Customers urged to be on the lookout for housing scam

Scams seem to be becoming more and more commonplace in our society, with many schemes out there trying to enlist our trust to take money or personal details from us. We want to alert our customers to a housing disrepair scam that is going around at the moment both on social media and via telephone calls.

We have had reports from our customers regarding these and we don’t want our customers to fall victim to this exploitation.

The latest scam includes seeing posts on social media or receiving a phone call encouraging customers to lodge disrepair claims against North Devon Homes, with solicitors who claim to be able to take us to court over unsolved repairs. These companies may claim to be ‘The Housing Maintenance Department’, ‘Repairs Team’ or ‘working with North Devon Homes’.

They will then advise you not to report household repairs to us but to make a claim for disrepair instead. We have seen cases where vulnerable customers have been targeted and signed disrepair claims, which have been exaggerated by solicitors and not made it to court, leaving the customers to pay expensive legal fees.

We have further seen the scam enter community groups on local social media pages with a scammer posting that people in the local area can get a large payout with no catches and another scammer commenting on the post saying how easy the process was for them and how much money they got. This is false.

If you are a North Devon Homes customer, please remember that your tenancy agreement states that all repairs must be reported to us. If you are dissatisfied with any housing or repairs service you have received, please follow our complaints procedure by getting in contact with us. You can find out more about how to make a complaint by visiting this page on our website.

If something sounds too good to be true, then it most probably is. North Devon Homes will always look after our customers and we have a designated repairs team dedicated to looking after our homes. Scammers do not have your financial or health interests at heart. We do not want our customers to fall victim to these scams.

Here's a recent example which happened in Mid Devon: Devon tenant tries to sue landlord and spectacularly fails - Devon Live

Here are some tips on what you can do if you suspect a scam:

• If you receive a telephone call ask them for the company name and a phone number so that you can hang up and call them back. Scammers will be unable to provide a genuine company name or real call back number
• Never share your personal details with anyone you are unsure of
• Remember you are in control and can leave the conversation at any point if you feel uncomfortable
• If you are not sure or have any worries/concerns, please call us on 01271 312500 or email [email protected]