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L&Q apologises after vulnerable tenant’s ‘unacceptable’ conditions exposed
L&Q, one of the UK’s biggest social landlords, has apologised for failing to deal with damp and mould complaints from a resident with a serious health condition following a TV news report.
An investigation by ITV found that L&Q resident Junior Jimoh, who has a neuromuscular condition, has been complaining of damp and mould in his London flat since 2019.
Mr Jimoh, who breathes with the assistance of a ventilator, has been hospitalised on several occasions with respiratory issues, which he said are caused by the poor conditions in his flat.
The resident told ITV: “It actually feels very depressing because I’ve kind of noticed that I’m not able to come off the ventilator as much as I used to; staying in this property that’s full of mould is actually making me worse.
“I’m struggling in this flat. I’ve noticed that my lungs are actually starting to hurt when I breathe.”
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In a statement, L&Q apologised for Mr Jimoh’s situation, admitting that he was living in “wholly unacceptable conditions”.
It added: “We are very sorry that our service has fallen so far short of the standard we expect for residents. It is clear that the resident has been badly let down by L&Q.
“L&Q has a vulnerable tenants policy which should ensure that we respond faster to our residents with disabilities or health conditions.
“We are now conducting a detailed review of our contact with the resident to find out why his issues were not treated with more urgency.”
The 105,000-home landlord said Mr Jimoh will soon be moving to a new property with ongoing contact to ensure that his needs are met.
It follows previous reports of poor social housing conditions at Croydon Council where an independent review into the local authority found it had shown “a lack of care and respect for residents”.
Today, the Regulator of Social Housing declared the London borough non-compliant with its standards.
L&Q has previously been made to apologies for poor conditions within its housing stock.
In 2019, the landlord’s then chief executive admitted that the housing association “got it wrong” after it failed to respond to concerns over a leak in a tenant’s home, which eventually resulted in their ceiling collapsing.
The previous year, it launched an independent review of its repairs service after a critical report in The Observer.
In a recently published five-year strategy, L&Q placed emphasis on investing in its existing homes and improving services for residents.
