There has been a “big increase” in complaints about Welwyn Hatfield council housing, according to a borough council housing chief.  

Sue McDaid, executive director for resident services, made the comment while discussing the performance of the council’s housing services during the second quarter of this financial year.

At a cabinet housing panel on Thursday (November 7), councillors were told that there has been a 29 per cent increase in the number of housing complaints received when compared to the previous year. 

They were also told that it currently takes 122 days, on average, to re-let a council house after a resident moves out – significantly longer than the target of 18 days.

For empty properties classed as ‘major voids’, it took an average of 201 days to re-let properties against a target of 35 days. 

Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council are also struggling to complete non-emergency repairs to properties on time, with only 77 per cent completed within the aimed for period against a target of 95 per cent.

Ms McDaid told councillors that the authority is “not alone” in seeing a rise in the number of complaints, with similar trends seen at other authorities. 

She said performance had “temporarily decreased” because of a focus on resolving older cases, but is now “improving” after increasing resources directed towards dealing with complaints.

Ms McDaid added that measures had been taken to improve complaints handling. 

Between April and September this year, the council received 396 stage one housing complaints. One other complaint, relating to damp and mould, is currently being investigated by the Housing Ombudsman. 

Councillors were also told that there are 102 ongoing repair cases – 11.4 for every 1,000 properties – with around 90 per cent of those cases involving damp and mould.

Ms McDaid said it was “not that unusual” to have a high percentage of damp and mould cases among ongoing repairs.

Cllr Tim Rowse suggested the council’s environmental health team could get involved when a damp and mould-related complaint gets to stage two. 

Ms McDaid said the council takes damp and mould “really seriously”, with a mould wash usually used “immediately” with a property visit.

She said she is “not happy to stand still” and will be reviewing the council’s processes for resolving damp and mould issues: “If there’s any learning to be learned from any of the complaints or the Ombudsman inquiry, then we need to make sure that we action that as well.”

Janice White, assistant director for homes, explained that in some serious damp and mould cases where the issue cannot be resolved immediately, residents are temporarily moved out of their property.

She said an average of 55 empty homes per month had been handed over to contractor Morgan Sindall for work last year, but that number is down to 30 so far this year.

Smaller properties were the most likely to be empty, with 50 one-bedroom homes and 38 two-bedroom homes empty when officers submitted their report.

Ms White noted that the overall number of empty properties is falling – down from 316 on August 10 to 223 at the end of September. But, she added, “we’re not at the place we need to be”.

She told councillors about the processes followed by the council when properties become empty, and emphasised they were stepping up efforts to ensure all tenants gave the required four weeks notice so the council is not left “on the backfoot”.

Cllr Margaret Birleson said she “welcomed” efforts to improve the system: “We want to be positive, we want to move forward, we want the system to improve. The next steps are really good.”