INVERCLYDE'S largest housing provider has handled almost 250 complaints since 2017 about the condition of its properties, figures obtained by the Telegraph show.

Hundreds of grievances — including for faulty heating systems, dampness and roofing issues — have been lodged with bosses at River Clyde Homes by disgruntled residents.

In a separate matter, the social landlord has admitted that it has no idea how many times its controversial £9m biomass heating system at Broomhill has broken down.

But we can reveal today that engineers have made nearly 200 separate maintenance visits to the energy centre since 2016.

A Freedom of Information request from the Telegraph to River Clyde Homes has revealed a total of 237 complaints about its housing stock were made in the last three years up to February.

The range of problems brought to the attention of bosses included water ingress, leaks, mould, asbestos and drainage issues.

Bosses say that 89 per cent of tenants have been 'satisfied' with the repair and maintenance service in the last 12 months.

However, nearly 12 per cent of first stage complaints are not responded to within Scottish Public Sector Ombudsman (SPSO) timescales, and that figure rises to 15 per cent for second stage complaints.

The Telegraph told recently how hundreds of tenants in Broomhill Court were left with no hot water due to mains supply problems just as the coronavirus crisis intensified.

The issue was resolved promptly but several residents expressed concern at being left unable to wash their hands in order to help keep the disease at bay.

It also emerged that cracks, pictured, had started to show in the three Broomhill high rise flats which were renovated in a £30m regeneration programme, with a probe launched into the damage.

River Clyde Homes says that the average time taken to complete emergency repairs is 2.85 hours and non-emergency maintenance jobs are completed in 3.28 days on average.

Asked how often the Broomhill biomass boiler has had to be repaired, a spokesman for the housing association said: "We do not hold information about the number of occasions that the energy centre has broken down.

"The maintenance of the biomass heating system is outsourced to an external contractor.

"We can however advise that the company that has maintained the biomass energy centre at Broomhill since 2016 has made 19 planned maintenance visits to the site, carried out 26 scheduled repair appointments and attended the energy centre on 193 separate occasions (multiple visits may be required to resolve a particular issue) during this time.

"Almost all of these visits are instigated proactively by the contractor mainly due to minor issues that have been highlighted on their monitoring system."

River Clyde Homes admitted that any system breakdown could potentially affect all 550 properties served by the biomass system 'in a worst case scenario'.

But the spokesman added: "However, the biomass energy centre is supported by a back-up gas boiler system."

The average annual cost of maintenance and repair of the biomass system is approximately £13,200, according to the housing association.

It cost a total of £7.6m, plus 20 per cent VAT, to supply and install, giving an overall total cost of over £9.1m.