Clarion housing association apologises after it bungled fire safety inspection letters

Clarion housing association has issued an apology after it made multiple errors in notifying tenants of a fire safety inspection and has been unable to explain how and why the mistakes occurred.

The incident happened in May this year when a Clarion tenant in Fitzrovia received a letter requesting access to carry out a “fire door survey” to meet the requirements of the Fire Safety Act 2021.

The letter from Clarion was dated 20 May but arrived on the morning of 30 May, addressed to “The Resident” with the envelope containing letters intended for tenants at six different addresses.

Each letter stated the inspection would take place on Monday 3 or Tuesday 4 June between 9am and 4.30pm — giving only a few days’ notice due to the late arrival of the letter.

The letters also gave the tenants a take-it-or-leave-it option for the important fire safety check, with no opportunity for an alternative time for inspection offered.

“If you are unavailable on the above date (sic), we are unfortunately unable to reschedule for a later date,” stated the letters.

The resident who received the bundle went on to personally deliver the letters to the addresses in the street as a courtesy to their Clarion neighbours.

They also made an initial complaint about the way Clarion delivered the letters, the timing of the delivery and the allotted inspection times.

However, in response to the complaint the building safety officer at Clarion failed to understand the simple facts of the situation and instead blamed Royal Mail — even though all the individual letters were placed into a single envelope by the Clarion administration system.

As a result the resident had to escalate the complaint and also reported the incident to Camden Council’s private sector housing team.

Addressing all the letters to a single address — all arriving late — and anonymously to “The Resident” suggests Clarion does not know who its tenants are as a result of the problems with its computer system since the cyber attack in June 2022.

The tenant who received the bundle of letters told The Fitzrovia News: “It seems to me that our fire safety isn’t being taken seriously by Clarion.”

The Fitzrovia News contacted Clarion Housing Group to ask for an explanation on behalf of the residents affected.

We said addressing letters to “The Resident” gives the impression that it is junk mail and unlikely to be opened as a matter of urgency by residents, and that giving residents a take-it-or-leave-it option for a fire safety inspection suggests the Clarion is not managing the process competently.

A Clarion spokesperson responded, saying: “We are sorry that there was an issue with the letters sent to residents to notify them of the periodic fire door inspections.

“They should have been individually named and addressed and we apologise for this oversight. We don’t know why the six letters were late and in one envelope and are following this up with our mailing contractor to understand what went wrong on this occasion.

“Clarion takes fire safety extremely seriously and has established a dedicated team that undertake routine inspections of fire doors. If residents are not available for the inspection the doors will be assessed at a later date.

“We can confirm the door inspection in question was carried out this week and it was found to be in good working order,” said the spokesperson.

Clarion is the fourth largest registered housing provider in the London Borough of Camden. It manages around 1,200 homes — dozens of them in Fitzrovia mostly in Grafton Mews, Warren Street, and Whitfield Street.

Camden Council’s figures from 2022 state that “despite having the least stock of the four [largest] Housing Associations, Clarion had the most Member/MP Enquiries, the most Member/MP Enquiries re Repairs, and the most Complaints” to the council’s private sector housing team (PSHT).

The Fitzrovia News has withheld the names and addresses of the residents concerned.

Related