Landlords named as ombudsman highlights poor response to cladding complaints

In one case, the Housing Ombudsman said One Housing, which has merged with Riverside, “responded effectively” to an External Wall System 1 (EWS1) form request. 

“The landlord gave the resident accurate and reasonable advice about its prioritisation of the residents’ block for remediation works, progress to secure funding for these works and the potential impact of not being able to provide an EWS1 form in the meantime,” it said. 

In another case, the watchdog made a finding of maladministration for L&Q. 

It found that a risk-based approach to fire safety meant the landlord “did not consider the impact of its prioritisation policy on residents”. 

“The landlord’s strict adherence to the policy meant the resident was likely unable to sell the property for a significant period of time,” the ombudsman said. 

It found a service failure by Poplar Harca for both its fire safety communication and its response to residents’ requests to reimburse costs for an unsuccessful remortgage.

“The landlord missed opportunities to effectively communicate and did not appropriately directly inform the resident about remedial works that had been identified, which would impact provision of an EWS1 form and mortgages, and delayed doing so for several months,” the ombudsman said.

It added that this “wasted time and incurred unnecessary costs” for the resident.

The watchdog made a finding of maladministration for Riverside over issues with communication on fire safety works. 

“The landlord repeatedly failed to update residents following an intrusive inspection and in the months that followed. 

“There was also no evidence of a policy around buying back shared ownership properties and no details on its website concerning its position on reverse staircasing and buying back properties. 

“This further left the resident in limbo through no fault of his own,” it found. 

The ombudsman made a maladministration finding for Hyde after it “delayed unreasonably” for over a year to give a resident information on their block. 

Housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: “This has been an exceptionally challenging period for both residents and landlords. 

“While landlords will understandably feel swept up in a national crisis, the personal crisis this has created for residents affected, through no fault of their own, is profound and reflected across our casework.

“Landlords have handled cases best where the communication has been clear and crisp. 

“This requires openness with residents, accurate information and empathy. 

“Too often, as in other complaint areas, poor communication has compounded other failings.”

He added that poor communication can hamper sales processes and undermine the ability of residents to make informed decisions “during what has been, and still is, a stressful and complex situation”.

“These cases reflect the changes some landlords have made over the past two years, where the scale of the challenge has been acute for some, but they also show in some areas landlords still have learning to do,” Mr Blakeway stated.

The landlords named have been contacted for a response.

A spokesperson for Riverside said: “This is an occasion where we fell short of both our own and resident expectations, and we have apologised for our shortcomings and the dissatisfaction and frustration this had on the impacted residents. 

“We have learnt lessons from this determination with improved, more tailored communication. 

“We have written to all residents in the affected building to provide an update on the fire safety works being undertaken, as well as timetables on when the remedial works will commence and be completed and how and when we will communicate with residents going forward regarding the progress of the works. 

“In addition, we have a dedicated website and communications portal, text message system and installed digital noticeboards to provide real-time updates on the latest progress.

“We are in the process of developing a buy-back and reverse staircasing policy which will be available by the end of April.

“We also note that One Housing part of Riverside was cited for its good practice in the Ombudsman’s Report, fire safety is a group-wide responsibility, and we are continually learning from our experiences on both sides of the organisation.

“We take our responsibilities and residents’ safety seriously and try to carry out works in the best possible way both to minimise disruption to residents and to safeguard the long-term future of the building whilst protecting our residents from costs.”

David Lewis, executive group director of property services at L&Q, said: “L&Q have recently carried out our 1000th building inspection and we are proud of this progress. 

“Our programme is one of the largest and most robust in the UK and we are on track to have inspected all relevant blocks by 2025.

“Our programme is in line with government guidance and industry best practice, and we are pleased that the ombudsman agrees with our prioritisation.

“However, we accept their ruling that we could have been clearer in communicating to residents.

“L&Q takes resident safety and wellbeing seriously. We have a range of support measures available for residents looking to sell their home. 

“We apologise that we had not communicated these options clearly enough, and we have since taken steps to improve this.”