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Housing repairs Maladministration causing injustice
22 January 2008
A woman’s health suffered when she had to live for too long in poor conditions because Islington Council failed to remedy the dampness in her flat. The Ombudsman says that the damp problems continue, even though works were done before the woman moved into her flat and she later moved out for four weeks to facilitate completion of effective repairs. The Council has agreed to pay £5,000 compensation and improve its procedures. ‘Ms Drake’ (not her real name for legal reasons) complained that the Council failed to deal with a problem of dampness in her flat from January 2005 to date. It took 18 months to settle her insurance claim for belongings damaged by the dampness. The Council also told her that it would make storage areas in her basement habitable and this has not happened. The Ombudsman found that Ms Drake’s health suffered because of the failure to resolve the dampness problem. She had to give up her job. She was caused stress and anxiety and she had to live for longer than necessary in poor conditions. The Ombudsman finds maladministration causing injustice and the Council agreed to:
The Ombudsman also says that the Council should either resolve the damp problem and complete repairs within three months, or offer to rehouse Ms Drake.
Date Published: 20/10/08
are in .pdf format. To view these files you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader software. It can be downloaded below free of charge. Click To Download