Norwich City Council placed on list of worst landlords in the country by Housing Watchdog.
Urgent overhaul demanded by Greens.
The Green Party is calling for an urgent review into Norwich City Council’s management of council homes across the city after a damning report from the Housing Ombudsman found the council to be among the worst performing landlords in the country.
In a report published last month, the Housing Ombudsman urged the council to make improvements and for the Cabinet Member responsible for this area to carry out a review, after finding a 100% maladministration rate in the findings made in 2022-23, the highest of any council in the country, compared to a national average of 55%.
In every single finding, the council was forced to pay out for their failure to handle complaints from tenants across the city.
The Social Housing Regulations Act, which will come into effect early next year, introduces higher standards for landlords like Norwich City Council, and will give the watchdog powers to dish out unlimited fines to those landlords found breaching these rules. This will put Norwich City Council at significant financial risk if it continues on this path.
Alex Catt, Deputy Leader of the Green Group at City Hall said, “This report mirrors the reality that tenants face on the ground here in Norwich. Countless council tenants come to us for help feeling as though the council is completely ignoring them whether it is damp and mould, a lack of basic amenities, pests or general household repairs.”
“The Council is sitting on its hands while its housing stock is crumbling around them, with residents facing the brunt. We echo the concerns raised by the Housing Ombudsman and are demanding urgent action to resolve these issues so that tenants can feel warm, secure and safe in their homes.”
Ash Haynes, Shadow Cabinet Member for Housing and Community Safety for the Green Party said, “Green councillors across the city regularly take on cases from mistreated council tenants and fight to get them the repairs they need. Meanwhile we have been calling for an overhaul to the housing repairs reporting system to prevent tenants falling through the cracks. We urge the Labour administration to look at this again.”
Andrea Waldron, a resident on Gertrude Road who has had multiple serious issues during her tenancy with Norwich City Council said, “It shouldn’t be this difficult to be a council tenant. Since moving in, the issues have been endless and have put a huge strain on my physical and mental health.”
“Whether it is a shower that doesn’t work properly, damp and mould spreading in my property, the lack of extractor fans where they are needed, anti-social behaviour in the neighbourhood or other basic repairs, I am ignored by this council. At one point they even uncapped a live gas pipe in my garden. My emails do not get replies, my complaints are brushed off, contractors either don’t show up or give you no notice and through all of this, the most basic issues take months to get sorted, usually only by contacting a councillor.”
“Over the last couple of months, being ignored by the council has meant our drain has been blocked to the point that raw sewage seeped outside and through my walls, holes in my walls and pipes have meant that rats have gotten in yet again, leaving urine and faeces around my home while destroying food I can’t afford to replace. I am at breaking point and they don’t seem to care”.
