The Housing Ombudsman has published two severe maladministration findings for Shepherds Bush HA (SBHA), due to failings in dealing with a resident’s reports of a roof leak and the subsequent complaint from the resident, who is a shared owner. SBHA took eight years to correctly identify the source of the leak and more than two years for the complaint to go through its complaints process.
The Ombudsman’s investigation found:
- severe maladministration for SBHA response to the resident’s reports of water ingress into the property and
- severe maladministration for its handling of the complaint.
SBHA was ordered to:
- pay compensation of £775, for the distress and inconvenience caused, in addition to the £1,208 previously offered
- inspect the property, investigate the ongoing water ingress and carry out all remedial works required inside the property to fully put right any water damage caused and
- carry out a management review of the case to identify learning to include staff training, policies and procedures on repairs and staff training on complaint handling.
Last month the Regulator of Social Housing downgraded SBHA’s Governance grade to a non-compliant G3 rating, citing failings in financial governance arrangements, inaccuracies in Board reporting and a lack of effective Board oversight and scrutiny, concerns over data quality and an insufficiently co-regulatory approach.