Housing Secretary Michael Gove has continued his drive against rented housing failures by ‘naming and shaming’ another three social housing landlords – adding Orbit Housing, Lambeth Council and Birmingham City Council to a growing list of criticised providers.
Gove demanded ‘answers and action’ from the three after the Ombudsman found severe maladministration in their handling of complaints.
The latest action brings the total number of social landlords to have angered the Housing Secretary to 14 and the total amount of compensation that the Housing Ombudsman has ordered social landlords to pay tenants in the 2022-23 financial year to over £574,000.
‘Each of these landlords have failed their tenants, letting people suffer in disgraceful conditions while refusing to listen to complaints or treat them with respect’, said Gove.
‘Housing providers will have nowhere to hide once our Social Housing Bill becomes law early next year. A beefed-up Regulator will have the power to enter properties with only 48 hours’ notice and make emergency repairs with landlords footing the bill’.
Orbit Housing was ordered to pay a resident £5,000 after damp and mould issues went untreated, while Birmingham City Council (second letter this year) failed to respond to resident’s complaints of boiler faults and rotten floorboards in the living room.
In Lambeth, the Council did not repair damaged windows in a fifth-floor flat that fell out of their frames onto the ground below, leaving a resident with boarded up windows during winter, causing mould which damaged their possessions.
Gove said he is urging everyone offering tenants advice, from solicitors to voluntary organisations, always to direct social housing tenants with complaints to the Housing Ombudsman. ‘Every tenant deserves a decent home, and landlords must not use legal cases as an excuse to delay making repairs or act on complaints’, he said.
Meanwhile the Housing Ombudsman has reported that in the three months to September 2022 it had received just over 6,500 enquiries and complaints.
The Ombudsman upheld 55 per cent of cases, 41 per cent of which concerned property condition.
