Housing association forced to pay out after mum left in flat where windows could ‘fall out’

By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter

A mum whose young family was forced to live in a second-floor flat with windows “having the potential to fall out” for 16 months has won a complaint against her landlord.

Notting Hill Genesis was found to have committed “severe maladministration” by the housing watchdog and paid £1,400 in compensation.

The Housing Ombudsman said Notting Hill Genesis had acted unreasonably.

Richard Blakeway, from the watchdog, said: “A mother had to go to extraordinary lengths to get the landlord to listen to their valid concerns about the safety of the windows for her children.

“It is wholly unreasonable for the appropriate action to take this length of time.”

The woman had contractors visit her flat in Westminster twice after complaining to her landlord. Both times, inspectors found the windows were at risk of falling on her family or members of the public.

At one point, the landlord paid workmen to board up the windows and took another seven months to replace them.

When the tenant complained to a contractor, she was told Notting Hill Genesis still hadn’t paid them.

The Housing Ombudsman discovered that the landlord also failed to obtain a report from the contractor.

Mr Blakeway added: “Throughout this period, the landlord did not take sufficient action based on the information being provided by its contractors.

“Nor was the resident kept up to date with the repair or informed about the potential need for more extensive works.  The landlord also showed a lack of empathy for the resident’s concerns.

“Faults with windows is a potential emerging issue in our casework and can be the cause of considerable distress and inconvenience for residents. There are lessons from this case for other landlords.”

Notting Hill Genesis was also found to have bungled the tenant’s complaint and should have replaced the windows at once. It also criticised the amount that was paid out.

Notting Hill Genesis said it has since changed its emergency repair policy, updated how repairs are reported, and given residents more information about lodging their concerns with the landlord.

In a statement, they said: “We are very sorry for the unacceptable length of time it took us to replace the resident’s windows and the serious inconvenience it caused her and her family.

“Our standards fell way below what we demand and as such we fully accept the findings of the housing ombudsman with regards to how we handled this repair.

“We have carried out a whole case review of the complaint to identify the lessons we can learn and improve our internal processes.

“Any finding of this nature comes as a huge disappointment to us and we will ensure it acts as motivation to get issues like this right first time in future.”

Pictured top: Notting Hill Genesis headquarters in Killick Street, Kings Cross (Picture: Google Street View)