A Tilling Green resident has been telling Rye News how the mould and damp in her home led to her son being hospitalised. Vicky Beeching has since received compensation from landlord Southern Housing which provides social housing to many people in Rye. The controversial company has been panned for the quality of its housing stock in a number of recent reports.
Southern Housing (who merged with Optivo in 2022) has properties in Tilling Green, Kings Avenue, Badger Gate and Magdala House and is one of the largest house providers in the country, with 80,000 properties across the southeast, London, the Midlands and the Isle of Wight.
Southern Housing has been beset with problems with residents across their portfolio, including in Rye, contacting them with a catalogue of complaints about the poor state of properties including severe damp and mould, infestations with bed bugs and poor insulation.
Residents say that Southern has a history of poor communication and customer service with long waiting times for repairs, unreturned calls and emails, and lack of follow up with tenants who report problems. The complaints procedure is complicated due to lack of integration in systems between Optivo and Southern Housing, and tenants report that the company is slow to respond to contacts and to take action.
In a statement, Southern Housing said: “We understand how distressing issues like damp and mould can be for our residents. Their health, safety, and comfort remain our top priority. While many of our homes are over 50 years old and not originally designed to prevent these issues, we acknowledge there is more to do and are committed to putting things right.
“This year, we invested £1.4m in a specialist team dedicated to addressing damp and
mould, and we’ve made thousands of repairs while tackling root causes. We also
continue to strengthen communication and processes based on resident feedback.”
One Rye tenant, Vicky Beeching, moved into a flat two and a half years ago with her husband and two children. Soon after moving in, mould developed in the flat around windows, in the kitchen and bathroom, and in cupboards. It was so bad that mould was also growing in her son’s cot and he developed croup and was hospitalised with breathing difficulties.
Other problems included poor repairs to the kitchen worktops, poor insulation in the loft, blown seals in double -glazed windows making them draughty and a hole in the roof.
Vicky says that even though Southern has taken some remedial action, such as painting over or plaster boarding areas of damp, they are unable to tackle the root cause of the damp due to the presence of asbestos in the building.
In Vicky’s experience it takes too long for Southern Housing to respond to problems. “We had a leak in our bathroom, that I informed Southern Housing about and even after the senior disrepair manager visited my property and saw the mould for himself it still took another month of me bothering them about it before it was actually fixed. I had to rip the floor up myself, the brown mouldy flooring is a picture of what was underneath, because I was fed up with the smell and our children having to walk over it.”
After numerous complaints to Southern Housing, Vicky contacted a disrepair solicitor, Environmental health and the Housing Ombudsman. The ombudsman’s detailed report concluded that there was severe maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould in her property; maladministration by the landlord in its handling of additional repairs raised by the resident; and maladministration by the landlord in its complaints handling.
As recommended in this report, Vicky received an apology from Southern Housing’s CEO and £3400 in compensation.
The family have been offered temporary accommodation in a flat while repairs are being done because of the asbestos. “I have spent so much time struggling to improve conditions that it has affected my and my family’s health and mental health. Moving my family twice in a month feels impossible given my anxiety.”
In response Southern Housing said: “Regarding Ms Beeching’s case, we’ve completed significant works to her home, including window and door replacements, and offered temporary accommodation to safely complete remaining repairs. We’re in ongoing discussions to find a solution that works for her and her family while resolving these issues fully.
“We encourage any resident experiencing damp or mould to contact us as soon as
possible so we can provide support and address concerns promptly.”
In October 2024, a whistle-blower on one of Southern Housing Group’s own scrutiny panels, the Kent Regional Residents’ Panel, released information on their report which found that there were wide-ranging concerns about how the landlord dealt with their tenants’ concerns, their poor record with communication, long delays to repairs being dealt with and lack of empathy towards the plight of their tenants. This reflects the dissatisfaction experienced by many tenants in Rye and Hastings.
Southern Housing’s own website acknowledges that “some of our services aren’t yet reaching the levels we’d like, or our residents expect. We’re making progress and working closely with residents to ensure we’re continually focused on what matters most. We’ve significantly increased resources in areas such as repairs, maintenance and complaint handling.”
Local MP Helena Dollimore is currently dealing with around 40 live cases with Southern Housing tenants. In her maiden speech to Parliament Helena raised concerns about the failings of Southern Housing to tackle their situation. “Since being elected I have had four meetings with Paul Hackett, the CEO of Southern Housing and his team to raise these issues and discuss individual cases. I have urged them to move faster, do more and communicate better with my constituents. There has been much talk and the residents of Southern Housing need to see action.”
Image Credits: Vicky Beeching .