A man was found dead in his home six years after he died when his landlord got a court order to enter the property and check the gas supply. Robert Alton, 76, was found in his flat on March 9.
An inquest has concluded he 'likely' died in May, 2017. Bolton at Home housing association chief executive officer Noel Sharpe said in a statement: "It's completely unacceptable to us that something like this has happened."
He said the organisation should have done more to check on Mr Alton's welfare and said they had tried to contact him many times over the years, reports MEN.
The pensioner's rent was being paid through housing benefits. Mr Sharpe said the housing association's policy was changed in July 2022 so legal warrants would always be sought to obtain access to tenants' homes where they cannot be contacted to check gas supplies. It was that change that led to Mr Alton's body being discovered.
Mr Sharpe said: "Everyone at Bolton at Home has been deeply shocked by this and we realise it will concern and upset people to learn his body remained undiscovered for such a long time. It’s completely unacceptable to us that something like this has happened, and we've taken action to reduce the risk of it happening again.
"The reason we didn't discover Robert's death for so long is because our previous procedure, while meeting legal requirements, wasn't strong enough to prevent something like this happening.
"We made many attempts to contact Robert over a number of years to arrange gas safety checks. It's clear that the action taken by us to understand why we couldn't contact him didn’t go far enough. Opportunities were missed in spotting that something was potentially wrong. We should have done more to check on Robert's welfare.
"We changed our procedure in July 2022, and we now immediately begin the process of seeking access to someone's home via a warrant in instances where we cannot contact them to arrange a gas safety check. It was this change and subsequent review of previous instances that ultimately led to us seeking a warrant to access Robert's home and discovering his body."The change to our procedure significantly reduces the risk of something like this from happening again. In addition, we’re also taking steps to enable our tenancy support team to work more closely with our gas safety team where we’re struggling to gain access to a property and where there may be welfare concerns.
"We're also exploring what else we might be able to do to further reduce the risk of this being repeated.
"I would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to Robert's loved ones, friends and neighbours and apologise to them for the opportunities we missed in finding out why we couldn’t contact him."
Coroner Peter Sigee recorded an open verdict. No relatives have been traced, despite GMP issuing an appeal.
