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Where Landlords Stand A Where They Stand project

What social landlords in England are like, from what the regulator and the Housing Ombudsman publish.

Independent. Not affiliated with the Regulator of Social Housing, the Housing Ombudsman Service or any landlord.

Harlow District Council

Council.

Before you bid

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Rents out about 8,984 homes in England. This is the number of tenants in rented homes it counted for its 2025/26 tenant survey.

Source: [5]

The regulator's grade

C3

The Regulator of Social Housing checks how well landlords treat tenants. It gave Harlow District Council grade C3 on 25 September 2024.

C3 means there are serious failings. The landlord needs to improve a lot. Grades go from C1 (best) to C4 (worst).

Source: [1]

How it compares

We compared Harlow District Council with 108 similar landlords: councils, 1,000 to 9,999 homes. These are tenants' answers to the 2025/26 survey and the landlord's own records.

Overall satisfaction: 64.5% of tenants were happy with the service. That puts it in the bottom quarter of similar landlords.

Repairs and homes: in the upper middle. ↑ Up from lower middle in 2024/25.

Being heard: in the bottom quarter.

Neighbourhood: in the bottom quarter.

Top quarter means it did better than at least three in four similar landlords. Bottom quarter means it did worse than at least three in four.

Harlow District Council asked tenants mostly by online. Most similar landlords asked by telephone. How tenants are asked can change the results.

Source: [5]

Complaints to the Housing Ombudsman

In 2025-26, the Housing Ombudsman looked at complaints about Harlow District Council. It made 25 findings. It found the landlord at fault in 80% of them. It ordered or recommended £6,580 in compensation. 2 of the findings were severe failings.

From October 2025 the Ombudsman looks at how complaints were handled in every case. So these figures are not comparable with earlier years.

Source: [3]

Safety checks

Not all done (as at 31 March 2026):

  • Water safety (legionella) checks: done for 43.5% of homes that needed them

Source: [5]

The figures, 2025/26

MeasureFigureAmong similar landlords
Repairs and homes
Satisfied with repairs76.1%upper middle
Satisfied with how long the last repair took73.2%upper middle
Satisfied the home is well maintained67.3%bottom quarter
Homes that don't meet the Decent Homes Standard7.3%lower middle
Non-emergency repairs done within the landlord's target time92.9%top quarter
Emergency repairs done within the landlord's target time98.8%upper middle
Being heard
Satisfied the landlord listens and acts46.6%bottom quarter
Satisfied the landlord keeps them informed61.3%bottom quarter
Agree the landlord treats them fairly and with respect65.0%bottom quarter
Satisfied with how complaints are handled31.4%lower middle
First-stage complaints answered in time92.2%upper middle
Second-stage complaints answered in time88.2%lower middle
Neighbourhood
Satisfied communal areas are clean and well kept50.4%bottom quarter
Satisfied the landlord helps the neighbourhood50.4%bottom quarter
Satisfied with how anti-social behaviour is handled46.5%bottom quarter
Shown but not compared
Satisfied the home is safe70.4%
First-stage complaints per 1,000 homes56.8
Second-stage complaints per 1,000 homes11.4
Anti-social behaviour cases per 1,000 homes5.2
Anti-social behaviour cases involving hate incidents per 1,000 homes0.1

Source: [5]

Earlier Ombudsman figures

From October 2025 the Ombudsman looks at how complaints were handled in every case. So these figures are not comparable with earlier years.

YearName in the reportFindingsAt fault
2024-25Harlow District Council3786%

Source: [2]

Where it has homes

Harlow District Council is a council. Its homes are in its own area.

See what Harlow District Council's council and cabinet meetings have discussed and decided, on Where Councils Stand.

Compare with other landlords

Where these figures come from

Every figure on this page comes from one of these published files. We do not change them.

  1. Regulator of Social Housing, Regulatory Judgements and Enforcement Notices Table (current). The file, fetched 2026-11-06. Open Government Licence v3.0.
  2. Housing Ombudsman Service, Landlords with individual performance reports ( xlsx ) ( xlsx, 0.39 MB) (2024-25). The file, fetched 2026-11-06. © Housing Ombudsman Service; reuse terms being confirmed.
  3. Housing Ombudsman Service, Landlords performance data tables ( xlsx ) ( xlsx, 0.4 MB) (2025-26). The file, fetched 2026-11-06. © Housing Ombudsman Service; reuse terms being confirmed.
  4. Regulator of Social Housing, Local authority registered provider data release (2025/26). The file, fetched 2026-11-06. Open Government Licence v3.0.
  5. Regulator of Social Housing, Tenant Satisfaction Measures Full Dataset (2025/26). The file, fetched 2026-11-06. Open Government Licence v3.0.