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Birmingham City Council (07C01179)

Housing repairs          Maladministration causing injustice

25 February 2008

The complaint

Mr J was a council tenant. The Council carried out repairs to his staircase and damaged the decorations in the process. A law centre complained on Mr J’s behalf that the Council refused either to redecorate or to pay a decorating allowance.

Background

The advice given to tenants by the Council in its tenancy agreement said:

"If something is damaged as a result of our repairs and you think it is our fault, you must notify us in writing within a period of 28 days from the time it was damaged or from the time you first became aware it had been damaged."

The law says that landlords must keep in repair the structure and exterior of their dwellings. Case law has established that landlords are obliged to make good damage that results from repair work.

What happened

The Council refused to compensate the complainants or make good the damage caused by repair work until the Ombudsman’s investigator showed the Council’s legal officer a photograph of the damage.

The Ombudsman’s view

The Ombudsman found that the information given to tenants was misleading because it implied that the Council or its contractors had to be at fault before compensation for damage would be paid. She was also critical of the Council for failing to deal promptly with the claim and for acting on legal advice that was based on insufficient and incorrect information. She said:

"If the combined tenacity of [the tenant] and [the law centre] could not get the compensation [the tenant] was due, what hope is there for other council tenants?" 

Outcome

The Council paid £200 compensation to the tenant and agreed to review the misleading wording in the tenancy agreement. The Ombudsman also recommended the Council to:

  • provide clear explanations of its obligations, how tenants can claim compensation and guidelines on how compensation for such redecoration will be calculated;
  • brief and periodically remind all relevant council and contractors’ staff – including all workmen who carry out such repair works (including sub-contractors) – of these obligations;
  • introduce procedures for the proper investigation and determination of such claims that require decision makers either to have visited the site or seen photographic evidence;
  • inform all its tenants’ associations of the findings and recommendations of this report; and
  • advise the Ombudsman six months after publication of the report of the action taken.

Date Updated: 13/01/09