The Housing Ombudsman has published a severe maladministration finding for Stoke-on-Trent City Council, after its lack of stage one complaint response on two separate occasions, which left a resident and her two vulnerable children in a home with damp and mould.
Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: “Our Complaint Handling Code is clear that landlords must issue residents with a formal stage one response. In previous cases we have seen significant delays in responses but for a resident to receive nothing, when her two vulnerable children are living in a damp and mould home, is completely unacceptable. Another important part of the Code is addressing all of the residents’ concerns within the response, which again the landlord did not do. As the Code becomes statutory with the passing on the Social Housing Regulation Act, landlords must get on top of this. We’re holding monthly Code drop-in sessions to help landlords provide a better service to residents in this area, but training staff on these issues is absolutely vital too”.