline. It is not a customer-satisfaction score or a regulator rating. It is the complete set of formal determinations the Ombudsman has made about Peabody, and together they form a pattern you can use to understand how Peabody performs when cases reach the Ombudsman.

Peabody record snapshot

The table below shows the headline figures from Peabody's landlord profile. These are counts and rates derived from published Ombudsman determinations, not internal complaint logs or customer-satisfaction scores. A landlord with many decisions is not necessarily worse than one with few; scale, stock age, geography and tenant profile all influence how many disputes reach the Ombudsman.

What the numbers mean

Published decisions is the total number of Housing Ombudsman determinations for Peabody in our index. A single decision can cover several complaint heads, each with its own outcome. Adverse findings counts every outcome where the Ombudsman found service failure, maladministration, partial maladministration or severe maladministration. These are not the same as "complaints received" — many complaints are resolved by the landlord before they ever reach the Ombudsman, and some disputes fall outside the Ombudsman's jurisdiction.

The maladministration rate is the share of Peabody's decisions that contain at least one adverse finding. A higher rate means a larger proportion of the landlord's Ombudsman cases were upheld against it. This is usually more informative than raw count alone, because a large landlord with many homes will naturally have more decisions than a small one. The rate tells you whether the landlord tends to win or lose when cases reach a formal determination.

Severe maladministration is the Ombudsman's most serious finding. It indicates a serious failing — often prolonged, repeated, or with significant impact on the resident. Peabody has 89 severe findings in our index. You can read more about what severe maladministration means in our maladministration guide. Even a small number of severe findings deserves close attention, because they represent the most serious service failures the Ombudsman identifies.

Total compensation ordered is the sum of financial awards the Ombudsman ordered Peabody to pay across its indexed decisions. This does not include compensation offered by Peabody before the Ombudsman reached a determination, or payments made through other routes such as court claims. A high total can indicate repeated findings, serious impact, large individual awards, or a mixture of those things. For context on how compensation is calculated, see our compensation guide.

Notable determinations

The following recent decisions illustrate the types of complaints that have reached the Ombudsman about Peabody. These are summaries of published determinations — read the full decisions on Peabody's landlord profile page for complete detail, including the Ombudsman's exact wording and the orders made.

Common complaint themes in Peabody decisions

Looking at the recent decisions in our index, the most common complaint categories for Peabody are:

• responsive-repairs — appearing in 7 of the sampled decisions.
• health-and-safety — appearing in 7 of the sampled decisions.
• information-management — appearing in 7 of the sampled decisions.
• relations — appearing in 7 of the sampled decisions.
• occupancy-rights — appearing in 7 of the sampled decisions.

These categories reflect the complaint heads the Ombudsman investigated, not the resident's original complaint subject. A single decision can span multiple categories. If you are a Peabody resident with a complaint in one of these areas, reading past decisions can help you understand how the Ombudsman has framed similar issues and what remedies it has ordered.

The most frequent themes tagged across Peabody's decisions include: communication-failure (7 decisions) , record-keeping (6 decisions) , complaint-handling-delay (5 decisions) , repairs-delay (5 decisions) , damp-and-mould (4 decisions) . Themes are descriptive tags that help group decisions by subject matter. They are broader than the formal complaint categories and can span multiple types of failing.

Among the sampled decisions, the highest single compensation award is £1,100. This is not the largest award Peabody has ever received — it is simply the highest among the recent decisions we indexed — but it gives a sense of the financial scale the Ombudsman can order for serious failings.

If you are a Peabody resident with a complaint in one of these categories, reading the full decisions can help you understand the Ombudsman's reasoning, the evidence it considered important, and the specific orders it made. This is often more useful than the headline numbers alone.

How Peabody compares

Peabody is a large housing association, so its raw decision count will naturally be higher than smaller providers. The fairest comparison uses the maladministration rate and severe findings alongside the raw numbers. A landlord with a high decision count but a low maladministration rate may actually perform better than one with fewer decisions but a higher proportion of adverse findings.

You can see how Peabody ranks in the broader landlord landscape by visiting the worst landlords overall league table, which orders every landlord by adverse findings. For a housing-association-specific view, see which housing association has the most complaints. The worst housing associations page also filters the dataset to housing associations only, giving a clearer peer comparison.

Our full index holds 16,224 published determinations across 603 landlords. Peabody's 535 decisions represent part of that national picture. Landlord Record analysis of Housing Ombudsman decisions (OGL v3.0).

How to complain about Peabody

If you are a Peabody resident and you want to make a complaint, the process is the same as for any member landlord of the Housing Ombudsman. First, make a formal Stage 1 complaint to Peabody in writing. An email is fine, but keep a copy and ask for a read receipt. Tell Peabody clearly what went wrong, when it happened, and what you want it to do to put things right. Ask explicitly that the complaint be logged as a formal Stage 1 complaint under Peabody's complaints procedure. If you only raise the issue informally — for example a quick phone call or hallway conversation — it may not be treated as a formal complaint, and Peabody's time limits may not apply.

Be specific in your complaint. State the dates of events, the names of any staff you spoke to, and the impact the issue has had on you. If you are complaining about repairs, include photos and any previous repair requests with dates. If the issue involves anti-social behaviour, keep a dated log of incidents. The clearer your evidence, the harder it is for Peabody to dismiss your concerns.

Under the Housing Ombudsman's Complaint Handling Code, Peabody must acknowledge your complaint promptly and respond within ten working days. If it needs more time, it must explain why and give you a revised date. If you are not satisfied with the Stage 1 response, you can ask for a Stage 2 review. This is the final stage of Peabody's internal process. At Stage 2, Peabody must carry out a fresh, impartial review and issue a final response within twenty working days.

Once Stage 2 is complete — or if Peabody fails to respond within a reasonable time — you can take your complaint to the Housing Ombudsman. The Ombudsman is a free, independent service. You can submit your complaint online through the Ombudsman's website. You no longer need a designated person to refer your complaint. For a full step-by-step guide, see how to complain about a housing association.

Before you complain, it is worth checking Peabody's full landlord profile. You can see past decisions in the same complaint category, the remedies the Ombudsman has ordered, and whether your issue fits a broader pattern. This does not guarantee any outcome in your individual case, but it helps you set realistic expectations and present your case more clearly. You can also compare Peabody to other landlords of a similar size or type, which helps you judge whether the record is unusually poor or roughly in line with peers.

What happens after a Housing Ombudsman finding

When the Housing Ombudsman finds maladministration, partial maladministration or severe maladministration, it makes orders the landlord must comply with. These commonly include an apology, financial compensation, completing repairs or other specific actions, reviewing a policy, changing a process, and staff training. The Ombudsman monitors compliance and can publish follow-up reports if the landlord is slow to act.

Compensation, where ordered, reflects the severity and duration of the failing and its impact on the resident. It follows the Ombudsman's published remedies guidance. The amount is not arbitrary: it is tied to the harm caused, the length of time the resident was affected, and any direct financial loss. For more on how compensation is calculated and what you can realistically expect, see our compensation guide.

The Ombudsman's determination is not a court judgment, and you cannot appeal its final decision in the same way you would appeal a court ruling. However, the Ombudsman can re-open a case if new evidence emerges that was not available during the original investigation. Most determinations are published on the Ombudsman's website, which means the landlord's performance becomes part of the public record.

What this record cannot tell you

The Peabody record is powerful but narrow. It does not include complaints that were resolved by Peabody before reaching the Ombudsman, complaints outside the Ombudsman's jurisdiction, or complaints that are still in progress. It also does not include internal complaints that never escalated beyond Peabody's own process. That means a low decision count is not necessarily a sign of good service, and a high count is not automatically proof of poor service.

The fairest reading is always comparative and evidence-led. Use the raw count to see where upheld determinations are concentrated. Use the maladministration rate to understand the share of published decisions found against the landlord. Use severe findings to identify the most serious determinations. Use compensation as a financial signal. Then open the individual decisions and read the summaries before relying on the record for a complaint, article or campaign.

Sources

• Housing Ombudsman Service — Decisions archive
• Housing Ombudsman Service — Complaint Handling Code
• Housing Ombudsman Service — Official guidance
• Legislation.gov.uk — underlying housing and tenancy legislation
• GOV.UK — social housing regulation and resident rights

This page is an information resource and does not constitute legal advice. If you need support with your complaint, free advice is available from Citizens Advice and Shelter.