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9:26 AM, 24th August 2023, About 9 months ago
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The Housing Ombudsman has hit social landlord Sanctuary Housing with a charge of severe maladministration and demand they pay compensation to a tenant after a poorly managed case of damp and mould in a home.
The decision will see Sanctuary paying £5,600 in compensation after failing to address the prolonged exposure of a tenant and her child to damp and mould.
And the landlord neglected to provide suitable remedies for the situation.
The affected tenant has complained about persistent damp and mould in the bathroom, living room, two bedrooms, and hallway – which led to both her and her child being diagnosed with asthma.
The move follows Newham Council having to pay £5,400 in compensation to a tenant because it failed to resolve damp and mould issues in one its properties.
Richard Blakeway, the Housing Ombudsman, said: “The landlord’s actions were dismissive of a young family living with damp and mould.
“It delayed unreasonably in inspecting and rectifying the damp and mould.
“It failed to act on the advice of its own experts to identify the source of the leak and to resolve this before commencing internal works.”
He added: “In failing to do this, the landlord had to complete some of the repair works twice which further delayed final resolution and caused the resident further distress and inconvenience.
“The sector has taken important steps to address damp and mould and it is vital landlords use this time before the winter months to ensure their response to reports is robust.”
Although some delays in the initial damp inspection were attributable to the resident, the Sanctuary’s lapses lead to a year of delays in fixing the problem.
And when asked by the Ombudsman, Sanctuary could not hand over any reports or surveys carried out on the property.
Among other inadequacies, the landlord dismissed a contractor’s report after receiving a contradictory second report.
The landlord’s obligation to ensure that all leaks were effectively resolved to fulfil repair commitments and address the grievance was not adequately met.
There were also instances over a 10-month span where scheduled appointments with a surveyor or operative were missed, with no subsequent communication with the tenant.
An attempt to rectify the bedroom’s damp issue led to the problem resurfacing just 12 days later – and it transpired that the initial contractor’s concerns were valid, despite being dismissed by the landlord.
This led to a resolution four months after the dismissed report and two months after the tenant reported a recurrence of damp after the initial repair.
The second finding of severe maladministration is for Sanctuary’s mishandling of the tenant’s complaint, particularly the claim for compensation due to mould-induced damage to belongings.
Sanctuary had inadequately informed the tenant about the claim process and did not act reasonably as per its own guidelines.
In a statement, Sanctuary Housing, said: “We are sorry that our service provided on this occasion fell below the standard we set ourselves.
“A senior member of the Sanctuary team has personally apologised to our resident for having let them down.
“All our customers have the right to live in a safe and well-maintained home, free from damp and mould, and should expect to have any issues dealt with quickly and efficiently.
“We will learn from our mistakes and use this case to drive improvements.”
