15th
Jul 2024
The latest damning report from the Housing Ombudsman, which oversees social landlords, named 27 local authorities and social housing providers for failing to deal with leaks in their properties.
The so called landlords failure to rectify the issues in many of their properties which resulted in severe cases of mould and damp is the major cause of complaints to the Ombudsman.
The Housing Ombudsman cited cases where social landlords for years failed to take any action regarding leaks in their properties: “In one case, we found a resident decanted for nearly two years whilst the landlord failed to deal with a leak,” the report revealed. It also highlighted many instances where tenants regularly chased up landlords who either turned their backs on the issues or took little action if at all. Eventually severe damage was incurred with ceilings caving in and personal belongings or furniture being destroyed.
The Ombudsman’s statement says: “The themes in this report are clear, including poor diagnosis, excessive delays and a failure to consider vulnerabilities. The sector should be handling leaks more effectively under obligations in the Landlord and Tenant Act and the introduction of Awaab’s Law will require proactive and timely resolution. This report is part of a series providing lessons to help the sector prepare for Awaab’s Law, in whatever form it takes.”
The Housing Ombudsman, Richard Blakeway, comments: “Leaks can be complex and challenging. These cases show how leaks can also cause acute distress and disruption to families and the sector needs to be more consistent and robust in response.
“There are common strands of learning from these cases and various moments when the landlord could have taken decisive action to make things right for the resident and restore trust in its ability to resolve these issues.
“Too often the basics are not being done right in these cases and that compounds what is already a complex area to deal with. Landlords must identify these key touchpoints during the lifetime of these cases, and act appropriately to mitigate the impact on families and households.
“These cases also reveal in stark terms that some landlords are not ready for Awaab’s Law and how widely variable landlord policy and practice can be, which is neither desirable nor sustainable.”
The social landlords highlighted in the report are:
- Arhag Housing Association;
- Birmingham City Council;
- Clarion;
- Ealing Council;
- Gentoo Group;
- Hackney Council;
- Haringey Council;
- Homes Plus Group;
- Irwell Valley Housing Association;
- Islington Council;
- Lambeth Council;
- L&Q;
- Metropolitan Thames Valley;
- Milton Keynes Council;
- Newham Council;
- One Housing Group;
- PA Housing;
- Peabody;
- Platform Housing Group;
- Redbridge Council;
- Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Council;
- Sanctuary;
- Shepherds Bush Housing Group;
- Southern Housing;
- Tower Hamlets Council;
- Wandle;
- Welwyn Hatfield Council.
Richard Merrick of PIMS,said: “It will be interesting to hear the number of times a statement will be made from each named council/housing association stating ‘ lessons will be learnt’ in comparison to number of fines being issued to the culprits.
“ Just as an aside but illustrates Social Housing issues other than housing stock, Cambridge City Council has been found out by the Regulator Social Housing (RSH) of overcharging 3,600 social housing tenants an overall total of approximately £3.2 million down to ‘rent setting mistakes’…..and perhaps a possible ‘lesson to be learnt’ of ‘not to be found ……”
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