A housing watchdog has said a London council which took five years to fix a tenant’s leaky roof committed “severe maladministration” and ordered a £6,000 pay-out for the tenants, a report has found.
It said a “series of failures” by Westminster City Council meant the family of three were without a bedroom and left to breath in high levels of damp ‘for years’.
The council was ordered to hand over 25 per cent of rent paid from October 2021 as compensation for the loss of room. Westminster City has since apologised and promised to carry out the works. It also said it was not made aware of the issue until October 2021, which the ombudsman agreed with.
The watchdog found Westminster City had failed to log interactions with the tenant and when works were being done. The ombudsman said note-keeping was so poor, it had no choice but to view the tenant’s account of events as accurate because the council had provided little evidence to counter what was being claimed.
The report also slammed the council for taking six months to inspect the property and criticised it for blaming the delays on a Section 20 notice. They wrote: “The landlord said in its October 2022 stage 1 response that the delay was for reasons outside its control, as it had to conduct a section 20 consultation.
“This was incorrect. Section 20 consultation was a requirement to consult with leaseholders. The landlord confirmed to this service that no Section 20 consultation had been carried out, and it was unable to explain this error.
“Therefore, there is no evidence that the delay in carrying out the work was outside of the landlord’s control.” The ombudsman said between October 2022 and January 2023, the council confirmed works would start on five different dates despite only receiving a quote for repairs in January 2023.
They said this aggravated the distress the residents felt. It also accused the council of failing on its value-for-money obligations. Westminster City said the works had not been carried out because the quotes they received were too high.
The ombudsman said: “It [the council] said its value-for-money obligations meant it could not undertake the works, which contributed to the delay. Information on the landlord’s housing website says, ‘Value for money is delivered by reducing the number of visits on average for every repair and ensuring a right-first-time culture is embedded’ within its organisation.
“Evidently, there were successive failures to repair the roof effectively. The landlord failed in its repairing obligations, a duty which was unaffected by the cost of carrying out the required repair.”
A resident also told the ombudsman she would be put on hold 45 minutes each time she called the council and would have to explain the issue time and time again. The resident also claimed Westminster City would leave scaffolding up for months at a time and send its workers unannounced to the roof.
The ombudsman also found the council removed scaffolding twice without checking if the works had been completed. They also found Westminster City inspectors noted the “gradual deterioration” of the roof and confirmed leaks inside the property were “ongoing and worsening” in three surveys between April 2022 and April 2024.
Though the council said the relevant works were completed in June 2024, the tenant claimed the leak was on-going as late as September. The residents, who live in a three-bedroom flat with their daughter, claim they reported the issue to the council as far back as 2019, though the council said there is no evidence to prove it was raised until October 2021.
The residents said water had been leaking into their ceiling and walls from a broken gutter and lodged a complaint in October 2022 – 12 months after raising it – when the leak failed to go away. They accused the council of carrying out “quick fixes” and claimed they were told by contractors as early as May 2022 that the gutter was rotten and couldn’t be fixed but the property was left with scaffolding for months at a time without works taking place.
In response, the council admitted fault and offered them £50 in compensation. When the tenants complained again, they were offered another £70, which prompted a complaint to the Housing Ombudsman.
In December 2023, the residents complained to the Housing Ombudsman saying the leak was still on-going and said the family had been breathing in damp plaster for years. The residents said both parents had been diagnosed with Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) within months of each other.
Despite the council saying it finally resolved the leak in June 2024, the tenant said it was still on-going in September. Westminster City said it had failed to diagnose the problem at first, which it described as “complex”, an internal review has found.
They also said contractors’ failed to act with a more holistic view of the repairs required. A Westminster City Council spokesperson said: “We have apologised unreservedly to the resident. The council accepts the Housing Ombudsman’s findings, and we have actioned the orders and recommendations made.
“Providing safe and secure housing for our residents is a key priority. We have introduced a new system for dealing with complaints have put new processes in place to ensure similar cases are quickly identified and escalated with appropriate support in place for vulnerable residents.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands the council introduced a new programme to deliver its housing services in 2023. This includes asking residents to share their health and support needs with they report repairs, customer service and safeguard training for staff, reviewing the council’s complaints service and establishing a new Customer Advocacy Team to help identify where residents are vulnerable to support them with repairs.
