Gove writes to housing association over ‘completely unacceptable’ treatment of tenant

“When an issue is reported it should be acted upon swiftly, with repairs and necessary actions to resolve the problem carried out speedily and effectively. 

“Your tenants should be confident that they will be heard and that you as a landlord understand their concerns and will take their complaint seriously. 

“On this occasion, you have seriously let your tenants down,” he said. 

Mr Gove said it was “unacceptable” and “disappointing” that it took Housing Plus Group three requests from the Housing Ombudsman to respond after being contacted about the case. 

He said that the findings of the case must improve processes at the organisation to prevent the same thing from happening in future. 

“I trust that your new executive director will take this forward as a matter of urgency,” Mr Gove added. 

Mr Gove’s letter comes less than one week after the ombudsman’s ruling, which found that the landlord’s delays “were unacceptable” and ordered it to pay £1,000 in compensation.

Responding to the ombudsman’s ruling at the time, a Housing Plus Group spokesperson said: “This was a wholly unacceptable situation that was compounded by a poor response from the landlord and failure to communicate with the customer properly.

“We have apologised unreservedly to the resident and have dealt with all of the issues that gave rise to the complaint.

“Stafford and Rural Homes became part of the Housing Plus Group in October 2019 and since that point, working practices and policies have been reviewed, taking account of the lessons we have learned from this experience.”

In response to Mr Gove’s letter, the spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have received a letter from the secretary of state in which he made his commitment clear to improving the standard of social housing in the UK. 

“This is something we very much welcome.”

Posting the letter on Twitter, Mr Gove said that the treatment of the tenant in this case was “completely unacceptable” and warned that he was “putting social landlords on notice”.

“You must improve standards and treatment of tenants or face consequences,” he added.

As part of sweeping social housing regulation reforms, the housing secretary has vowed to name and shame landlords that fail to meet standards.

Mr Gove did this for the first time last month, when he publicly criticised Clarion, the country’s largest association, after it received severe maladministration findings.