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Large London landlord reaches out to MP after early day motion raised in parliament
A large London landlord has agreed to meet with a Liberal Democrat MP after an early day motion was raised in parliament that highlighted concern with the standard of service being provided.
Peabody found itself the subject of the motion submitted for debate in the House of Commons following a report in the Financial Times.
The report heard from dozens of residents who accused the 104,000-home group of the mismanagement of its homes.
The early day motion relates to a property in St Albans, and while it has no specific time allocated to it for debate, it is used to put on record the views of individual MPs to draw attention to specific issues.
By attracting the signatures of other MPs, a motion can be used to demonstrate the level of parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view.
In this case, three Liberal Democrat MPs signed the motion: Tim Farron, Daisy Cooper and Christine Jardine.
The property in question is in Ms Cooper’s St Albans constituency.
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The text of the motion states: “That this House notes with concern the standard of customer service and engagement provided by Peabody Housing Association; expresses its disappointment that responses to enquiries to the association are not forthcoming to either its customers or their Members of Parliament; agrees with tenants and leaseholders of the association that it is unacceptable that they continue to find themselves having no method of recourse to challenge irregularly large service charge increases.”
The motion also express its regret that “the chief executive Ian McDermott has repeatedly ignored correspondence asking for justification for above inflation increases to service charges; further notes with alarm the reports in the Financial Times that The Residents Scrutiny Panel for Peabody revealed in June 2022, that 87 per cent of respondents viewed increases as unreasonable, and that two-thirds of residents who queried service charge levels were found to have been overcharged; calls on the Peabody Housing Association to respond promptly to enquiries from its customers and their Members of Parliament; and calls on the Secretary of State for the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities to invite Peabody Housing Association to answer for its failures in customer service and engagement”.
In response, the landlord explained that the MPs’ representations on behalf of residents were sent to a shared email as opposed to being sent directly to Mr McDermott.
Ms Cooper and Mr McDermott have now agreed to meet to discuss matters with residents, and the landlord said it is looking into why emails were not escalated or responded to appropriately.
A Peabody spokesperson added: “This motion relates specifically to an issue at one property in St Albans and we have been in touch with Daisy Cooper MP to arrange a meeting to discuss the matter with residents.
“We will be providing a thorough response to both her and those living there.”
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