A Camden resident with arthritis moved to a wooden shack with no heating or hot water after the lift in his building broke and it was too painful for him to use the stairs.
The resident, who relies on a service dog and has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - a lung disease that makes it difficult to breathe - faced climbing up and down 94 steps four times a day to leave his home.
The lift at the Camden block was broken for 686 days out of the 1,051 that he had lived in the block, an Ombudsman report has revealed.
The resident, referred to only as Mr S, and their support worker had complained to Camden Council about the lift breaking down, explaining that Mr S was finding it too difficult to live at the property without a lift.
Instead, he had been temporarily living in a wooden shack with no hot water or heating as the steps to his home were “killing him”.
His GP and social services also wrote to the Camden Council supporting a move on medical grounds but the council still did not contact Mr S or see what support he and his service dog may require when the lift was broken.
An Ombudsman report noted: “It was unreasonable that the landlord was not proactive in discussing support options with the resident.
“Even when the resident did ask the landlord for support, it did not provide any options of what it could offer.
“The landlord did not demonstrate that it considered the resident’s individual circumstances to explore whether his requirement for a management facilitated move was an exceptional reason to go outside of the routine local authority’s allocations policy.
“Our previous investigation found the landlord failed to consider temporary accommodation for the resident after initially promising to do so.”
A second Ombudsman investigation found Camden Council also failed to show that it had considered temporarily moving Mr S.
The housing watchdog said it was unreasonable that Camden “did not take into account the resident’s vulnerabilities and offer appropriate support despite the recommendations in our previous investigation and the long-standing lack of reliability of the lift”.
It added: “This amounts to a significant failing and demonstrates that the landlord has not learned from the outcome of the previous complaint.
“We made a finding of severe maladministration in respect to the landlord’s response to reports of the lift being out of order, and there was a service failure by the landlord in its handling of the associated complaint.”
Camden Council has since found long-term, permanent accommodation for Mr S.
The shocking case has been exposed as part of a special investigation by The Housing Ombudsman into Camden’s landlord services.
It found evidence of “a defensive complaints culture, with documents containing dismissive tones that run the risk of discouraging the acknowledgement of valid complaints”.
In another case, a leaseholder waited over six years (2,337 days) for a response to their complaint about renovations.
In a separate case, a deaf resident had requested Camden Council inspect the property and arrange for a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter to be present during the visit.
The request was delayed for four months before the landlord said its “set budget” may run out by the time it could schedule a BSL interpreter in person and arranged for an interpreter via a remote link.
The report also found that Camden Council’s record-keeping had inaccuracies and gaps.
There were stalled repairs lacking explanations, repeated unsuccessful repair attempts, and poor communication with residents when it came to damp, leaks and pest infestations.
Richard Blakeway, from the Housing Ombudsman, said: “The landlord needs to understand why several opportunities are missed to put things right, which may leave residents living in unsuitable and avoidable conditions.
“This includes a resident living with persistent disrepair, including damp and mould, for over 3 years, severely impacting her mental health. The issues weren’t addressed until the Ombudsman intervened.
“To build trust and ensure residents’ voices are genuinely heard, comprehensive training and a strategic shift towards proactive, respectful engagement are imperative as the landlord continues to improve its services.”
In response to the investigation Camden Council agreed its tenants and leaseholders “deserve high-quality, responsive and empathetic services”.
It added that it had been working hard to improve services, adding that it had experienced many years of under-investment from the Government - before pointing to a “critical shortage” of affordable housing.
A spokesperson added: “We are pleased that the report acknowledges our commitment to the long-term improvement of housing and repairs services through our established Transformation Programme.
“The Ombudsman has also acknowledged our engagement with them and our proactive work to make key improvements throughout the investigation, and we will continue to work with them as we make further progress.
“The cases covered in the report are generally from 2022 or earlier – since then we have changed and improved many aspects of our services.
“We have more work to do, and we have comprehensive plans in place that will deliver further improvements.
“This includes developing our culture and processes around complaints, a system review of how our services respond to residents with vulnerabilities, and improved communication during the repairs service.”
The council promised to go above and beyond the ambitions set out in the housing watchdog’s recommendations and said that considering its residents will be “at the centre of our work”.
It said it had set up a Housing and Property Residents Panel, a Complaints and Oversight Panel, and completed a programme of intensive resident engagement.
