The Housing Ombudsman has ordered almost £10,000 in compensation to two residents after it made two severe maladministration findings against Southwark Council.
One case relates to the complaint handling after heating loss, with the other concerning damp and mould in the home.
In Case A (202102902), the landlord was issued with a severe maladministration for its complaint handling after reports of heating loss during winter months by a resident who was pregnant and had a young child. The Ombudsman further found maladministration for the loss of heating.
The landlord’s delays in handling the complaint meant the resident was left without heating for six months in the coldest period of the year.
The landlord’s complaint responses were delayed, did not address the concerns of the resident, did not follow its own complaint policy and were issued without any apology or empathy.
Other failures included not escalating the resident’s complaint to stage two, instead creating a new stage one complaint underneath her existing complaint. It took for the Ombudsman to issue a Complaint Handling Failure Order and local MP to get involved before it was escalated.
Finally in this case, the landlord’s offer of compensation was too low and delayed.
The Ombudsman ordered the landlord to apologise to the resident and pay £2,000 in compensation.
In Case B (202113463), the Ombudsman found severe maladministration for how it responded to a leak and damp and mould. There was also maladministration for the landlord’s complaint handling and record keeping.
The resident and his young family were left with a worsening leak which impacted multiple rooms for 11 months, with the landlord refusing his requests for rehousing and compensation.
The damp and mould side of the complaint was not fixed for 17 months, which was particularly distressing for the resident whose children had eczema and allergies.
The Ombudsman has had to take this timescale from resident reports as the repairs logs from the landlord were not kept. It also failed to provide any survey reports when asked by the Ombudsman.
The landlord’s lack of resolution focus was inappropriate and the unfulfilled repair orders suggest the landlord failed to avoid or minimise the identified damp and mould hazard over an inappropriate timeframe.
The Ombudsman ordered the landlord to pay the resident £7,541 in compensation, response to the residents’ rehousing request and carry out a full inspection on the damp and mould in the home.
The landlord has said that since the Ombudsman’s investigations it has established a dedicated damp and mould team, improved its voids process and carried out a review of its complaint handling.
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “These two cases concern different services the landlord provides but, in both instances, it fell well short of how it should have responded.
“Residents deserve repairs to be fixed within correct timescales and for complaint responses to be appropriate in tone.
“It’s inexcusable for young families to live with disrepair for an extended period, especially as the landlord’s own records showed it was monitoring the issue.
“The council is a significant landlord in the capital and it is crucial for it to apply the lessons from these cases to help respond to the pressures on its services and to prevent residents experiencing avoidable detriment.
“I welcome the landlord’s response on its learning from this case and the changes made to improve its service. I would encourage other landlords to consider the learning the case offers for their own services.”
In all cases of severe maladministration, the Ombudsman invites the landlord to provide a learning statement.
