Review of landlord finds 180 families forced out of homes for repairs for long periods

It said that Peabody’s handling of the case led to repeated delays because not all repairs were included in the schedule of works and inadequate post-work inspections led to the resident returning to the home with issues outstanding.

The review found failings in the landlord’s policy on moving people out of homes during repairs, which was “not properly followed” and meant Peabody acted “without empathy and effective communication”.

It also found “poor planning on repairs, poor-quality work, lack of ownership and co-ordination between teams, and mixed surveying competence”.

“While it noted that culturally many staff members were helpful and resident-focused, others had been less so,” the watchdog said.

Following the review, the ombudsman made 31 recommendations for Peabody to improve its services.

They include:

• At the start of the tenancy make a formal assessment of any mental health or other issues, based on expert advice as to how the landlord can best take account of these issues

• Review and expand the vulnerable persons policy, including learning from this case and the findings and recommendations of the ombudsman’s ‘Spotlight’ report on attitudes, respect and rights

• Consider reviewing its repairs surveying competence and/or of the adequacy of its framework, such as procedures (including in relation to documenting findings), guidelines, training and supervision

• Establish a policy in relation to sharing with tenants’ copies of survey reports relating to their property

• Review the communication plan a surveyor has with the resident before, during and after the works are completed to ensure that all parties are aware of the works being carried out, why and what resolution looks like

Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “These explorative reviews into landlords’ practices beyond the initial complaint uncover fundamental changes that are needed to improve residents’ lives in the future.

“The review is clear about the weaknesses in approach which could impact other residents and we will continue to work with the landlord to see how it embeds the recommendations.

“The landlord is open about the improvements it is making and only by making these changes will the need for residents to raise future complaints be reduced.”

He added that there is “plenty of learning in this for other landlords too”, in particular around extended decants, voids and the sign-up process for lettings.

“We are using these powers as part of a wider package of measures to ensure landlords are learning lessons from complaints and joining the dots between failings in different cases.

“It is also positive that the landlord is involving residents in the review of the report and we would encourage that engagement to continue as it looks to improve its response to repairs and complaints-handling,” Mr Blakeway said. 

Ian McDermott, chief executive of Peabody, said: “We didn’t give this resident the level of service we’re striving for and we’re very sorry we let her down. 

“We apologised to her in person, paid her compensation, and have completed all the repairs needed in her home.  

“We’ve changed a lot at Peabody in the past few years. We’ve made significant changes to our structure and the way we operate, with local teams now in place to support residents in their neighbourhoods.

“We’re more focused than ever on ensuring every resident’s home is safe and well maintained from the day they move in, and that we keep disruption to a minimum for residents by doing repairs swiftly and efficiently.”

He said it is this approach that is seeing the landlord spend an average of £1m per day on homes. 

Mr McDermott said: “Both the ombudsman and independent report we commissioned have shed light on areas where we fell short and where we still need to improve, and we will carry on working hard to address these shortcomings. 

“We’re improving our repairs services and how we communicate with residents, especially when there are issues. 

“These priorities, along with the recommendations from the reports, are at the core of our plans for improvement and overall change. We’ll keep revisiting these plans to make sure we’re continuing to make progress and maintain high standards for residents.”

In March, the ombudsman ordered Peabody to pay out £11,000 in compensation following four findings of severe maladministration.

The watchdog’s investigation into the cases was focused on complaint-handling, adaptations and overdue repairs, with residents describing the conditions they were forced to live in as “horrific” and “intolerable”.