The Housing Ombudsman has ordered Yorkshire Housing to pay £3,780 after it found three findings of severe maladministration for how it handled reports of a leak, damp and mould, complaint handling, and considering the resident’s welfare.
The HO says Yorkshire Housing was aware of the resident’s poor mental health and the two young children living within the household but failed to take appropriate action during their move to temporary accommodation because of the condition of their property following a leak.
The Ombudsman found the landlord neglected to follow its own decant and repairs policies for vulnerable residents and failed to consider the needs of the resident and provide the necessary support.
In addition to these failures, the resident’s initial complaint was ignored, and a further complaint remained unanswered, leading to the perception that the resident was unimportant and that the landlord did not care.
The landlords’ contractors were often depending on the resident to return to their property before they could complete necessary repairs. As a result, the resident experienced frequent disruptions and distress, especially since they were working from home during the national lockdowns.
The resident had repeatedly informed the landlord about the negative impact on her mental health caused by the events, lack of communication, and support. She reported that because of the temporary accommodation the household was moved to she was “eating their Christmas dinner on the floor” and “sleeping on mattresses for months”.
The Housing Ombudsman says: “This should have prompted the landlord to consider additional support for the vulnerable resident, but no such action was taken.
The landlord’s poor communication, oversight, and heavy-handed approach was particularly detrimental to a resident with mental health vulnerabilities, especially during a pandemic and national lockdowns. The landlord’s complaint handling was poor, with significant delays in response times.”
The Ombudsman ordered a senior member of staff from the landlord to apologise to the resident, complete all remaining repairs in the permanent address within six weeks and £3,780 in compensation.
The landlord has now provided the resident with a single named contact if they need to move out of their home whilst they carry out repairs, and has also formed a new Complaints Team.
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So, the so called ‘mental health issues’ appear to excuse the tenant of all personal responsibility. Of course the housing association should have done far, far better and its failures define their inept management.
However, this new fashion for jumping on the ‘mental health’ band wagon has become little more than a go to default for too often, hollow excuses.
It says the problem was caused by a leak. At least the tenant was in employment despite being a single parent with mental health challenges.
Throwing the mental health card is a classic from Ambulance chasing parasites and the cohort of Shelter/Acorn/GenR and CAB.
No one was eating Christmas Dinner off the floor unless it was by choice and young kids always want to sit on the floor
Another Social Housing landlord. 😱
No comment from (Don’t) Shelter, Generation Rant etc? 😡
Very poor from the housing association (the so called professionals, unlike us amateurs) but really? never eaten off the floor in my life, nor have any of my tenants, but we've all eaten meals off a tray on our lap, surely if they went to the trouble of buying and cooking xmas dinner they'd have thought of that?
I am afraid that "vulnerable" when applied to females is a euphemism describing prostitution.
So funny and just backed up by my husband , a retired Cop.
Strangely, in Tenby Wales last summer, on a roadside grass verge, a family decamped from a vehicle and proceeded to eat a large cooked meal whilst sitting on the grass.
They looked like a family of Pakistani origin.
If we can all see that this women is playing the game, why can't the Ombudsman???
Oh well, keep playing people, while you can, because soon you won't have a house to moan about ! I can't decide if I hate these people or really pity them because they're too stupid to see what's round the corner for them when we've all sold up!
Do you think BlackRock will care about your leak or mental health?????
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