We are writing to respond to your story about the report by the Government's Housing Ombudsman and work involving asbestos in a Two Rivers Housing property.

The article set out the finding of the ombudsman's report which criticised Two Rivers Housing for the way we handled the matter.

We recognise there were problems with our approach and we failed to follow the correct procedure for dealing with asbestos, but we have since made changes to prevent a reoccurrence of this.

We understand that tenants may have been concerned after reading about these problems, so would like to reassure them that we believe that this was a one-off situation.

Asbestos can be a problem in buildings usually those built before the mid-1980s. Properties built since then are unlikely to contain asbestos and properties built after 1995 are very unlikely to contain asbestos anywhere in the building.

Asbestos it is not always easy to spot as it is often used within other products such as cement or construction materials. We have a robust procedure in place to make sure any work involving asbestos in a property is carried out correctly and safely.

If tenants have any concerns regarding asbestos in the home they can contact us on 0800 316 0897 to discuss them.

– Garry King, Chief Executive, Two Rivers Housing.