The Housing Ombudsman has urged social landlords to “see the person behind the repair” in its latest severe maladministration report.

With Awaab’s Law now in force, the ombudsman says there will be a greater focus on connecting a household’s circumstances to the condition of the property, which will make for more person-focused repairs services.

Among the cases in the new report is a domestic abuse survivor who lived with a faulty entry door for nine months, and another survivor who reported anxiety about being unable to lock a door.

In other cases: a ceiling collapsed on a child’s bed while they were sleeping in it;, another child was exposed to live electrical cables; and another hurt themselves on uneven flooring after repairs took 18 months.

A resident with disabilities had no functioning shower in his wet room for 12 months and a child with additional needs had to use a broken toilet for five months. The ombudsman says such incidents shows the human impact behind the increase of cases being brought to it.

The landlords highlighted in the new report are:

  • A2Dominion
  • Basildon Council
  • Birmingham City Council
  • Clarion
  • Freebridge Community Housing
  • Harlow Council
  • Hyde Housing Association
  • London Borough of Haringey
  • London Borough of Lambeth
  • London Borough of Lewisham
  • L&Q
  • Moat Homes
  • Newlon Housing Trust
  • Notting Hill Genesis
  • Orbit Group.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “It is always important to see the person behind the repair.

“In these cases, had individual circumstances been adequately considered by the landlords when making decisions, the outcomes could have been different.

“Instead, we see the impact of services failures exacerbated because the residents are disabled, domestic abuse survivors or children.

“And these cases show the importance of a customer focus in one particular area: appointments.

“Throughout these cases, repairs appointments do not take place. This is inefficient for landlords and can waste resident’s time. A missed appointment can trigger a series of events from which the landlord finds it hard to recover.

“It is important for residents to allow access for landlords to do repairs. But these cases indicate inadequate or outdated systems or approaches to appointments which lack a customer focus.”