Examples from the watchdog’s report include a mother unable to close some of her windows properly for four years, a window coming loose from its frame in a baby’s room, and residents using duct tape to hold windows together.
Duct tape is also how one council tenant in west London told us he had tried to make his windows safer, because he was so worried about his nine-year-old daughter. The tenant, who lives on the Lancaster Court Estate in Fulham, also says at one point, broken handles, which the council said were unfixable, meant a window was stuck open for a week during the winter.
In total, we spoke to a dozen residents on the estate, which is owned by Hammersmith and Fulham Council, and saw that visibly broken windows without handles were a widespread problem, as well as mould around window frames.
The windows are a “death trap” says Tracey McGurk, who has lived in her flat for five years and is worried for her grandchildren’s safety.
The day after we contacted the council, it sent a team to survey the windows and found six urgent repairs were required.
“We’re investing more than £1m every week to refurbish and repair our ageing housing stock,” a spokesperson for Hammersmith and Fulham Council said, “part of a bold, three-year strategy that includes replacing every window that has reached the end of its life.”
The council is “not just meeting the housing ombudsman’s window safety standards, we’re exceeding them,” they added.
According to the ombudsman’s report, some landlords are delaying temporary repairs for years because it is “most cost-effective” to wait for major works.
“Replacing windows can be complex and costly,” says Richard Blakeway, “but there can be no justification for the conditions some residents have endured.”