Bristol City Council (06B05370)

Housing repairs                            Maladministration causing injustice

12 December 2007

The complaint

Ms K was a council tenant. The property she occupied with her young family had a number of defects including inadequate heating and ventilation that caused condensation in the principal living rooms. Ms K complained about the condition of her property and the adverse effect on her children’s health for a number of years. She complained that the Council did not properly investigate the problems she reported and did not take prompt and appropriate action to repair her home.

What happened

Ms K complained to the Council that, despite a number of surveys, her home still had problems with heating and condensation. She applied for additional heating because her son suffered from asthma. The Council had a policy that allowed for the provision of extra heating if there was evidence that tenants had untreatable asthma, but it refused the application on the grounds that the property had adequate heating.

In December 2002 the family’s health visitor sent a letter in support of the application for additional heating. The letter explained that Ms K’s older son had been admitted to hospital and treated for pneumonia and both children suffered from coughs and colds. The application was not reviewed in the light of this information. The Ombudsman said that, if it had been, it was probable that Ms K would have been awarded additional heating early in 2003.

Ms K continued to complain about dampness and poor heating. There was no evidence of any full survey being carried out during that time to establish the cause of the problems. There was disagreement between officers as to the cause of the dampness and the repairs that would be needed to resolve the problems.

In 2005 a survey of the property identified serious defects (some of which might have been identified and resolved before the property was let to Ms K). There was then a delay in arranging remedial works, apparently due to the misleading assumption made by an officer that Ms K would have to leave the property and be rehoused. This error was not corrected for over 18 months. Some of the work was still outstanding in April 2007 and work to the exterior of the property was not completed until August 2007.

The Ombudsman’s view

The Ombudsman found that the Ccouncil had failed, over a very long period, to carry out proper investigations in response to Ms K’s complaints about her housing conditions. As a result the family suffered damp and cold conditions for around seven years. He said:

"The reality is that between 2001 and 2007 the only work completed by the council to mitigate the problems caused by damp/condensation was to install two extractor fans. Given the circumstances, that was wholly unacceptable."

Outcome

To remedy the injustice, the Ombudsman recommended that the Council:

• apologise to Ms K and pay her compensation of £8,300 for the loss of her belongings (£1,300) and loss of residential amenity over a seven-year period due to unresolved disrepair; and
• arrange an independent structural survey of the property and, if further defects were found, remedy them without delay.

Date Updated: 13/01/09