Ombudsman finds severe maladministration at city council after new-born left living in damp and mould

The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration at Westminster City Council after it failed to deal with damp and mould in a resident’s home for more than two years.

At the start of the complaint, the household included a four-month-old baby with concerns being raised about the detrimental impact of the conditions on its health.

When the landlord first visited the property, it noted that specialist ventilation would be arranged, there was damage to a number of walls and that ongoing leaks needed investigating.

While appointments were made for these issues to be resolved, they were not completed due to access issues.

Shortly after, following a letter of claim from the resident’s solicitors, the landlord carried out a survey to assess the extent of damp and mould. The report noted significant signs of rising damp and made a number of recommendations for the landlord.

"At this point, it would have been reasonable to consider whether a decant would be appropriate as it is imperative residents are not left living with damp and mould for an extended period," the Ombudsman said.

"However, it was four months until a decant was offered, but even then, it would only be considered after another inspection was carried out."

Eight months later the resident was told decanting was not an option as works could be carried out while the family lived there. No action was then taken for another five months until a new survey was conducted.

The Ombusdman found that, over this time period, the landlord had evidence of several appointments being booked but none completed due to access issues. The resident said she never had an appointment booked.

There was evidence of the landlord emailing the resident to arrange appointments and emails from the landlord’s contractor advising that the resident had refused works, the Ombudsman said.

The Ombudsman added that whilst the resident was "understandably frustrated", there was an obligation on the resident to reasonably allow access for works to go ahead. "The landlord could have also done more here to communicate with the resident and remind her of her obligations as part of the tenancy agreement."

At the end of the Ombudsman’s investigation, the landlord confirmed some of the issues were still outstanding and there were no dates in place to get them fixed, meaning it was now over two years the resident had been living in the home with those issues.

The Ombudsman ordered the landlord to apologise and complete these works, and awarded the resident £2,300 in compensation. It also ordered the landlord to undertake a senior management review of the case, including lessons learned around decants, gaining access to properties and how it records vulnerabilities.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, noted the excessive delays in the landlord progressing the works to remedy the rising damp, which could not be fully justified by issues with access.

He said: “The landlord failed to evidence that it had taken into account the individual circumstances of the resident either in respect of its handling of the repairs or in its decision to refuse to decant the resident and her son.

“The landlord also failed to recognise, given the age of the resident’s son, the risk of detrimental impact on his health and well-being."

Blakeway added that "after the tragic case of Awaab Ishak, there is a need for landlords to ensure they know their residents and understand the individual circumstances in order to deal appropriately with any issues."

The Ombudsman also found maladministration for how the landlord handled the complaint, due to excessive and unreasonable delays providing responses to the resident’s complaint at both stages of the complaints process, which the landlord also failed to either acknowledge or apologise for in those responses.

In a statement Westminster City Council said it accepted the decision by the Housing Ombudsman Service regarding what it called a "historic" case dating back to January 2021.

It said: "This determination has been used to add more momentum to the council’s drive for continuous improvement regarding complaint handling and is supported by our new complaints management structure."

The council added that it had initiated multiple plans which will improve how it identifies, records and tailors the service to support vulnerable housing residents.

In particular, Westminster highlighted having: 

• Reviewed and expanded the procedure for supporting residents, providing further clarity on the steps to when and how the council identifies vulnerability and how this should be recorded in the case management system.  
• Captured several new requirements for development within its case management system so that it can improve the vulnerability information held. "When housing staff access a resident’s record they will immediately know if the resident has a vulnerability and will be able to deliver a more tailored response to vulnerability." In addition, the council is creating additional fields to record greater levels of vulnerability information so that it can routinely create reports, analyse, and monitor performance and continuously improve service.
• Reviewed vulnerability training provided to staff and contractors. "The training will be delivered regularly to all new and existing housing staff and contractors, equipping them with the skills, tools, and knowledge to give them a greater confidence to adopt a more holistic approach to identifying and supporting vulnerable residents."

Harry Rodd