A glimpse into the future
By Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman
Roof faults, like window disrepair, are an emerging concern in our casework.
They present two systemic issues which landlords need to grasp: managing homeownership and planning major works. If unaddressed, these could become a driver of more complaints in future years.
Before we examine those technical areas, the resident’s voice should be heard. Our most recent ‘learning from severe maladministration’ report reveals starkly the human impact of roof disrepair.
Rainwater runs down a child’s bedroom wall. This has been recurring for more than two years. Another child’s TV catches fire because of the water damage. Every heavy downpour leaves a resident’s kitchen ceiling bowing. The mould growth causes food hygiene risks. Several buckets an hour are emptied by residents catching water. This happens in more than one case.
Conditions which would cause distress for most people are compounded by individual circumstances. This includes a leak into a resident’s bedroom while she’s undergoing chemotherapy. Another resident has food prepared in a moudly kitchen while recovering from a double lung transplant.
It’s vital landlords never lose sight of the impact of severe failings on people – but also take a forensic approach to identifying weaknesses in policy, processes, systems or culture.
This brings us back to those two themes of major works and homeownership.
Most landlords are demonstrating they’re applying lessons from complaints on responsive repairs to improve services. It’s important those lessons are extended from repairs to maintenance.
“Landlords have come a long way since I joined as ombudsman in 2019. The sector has shown more openness and honesty about the challenges being faced and improved its governance and oversight on key complaint trends. This must continue”
With the new Decent Homes Standard on the horizon, lessons from responsive repairs which could be transferred into handling major works include oversight, timeliness and communication. Poor performance in these areas could undermine what should otherwise be positive outcomes for residents of major works.
There are clear echoes from our other reports on window disrepair in relation to roofs. This could be extended to other components, too. The complexity and cost (including, potentially, to homeowners) of major works mean these can be delayed beyond a reasonable timeframe. The availability of components can also make the situation worse. And temporary fixes can be inadequate and costly in a different way.
For homeowners, accountability can be diffuse and third parties (such as managing agents) can hinder rather than help resolution. Accountability would be aided by a single redress scheme across the housing sector. Again, this report provides an almost identical lesson about the weaknesses of section 20 as our report on windows. The Decent Homes Standard will bring these issues to a head.
These lessons should also be taken forward into the expansion of Awaab’s Law, which will bring into scope more hazards. Issues present in our early casework include incomplete risk assessments, unexplained delays, unevidenced reports of no access and no consideration of temporary moves.
This is a reminder for landlords of the importance of triaging Awaab’s Law cases effectively and keeping processes agile when circumstances change.
Landlords have come a long way since I joined as ombudsman in 2019. The sector has shown more openness and honesty about the challenges being faced and improved its governance and oversight on key complaint trends. This must continue. And if landlords are to get ahead of the game, using complaints as an indicator of trends or emerging issues is a vital way of achieving that.
