Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the Housing Ombudsman’s adjudication on Complaint 202015630 about Clarion Housing Group’s handling of a repair for a disabled tenant and the recommendation that the organisation review its whole process and practice for dealing with the repairs of vulnerable tenants, if he will ask the Regulator for Social Housing (a) for what reason it didn’t identify those service failings in its own investigation in 2020 and 2021 and (b) whether vulnerable tenants were potentially incurring serious detriment as a result of Clarion’s flawed classification of their repairs as routine to be completed within 28 days.

The Regulator of Social Housing's investigations in 2020 and 2021 did not identify systemic failures by Clarion and therefore did not find a breach of the regulatory standards or serious detriment. However, the Regulator has acknowledged and notified Clarion that it had identified individual incidents of service failure for Clarion to resolve. The Regulator does not have a role in resolving individual disputes between tenants and their landlords. Where the Regulator receives a referral from a tenant or representative for an individual matter, the Regulator will always signpost the tenant or representative to the Housing Ombudsman.

The Housing Ombudsman's role is to adjudicate on individual complaints from tenants about their landlords, and its investigation and adjudication on Complaint 202015630 was a resolution to an individual complaint.

Service failures can have a significant effect on tenants, and such failures should be remedied promptly and effectively by the landlord. Where a registered provider does not resolve the issues for the tenant, it is for the Housing Ombudsman to make orders and recommendations to put things right for the individual affected.