Longhurst Group pays compensation after Easton-on-the-Hill resident left with rat and maggot infestation

A landlord left a disabled resident with a rat infestation which caused maggots to drop from their kitchen ceiling.

The Longhurst Group has been condemned for 'severe maladministration' and ordered by the housing ombudsman to pay £2,300 in compensation to a vulnerable tenant.

The resident, who lives in a bungalow in Easton-on-the-Hill, reported a pest infection to the housing provider. It wasn't until eight days later that the rats he reported were dealt with.

The resident explained that maggots were dropping from the kitchen ceiling due to the dead rats above and a deep clean of the kitchen was ordered for the next day but no one attended.

It was noted that the loft insulation would need replacing and other roof repairs were needed following the infestation, but these took months to be done and resulted in a return of the rats.

When the loft insulation started a contractor fell ill and works were only partially completed.

The resident then made a formal complaint adding in repairs that were needed for the wet room, kitchen and the roof.

After some repairs, they continued to report issues including increasing damp and mould in the kitchen and bedroom, sewage in the garden and the kitchen ceiling close to collapse.

Shortly after, the rats were back in the resident's home, six months after the first report.

The landlord took action to fix these issues, including treating the mould and proofing work being done to the roof. There was also a commitment from the landlord to organise a repair to the wet room.

However, the resident said the damp proofing had failed, the wet room smelt “horrible” as the drain blocked each time he used it, there was mould on the walls and a beam had collapsed in the roof.

Two years after his first complaint, the resident said repairs to the roof and the wet room renewal were still outstanding.

He expressed concerns about living without a proper toilet for a period while this work took place.

The housing ombudsman found the failings has a 'seriously detrimental effect' on the disabled resident, and raised concerns about the sector’s handling of some vulnerable residents.

The ombudsman ordered the landlord to apologise and pay the resident £2,300 in compensation, review its compensation policy and undertake the necessary works and action in relation to the wet room.

Richard Blakeway, housing ombudsman, said: “It is deeply concerning that a vulnerable resident lived with a category one hazard for some 18 months without the matter being resolved.

“There were lengthy delays by the landlord in carrying out many repairs at the property. While the landlord investigated and undertook to take action in relation to the roof, damp and mould and wet room, these matters are still outstanding.

"All this had a seriously detrimental effect on a vulnerable resident.

In its learning from the case, the landlord said it has restructured customer facing teams, appointed new repairs contractors and improved its training offer for staff.

A Longhurst Group spokesperson said: "We’d like to publicly apologise to our customer for the experience they received.

"We’ve apologised in person and taken steps to make amends, including paying compensation and ensuring they’re happy that repairs have been completed to a high standard.

“We acknowledge we made mistakes and took far too long to resolve the issues reported to us. 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."

They added that additional resources have been invested and that the company is continuing to deal with a backlog of repairs from the pandemic.