One Housing has been forced to apologise and pay £3,375 in compensation after a distressed resident with young children had to wait more than two years for repairs.
One of the landlord’s development sites (picture: One Housing)
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One Housing has been forced to apologise and pay £3,375 in compensation after a distressed resident with young children had to wait more than two years for repairs #UKhousing
In the latest case published by the Housing Ombudsman, the watchdog made a ruling of severe maladministration over the 17,000-home landlord’s record-keeping.
Maladministration was also found over One Housing’s response to the resident’s concerns, service charge information and complaint-handling.
One Housing became a subsidiary of Riverside in late 2021, forming a 75,000-home group, but some elements of the case pre-date the merger.
In the case, the ombudsman found the landlord “failed to record details of multiple repairs with safety implications” at the resident’s two bedroom flat.
The resident also faced delays of around 27 months over decorating and window repairs, according to the ombudsman’s report on the case.
As a result of One Housing’s inaction, the tenant took her daughter and baby to a bed and breakfast because of dust, odours and chemicals in the property, the ombudsman said.
One Housing was ordered to issue a written apology to the resident and was made to inspect her home for mould and “inadequate repairs”.
Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “The landlord’s inaction had very human consequences, which ultimately led the resident to arrange her own short-term housing, with her daughter and newborn having to stay at a bed and breakfast.
“It is important for other landlords to review this case to ensure lessons are applied across the sector.”
In a statement, One Housing said: “We are very sorry for the distress caused to our customer over a range of issues around customer service, repairs and record-keeping.
“We have undertaken a detailed investigation into this case, which included improving our processes and procedures for record-keeping.”
The landlord said it had since introduced a number of new measures, including a new record-keeping procedure and weekly complaints meetings for its property services and customer operations teams.
In October last year, the outgoing chief executive of Riverside admitted it was still working through “short-term financial challenges” related to it taking One Housing on as a subsidiary, as the expanded group’s operating surplus fell 38%.
Carol Matthews, whose exit from the 75,000-home landlord was announced in September 2023, pointed to a “prevalence” of high-rise buildings needing fire remediation work, as well as write-down costs on “historic investments” and exiting a loss-making luxury care-home business.
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https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/london-landlord-pays-out-more-than-3000-in-compensation-over-repair-failures-85178
