Ombudsman finds "unacceptable and inappropriate" responses by social landlord to damp and anti-social behaviour complaints

Hyde Group has been ordered to pay £4.5k in compensation after the Housing Ombudsman found two cases of severe maladministration regarding its complaint handling.

The group's Chief Executive has since written to apologise to both the customers it let down.

In the two separate cases, the Ombudsman found that the landlord “unreasonably” delayed taking actions to resolve issues raised by residents, and “did not take into account both physical disabilities and mental health impacts throughout”.

In Case A, the Ombudsman found that Hyde Group left an elderly South London resident in damp and mould for 18 months following a leak, which left her without the use of her living room.

The resident behind the complaint had breathing difficulties, a heart condition and mobility issues.

The report notes that the landlord “repeatedly failed to deal with the issue with the urgency it deserved”, for example taking two days to initially respond to the resident after she reported the leak that led to the floor and wall being wet in the living room and electrics not working properly.

Four months after the initial reporting, the landlord attended only to conduct a mould wash.

“This limited action was not unusual and communication throughout with the resident was sometimes poor despite it knowing repairs remained outstanding, with one communication gap for six months”, said the Ombudsman.

The watchdog concluded that the timings for action set out in the landlord’s stage one response were missed by four months, and the landlord “should have monitored this more effectively and kept the resident up to date as to the reasons for the delay”.

To remedy the injustice caused, the landlord was ordered to apologise to the resident, pay £3,350 in compensation and to support the resident to make a claim against the landlord’s insurance for the damage caused to her personal belongings.

In Case B, which the Ombudsman said cannot be published for anonymity reasons, the landlord failed “multiple times” in its handling of the resident’s reports of ASB from her neighbour.

The Ombudsman found that the landlord “did not adequately support the resident or address her concerns that the noise nuisance was affecting her mental health each time she raised her concerns. It also had a detrimental impact on her children”.

It was found that despite the landlord initially responding well when the incident was reported, a risk assessment was never carried out, and “as the reports continued and the resident repeatedly told the landlord of the impact on her, it failed to signpost to any support agencies in reasonable timeframes”.

Further, delays in contacting external agencies that could help with the neighbour’s mental health issues led to a delay in the landlord contacting the neighbour about the complaint.

Ten months after the initial reporting of ASB, the landlord told the resident it would be issuing the resident’s neighbour with a notice to seek possession.

However, the Ombudsman found no evidence to demonstrate that it did.

“Therefore, the landlord raised the resident’s expectations without delivering or communicating as to why it did not take the action it had proposed”, said the Ombudsman.

The landlord’s chief executive was ordered by the Ombudsman to pay £1,200 in compensation, apologise to the resident and to review its ASB policy in line with the learnings from the case.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “While the reasons for residents raising complaints and service areas involved with [were] very different, the underlying reasons for service failures across both of these cases was the landlord’s inaction and delay. This led to issues getting worse and residents experiencing greater detriment as a result.

“The other parallel is a lack of understanding and appropriate response to the vulnerabilities of its residents, whether that be physical or mental.

“It is unacceptable and inappropriate to follow the same patterns and procedures when knowledge of the resident’s circumstances should adjust the response. This requires a proportionate and a tailored approach, something lacking in these cases.”

In a statement, Hyde Group said: “We’re sorry for the stress and anxiety caused to both residents.

“We took too long to respond when they first told us about their problems, and we should have worked more effectively to stop issues escalating. Our Chief Executive has personally written to apologise to both our customers who we let down."

It added: “We’ve made significant changes since these cases began in 2020. This includes how we tackle damp and mould in our homes, and how we handle reports of anti-social behaviour in our communities. However, we accept we got things wrong in both these cases.

“We’re using findings from these cases, along with customer feedback, to continue to improve our ways of working and to train colleagues in best practice. Alongside increasing investment in the homes we provide, we’re also allocating more resources to dealing with customers’ complaints, to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”

Lottie Winson