9:03 AM, 12th December 2024, About 5 hours ago
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The Housing Ombudsman is urging the social housing sector to prepare for Awaab’s law after one housing association left a house unhabitable due to dead rats.
Awaab’s law will force social housing landlords to act within strict time limits to deal with hazards such as damp and mould.
The law is named after Awaab, a two-year-old boy from Rochdale who died from a respiratory condition caused by extensive mould in the flat where he lived.
The law is already in place under the Social Housing (Regulation) Act, but more secondary legislation is needed to apply it across the social housing sector.
The government is set to reply to a consultation on Awaab’s law as it moves forward with secondary legislation. Awaab’s law will also be introduced in the private rented sector under the Renters’ Rights Bill.
A report by the Housing Ombudsman reveals that Curo Group was forced to pay £9,000 to a resident after failing to address a rat infestation.
A contractor attended 10 times following the initial reports of an infestation, filling in holes in the kitchen, and Curo Group closed the case.
However, the rats quickly returned, and the same recommendation was made. The Housing Ombudsman says that communication from the housing association was poor, leaving the resident unable to move back into the property for 19 months.
Despite the housing association completing a home condition survey that found no issues, the rats caused damage to the resident’s bathroom, which the housing association eventually replaced.
In a statement to the Housing Ombudsman, Curo Group said, “We are learning from this case and are currently conducting a comprehensive review of our repairs service.
“We have launched a Property Operations Department (POD), which brings together the admin teams from various property services areas, and are piloting new approaches to handling complaints.”
In another case, Islington Council failed to address damp and mould which left five residents confined to one room for 18 months.
Due to the damp and mould, the resident reported water coming through the living room ceiling, which was close to collapse.
Although the council attended the emergency appointment, it failed to categorise the house as unsafe to live in until the resident formally complained. The council also failed to tackle the root cause of the leak, carrying out repairs to the ceiling, only for it to show signs of water damage soon after.
Islington Council told the Housing Ombudsman that it is learning from this case. The council says it has made significant changes to its damp procedures, revamped its tenancy management structure to focus on smaller patches for more support, including regular tenant audits to identify issues in homes, and has published new allocations and repairs policies.
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, says the social housing sector must action to improve responses to hazards.
He said: “Social housing landlords do vital work to provide good homes to millions of people, but these cases also reveal challenges.
“Despite the seriousness of the failings identified in this report, hazards can go unresolved for months and years. In several cases, repairs were unresolved at the point of the Ombudsman’s decision and in one case the landlord mishandled a local authority’s improvement notice.
“This shows a degree of complacency when responding to hazards, which is alarming given the statutory framework has been in place for 20 years.
“A fundamental flaw in the sector’s approach is a failure to risk assess and triage cases effectively. Several social housing landlords have told us in response to this report that triaging has been introduced. This is welcome but long overdue – and all landlords should consider adopting triaging.”
He adds: “Social housing landlords may not have an explicit reference to hazards in relevant repair policies and opportunities can be missed to address hazards when re-letting properties.”
“Therefore, right now social housing landlords should be assuring themselves they can deliver robust action on hazards and doing so will make them better prepared for Awaab’s Law.”
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