Information obtained by the Southwark Liberal Democrats has revealed that
Labour-run Southwark Council spent £5 million on Legal Disrepair
claims in 2023, with the average time to process a case taking around a year, and the longest case finally closed in 2023 after 6 years.
Legal Disrepair is a specific legal route that residents and leaseholders can pursue where all other channels of complaints and disrepair have been exhausted or are not appropriate.
Legal disrepair is distinct from day-to-day repair jobs and ombudsman complaints, but still usually applies in the most serious of cases.
The costs incurred include both legal and compensatory costs.
This comes after the Liberal Democrats revealed that over 330 complaints are made to the housing department a month, uncovered the major works scandals, and the Ombudsman
ranked it the 3rd worst housing
department in the country.
The Regulator of Social Housing also made it the first council to be on its “gradings
under review” list due to potential “serious failings”, following a self-referral over the council’s failure to properly conduct electrical safety tests.
The ombudsman had also previously identified “severe maladministration” in multiple cases, forcing it to pay out thousands in compensation.
In one of those cases, the resident’s damp and mould issue was not resolved for 17 months, whilst their children had eczema and allergies.
Of 808 legal disrepair cases, the vast majority, 724, consisted of multiple reasons for disrepair. 46 were for environmental protection act related cases, which includes pests
and damp and mould.
Southwark Liberal Democrats have said that this is more evidence of
Southwark’s failing housing department, and shows how far
Labour have let things disintegrate.
Commenting, Southwark Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson Cllr Emily Tester said:
“This is no surprise at all after the battery of scandals, and the scale of poor quality housing we see every day as Councillors.
Labour have let our estates crumble, leading to misery for residents
and soaring costs for the council in the long run. Once again we’re seeing
Labour being a shoddy landlord, the whole thing needs root and branch reform”
