Ombudsman raps council for severe maladministration over lengthy delays on window repairs

The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration for the London Borough of Lambeth’s lengthy delays in repairing a window that has left a resident with boarded up bedroom windows since June 2019.

The Ombudsman, Richard Blakeway, has also written to the council expressing his concern “at the high level of failure" seen in his casework since he issued a special report earlier this year.

In the case in question, Lambeth had made temporary window repairs with wooden boards after two panels had fallen out of their frames from the bedroom windows in the resident’s fifth floor flat onto the ground below.

The resident immediately reported it and then made a formal complaint eight months later. She said she had no choice but to live in a flat with a boarded bedroom window that let in rain and a cold draught which she said was intolerable in the autumn and winter months. 

The council said the windows would be replaced which required scaffolding but then delayed. In its final response on the resident’s complaint nine months later it apologised and confirmed a window replacement would be fitted but did not give any timescales.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found that the landlord’s repair records were not comprehensive and it was not clear why the windows had not yet been replaced.

“This indicates poor record keeping as it should have detailed records of any repairs identified as necessary including the timescales and an explanation of any delays. While some delays were caused by the pandemic, this does not adequately explain a delay of over a year for the repair which posed a potential health and safety risk for the resident, her child and other residents in the area who may be injured by falling windows,” the Ombudsman said.

In February 2022, the Housing Ombudsman published a special report about Lambeth following the volume and frequency with which it had issued complaint handling failure orders involving the landlord.

Separately, since the start of this year, the Ombudsman has issued a further eight complaint handling failure orders. Its latest quarterly report includes three orders issued to the council.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “It is simply not acceptable to expect a resident to live in a property in this situation for such a prolonged period. It is concerning again to see poor records management impeding an effective response.

“I have serious concerns that months after our special report we are continuing to see significant issues and such a high level of service failure.

“I have requested a meeting with the landlord to understand how they are implementing more effective learning from complaints and how the corporate leadership is driving change.”

The Ombudsman also found maladministration for the landlord’s complaint handling due to unacceptable delays in this case and ordered it to pay compensation to the resident and arrange for the windows to be replaced.