Housing Ombudsman finds severe maladministration at arm’s length management organisation of London borough

The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration at Homes for Haringey, Haringey Council's arm's length management organisation (ALMO), after investigating a complaint from a resident who said her medical condition was made worse by living in a damp property that her landlord had failed to repair promptly.

The Ombudsman also made a finding of maladministration for the organisation's handling of the complaint and record keeping.

According to the Ombudsman, Homes for Haringey was aware of the resident's vulnerability due to her medical condition. It was also informed that her condition was made worse by living in her property and that she had been hospitalised.

Despite this, the resident experienced unexplained delays and a lack of communication from the landlord, the Ombudsman said.

The resident had reported leaks from the roof above on several occasions over a period of two years, and some repairs were carried out.

In early 2021, she contacted the landlord to say she had been in hospital after spending two months in a damp flat with leaks and mould on the walls. Further work was scheduled but did not take place. The landlord acknowledged the resident's concerns and raised a stage one complaint on her behalf.

The landlord failed to give the resident an update on the progress of the repairs, apologised and said its contractors had been affected by the pandemic and that it would ask them to prioritise the work, the investigation found.

At this point, the resident was dissatisfied as the issue had been going on for some time, a repair had not been successful, and now she had been told the contractors were not available until pandemic lockdown restrictions eased.

In its stage two complaint response, the landlord apologised, noted the poor communication and offered £100 compensation. But the resident did not feel this was sufficient and said there were still unresolved damp and mould issues.

She asked for her complaint to be reviewed by the landlord's tenant Panel, which upheld her appeal and recommended a thorough inspection which the landlord failed to do. The resident referred the matter to the Ombudsman.

Upon investigating, the Ombudsman found severe maladministration for the landlord's handling of the resident's reports of leaks, damp, and mould at the property and maladministration for its handling of the complaint and record keeping.

The Ombudsman recommended the landlord pay the resident compensation of £600, take a number of actions to deal with the repairs, and review how it responds to the recommendations of the Tenant Panel.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said that although the landlord acknowledged its errors in communication about the repairs, it "did not offer suitable compensation to recognise the inconvenience experienced by the resident by its lack of communication and unexplained delays".

He added: "The landlord was aware that the resident suffered from medical conditions which she said were made worse by living in a property affected by damp and mould. It should have looked to prioritise the repairs given these vulnerabilities and the fact that there was damp and mould in the property during the coldest months of the year.

"It also failed to address certain aspects of the resident's complaint, including her concerns about missed and failed appointments, additional heating bills and her concerns about mould in the property and the effect on her health. No evidence has been provided to show that the landlord acted on the Tenant Panel's recommendation that it inspect the roof. This was a significant failing and a missed opportunity to resolve any outstanding repair issues."

A spokesperson for Homes for Haringey said: "We are sorry that on this occasion our service to a leaseholder has not met the high standards we set ourselves or that our residents should expect. We are grateful for the clarity given by the Ombudsman's report, and accept all its recommendations. We apologise for all the distress this situation has caused to the leaseholder. The works in this particular case were impacted due to the global pandemic, which contributed to the delay in completing the repairs, but there are areas where our service could have been better.

"Although we have a system in place to record all notes relating to that repair, we will review this system to make sure that all resident concerns are logged at the point they are made. We have recently made changes to our repairs service to make sure that we review and carry out any follow up actions required, to ensure our residents are satisfied with the work.

"More widely, there is currently a transformation programme in Homes for Haringey to improve how we deal with complaints and to ensure our policies and procedures go beyond minimal legal requirements and are genuinely customer-focused."

The spokesperson said that by April 2022 the changes from this transformation programme would mean it will:

• assign a specific officer to every initial complaint. "This officer will manage the relationship with the complainant and work closely with our service teams to resolve all the concerns raised."
• track and monitor commitments from resolved complaints to ensure that it delivers these commitments.
• monitor performance on complaints and lessons learnt to ensure it is continually working to improve its services.