A housing association has been told it should not take a protest outside its offices in order for a tenant to get their home repaired.

Community union Acorn staged a demonstration at the Preston base of Places for People to call for action on behalf of a resident they said had been left for months with unresolved defects which had made her house cold and damp.

Rachel Lowe, who has lived at the property for more than 15 years, had reported issues last spring with an ill-fitting back door, a broken bathroom door and problems with the handles on her windows.

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Just a week after the eight-strong Acorn group turned up unannounced at Places for People’s Ashton-on-Ribble offices back in November, the jobs had been completed.

However, the secretary of the union’s Preston branch, Gina Upward, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) the protest should never have been necessary.

“[Places for People] are one of the largest housing providers – so they’ve got the money to pay for a few more tradesmen to get these repairs done.

“It speaks for itself really that as soon as Acorn got involved, they’d fixed [everything] within a week.    Rachel had been waiting all that time – yet, within a week, they can do it,” Gina added.

Rachel said she was grateful the problems had been rectified – and stressed she considered Places for People to be a good landlord in many ways, not least by helping its tenants with hardship grants.   However, when it comes to fault-fixing, she said the system “just needs to work better”.

“The repairs take six [or] seven months [of] back and forth.   They’ll come and look at a job and if that’s not the right person [to do it], then they’ve got to book someone else.

“They’ve got some really fantastic workmen – they just do what they get told to do. But the [waiting] times are ridiculous and…there’s miscommunication between departments.

“They’re really good with boiler repairs – they come straight away – and they have been fantastic with me raising all these problems.  But people shouldn’t have to wait six months.

“Within 20 minutes of Acorn making contact with them, a senior manager rang me to apologise – and I’ve had so many different people come out and fix every single issue,” Rachel said.

Gina Upward said she is “not surprised” by Rachel’s experience, because housing problems – in both the social and private rental sectors – are raised every time the union goes door-knocking in Preston.  She pledged to “take the fight to all of them” – and said upwards of 10 Places for People tenants had been in touch over repair concerns.

What does Places for People say?

Responding to the issues raised by Acorn and Rachel Lowe, a spokesperson for Places for People said:  “Ms. Lowe first contacted us about concerns with her home in January 2024. We immediately arranged for a survey to be completed which found some damp-proofing works needed to be done, as well as a new kitchen and other decorative repairs. This was all completed in March 2024, with Ms. Lowe moved to temporary accommodation for four weeks as work took place.

“Following this – and on return to her home – Ms Lowe highlighted some other, more minor, issues to us which we assessed and planned in for completion. This included cracks to door frames as well as faults with a door, an extractor fan, and cupboard and window handles. We apologise for the time taken for these to be completed.

“Our mission is to deliver the quality, affordable homes people need and deserve. A huge part of ensuring our homes are at the right standard is working hard to address any repair issues raised to us by our customers in a thorough and timely way, but we must always prioritise the most urgent cases, as we did for Ms. Lowe earlier [last] year.”

The association said late last year it was on course to have completed  270,000 repairs across its 75,000 social homes in 2024.

The spokesperson added:  “We want – and need – any of our customers who have any concerns or issues to speak to us so we can help them straight away. We are not aware of the other customers being referred to, but we want to help them if they have concerns – it’s what we’re here for.

“Our Customer Service Centre is open 24/7 on 01772 667002, or customers can contact us via email at CSC.RepairsTeam@placesforpeople.co.uk, via our website, or through their community housing manager, the contact details for whom they will have.”

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