‘Room for much improvement’: Council’s compensation to tenants increases tenfold in one year

A council has been slammed by its local opposition party after a report revealed its compensation payouts to tenants have increased tenfold in the past year.

The Housing Ombudsman’s latest annual report revealed that Conservative-run Croydon council paid out £18,000 in compensation to tenants over housing issues between 2023 and 2024, up from £1,800 between 2022 and 2023.

The watchdog – which oversees complaints by registered landlords – also found Croydon had a maladministration rate of 81 per cent, compared to 67 per cent for the previous year.

In response to the findings, Cllr Claire Bonham, Liberal Democrat member for Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood, called for Croydon Mayor Jason Perry to apologise to tenants for the local authority’s “poor performance”.

She said: “Cases being referred to the ombudsman and requiring compensation should be a rare occurrence, if at all.

“I know from my own casework locally that tenants still struggle to get timely and consistent responses from the council and that getting repairs done is a struggle.”

A spokeswoman from Croydon council said the authority took the ombudsman’s report “very seriously” and extended an apology to tenants. 

She said: “We believe all residents have the right to live in safe, secure, and warm homes. Our main focus is to fix these issues and keep building on the progress we’ve made over the past year.”

In 2021, Croydon council hit the national headlines when an independent report found that poor management and staffing issues saw the health of tenants living in the Regina Road estate put at risk.

The same year, Croydon council referred itself to the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH). A year later, in December 2022, the local authority launched a five year ‘transformation plan’ to focus on improving the service.

Cllr Bonham said the latest ombudsman report shows there are “clear signs” that Croydon is “still failing tenants” and there is room for “much improvement”.

But, the council spokeswoman said: “We have already taken significant steps to strengthen our housing services, by introducing a new in-house contact centre and are working with three new repairs contractors. We continue to work with our residents and our contractors as part of our transformation plan.

“We are beginning to see better handling of complaints and continue to strengthen resident engagement to resolve concerns effectively. We have also made changes to how we deal with damp and mould, by setting up a dedicated team.”

Pictured top: Cllr Claire Bonham, Liberal Democrat member for Crystal Palace & Upper Norwood, outside a Croydon council housing estate (Picture: Cllr Claire Bonham)