Ombudsman Richard Blakeway criticised social landlords across London for letting repairs \u201cdrag on for years\u201d because of planned major works. Though the watchdog acknowledged that the process could be complex and expensive, he said some of the conditions people had endured were impossible to justify.<\/p>\n
\u201cCrucially, we repeatedly see a failure to connect the circumstances of the household to the condition of the property. Reports of the risk of falling, fire safety, and exposure to cold and damp and mould are not always heeded by landlords. Nor are health conditions are factored into the landlord\u2019s response,\u201d the watchdog said.<\/p>\n
Lambeth Council, for instance, took three years to act on windows it knew were unfit because it was waiting to carry out major works on the property. Yet the watchdog said it was not clear if the resident had even been given this reason. A similar story emerged in Lewisham, where the council left a high-rise bedroom window boarded up for four years. The resident living there had repeatedly sounded the alarm about his children\u2019s safety and their lack of access to natural light.<\/p>\n
The report came the same week the National Child Mortality Database (NCMD) reported that 9 children have died after falling from windows in social housing in the last six years. The NCMD said in some cases families had reported broken windows several times but their landlord or local authority had not fixed them quickly enough.<\/p>\n
A cluster of borough councils were also singled out for failing to deal with complaints. This included Hammersmith and Fulham, whose responses in one case were \u201cfull of missed opportunities\u201d. The landlord not only had poor records throughout but had twice marked these repairs as complete without giving a reason.<\/p>\n
In\u00a0Islington, a mother contacted her council because none of the windows in her flat could close properly, leaving her scared for her son whose compromised immune system was aggravated by cold weather. \u201cThere was no evidence the landlord assessed this risk,\u201d the Ombudsman said, and despite her complaints throughout the winter months, nothing was resolved.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), Islington\u2019s executive member for homes and communities, Cllr John Woolf, apologised on behalf of the council for communications that \u201cfell short of the standard the resident deserved\u201d, and admitted the delays \u2013 due to planned major works \u2013 were unacceptable. The council was already learning from its mistakes, he said, by speeding up window repairs and improving its reporting systems. He added that these changes had been shared with the watchdog.<\/p>\n
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