Ombudsman orders hefty compensation after family left in damp and mould for years

The Housing Ombudsman has ordered Lambeth Council to pay £6,500 after it left a resident and her family with a leaking roof resulting in living with damp and mould for six years.

Reasons behind requesting the local authority pay such a huge amount of compensation comes from the Ombudsman finding severe administration for the council landlord because of its failures to address the problems, as well as its record keeping after it failed to keep track of the complaint after its stage two response. 

These findings come as the landlord continues to engage with the Ombudsman following its Special Report in 2021. The Ombudsman and Lambeth Council will be holding an open forum with residents in September to discuss issues in the borough.

In the latest investigation, the landlord stated it would monitor a roof leak after making several attempted repairs, including ‘limited’ repairs ordered by the court after a successful disrepair claim by the resident against the landlord a few years earlier.

However, over the next two years, the leak continued, with damp and mould causing anxiety for the family who were worried about a three-year-old living there who had severe eczema. The leak impacted the loft, kitchen, living room and bedroom. During attempts to try and fix the issue, the landlord left scaffolding outside the home blocking natural light for 27 months.

The landlord did not appropriately respond to a safeguarding enquiry from the children’s school, taking five months to act on it. In the enquiry, the school said there was black mould in the kitchen and red/orange mould in the living room. It raised several concerns including woodlice and a window pane held in position with sticky tape.

There were also persistent failures in the landlord’s record keeping, impacting the landlord’s repair and complaint handling operations.

Missing information hampered the Ombudsman’s investigation, with the landlord unable to provide a tenancy agreement or any inspection reports. This was a key factor in the landlord’s poor performance overall. Further, the landlord was unable to improve its performance because it failed to keep track of the situation following its stage two response.

On top of the compensation, the Ombudsman ordered the landlord to apologise to the resident in person, carry out an inspection and complete works needed to the home and review relevant processes and policies to help prevent future service failings.

In its response to the case, the landlord said it had completed the works and would establish a repairs journey team and an early resolutions team to improve communication between the repairs team and residents.

Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: ‘It is intolerable a mother had to spend six years getting her landlord to respond to serious issues which were causing considerable anxiety for her family.

‘The landlord’s response was contrary to its legal obligations and its failure to engage with the damp and mould issue, despite the health and safety severity, was inappropriate.

‘It should not take intervention from the Ombudsman to carry out fundamental repairs. I am also concerned the landlord was slow to respond to the school’s safeguarding enquiry who were worried about the conditions at the home.

‘This investigation includes one of the first severe findings for poor information management, with the landlord unable to locate basic documents like the tenancy agreement. Information mismanagement is a challenge for most landlords and our latest Spotlight report provides important lessons for this landlord and the sector.

‘Whilst the landlord has made good progress on a variety of issues since our Special Report, this case shows how far it has yet to go. The issues evident in this case of excessive delays, poor repairs and inadequate records were apparent in previous investigations.’

Image: michael schaffler