A social landlord left poisoned rats rotting in a disabled tenant’s attic for up to a month, causing maggots to rain down from his kitchen ceiling.
Wriggling fly larvae fell on to worktops as dozens of rats decomposed in the roof space because pest controllers failed to return to remove them from the wheelchair user’s bungalow in Stamford, Lincolnshire.
The housing ombudsman has determined the landlord, Longhurst Group, was responsible for “severe maladministration” and ordered it to pay £2,300 in compensation.
The landlord, which provides 24,000 homes in the Midlands and east of England, also left damp and mould unfixed for 18 months and a wet room riddled with faults including a blocked and stinking drain for more than two years. A toilet exploded, leaving faeces everywhere, and the bungalow roof leaked.
It is the latest in a string of maladministration findings by the ombudsman since the Awaab Ishak case, in which a social landlord’s failure to treat mould was found to have caused the death of a two-year-old boy in Rochdale, Lancashire.
Up to 6% of social housing properties in England – about 240,000 – have notable or serious damp and mould problems, the government estimates.
The tenant described the experience as “horrible”, adding that ill-fitting doors also meant slugs, snails and woodlice entering freely.
“We kept telling them we had rats,” he said, asking for anonymity. “They poisoned them and then you could smell the rotting flesh. Then one day my carer was fixing my dinner and she let out a shriek. There were maggots dropping down, crawling along, trying to land in your food.”
He said the landlord and its contractors appeared “blase and responsible for nothing” and said there were “constant lies” about how the problems were being tackled. The landlord’s own policy is that problems such as vermin and maggots are so serious that they should be tackled within hours not weeks.
This week the parliament is expected to vote through government plans to require about 25,000 social housing managers to have a professional qualification.
“We know that many social housing residents are not receiving the service or respect they deserve,” said Michael Gove, the housing secretary. “The changes we are delivering today will make sure social housing managers across the country have the right skills and experience to deliver an excellent service and drive up standards across the board.”
“It is deeply concerning that a vulnerable resident lived with a category 1 hazard for some 18 months without the matter being resolved,” said Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman. “Findings of severe maladministration often, although not always, involve residents with evident vulnerabilities. The cumulative lesson for the sector of these cases across several landlords is that it needs to get better at recognising and responding appropriately to residents with vulnerabilities.”
The Longhurst Group apologised to the tenant in a statement.
“We acknowledge we made mistakes and took far too long to resolve the issues reported to us,” it said. “We didn’t communicate well with our customer or deal with their complaint properly and we failed to hold our contractors to account strongly enough. With more care and attention, the frustration and distress our customer experienced could’ve been avoided, and we take full responsibility for these failings.”
