From anxiety to gratitude – a resident’s decant journey with ICAB

One evening in mid-December, a vulnerable London Housing Association resident found themselves facing the prospect of being decanted, due to planned works to remediate damp and mould in their home.  This left them feeling extremely anxious, so time was of the essence. ICAB was initially instructed by the G15 Housing Association to source a hotel for 14 nights.

Within one hour of instruction, the ICAB out of hours team called the resident to confirm that we had been instructed to find them hotel accommodation. ICAB presented several suitable hotel options to the resident and they accepted the nearest Travelodge as a temporary but instant solution.  

When this claim was passed to the day team the next morning, our Housing Claims Manager identified a potential problem – the hotel booking was due to expire on Christmas Eve. They called the Housing Association to ascertain the length of works, as ICAB knows from experience that the complexities of damp and mould remediation works don’t always go to plan and with the holidays looming, the likelihood of them being complete and the resident being able to return home was slim. A longer-term solution was needed.

After the phone call from the Housing Claims Manager, the Housing Association gave ICAB further instructions to look for a serviced apartment so that the resident would be in a safe and comfortable place to stay over the Christmas period. This was swiftly organised and booked.

Once the resident was settled into the property, ICAB sent extension reminders to the Housing Association and organised multiple extensions on this booking right up until the following April. Throughout the period, the claims handler on the file kept both the resident and Housing Association fully up to date when extensions were confirmed. These regular follow ups and extension reminders ensured that the accommodation was smoothly secured in a timely manner, with no disruption to the resident.

However, as the final extension was approaching, the authorisation was delayed by the Housing Association, and was only secured the day before check out. The resident became extremely upset and anxious that they would have to leave their accommodation, but the claims handler dealt with this issue empathetically, advising that they would find a resolution. They worked with the serviced apartment provider to reach an agreement. After some lengthy negotiation, the provider agreed to move another booking and the extension was secured for the resident.

At the end of the decant, the resident phoned the claims handler’s manager to show their heartfelt gratitude. They felt that the ICAB staff really had gone the extra mile, keeping them in the loop to ensure their peace of mind during a stressful time, and they really appreciated their empathy when they became upset about the late extension.    

ICAB’s approach and initiative in the early stages of the claim resulted in the resident and Housing Association being well informed of the most appropriate accommodation solution for this specific decant. The Housing Claims Manager and claims handlers are immersed in the current market conditions of booking hotels when busy periods hit, so they can immediately advise the short and mid-term solutions which are both cost-effective and suit each and every resident’s individual needs.