Landlord to overhaul void process after ombudsman found it moved family into second damp home

But in the new home, the residents had to deal with leaks from the boiler and pipe work, as well as further damp and mould later found to be caused by faulty pipes under the hallway floor.

Plexus had spent more than £5,000 repairing the property before the family moved in. Also, the housing association commissioned a survey while the property was empty after suspecting a leak was causing rising damp.

It admitted there was no evidence that it “adequately investigated or eliminated the possibility of a plumbing leak” at this stage and only carried out one recommendation from the survey.

Plus, the frequency of the leaks should have been looked into further and a thorough inspection of the pipes would have been “prudent”.

The family who moved in complained about the leaks and damp and escalated their concerns twice over the next year-and-a-half.

It was only then that Plexus requested another damp survey, which found “significant issues” that would have needed the family to be temporarily moved out to fix. The residents ended up relocating permanently due to other issues with the home.

Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “The void period is a vital opportunity for landlords to make sure a property is ready to be lived in and fix underlying issues with minimal disruption to a resident.

“This case shows what can go wrong when a landlord does not use that time well.

“It also highlights the importance of good knowledge and information management for landlords to be able to access a property’s full repair history, act on survey recommendations, and ensure nothing falls between the gaps between one tenancy and the next.”

He added: “We would urge landlords to examine their own void processes in light of this case.”

In a learning statement, Plexus said: “Following this determination, we reviewed our voids process and standards, and have a checklist in place to cover all aspects of the property before it is tenanted. 

“The team also now work within our repairs division working much more closely together with operatives and housing officers.

“Our repairs service has also been centralised into one regional operation, with more quality controls in place, recruitment of additional staff, enhanced one-to-one management of staff and has performance regularly reviewed through our governance structure.”

The landlord also explained that staff who deal with complaints have had further training.