Our commitment to customers: damp, mould and condensation
The Housing Ombudsman’s Spotlight Report highlighted a zero-tolerance approach to damp, mould and condensation. The Ombudsman clearly outlined their expectations of housing providers across the country.
At One Vision Housing we’ve taken a proactive approach, adopting new and amending existing practices and policies, to ensure the health and safety of our customers.
To ensure a proactive and robust approach, in 2022 we introduced a standalone Damp, Mould and Condensation Policy. Furthermore, we developed a comprehensive approach to identify, risk assess and remedy any issues reported by our customers.
We also directly contacted all of our customers to inform them of this approach and how to identify damp, mould and condensation in their homes and how they should immediately report this to us.
Our ongoing commitment has continued with regular awareness training implemented for our colleagues working across our 14,000 homes.
The Housing Ombudsman’s Spotlight Report provided member landlords, including ourselves, with a set of 26 recommendations.
Following our complete Housing Ombudsman self-assessment, we remain committed to making further improvements to our approach to damp, mould and condensation. Our focus areas for improvement include:
Reviewing and implementing new ways of working when welcoming new customers through our onboarding process. This is to ensure all customers are aware of how and when to report any concerns to us.
Through data intelligence, in particular heatmaps, we will take proactive steps to tackle damp, mould and condensation across our 14,000 homes.
A dedicated customer group / forum will be formed to provide a customer steer on the topic, from reviewing proposed customer communications to gathering valuable feedback.
We will enhance our approach to customer communications surrounding damp, mould and condensation; exploring new platforms of communication to reach and inform all of our customers.
Customer Guidance: our commitment to you
- We will thoroughly assess and identify any damp, mould or condensation reported
- We will carry out any repairs, remedial works, and improvements to rectify the problem
- We will provide support on how together we can reduce the levels of condensation in your home through informative and supportive guidance
We will continue to review present policies and processes to ensure the health and safety of our customers. If you wish to read our self-assessment summary against the Ombudsman’s recommendations, email enquiries@ovh.org.uk.