Ealing Council slammed by Housing Ombudsman over handling of damp and mould in council home

Ealing Council says it now promotes a “positive complaint handling culture, to help us learn and continually improve” after the Housing Ombudsman said the council failed a resident and their young child over the way it responded to their concerns over damp and mould in their council home.

The Ombudsman slammed the Labour-run council by saying it “failed to act urgently or communicate effectively” to the resident “despite knowing there was a young child living in the property”.

In its latest ‘Learning from severe maladministration report’ which includes cases involving Ealing Council along with 10 other landlords including A2Dominion Group and L&Q, the Ombudsman took issue with how the council handled the Ealing resident concerns.

It said: “Ealing Council failed to progress damp and mould inspections and communicate with the resident about its actions. This also led to unattended appointments and eventually struggles with access. When the resident first reported the issue, the landlord asked for photos to allow a surveyor to assess the situation before visiting.

“While this was reasonable, it took another two months for an inspection to be raised. The landlord raised three inspections in the space of a month with no explanation as to why. Not all of them happened and it was not explained to the resident why some were cancelled and others not. The resident was forced to follow up with the landlord on numerous occasions regarding the inspections and subsequent works. The landlord failed to act urgently or communicate effectively, despite knowing there was a young child living in the property.”

Speaking to EALING.NEWS, Councillor Gary Malcolm, leader of Ealing Liberal Democrats said: “The Ealing Liberal Democrats think this case shows where the council fails to take serious cases as important. The Labour Party appear to cast tenants and residents to the dogs instead of properly assessing and repairing issues. Proper change is needed to turn things around and the council give little confidence for tenants ”

Responding to the report, an Ealing Council spokesperson told EALING.NEWS: “We are sorry that in this case, we fell short of the high standards we set ourselves, and we have apologised to the tenant in question. We recognise that we should do better, and we are committed to listening to our residents and working with the Ombudsman.

“We have made significant improvements since these issues took place. After a thorough review of our record keeping, resourcing, systems, processes, and culture, we have adopted new data management systems and processes. We are investing in more staff resource and have taken on two new repairs contractors. We have also introduced raft of new training for our team.

“We now promote a positive complaint handling culture, to help us learn and continually improve.”