News02.08.23by Stephen DelahuntyThe dead body of a resident in St Johns Wood was found by a London landlord during an eviction attempt after being undiscovered for around eight months. Picture: AlamySharelinesThe Metropolitan Police confirmed that the discovery at an Octavia Housing property is “being treated as unexplained but not suspicious” #ukhousing Octavia Housing found the body near the front door of the property in Carlton Hill on 1 February this year.
The Metropolitan Police confirmed they attended the property at 11.20am on that date and found a woman’s body at the address.
A spokesperson said that the “death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious”. A file was passed to Inner West London Coroners Court, and an inquest concluded in March. A source that wished to remain anonymous, told Inside Housing that the property had looked suspicious in the months leading up to the discovery due to “an overflow of letters and cobwebs”.
The source also said that the gas supply to the property had been capped in March 2020 after the landlord had been unable to gain access to the property.
Housing associations have a legal obligation to complete the check under the Gas Safety (Installation and Use) Regulations 1998.
The resident was in telephone conversation with Octavia in May and July 2022.
The property in Carlton Hill was described as a “small and more intimate community of residents”, as opposed to a large block of flats, where a number of similar discoveries have been made over the last 18 months.
Octavia said there were no concerns raised by neighbours about the resident, or staff that attend the communal areas on a regular basis. This includes hygiene concerns or post build up.
While the landlord does provide some tenants with more support and care services, this is not the case with all, it explained, and the tenant at this address exclusively engaged with Octavia as a landlord. Due to missed payments and after repeated attempts at contacting the resident, the process to begin repossession of the property by Octavia began in September 2022, and was completed when the body was discovered after a lengthy court process.
Throughout this period, Octavia said it made further attempts to contact the resident, including a visit to the property.
An Octavia spokesperson said: “On 1 February 2023, we visited one of our properties in West London and were saddened to find the resident was deceased.“We contacted the resident’s next of kin to inform them of their relative’s passing and supported them in making the relevant arrangements. Our thoughts continue to be with the family, and we ask that their privacy is respected.”
The coroner’s inquest into the discovery concluded on 6 March 2023 with no concerns raised regarding the resident’s death, and the landlord said it referred the incident to the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH).
An RSH spokesperson said: “Octavia Housing referred the case to us, and we concluded that it did not demonstrate a wider organisational failure to meet the consumer standards.”
There have been a number of similar tragic discoveries over the last 18 months. the most recent involved a Bolton-based landlord who apologised to the resident’s family after his dead body went undiscovered at his home for six years.
Bolton at Home said it learned of the death of tenant Robert Alton on 9 March 2023 after his body was discovered at his home in Hemsworth Road, Bolton.
The subsequent police and coroner’s investigation has concluded that Mr Alton’s death was not suspicious and that he likely died in May 2017. It was revealed in March that Zarinn Adatia, 84, and her daughter Tasneem Adatia, 48, had been found dead at their Barnet Homes property following attempts to carry out an annual gas safety check on 24 November last year.
Residents at the three-storey block in Prospect Ring, north London, told Inside Housing that they were devastated by news of the discovery, with one revealing that she had not heard from her neighbours since about March or April last year – around seven months before their bodies were discovered.
Last year, a coroner heard a similar case last year after the body of a 61-year-old Peabody resident was left undiscovered for two years.
Sheila Seleoane was found in her housing association flat at Lords Court in Peckham, south London in February last year.
Following an inquest and the subsequent investigation by Peabody, it was revealed that large patch sizes for neighbourhood wardens and a silo-working culture led to “missed opportunities”.
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