Ombudsman names social landlords guilty of ‘severe maladministration’

The Housing Ombudsman has continued its tougher and more transparent approach by naming and shaming the five social landlords it found guilty of ‘severe maladministration’.

The Ombudsman named the five landlords as the London boroughs of Camden and Newham, as well as the housing associations Together Housing, Cottsway Housing and the Hyde Group.

Both Camden and Newham councils left residents in poor living conditions for years, having failed to perform outstanding repairs. The Ombudsman ordered both councils to pay thousands of pounds in compensation.

Together Housing did not properly consult 29 supported housing residents before it withdrew support services; Cottsway gave a tenant the wrong tenancy agreement to sign, leading her to believe wrongly for 15 years that she had a preserved Right to Buy, while Hyde ignored a leaseholder’s queries about service charges for eight months and then failed to respond to her complaint, despite being asked to six times over four months.

The Ombudsman plans to release further details of cases that result in a ‘severe maladministration’ determination and will notify the Regulator of its findings, in line with their recently agreed memorandum of understanding.

Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway commented:

“This report focused on the few but most serious failings where we investigate and make a finding of severe maladministration. Issues with complaint handling featured in all the cases, together with poor record keeping in several.

“I have been encouraged by the response from landlords in wanting to put things right and hope that by publishing these cases, the learning is shared more widely across the sector, to help improve services and benefit residents.”

By Patrick Mooney, Editor