A West London housing association has been grilled after an 86-year-old woman was left with no hot water for months.

Richmond Housing Partnership (RHP) heard concerns from councillors on Monday that residents have been left waiting too long for repairs and responses.

RHP told Richmond Council’s housing committee that a shortage in labour is leading to these problems across the country.

The housing association said it is facing challenges from Covid and huge financial pressures and wants to work together to help residents.

Lib Dem councillor Margaret Dane, who lives in an RHP home, said residents are in crisis due to problems with mould, water and antisocial behaviour.

She said they feel ignored despite chasing RHP multiple times.

She claimed repairs could be carried out quicker as when she called about a problem before it was fixed in two days.

She said: “When I became a councillor, there was a woman that came to me because… there had been no hot water since February the previous year.

"I sent one email and in two days someone fixed it and that’s not right.

"She should have had something done – an 86-year-old woman should have had something done and two days after she called – not after I called.” 

She claimed another woman in her 80s had been waiting two-and-a-half years for a repair.

She said many suffering residents “are not getting any help at all and it’s just getting worse and they’re usually vulnerable people”.

She said elderly people living in a block have been chasing RHP for help after being threatened, attacked and sent death threats which have left them “afraid to come out”. 

Robert Dobbs, director of housing at RHP, said there is now a dedicated housing officer in the area and RHP is working with organisations including the police to help residents.

He said RHP has reached out to customers and invested more in its contact centre to provide speedy responses and “quality of welfare”.

RHP will also have a new repairs contractor next year.

He said RHP is facing problems with cuckooing, county lines and some of the “horrible, serious assaults and murders that are happening across the borough”.

Corinna Bishopp, executive director of finance at RHP, said: “We desperately want to really provide our customers with a great service, we want to understand what their needs are, we want to keep our promises and we want to persistently deliver to high standards.”

She added: “We want to be providing homes that are safe, warm, smart and increasingly green.

"We want to make sure that we maintain a business that is strong for future generations.

"And we want to make sure that we look after our people so they can do the best for our customers.”

Ms Bishopp said capping social housing rent increases, which the government is consulting on, would be “incredibly positive” for residents but warned the move could lead to delays in repairs as RHP could lose £20 million with a 3 per cent cap.

Lib Dem councillor Jim Millard said the council would support RHP if the proposals go ahead.