A housing association has undertaken a review of nearly 4,000 homes following a wider order from the Housing Ombudsman.

The order for an independent review of policy and practice was made after the ombudsman made two severe maladministration findings for similar issues handling leaks, damp and mould at provider Sanctuary.

The social landlord commissioned a high-level review, independent of its repairs or complaints teams and the ombudsman, which focused on repairs, record keeping and responding to vulnerabilities. The ombudsman’s ability to make these wider orders under 54(f) of its Scheme was introduced following the Social Housing (Regulation) Act.

The review into the 4,000 cases found that there were potentially 236 impacted homes “where there is limited evidence that roofing works were carried out in an efficient and timely manner”.

Where there was limited evidence that the repairs were completed, those residents were contacted by Sanctuary to see if there were any outstanding issues. If works have not been completed, they are being progressed as a matter of urgency. The housing association will also apologise to any resident where works have not been completed as they should have been.

The social landlord also conducted workshops with residents to seek improvements and work on the feedback given. In the two cases that led to this wider order, the residents faced significant distress and inconvenience chasing and waiting for their roof repairs to be resolved, with communication issues rife throughout, the ombudsman said.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “Repairs, record keeping and vulnerabilities are three of the key themes that we see across our casework.

“It is encouraging to see the landlord tackle this head on and attempt to resolve some of the issues that have caused them problems when dealing with these complaints. The landlord’s approach to this review, and embracing the opportunity to learn, has been evident throughout and is commendable.

“Some of the actions and initiatives will need time to bed in and the landlord will be aware that what sounds good on paper has to be translated into effective action in practice. Having robust policies in place is a strong foundation but sustained focus and monitoring of outcomes is what will lead to resident’s experiencing improved outcomes..

“Within the report following this wider order, there is learning for all landlords to take forward on these three common causes for service failings and we would encourage all to engage positively with it to improve complaint handling and extend fairness across the sector.”

In all severe maladministration cases, the Ombudsman provides the landlord with an opportunity to share a learning statement.

Sanctuary’s Chief Executive, Craig Moule, said: “Every Sanctuary customer has the right to live in a safe, well-maintained home, and for issues to be resolved without undue delay. We apologised to the customers in these cases – acknowledging we had let them down and that we needed to make changes to enable every Sanctuary customer to receive the level of service they deserve.

“We welcomed the opportunity to work with the Housing Ombudsman, our customers and our Board to conduct this review through a detailed investigation, which highlights the hard work being done to learn from historic cases and improve our services for everyone.

“We can’t and won’t fix everything overnight, but we are determined to learn from our mistakes.”