The Housing Ombudsman has published a severe maladministration finding for Cornwall Housing, due to its handling of a resident’s complaint about damp and mould in her home, including not issuing a formal response and changing their mind on their approach.
The Ombudsman’s investigation found:
- maladministration for the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of damp and mould
- maladministration for its response to the resident’s request for compensation and
- severe maladministration regarding its handling of the subsequent complaint.
Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: “In this case, the landlord did not treat the resident fairly through its failure to investigate and respond to her complaint. It changed its position after originally accepting the complaint and did not provide the resident with an appropriate explanation as to why it did so. The decisions it took were inconsistent and contradictory. It did not act in accordance with its own complaints policy and on top of this, we had to issue a Complaint Handling Failure Order after the landlord did not meet its obligations as a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme”.