PA Housing, which manages more than 23,000 homes across the Midlands, London and the South East, has apologised to disabled tenant Samantha Burrell, whose bedroom was left uninhabitable for a total of 84 weeks due to leaks from the flat above that started in 2018. 

In a judgement from the Housing Ombudsman, which found severe maladministration for PA Housing’s repeated failings in dealing with a leak, the association confirmed that some staff have already received empathy training for dealing with customers, with more training commissioned to take place in 2023.

“Our written communications have also been reviewed to ensure the tone is appropriate,” it added.

In its report, the Housing Ombudsman said PA Housing “repeatedly failed to provide updates on works to fix the leak” and “repeatedly offered to reimburse Ms Burrell for the costs of a dehumidifier but then failed to do so”. It “failed to respond to her concerns about compensation for damage and failed to respond to her queries on what support it could offer in relation to her disabilities”.

The landlord had acknowledged in August 2020 that it needed to carry out the works to the resident’s property following the leak and did do work on the neighbour’s property to address the leaks. However, the Ombudsman found no evidence that it carried out work in the resident’s property. It made arrangements but then failed to follow up or the works were delayed.

It later acknowledged that the leaks had caused damage to the resident’s bedding and had led to the resident having to sleep in her living room which was still the case when we issued our decision in April 2022. This meant the resident had not been able to use her bedroom for 84 weeks. The landlord raised the possibility of compensation but never followed it up. It was also aware that the resident had a disability and initially failed to offer any support. When it said it could offer support by adapting her spare bedroom to her needs, it never did despite further queries from the resident.

The Ombudsman also found maladministration for the landlord’s complaint handling and ordered it to pay a total of £2,830 compensation, apologise to Ms Burrell, provide a timescale for completing rectification works and carry out a review of its overall management of the case.

Following the investigation, the landlord’s learning from this case includes changes to its policy and procedures for managing complex cases, regular reports and staff training.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “Throughout this complaint there were multiple instances where the landlord’s lack of communication caused distress to the resident. Even where it did provide timeframes for works, these were often not met and no communications given to the resident with an explanation or updated timeframe for works.

“The landlord’s failure to acknowledge the resident’s reports of leaks, having previously advised that it would keep her up to date, would have caused considerable distress for the resident, who remained unsure about how and when the leak would be resolved and continued to leave her without the use of her bedroom.

“I welcome the landlord’s response on its learning from this case and the changes being made to improve its service. I would encourage other landlords to consider the learning the case offers for their own services.”

A spokesperson from PA Housing said: “We’re deeply sorry for the errors made throughout this case, and the distress it has caused our resident. Our hope is always to provide the best possible services to our customers, and it’s clear this did not happen here.”