Industry News


England’s largest HA ordered to pay almost £11,000 in compensation for damp and mould failings


T


he Housing Ombudsman has ordered Clarion to pay £10,800 in compensation to households aſter it made four findings of


severe maladministration across three cases. Richard Blakeway, housing ombudsman, said:


“Complaints about leaks, damp and mould have increased significantly in the past year and these cases show residents had to go to extraordinary lengths for their landlord to take action, which should not have been necessary.” “Tere is also evidence of the landlord failing


to join the dots or having similar points of failure, especially in the cases where there were multiple related complaints from the same block.” “Running throughout these three cases is


evidence of delay, poor communications and ineffective action. Tere were multiple instances in these cases where it would not have been too late to rectify the incident for the resident and to repair the relationship between them and the landlord. However, these opportunities were also missed.” Tis is the latest in a string of Ombudsman


findings against England’s biggest housing association, that have been critical of the landlord’s services and its complaint handling.


CASE A In Case A, the Ombudsman found severe maladministration aſter the landlord failed to rectify leaks reported by the resident for five years, causing her a high level of distress and inconvenience. Te resident had to spend a lot of her own


time and effort chasing for responses and action. Te landlord did not manage repairs consistently or in the same way as it did other reported leaks within the same block. Tis meant the resident had a vastly different outcome to her neighbours, who had similar issues resolved in a much timelier manner. Further to this, the offer of compensation was


insufficient and a further 12 months passed before the leak was finally resolved, compounding the failings. Te Ombudsman ordered the landlord to pay the resident £4,400 in compensation and have a director apologise to the resident. It was also instructed to review how oversight


and engagement with third parties could be improved to avoid the inconsistencies in responding to different residents. In its learning from this case, the landlord says it has taken on new Service Level Agreements which would see that if a contractor or developer doesn’t fix the issue. Te landlord will rectify the issue itself and levy costs aſterwards.


CASE B In Case B, two counts of severe maladministration were given for how the landlord responded to


a damp and mould complaint, as well as the associated complaint handling. Te landlord failed to act quickly to the


resident’s complaints of damp and mould in both bedrooms and she experienced significant difficulty in getting Clarion to acknowledge concerns about the fabric of the building. Oſten, the landlord’s responses lacked empathy and put the onus on changing her lifestyle. Although the property was due for regeneration,


the landlord was not proactive in seeking resolutions in line with its health and safety obligations and failed to effectively communicate with the resident. Worryingly, there were other complaints from residents in the same block experiencing the same problems. While the original appointment for the repairs


were made within timescales, the landlord should have thought about attending sooner aſter the resident explained her children had to move into the living room to escape the mould. With communication from the landlord to the


resident continuing to be poor, she asked her MP for help and described feeling suicidal. Te resident was finally moved out and works undertaken to resolve the problem. However, the problems soon returned and the resident reported that her home smells of damp and floor tiles are liſting. Tis led to the Ombudsman ordering the


landlord to inspect and identify any further remedial works required. Te Ombudsman ordered a senior member of the landlord’s management team to apologise in person, pay £5,000 in compensation and to investigate and respond to the resident’s reports of discrimination and racial bias. On top of this, it must review whether any


further compensation was owed due to the decant and carry out a full review of the case which would include taking into account the Ombudsman’s Spotlight reports on damp and mould and Knowledge and Information Management.


CASE C In Case C, the Ombudsman found severe maladministration aſter the landlord did not take all the steps it could reasonably be expected to take to investigate and resolve the damp and mould issues. Tis caused the resident and her family significant distress. Te resident said as a result of this disrepair,


she was unable to use a bedroom and provided medical evidence referring to her housing situation possibly exacerbating her children’s medical conditions. Te resident believed the landlord was simply masking the problems rather than dealing with the root cause.


16 | HMMFebruary/March 2024 | www.housingmmonline.co.uk


In its learning from Case’s B and C, the landlord says it has developed a new damp and mould strategy which has seen every member of staff undertake damp and mould training


Te landlord fitted a new bathroom, undertook


an inspection of the drains, reglazed windows and undertook mould washes. An inspection aſter this found that it was caused by condensation and therefore no further action was required. Aſter more complaints, the landlord undertook a


new survey with environmental health present and found that further repairs were needed – some of these had been completed but others had not. Te Ombudsman ordered the landlord to appoint


an independent external damp and mould specialist to undertake a thorough and rigorous assessment of the property, including the exterior walls and ventilation, pay £1,200 in compensation and assign someone in the organisation to be her single point of contact for all communications. In its learning from Case’s B and C, the landlord


says it has developed a new damp and mould strategy which has seen every member of staff undertake damp and mould training.


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