The Housing Ombudsman has published a severe maladministration finding for Tendring District Council, in north east Essex. The Ombudsman found significant and avoidable delays in dealing with a resident’s repairs, including a leaking roof, rotten window frame, blown plaster and damaged artex, which had initially been reported in 2019 and were still not fully resolved in late 2021. When the resident complained about the lack of repair work, the landlord did not acknowledge or properly address her concerns over the length of time that had already been taken to deal with the repairs she had reported. Neither did it give any timeframe for when it aimed to resolve the issues.
The Ombudsman’s investigation found:
- severe maladministration in Tendring’s handling of the repairs
- maladministration in the council’s handling of the resident’s subsequent complaint and
- service failure for its record keeping.
Tendring was ordered to pay the resident a total of £2,110 compensation, issue a further apology, carry out a further, final inspection of the property and provide a plan of action.