Ombudsman launches probe into two large landlords over 45 high-risk damp and mould cases

The ombudsman has 13 high-risk open cases linked to Haringey Council, which manages around 15,750 tenanted and 6,000 leasehold properties. They involve leaks, damp and mould. 

It upheld more than three-quarters of cases determined since 1 April 2021 where leaks, damp and mould formed part of the investigation.

A recent council report revealed that nearly a third of its housing stock does not meet the Decent Homes Standard following the closure of its ALMO.

Following the investigations, the ombudsman will produce a learning report for both landlords and make recommendations for service improvement.

Richard Blakeway, housing ombudsman, said: “After repeated failures in the past year by both of these landlords, we’ve seen a high number of cases concerning the landlords identified as high risk. Under the circumstances, I’ve asked my team to expedite these investigations. Other cases with us concern similar issues and may indicate a repeated failing.”

The news follows the ombudsman launching a wider investigation into Islington Council in December over its repeated damp and mould failures.

It sped up two new high-risk damp and mould cases against the council. Islington was also highlighted in the 2021 Spotlight report. 

A spokesperson for L&Q said: “We take every intervention by the Housing Ombudsman extremely seriously. Since we were notified, we have been working with them to understand the scope of their investigation, and will co-operate fully with their report.

“We introduced our Healthy Homes programme in 2020 in partnership with ZapCarbon. This sees us focus on tackling the root causes of mould and damp in homes and carrying out any repairs needed to prevent damp and mould from reoccurring.

“So far we have visited over 14,000 of our residents’ homes as part of this programme, although the cases highlighted by the ombudsman today reflect that there is more to do.”

Dana Carlin, Haringey’s cabinet member for housing services, private renters and planning, said: “We are very sorry that we have failed our residents in the cases identified by the ombudsman and fallen short on the high standards our tenants should expect and deserve.

“We must do better and are committed to improving the situation as rapidly as we can. 

 “We brought our ALMO Homes for Haringey in-house on 1 June, 2022, in order to improve standards and to bring housing services under direct control.

“We want all our residents to know that we are committed to improving our services and we are working hard to assess all our tenanted homes – our council homes, those in temporary accommodation, and also those in the private rented sector.

“The safety of our residents is, and always will be, our number one priority.

 “We are reviewing all reported cases of condensation, damp, and mould from the past two years and putting in additional interventions to address and resolve any outstanding issues.

 “We are also reviewing our complaints handling process to ensure issues are resolved quickly and effectively.

“We are putting in measures to ensure we listen to our tenants, work with them, and make sure they understand what is happening at every stage of the repair.  

“In the longer term, we’ve just announced more than £100m of investment to retrofit all 15,000 council homes with measures such as loft insulation, energy efficient doors and windows and new heating systems which will go a long way to eradicate damp and mould in our housing stock.

“We welcome the opportunity to work with the Housing Ombudsman as part of their wider investigations, act on the lessons from the learning report and deliver improvements to the service that will minimise future repeated failures.”