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A south London council has been forced to pay £3,000 and apologise to a mother-of-three after leaving her with “rising damp” and an eight-year-old leak.
The Sutton Council resident said her landlord failed to fix these issues at her property.
The resident felt that the poor condition of the house, combined with the housing association’s “unsympathetic manner”, was harming the well-being of her young family. Her case was eventually brought to the Housing Ombudsman and was deemed to represent “severe maladministration” by the council.
She lived in a three-bedroom flat with her three children and two-year-old grandchild. Her landlord, the Council-run Sutton Housing Partnership (SHP), was aware of the resident’s vulnerabilities as a tenant, including her asthma and the fact that one of her children was pregnant at the time.
The resident raised a stage 1 complaint on November 9, 2022, detailing multiple issues in her flat. She said she waited two years for her landlord to contact her about a new kitchen, adding that it had also not completed repair work following a leak.
Despite promises of repairs, including fixing the leak and assessing the damp, nothing was done, and her living conditions worsened. The leak, which had lasted for eight years, damaged her window gaps and kitchen units.
She also reported a mice infestation in her kitchen and said that she had lost furniture to rising damp and mould at the property. As an asthma sufferer, she felt the landlord was treating her unfavourably by not completing the work.
By December, she escalated her complaint, reporting no progress and malfunctioning dehumidifiers provided to her. The landlord’s response in January acknowledged these problems but blamed oversight and delays.
In March 2024, the resident raised a new complaint, highlighting damaged belongings and new concerns for her health and her family’s well-being, especially that of her pregnant daughter. She said the property was ‘making her ill’ and that any repairs made by the landlord were just “patching” up.
The landlord said the case couldn’t proceed due to potential legal action. As a result, she told the Housing Ombudsman that her situation hadn’t changed and that she was still experiencing leaks and paying out for personal repair costs.
Following the investigation, the Ombudsman found that SHP failed to properly address the leaks at the property, leaving the resident waiting for over two years, amounting to what they call ‘severe maladministration’. Despite the resident’s pleas regarding the cost of repairs and replacing furniture, the landlord also responded unsympathetically, making her feel treated unfairly.
They found that SHP also failed to act promptly on damp and mould issues, taking 12 months to assess the property and provide dehumidifiers. After just 9 days, the dehumidifiers stopped working, and the landlord failed to replace them.
Some repairs took 14 months to complete, and when issues persisted, the landlord didn’t take a firm approach. While two mould washes were completed, it held that SHP had not properly considered the resident’s ongoing health concerns and those of the vulnerable child at her property.
SHP was also found to have failed to effectively assess the resident’s kitchen and damaged windows. They were also chastised for their complaint handling and the impact it had on a ‘resident who pleaded for its support.’
In recognition, SHP was ordered to pay the resident £3000 in compensation and arrange for a prompt inspection of the property. When approached for a comment on this case, SHP Director Steve Tucker said: “I would like to apologise for the way in which this case was handled.
“Our customer service and response time fell significantly short of our high standards. We have directly apologised to the resident and have since completed the necessary repairs.”
He added: “As a housing provider dedicated to the wellbeing of our residents and keeping our residents safe, we have learned valuable lessons from this case and implemented a number of changes across our business.
“This includes establishing a dedicated damp and mould team made up of operatives, surveyors, resident liaison officers and administration staff to ensure all complaints are resolved in a timely and coordinated manner.”
