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MP criticises G15 landlord for repairs response on estate
The MP for Streatham has criticised a housing association for its response to repairs on an estate where residents have suffered years of damp and mould.
MP criticises G15 landlord for repairs response on estate #UKhousing In a submission to Lambeth Council’s housing scrutiny sub-committee earlier this month, Bell Ribeiro-Addy said she raised several severe cases of mould, damp, leaks, electrical faults and structural faults in blocks run by Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTVH) .
She added that tenants had “faced excuses, delays or general obstructions” by the housing association, “which has delayed repairs being carried out”.
The submission was made to the committee as it was looking at an update on work being done to address issues on St Martin’s Estate. Residents have had problems with the three housing associations that manage homes on the 44-block estate.
The associations are MTVH, Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) and Optivo.
The social landlords told Inside Housing that they have been working with residents and the council over the past 18 months to address the issues on the estate, with much of the work carried out and the rest committed to being carried out.
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Residents launched a ‘damp’ campaign in 2019 and raised the issues at a public meeting of the council, which stepped up and commissioned a desktop study on the estate.
A subsequent report in 2020 concluded that several blocks were affected by damp and mould, likely due to “structural defects to the fabric of buildings and rainwater services”, and that landlords had adopted an “inherent victim-blaming approach”.
The associations have since been providing updates to the council as they address the housing conditions.
Lambeth Council has also been inspecting properties to see if the work has been carried out.
But in her submission to the committee, Ms Ribeiro-Addy said through her case work, she has become “increasingly familiar with the poor treatment housing association tenants face and the apparent lack of concern housing associations have towards their duty of care for their tenants”.
She explained she had recently worked with the St Martin’s Tenants and Residents Association (TRA) to raise issues of lift disrepair on the estate and to secure financial compensation for the periods when the lifts have been out of service.
“Unfortunately, their housing association, Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing, has made this process unnecessarily difficult and several discrepancies have resulted in residents from different buildings within the estate receiving different amounts of compensation,” Ms Ribeiro-Addy said.
“With all of these issues, I have faced excuses, delays or general obstructions by the housing association, which has delayed repairs being carried out.”
MTVH said it takes a consistent approach to compensation.
Speaking at the meeting, Terry Curtis, treasurer of the St Martin’s TRA, said there has been significant progress addressing damp on the estate, though he pointed out that residents do not have the expertise to assess or challenge housing associations’ assessment of the work.
He also said some leaseholders are still having problems.
The report that went before the committee also included lessons learned from the council intervention, including that housing association tenants should exhaust the complaints processes first before the local authority intervenes.
It said any future cases of a similar nature should be referred to the Housing Ombudsman first.
“The expectation to this policy is where there is an imminent risk to health and or safety,” according to the report.
If a council intervention is required, there should be additional resources in place to deal with any visits and enforcement action.
There should also be shared and joined-up working with the council and housing associations.
Social landlords’ responses
A spokesperson for MTVH said: “All the people we provide homes for deserve to live somewhere that is safe, warm and dry.
“We have been working closely with residents and Lambeth Council for over 18 months to tackle the historic damp and mould issues we know there are with some homes at St Martin’s.
“This has seen independent inspections conducted, leading to significant investment and improvement works to 85 homes so far.
“Works have included internal insulation, ventilation improvements, balcony surface repairs, replacement fittings and others.
“We are committed to completing the remaining works and continue to encourage residents to come forward with any issues that they have with their homes, as well as conducting our own inspections of buildings.
“We are meeting with Ms Ribeiro-Addy MP in the coming weeks to discuss our shared commitment to ensuring people have the homes and services they need to live well.
“Feedback about issues that are being raised with her by MTVH residents is really important for us to receive, and we are committed to addressing any concerns she and residents may have.”
A spokesperson for Optivo said: “Over the past 18 months we’ve worked closely with Lambeth Council, Optivo residents and the TRA at St Martin’s Estate to understand the ongoing issues, agree improvements and keep everyone informed of progress.
“We’ve a positive relationship with Lambeth and local council members.
“We’ve already completed a programme to tackle issues of damp in a small number of homes.
“We continue to work closely with the TRA and our residents to prevent damp issues reoccurring.
“This year we’ve also started work on a comprehensive refurbishment of each of our blocks, including roof renewals and external decorations.
“Our relationships with Lambeth, the TRA and other St Martin’s landlords are very good.
“We meet regularly to agree longer-term collaborative solutions to improve the estate overall. This includes community investment and support.”
A Notting Hill Genesis spokesperson said: “We have a good relationship with Lambeth Council and have been working with them throughout the process of surveying homes at St Martin’s and carrying out required works. We have surveyed 154 social homes and carried out necessary repairs at 76 of them. We have also assisted leaseholders where issues were identified.”
Maria Kay, cabinet member for better homes and homelessness at Lambeth Council, said: “Over the last year I have worked incredibly hard to hold registered providers [RPs] to account regarding the treatment of their tenants.
“I met with [MTVH] to ensure that they changed their decision to evict their guardians during Christmas. I’ve been Intervening on severe disrepair cases or leaseholder issues ensuring the best outcomes for those residents on countless cases.
“It’s possible to make those changes and secure better outcomes for our residents because of the long-standing partnership work through the Lambeth Housing Partnership Forum that has enabled collaboration between the council and these registered providers.
“Although registered providers are independent organisations with their own and the council has no role in monitoring them, we have improved relationships with our RPs through a memorandum of understanding.
“By greater understanding of RPs and working together to escalate issues to relevant partners, we have started to see an improvement in performance and resolutions to common issues.
“The potential for enforcement action on the RPs was discussed last year, but the RPs have subsequently produced revised action plans for dealing with the repairs.”
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