Ombudsman finds severe maladministration for inaction of council on disrepair

The Housing Ombudsman has made a ‘severe maladministration’ finding over Birmingham City Council’s response to disrepair, after it left works incomplete and failed to carry out further inspections when it promised to do so.

Birmingham City Council has been ordered to pay £1,050 in compensation.

The investigation found that the council failed on multiple occasions to take action when prompted by the resident and the local MP.

The resident behind the complaint reported a number of repair issues to the landlord, including intermittent boiler faults, the rear garden paving slabs being in a state of disrepair, and damp in the kitchen, hallway, bathroom, and living room, the Ombudsman revealed.

Following a period of inaction by the landlord, the resident, through her legal representative, issued a Section 82 notice (a notice made in accordance with the Environmental Protection Act 1990).

The Ombudsman revealed that a contractor then carried out an initial inspection, but it was noted that the resident refused the proposed works. Four months later, the resident stopped using legal representation and asked for the works to be carried out. A landlord contractor visited the property but the operatives were withdrawn due to the resident’s behaviour.

The report noted that after contacting her MP later that year, the resident disputed the landlord’s claims about her behaviour, saying the contractors left after “causing flooding and further damage to her home.”

Three years later, after the resident said she had been affected by health issues, she again raised concerns about the condition of her home. A stage one response advised that all repairs had been “completed to the resident’s satisfaction”, the report revealed.

Disputing this, the woman asked for the complaint to be escalated and the landlord said it would carry out a further inspection.

However, the Ombudsman’s investigation revealed that no inspection was undertaken, and the landlord said no plan was in place to do so as there were “no outstanding repairs on the system.”

The Ombudsman concluded that it was “not evident that the landlord made a reasonable attempt to investigate or address the resident’s initial reports of repair issues and failed to provide any context of its initial actions in its formal responses.”

Additionally, it was found that the landlord failed to arrange a further inspection “as promised in its communication to the resident’s MP”, and in its stage two response.

The Ombudsman also found maladministration for the landlord’s poor record keeping which “hampered its investigation and led to its erroneous findings that work had been satisfactorily completed.”

To remedy the injustice caused, the Ombudsman ordered Birmingham City Council to pay £1,050 in compensation and review its current procedures for record keeping. The compensation consists of: £300 for its failure to carry out a reasonable investigation as part of its stage one response; £350 for its failure to provide adequate information as to why the works in April 2018 were withdrawn, leading to a significant delay; £200 for failing to arrange a further inspection despite its promise to do so in both its communication to the resident’s MP, and in its stage two response; and £200 for the landlord’s inadequate record keeping.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “The number of failings in this case regarding poor communication, failing to provide services, and failing to follow up on promised actions would have caused significant distress for the resident.

“Every landlord has a duty to meet its repair obligations. Should it leave repairs incomplete, it should have a clear and robust policy in order to make structured and reasoned decisions not to carry out repairs."

The Ombudsman said: "In this case, it is not evident that the landlord has any such policies, or that any risk assessment took place when it decided to withdraw its services and leave the works incomplete.

“This decision reflects a wider pattern of poor performance by the landlord. This includes a high level of failure when dealing with resident concerns and recent orders made by us to progress cases in line with our complaint standards."

Mr Blakeway said he would shortly publish the outcome of a wider investigation into the landlord following a review of several cases – action which he was was promoted by his "serious concerns about the landlord’s approach to complaint handling and compensation".

The Ombudsman’s latest annual review into complaints found a higher than average maladministration rate for Birmingham City Council at 54%.

In a statement the local authority said: “Birmingham City Council are extremely sorry for the difficulties the resident has experienced as a result of our response to reports of disrepair, and we apologise for the subsequent distress and inconvenience caused.

“Several lessons have been learnt from this case and we are working in collaboration with our Repairs Contractors to develop process improvements which will mitigate against future service failure."

The council said:

• It was working closely with its internal service areas to review record keeping procedures and ensure that repairs records include detailed information in instances where repairs are suspended or withdrawn.
• Current procedures had been reviewed for instances where contractors report that a resident’s behaviour has impacted the provision of any service.
• Ongoing training was being provided to the complaint handlers "to ensure they carry out a thorough investigation at both Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the complaints procedure, and to ensure that they provide an adequate explanation in relation to any service delays which may have occurred".
• Complaints Managers regularly attend service delivery meetings with contractors to feedback on case studies which help to inform service delivery improvements. "Furthermore, contractor performance will continue to be managed through a robust KPI management system."

The local authority added: “We value our relationship with the Housing Ombudsman Service and welcome the opportunity to learn from the concerns which have been highlighted in their consideration of this case. The lessons learnt are being used to develop process and service improvements which will benefit all Birmingham City Council tenants.”

Lottie Winson