A Bolton-based landlord has apologised to a resident’s family after his dead body went undiscovered at his home for six years.
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Bolton at Home said it learned of the death of tenant Robert Alton on 9 March 2023 after his body was discovered at his home in Hemsworth Road, Bolton.
The subsequent police and coroner’s investigation has concluded that Mr Alton’s death was not suspicious and that he likely died in May 2017.
The 18,000-home landlord said it was “deeply shocked” by the discovery and realises that it will concern and upset people to learn that Mr Alton’s body remained undiscovered for such a long time.
In a statement, Noel Sharpe, group chief executive at Bolton at Home, said: “It’s completely unacceptable to us that something like this has happened, and we’ve taken action to reduce the risk of it happening again.
“The reason we didn’t discover Robert’s death for so long is because our previous procedure, while meeting legal requirements, wasn’t strong enough to prevent something like this happening.”
The landlord made Mr Alton’s home gas safe in June 2017 by turning off the gas supply externally after it was unable to contact him to arrange the annual gas safety check.
Follow-up attempts to contact Mr Alton were made over a number of years to arrange gas safety checks but the landlord admitted that “the action taken by us to understand why we couldn’t contact him didn’t go far enough”.
Mr Sharpe continued: “Opportunities were missed in spotting that something was potentially wrong. We should have done more to check on Robert’s welfare.
“We changed our procedure in July 2022, and we now immediately begin the process of seeking access to someone’s home via a warrant in instances where we cannot contact them to arrange a gas safety check.”
Bolton at Home explained that this change in procedure ultimately led it to seek a warrant to access Mr Alton’s home and discover his body.
Bolton at Home believes this new policy will reduce the risk of a similar incident happening again, alongside steps to ensure its tenancy support team work more closely with the gas safety team where the association struggles with access and where there may be welfare concerns.
Mr Sharpe added: “I would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to Robert’s loved ones, friends and neighbours and apologise to them for the opportunities we missed in finding out why we couldn’t contact him.”
The tragic incident bears similarities with a number of other incidents Inside Housing has reported on over the past 12 months.
It was revealed in March that Zarinn Adatia, 84, and her daughter Tasneem Adatia, 48, had been found dead at their Barnet Homes property following attempts to carry out an annual gas safety check on 24 November last year.
Residents at the three-storey block in Prospect Ring, north London, told Inside Housing that they were devastated by news of the discovery, with one revealing that she had not heard from her neighbours since about March or April last year – around seven months before their bodies were discovered.
Last year, a coroner heard a similar case last year after the body of a 61-year-old Peabody resident was left undiscovered for two years.
Sheila Seleoane was found in her housing association flat at Lords Court in Peckham, south London in February last year.
Following an inquest and the subsequent investigation by Peabody, it was revealed that large patch sizes for neighbourhood wardens and a silo-working culture led to “missed opportunities”.
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