London council hit with findings of severe maladministration over housing repairs

The Housing Ombudsman has ordered Hammersmith and Fulham Council to pay residents over £18,000 in compensation after significant failings led to one resident living in damp and mould for four years.

Seven findings over three years of severe maladministration were found against the council landlord for various repairs failings, raising concerns over how it operates and the services it provides.

In Case A, the council left a resident and his young daughter living with water pouring down their walls in heavy rain and subsequent mould and damp for approximately four years, which damaged plaster, decorations, and belongings.

Hammersmith and Fulham council visited the home on multiple occasions to treat the problem but failed to resolve it. There were also significant periods where the resident had to chase for updates and a number of issues raised by the resident were not addressed. At every stage of the complaint, the council’s response was delayed and its offer of £150 compensation was completely inadequate and disproportionate.

The Ombudsman ordered the Chief Executive of the local authority to apologise in person to the resident, pay £5,080 in compensation and inspect other properties in the block.

In Case B the Ombudsman made three findings of severe maladministration for the council’s response to leaks, its complaint handling and its consideration of the residents’ vulnerability.

Despite assurances made to the Ombudsman, the council failed to fix the leak coming in from a neighbouring flat, causing significant distress, inconvenience, time and trouble to the resident over a five-year period.

The Council repeatedly failed in its management and oversight of the repair, and did not take into account the residents’ vulnerability, failing to offer any support or make appropriate safeguarding referrals which could have reduced the impact on the resident.

Following this, the Ombudsman ordered the Council’s Chief Executive to apologise to the resident in person, pay £7,185.50 in compensation and carry out reviews into various policies, including on resident vulnerabilities.

In Case C the Ombudsman made three findings of severe maladministration for the authorities failure to make multiple repairs, its complaint handling and poor record keeping.

This meant damage within the toilet was left unresolved for two years, damage to a bathroom caused by its contractors wasn’t fixed for seven months and intermittent hot water outages that lasted for two and a half years caused significant distress for the resident, who was undergoing cancer treatment at the time.

The Council’s complaints handling was poor and differed significantly from the timescales and guidance in its complaints policy. On top of this, the Council’s compensation offers were not detailed and didn’t go far enough to provide redress. The Ombudsman ordered the council to pay £5,950 to the resident, apologise in person and ensure all follow up repairs were completed.

In its response to all three cases, the Council said it has now completed the repairs to the homes, apologised to the residents and undertaken work to improve in multiple areas such as complaint handling and repairs.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: ‘The experiences of each resident engaging its landlord is shocking. There were significant, multiple and common failings across these cases, which raises serious concerns about the landlord’s services.

‘In all three of the cases, there was a vulnerability present that the landlord either did not take into consideration or ignored. This is simply unacceptable from a social landlord.

‘Running through of all these complaints are failings in repairs, which we see often in our casework. However, it is the length of time residents have been waiting in appalling circumstances that is of greatest concern. There were multiple opportunities for the landlord to resolve all of the issues uncovered in our investigations and yet the urgency to do so wasn’t there.

‘There is significant learning here for the landlord and the Ombudsman will be engaging with it over the coming months to ensure that lessons are learnt.’

London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham said in its response: ‘We accept fully the Housing Ombudsman’s decisions and have apologised unreservedly and directly to the residents.

‘We have completed the repairs to the residents’ homes set out in these complaints, but acknowledge that we failed to do so in a timely way in a period when our repairs service was adversely impacted by the Covid lockdowns and one of our three major contractors exiting abruptly.

‘The affected residents have accepted our apologies. In addition to completing the repairs, the Council has provided further support and recompense to these residents.’

Image: Giammarco Boscaro and Samuel Ryde