The Housing Ombudsman has published five severe maladministration findings in three cases for Lambeth Council. The findings come a year after the Ombudsman published a special report into the landlord and the cases are additional to the ones in that report.
In the first case, the resident, who had a child with a damp and mould allergy, reported mould had formed after a leak in the bathroom. Lambeth repeatedly failed to carry out the necessary repairs works. The Ombudsman’s investigation found severe maladministration for the landlord’s response to the damp and mould, its subsequent complaint handling and its record keeping.
In the second case, Lambeth’s contractors left the resident for three weeks without a functioning bath or shower, with a bucket of water needed to flush away any waste and no taps on the basins in the bathroom. The Ombudsman’s investigation found severe maladministration for how the landlord dealt with adaptations works, including the quality of works and the conduct of its contractors.
In the third case, a boiler repair which should have happened under the landlord’s policy within seven days was not seen to for several months. The Ombudsman’s investigation found severe maladministration for boiler repairs and record keeping.
Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: “These three cases show both common points of failure and failures across several service areas, which the landlord has vowed to put right. The distress and inconvenience experienced by its residents was considerable, and some actions were disrespectful of residents and lacked empathy for the impact on them. It is critical for the landlord to make changes to prevent similar failings affecting other residents. This requires strong leadership and a corporate focus on driving change, creating a culture that does not tolerate these sorts of failures”.