How we're performing on customer complaints

Every year, the Housing Ombudsman reviews how housing providers across the country handle customer complaints. The latest report shows that Aster is performing better than many – and continuing to learn and improve from your feedback.

During 2024/25, the Ombudsman made 34 decisions about Aster cases, leading to 81 findings in total. Where the Ombudsman found something had gone wrong, our maladministration rate – where the Ombudsman found something had gone wrong that we hadn’t put right – was 50%, noticeably better than the national average of 71%, and 64% for similar housing associations.

Importantly, in every case where the Ombudsman asked us to take action – such as paying compensation, improving a process, or providing staff training – we responded fully and on time.

Most complaints were about:

• Property condition – including damp, mould, leaks and heating issues
• How complaints were handled – such as delays or communication problems
• Anti-social behaviour (ASB) – often where communication or record-keeping could be improved.

These are common challenges across the housing sector, and we’re already taking steps to make things better. We’ve introduced early inspections and better data to tackle damp and mould, refreshed our complaints approach to make it easier to raise and resolve issues, and we’re improving our ASB casework tools to help us act faster.

We’ve recently seen a rise in customers being contacted by legal firms and Claims Management Companies offering to make claims for repairs or service issues. While they may promise quick results, these cases can often be time-consuming and costly – and in some situations, customers have been left with large legal bills or even debt after using these services.

The best thing you can do if you’re unhappy with something we’ve done is contact us directly. This is usually the quickest and most effective way to get your issue resolved. You can raise a concern using the complaints form on our website, where you’ll also find details of how our complaints process works.

This is also the approach recommended by the Housing Ombudsman. If you’re still dissatisfied after completing our two-stage complaints process, you can then take your case directly to the Ombudsman.

While we’re pleased to see positive results in this year’s report, we know there’s always more to do. We’re committed to listening, learning and improving, so that every customer feels heard and supported when they raise a concern.

You can read the full Housing Ombudsman Landlord Performance Report for Aster Group (2024/25) on the Housing Ombudsman’s website.