Housing association L&Q put me and my terminally ill mother through a 15 month ordeal
My sick mother and I were moved to different temporary accommodations for over 15 months because my landlord, L&Q, failed to fix our uninhabitable apartment. I still don't have a date when I can return to our 25-year-old home.
Our ordeal began in August 2020, when we reported large cracks in the ceiling. A contractor visited the site and indicated that repairs should take place in the near future. Nothing was done. Eleven months later the ceiling collapsed while we were at home and water poured out. Firefighters declared the apartment uninhabitable and we were moved to a Travelodge. Six times over the next six months we were moved, during which time my mother, who suffered from serious physical and psychiatric illnesses, was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. The moves caused her such mental distress that she spent the last four months of her life in anxious confinement.
For the first three weeks we were housed in two hotels without kitchens. Two of the three apartments we were later moved to were up several flights of stairs, which my mother was unable to climb. Once we were given 24 hours to vacate our accommodation and we moved to another London borough, which disrupted the municipal care program my mum was receiving. She died the following month, and a week before her funeral, I received an eviction notice from L&Q and moved, for the seventh time, to a hotel where I had been for eight months.
< p class="dcr-1b64dqh">I was banned from my hotel room three times because my reservation was not extended by L&Q. One night I had to pay £1400 for a bed to sleep on. Repairs to the apartment only started 15 months after we moved in and are still incomplete. And L&Q changed the locks so I couldn't get my things back, which are now covered in mold. I am isolated, without my neighbors or my belongings, and I have been prescribed antidepressants to cope.PB, LondonC It's hard to understand what you've been through. You are a young woman who cared for your mother full time long before this ordeal began. Not only were you forced to leave the home you grew up in, but you had to deal with your mother's diagnosis and decline, as well as your subsequent bereavement, while being moved on short notice between hotels and serviced apartments. You also had to pay nearly £400 for meals due to weeks without a kitchen. It seems the repairs didn't really begin until you paid a locksmith to get you into your old apartment and discovered the ceilings hadn't been fixed.
L&Q was founded in the 1960s as a charity to tackle homelessness and has grown into a multi-billion pound private sector homebuilder. After my talk about the maintenance flaws in 2018, he admitted that his business ambitions had distracted him from the needs of his tenants. He announced a five-year plan to improve his service, but your case suggests he still focuses on the big picture at the expense of individuals.
When I contacted about your case, he initially claimed that the cracks in the ceiling had been assessed as "safe". He later admitted that his team failed to carry out repairs after the report and that the condition of the drain pipes and gutters contributed to the water infiltration. He cites a shortage of contractors and 'schedule delays' for the 16-month wait for repairs, and says you have been warned that since you asked to be relocated to the same area you may have to be moved sometimes. You insist that this warning only applied to two of the seven properties and that L&Q was aware of your mother's mental issues and reduced mobility.
The letter you received after your mother's death was not, he explains, an eviction order but a notice of end of tenancy, which was in your mother's name, so that she could then propose a new lease in your name. Gerri Scott, Group Executive Director of Client Services at L&Q, said: “We are truly sorry for the distress and inconvenience caused to PB and her late mother. They shouldn't have spent so much time moving between different temporary apartments, especially at such a difficult time. »
Things accelerated after my intervention. Your apartment has been completely renovated and you have been compensated for the inconvenience and distress, as well as for your expenses.
Last year the Housing Ombudsman recognized L&Q guilty of "serious...
My sick mother and I were moved to different temporary accommodations for over 15 months because my landlord, L&Q, failed to fix our uninhabitable apartment. I still don't have a date when I can return to our 25-year-old home.
Our ordeal began in August 2020, when we reported large cracks in the ceiling. A contractor visited the site and indicated that repairs should take place in the near future. Nothing was done. Eleven months later the ceiling collapsed while we were at home and water poured out. Firefighters declared the apartment uninhabitable and we were moved to a Travelodge. Six times over the next six months we were moved, during which time my mother, who suffered from serious physical and psychiatric illnesses, was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. The moves caused her such mental distress that she spent the last four months of her life in anxious confinement.
For the first three weeks we were housed in two hotels without kitchens. Two of the three apartments we were later moved to were up several flights of stairs, which my mother was unable to climb. Once we were given 24 hours to vacate our accommodation and we moved to another London borough, which disrupted the municipal care program my mum was receiving. She died the following month, and a week before her funeral, I received an eviction notice from L&Q and moved, for the seventh time, to a hotel where I had been for eight months.
< p class="dcr-1b64dqh">I was banned from my hotel room three times because my reservation was not extended by L&Q. One night I had to pay £1400 for a bed to sleep on. Repairs to the apartment only started 15 months after we moved in and are still incomplete. And L&Q changed the locks so I couldn't get my things back, which are now covered in mold. I am isolated, without my neighbors or my belongings, and I have been prescribed antidepressants to cope.PB, LondonC It's hard to understand what you've been through. You are a young woman who cared for your mother full time long before this ordeal began. Not only were you forced to leave the home you grew up in, but you had to deal with your mother's diagnosis and decline, as well as your subsequent bereavement, while being moved on short notice between hotels and serviced apartments. You also had to pay nearly £400 for meals due to weeks without a kitchen. It seems the repairs didn't really begin until you paid a locksmith to get you into your old apartment and discovered the ceilings hadn't been fixed.
L&Q was founded in the 1960s as a charity to tackle homelessness and has grown into a multi-billion pound private sector homebuilder. After my talk about the maintenance flaws in 2018, he admitted that his business ambitions had distracted him from the needs of his tenants. He announced a five-year plan to improve his service, but your case suggests he still focuses on the big picture at the expense of individuals.
When I contacted about your case, he initially claimed that the cracks in the ceiling had been assessed as "safe". He later admitted that his team failed to carry out repairs after the report and that the condition of the drain pipes and gutters contributed to the water infiltration. He cites a shortage of contractors and 'schedule delays' for the 16-month wait for repairs, and says you have been warned that since you asked to be relocated to the same area you may have to be moved sometimes. You insist that this warning only applied to two of the seven properties and that L&Q was aware of your mother's mental issues and reduced mobility.
The letter you received after your mother's death was not, he explains, an eviction order but a notice of end of tenancy, which was in your mother's name, so that she could then propose a new lease in your name. Gerri Scott, Group Executive Director of Client Services at L&Q, said: “We are truly sorry for the distress and inconvenience caused to PB and her late mother. They shouldn't have spent so much time moving between different temporary apartments, especially at such a difficult time. »
Things accelerated after my intervention. Your apartment has been completely renovated and you have been compensated for the inconvenience and distress, as well as for your expenses.
Last year the Housing Ombudsman recognized L&Q guilty of "serious...
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