9:38 AM, 23rd August 2023, About A year ago 21
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Just days after threatening private rented sector (PRS) landlords with taking control of properties they don’t license and look after; a council has been told to pay a tenant £5,400 in compensation.
The Housing Ombudsman announced the payment for prolonged damp and mould neglect in a home – a problem that ran for more than THREE years.
The Ombudsman’s investigation into Newham Council revealed a pattern of severe maladministration, with the council failing to provide timely resolutions and regularly neglecting to keep the affected resident informed about repair progress.
There were ‘distressing lapses’ in the council’s response and after several months of persistence from the tenant, council staff visited the property and left a dehumidifier.
Council workers identified a potential source of the issue as a leak behind the toilet, but this took a year to fix.
The Housing Ombudsman, Richard Blakeway, said: “There were significant failings throughout this case which left the resident living with damp and mould for an unreasonable amount of time.
“On multiple occasions throughout the course of the complaint, a lack of proactive action and poor communication, both with the resident and internally, contributed to significant delays.
“Despite repeated issues with communications from its repairs team, the landlord did not change its approach and take ownership of the resolution of the issues.”
He added: “Whilst there were severe delays to the repairs, the landlord also took too long to arrange temporary accommodation and to respond to the resident about his damaged belongings.”
Once the leaking shower had been fixed, the tenant regularly asked Newham Council when they would repair the damp and mould damage – but was told to clean it himself.
That’s despite flagging up issues of damp issues around the fuse box and light fittings.
After TWO years of enduring the problem, the resident wanted a move to temporary accommodation due to the overpowering damp odour and a rat infestation that he attributed to the mould.
Over the ensuing nine months, attempts were made to address the pests and damp within the bathroom.
However, the council still failed to respond to the resident’s inquiries and made when they did, made promises of action that didn’t take place.
A staggering three years and four months after the initial complaint, the council notified the resident – who had relocated to temporary housing just a month earlier – that the repairs had been finished.
However, upon returning to the property, the resident deemed the quality of repairs subpar and demanded an independent surveyor’s assessment to validate his concerns.
In addition to the financial compensation, which included a portion of the rent paid, the Ombudsman ordered a senior council officer to apologise to the resident.
The council was also ordered to tell the tenant what they are going to do about his damaged belongings and to carry out a thorough assessment of its service practices on damp and mould issues.
In a statement, Newham Council said: “Our priority is providing safe, decent homes for our residents and dealing with any issues brought to our attention swiftly, effectively and with compassion.
“We apologise unreservedly for failing to meet our high standards in this instance.
“We fully accept the Ombudsman’s findings and have acted on each of the orders made.
“We have also found alternative accommodation for the household involved and will continue to work with them to find a suitable permanent solution.
“We now have a well-established, proactive approach to tackling damp and mould across Newham, and we are prioritising driving up standards.”
Reluctant Landlord
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Sign Up15:38 PM, 23rd August 2023, About A year ago
Reply to the comment left by Tony Phillips at 23/08/2023 - 14:46
MP too and copy in Shelter/Gen Rant and the Daily Mail and NRLA?
C-cider
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Sign Up23:43 PM, 23rd August 2023, About A year ago
Get ready for a load of similar claims. Many from people who will loosen fittings.
It’s maybe time for tenants to become responsible for minor repairs after say, 6 months (to ensure the house was in good repair at the tenancy start). In return, they could have lower rents.
The alternative is somewhat higher rents to pay for an army of tradespeople on permanent call.
Hamish McBloggs
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Sign Up10:27 AM, 24th August 2023, About A year ago
Reply to the comment left by MICHAEL REGAN at 23/08/2023 - 13:31
That's broadly my understanding too.
How deep would a tenant's pockets need to be simply to get off the blocks?
dolly day dream
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Sign Up8:51 AM, 27th August 2023, About A year ago
Reply to the comment left by Hamish McBloggs at 23/08/2023 - 12:03
absolutely spot on Hamish i agree with every word
common sense isnt very common
particulary in tax payers funded councils
as you quite correctly observe its not their money
MICHAEL REGAN
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Sign Up10:59 AM, 27th August 2023, About A year ago
Reply to the comment left by Hamish McBloggs at 24/08/2023 - 10:27
You could start the process yourself setting out the claim but they would probably push back to start with. You might find a solicitor who will take it on with a no win no fee contract. Alternatively you could go through the small claims court io to £100k I think can be claimed but you have to pay to register the claim. If you registered a £25k or £30k claim you’d pay less up front. The council will push back to start with but once their legal team get hold of it they start to look at reputational damage and the direct costs to them in going to court to fight a case which the ombudsman has said they are pretty much liable. The ombudsman’s report will usually be quite detailed setting out the councils specific failings. They’ll settle before it goes to court and get the claimant to sign a NDA in my view.
Hamish McBloggs
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Sign Up11:27 AM, 28th August 2023, About A year ago
Again I broadly agree.
We must note that the tenant is likely not endowed with the requisite skills, knowledge or bandwidth. They could approach the CAB for support but I suspect there are limits to this. Any pro bono advice would almost immediately be outmatched by an LA's deep pockets.
Tenacity is the key personal skill required in the first instance. Anyone who has made a complaint to a bank or similar when the error is clearly in your favour would understand.
The first responses are designed to make you give up.
An invocation of a formal complaints procedure with its published service level for response (as I assume was the case here) clearly led to further obfuscation and manoeuvring leaving this tenant with nowhere to go other than the Ombudsman.
In my experience, formal complaints get shut down very quickly citing previous correspondence as containing the resolution.
Big institutions work on the 'grind them down and they'll give up' principle.
Then an NDA; if it gets that far. This is the 'divide and conquer' approach. The institution's reputation remains untarnished for a bribe and nothing changes... you would never know that a particular organisation is a serial offender. Isn’t the usual deal … take the offer or we’ll run the clock down and you’ll have no life?
Those who won't take the bribe and the opportunity to return to a normal life away from the all-consuming activity of trying to get a proper outcome would probably be referred to as crusaders.
All the while the institution's employees get paid 9-5 with pension contributions. For the 'crusader' it's all unpaid extra-curricular effort, tiring and at the expense of a normal family.
Clearly the LA's employees and systems were insufficiently mature enough to recognise/manage a real problem when presented.
All LA’s mission statements should include ‘reduce penalties to zero’ or ‘make the housing inspection department redundant’ or ‘eliminate the need for licensing’. The value of penalties levied would be a key metric and reducing penalties would mean higher housing standards.
All LA's should have a statutory obligation to report all fines and restrictions levied against all LL's to a central repository with a redacted version and summary statistics available for public scrutiny.
The Ombudsman should have teeth.
The Ombudsman should have a statutory obligation to examine this central record and ensure its recommendations against an LA are commensurate with this national record.
The Ombudsman should have the power to personally affect an LA's senior staff to encourage change; particularly if it happens more than once. To have the power to wrest certain powers and invoke 'special measures' until improvements are made. To have the power to recommend criminal investigations.
Judgements against LA’s should be part of the central repository. The associated legal bills and penalties taken from revenues available for all to see.
Why should the little guy have to do all the work?
Blodwyn
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Sign Up11:39 AM, 28th August 2023, About A year ago
Someone commented about the CAB. In some areas they are very political on the tenants' side. In general, they are as they should be, neutral and giving advice but keep your eyes open.
Smiffy
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Sign Up8:15 AM, 29th August 2023, About A year ago
If they hired a few less lawyers, and a few more plumbers, this wouldn't happen!
MICHAEL REGAN
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Sign Up9:51 AM, 29th August 2023, About A year ago
Reply to the comment left by Hamish McBloggs at 28/08/2023 - 11:27
I agree. The problem with any of these complaint procedures is you end up trapped in 'their' procedure which is designed to 'manage' the complaint not investigate and ultimately protect the organisation and the senior management. I completely get the position of refusing an NDA and going all the way to court but the 'bribe' is likely to be more than a court would order so it's a personal choice.
I would advise most people against taking on the council unless they want to give up their life for a while however in this instance the Ombudsman's report has done a lot of the work already. I don't think the problem is restricted only to Local Authority Councils but is across all the public sector and our major institutions. The problem is so profound I don't think I'll see it fixed in my lifetime. In the meantime we operate in the environment that exists as best we can.
Hamish McBloggs
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Sign Up10:41 AM, 29th August 2023, About A year ago
Reply to the comment left by MICHAEL REGAN at 29/08/2023 - 09:51
Yup.
I needle my MP by sending links to these discussions and ask for personal (not self preserving party line) comment.
The MP never engages.
I also irritate other MPs with the same links and the only answer I've ever got from these is - we're not your MP. I haven't bothered Nadine Dorries as I know she's been busy.
It's a form of soft power. The real temperature of the proletariat, (non Marxist context), if you will. The real symptoms and how they are manifested are there to read.
Eventually one of them will.
The problems will be fixed before we get a canvassing Conservative MP on our doorstep here to discuss these issues in what is a super safe Tory seat ...
bfn