The number of complaints about first-payment mortgages on residential properties fell by 11% to 4,553 in the last financial year compared to the previous year, data from the Financial Ombudsman Service shows.
The percentage of these complaints upheld in favor of the borrower in 2025/26 was 27%, down slightly from 32% in 2024/25
In total there were 6,407 new complaints about mortgages, a decrease of 7% year on year from 6,895.
Buy-to-let complaints remained at a similar level with 760 new cases, compared to 795 the year before.
The FOS’s overall caseload returned to a more normal level after the huge increase caused by the car finance scandal.
It says it received 214,600 complaints in the 2025/26 financial year, which is similar to levels in 2023/24, when it received 198,800 complaints. This is a decrease of 30% from the 305,700 cases received in 2024/2025, largely due to complaints about the Motor Finance Commission and credit cards.
Last year, FOS introduced charges for cases brought by companies pursuing claims.
The aim was to encourage better substantiated complaints and make funding arrangements fairer.
In 2025/2026, more consumers took their cases directly to the Financial Ombudsman for free and around 82% of cases were referred on their behalf by consumers or friends and family.
The FOS has also seen a decline in the number of withdrawn and abandoned complaints referred to the service, from 35% in 2024/25 to 18% in 2025/26.
Over the same period, the agency has also seen an increase in the number of consumers registered as vulnerable, up to 25%.
James Dipple-Johnstone, FOS interim chief ombudsman, said: “After a period of significant demand, our case volumes are returning to more historic levels as the measures we have implemented ensure that complaints coming to us are better proven and ready to be investigated.
“We remain focused on our core purpose: a fast, informal and impartial alternative to court.”