More people have been given support with problems their landlords failed to resolve, a report revealed this week.

Richmond Council’s former tenants’ champion, Councillor Lisa Blakemore, helped 54 households with housing problems in the past year.

She said: "There have been a wide range of scenarios this year, including repairs, transfer requests, concern about meeting rent payments, personal injuries, antisocial behaviour, noise, rats, maggots and cigarette smoke.

"While some of these have been relatively straightforward to sort out with good support from the landlords, others have been far more complicated."

The new tenants’ champion in Richmond is Councillor Martin Seymour.