A man, who wishes to remain unnamed, was not able to cook for months due to the bitter smell from untreated damp in his kitchen. The council tenant was awarded £1,000 in compensation following the ordeal.
The man waited two years for the council to fix the problem, after some areas needed repairing because of water damage. The Housing Ombudsman has issued a report about the man's situation, where the regulator found “severe” failings.
The report also said the tenant had suffered “unnecessary trouble, frustration and distress.” Leeds City Council has apologised, saying its services had been badly affected by Covid-related delays. In October 2020, the council sent contractors to the home to assess the repairs that needed to be done following the water damage.
But it was not until September 2021, after the tenant had repeatedly escalated a complaint, that most of the necessary repairs to address the damp were completed, the report says. Despite him raising issues with the home on 2019.
Contractors had visited the home on multiple occasions, but they had only come to survey the property and not repair anything. In the meantime, the kitchen walls were so wet that tiles began to peel off, the Ombudsman said.
The report, obtained by Leeds Live, said: “The resident had described failed repairs, and a smell so bad that he had been unable to cook and eat in the kitchen for some time. He recalled that the landlord kept attending to ‘check everything’, then would not come back for several months, then would attend and do the same thing again.”
The Ombudsman said that had works been carried out when they were first identified in the autumn of 2020, “eight months of unpleasant living conditions could reasonably have been avoided”.
It added: “Further, the resident was caused unnecessary time, trouble, frustration and distress by the numerous attendances at the property and need to chase the matter with the landlord over a prolonged period.”
The housing regulator also found failings in the council’s complaint handling, ruling that its response was inadequate and there were “missed opportunities” to learn from mistakes. It also said that while the local authority had blamed Covid-19 for delays to repairs, this “did not account for the very long delays and seemingly poor management”.
It ordered the council to pay £1,000 in compensation, offer a written apology and to carry out further inspections of the property to ensure it is well ventilated and free of damp and mould.
In a statement, Leeds City Council said: “We have apologised to the customer for the delay in completing the outstanding repairs and the time taken to resolve the complaint. We welcome feedback from our customers to help us improve the service that we offer. On this occasion, the service that we offered fell below the standard that our customers should expect.”
