Inside Housing – Home – Ombudsman highlights ‘human cost’ of temporary moves in latest learning report

The ombudsman flagged a number of learning points for landlords, including improving communication to reduce stress and anxiety for residents and the consequences of not providing temporary accommodation at the right time.
“The landlord is putting the resident, as well as their own organisation, at risk by delaying a temporary move when the conditions are hazardous. This cannot be justified,” the report said.
This was highlighted in a case where a Peabody resident was left in a dangerous property that included an exposed live wire for 31 days before being offered a temporary home.
Peabody said in a learning statement that its service had fallen “well short of the standards these residents rightly expected from us, and well below the standards we expect of ourselves. We are very sorry.
“We have acted on the orders of the ombudsman, and we are working with residents to put things right in all of these cases.”
Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) said it recognised “the myriad ways in which we let our resident down and fully accept the findings of the ombudsman’s report”.
“More broadly, we recognise that in recent years our service has not consistently been at the level we need it to be. In March 2023, we published a new policy outlining our approach to dealing with damp and mould in our homes, which includes action to proactively identify and quickly remedy any presence of damp and mould,” NHG said.
A Kensington and Chelsea spokesperson said: “We apologise to the resident for their inconvenience and have complied with each of the ombudsman’s orders.
“We always try to account for our residents’ unique individual circumstances when assisting them with their housing, and we are grateful to the ombudsman for providing clarity over the definition of what constitutes a vulnerability. We will be applying this learning to all future cases.”
A Moat spokesperson said: “We care about ensuring our customers feel comfortable and happy in their homes, and we are truly sorry for failing our customer and their family.
“We’ve taken this situation to heart and used the experience to train our housing management and complaint handling teams.”
A spokesperson for Orbit said: “We are extremely sorry for letting our customer down and creating unnecessary stress and inconvenience at a time when they needed support from their landlord.
“We have taken important learnings from this case to improve the effectiveness of our service and communications with customers, and our support for those with additional needs.”
A Southwark spokesperson said: “We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused by the delay in addressing the repair at this property. We acknowledge that the situation could have been managed more efficiently.
“We accept the Housing Ombudsman’s findings in full and we have made a formal apology to the resident and agreed to the compensation.”
A spokesperson for Wandle said: “We’re deeply sorry that our service to this resident didn’t meet the standard we strive to deliver. We apologised unreservedly to the tenant affected and fully complied with the orders made.”
The report also referred to the recent Grenfell Tower Inquiry report, which stressed how the Kensington and Chelsea Tenant Management Organisation failed to take resident complaints seriously.



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