These include cases unrelated to property condition, such as adaptations, subsidence and rent
The Housing Ombudsman’s latest report advises social landlords on how to deal with severe maladministration relating to less visible areas of failure.
It focuses on adaptations, subsidence and rent, which the ombudsman has termed “silent” severe maladministration because they receive less attention than failings relating to disrepair.
The watchdog found that all failings were compounded by poor communication, including long silences, not updating residents about key decisions, and siloed internal communication.
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “This report illustrates the breadth of responsibilities for social landlords. It shows how pivotal their role is for social infrastructure and how they are juggling many priorities. Inevitably, when things go wrong, it means the impact can be greater.
“These cases could be termed ‘silent’ severe maladministration because they receive less attention. But they are no less important.
“While each area is distinctly different, the root causes of some service failings are similar and reminiscent of more visible complaint areas. This includes erratic knowledge and information management, inaction, and patchy communication.
“Landlords should not lose sight of some of the other core components of its housing offer with new regulations and legislation coming in.”
In one case of negligence regarding adaptations, Clarion took almost two years to complete adaptations to a wheelchair-user’s home and failed to provide regular updates from the point of approval. This meant the resident was unable to use her bedroom and bathroom for a significant period of time as most of the doors in the property were too narrow for her wheelchair.
The landlord has since set up a new case management team, which agrees action plans with residents detailing the frequency of updates throughout the life of a case. It also records all aid and adaptations on its customer relationship management system.
The report urges providers to establish effective adaptations policies to manage resident and staff expectations and reduce frustration and miscommunication.
In an example of poor handling of subsidence, when the ground beneath a home sinks or collapses, L&Q failed to deal with one complaint for four years.
This left the resident with cracks in her home’s walls large enough to fit a one pound coin through, allowing insects into the property and making it difficult to heat. She reported that this had a negative impact on her children’s education, health and mental wellbeing.
The landlord has since launched a dedicated surveying team for more complex cases and has established more efficient was of prioritising urgent large-scale works to avoid delays.
The report also highlights that residents have regularly reported stigma around the handling of rent account issues.
In one instance, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH) mishandled a rent account following a succession of tenancy.
The resident involved was a live-in carer for her mother and the rent account was in credit at the time of her mother’s death.
The landlord delayed communication with the local authority to stop payments going into the rent account and left the account open during the succession process.
MTVH then erroneously awarded a £4,000 refund to the tenant and failed to charge her for nearly one year, which confused her and the staff dealing with the case. The landlord did not communicate effectively with the resident following its error and applied £4,120 debt to her account nine months after issuing the refund. It also said it would start the arrears process despite the provider being at fault.
Succession cases are now managed end-to-end by MTVH’s lettings teams, with clear ownership and communication. It has also introduced independent succession training and training on empathetic case handling for all lettings colleagues.
The Ombudsman has deemed rent accounts a “sensitive subject”, and has advised landlords to communicate clearly, empathetically and regularly, acting early to reduce stress. It also urged providers to consider the wrap around support given during communication about rents.
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