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Cancer patient left with intermittent hot water by London council amid litany of failures
A London council has been ordered to pay more than £18,000 in compensation after the revelation of “shocking” resident experiences, including one left with damp and mould for four years and another with intermittent hot water outages during cancer treatment.
In the Housing Ombudsman’s latest case, the body made seven findings of severe maladministration across three separate cases against Hammersmith and Fulham Council.
Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “The experiences of each resident engaging its landlord is shocking. There were significant, multiple and common failings across these cases, which raises serious concerns about the landlord’s services.”
He added: “In all three of the cases, there was a vulnerability present that the landlord either did not take into consideration or ignored. This is simply unacceptable from a social landlord.”
The council has apologised to the residents and said it fully accepts the ombudsman’s decisions.
The findings come less than three months after another severe maladministration case involving Hammersmith and Fulham Council, in which it left a family of four in an “unsafe” flat.
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In one of the latest cases, a resident and his young daughter were left with water pouring down their walls in heavy rain, leading to mould and damp for around four years, according to the ombudsman. It led to damaged plaster, decorations and belongings, the agency said.
An initial £150 compensation from the council was “completely inadequate and disproportionate”, the ombudsman said.
Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s chief executive was ordered by the ombudsman to apologise to the resident in person, pay the resident £5,080 compensation and inspect other properties in the block.
In another case, the ombudsman made three findings of severe maladministration for the local authority’s failure to make multiple repairs, as well as its complaint-handling and poor record-keeping.
The failings meant a damaged toilet was left unresolved for two years, damage to a bathroom caused by contractors was not fixed for seven months, and intermittent hot water outages lasted for two-and-a-half years, according to the ombudsman.
This caused “significant distress for the resident who was undergoing cancer treatment at the time”, the ombudsman said.
The ombudsman ordered the council to pay £5,950 to the resident, apologise in person and ensure all follow-up repairs were completed.
A third case saw the ombudsman make three findings of severe maladministration for the landlord’s response to leaks in a property, its complaint-handling and its consideration of a resident’s vulnerability.
The ombudsman ordered the council’s chief executive to apologise to the resident in person, pay them £7,185.50 and carry out reviews into various policies, including on resident vulnerabilities.
Mr Blakeway added: “It is the length of time residents have been waiting in appalling circumstances that is of greatest concern.
“There were multiple opportunities for the landlord to resolve all of the issues uncovered in our investigations and yet the urgency to do so wasn’t there.”
In response, Jon Pickstone, the council’s strategic director of economy, said: “Improving our council housing services is our highest priority. We are truly sorry that we let our tenants down. We have made significant changes. We will do much, much better.”
Mr Pickstone said the council is upgrading its housing repairs service. “We successfully got out of an under-funded 10-year planned maintenance contract in 2019 and are now investing more than £600m to radically improve our council homes over the next 12 years,” he added. “It is the biggest council homes retrofit and refurbishment plan in the borough’s history.”
The council has also put in a place a taskforce, a new council housing senior management team, and hired extra repairs contractors to help tackle individual repairs more quickly and effectively in a ‘right first time’ approach, Mr Pickstone added.
He concluded: “We fully accept the ombudsman’s decisions. We have apologised unreservedly and directly to the residents affected, who have accepted our apologies. All the necessary repairs have been completed and we have also provided compensation and further support.”
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