The Housing Ombudsman has published a severe maladministration finding for believe housing, due to its failure to repair a bathroom ceiling, leaving the house in an “unacceptable state of repair”. The landlord also did not respond efficiently enough over reports to damp and mould in the property.
The Ombudsman’s investigation found severe maladministration in believe’s handling of the repairs.
Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: “In this case there were considerable unexplained periods where the landlord did not demonstrate that it took any robust action in attempt to progress the repairs. Therefore, the landlord has not demonstrated that the delays on its part were wholly unavoidable, and it was unreasonable that the resident had to raise multiple complaints to prompt the landlord into taking the necessary action. The landlord did not only leave the resident’s bathroom in an unacceptable state of repair for approximately two years, but it excessively delayed in taking action to investigate the resident reports of damp and mould, and it has not demonstrated that it gave adequate regard to the safety of the resident regarding its handling of asbestos”.