What can be done to tackle disrepair? Michelle Morris presents key findings and recommendations from the ombudsman’s recent thematic report on housing disrepair and damp and mould.
The Public Services Ombudsman For Wales has recently published a thematic report about housing disrepair and damp and mould complaints. The report focuses on complaints we have received about damp, mould, and poor housing conditions in social housing. In the period 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2024, housing complaints in general formed 17 per cent of all complaints dealt with by our office – the second highest topic following healthcare-related complaints (at 36 per cent).
Close to 800 were complaints about housing disrepair. We used to record all ‘repair’ issues under an umbrella term. In order to better capture complaints about damp and mould, we have, since 1 April 2024, recorded these separately from other housing repair matters. We have done so because of the recognised impact that living in damp conditions has the health of social housing tenants. The link came to further public prominence with the tragic death of a young boy in Rochdale from a respiratory condition in 2020. The coroner, in November 2022, found his death to be due to his exposure to mould at the family’s social housing property.
Examples of complaints about housing
In our report, we included many examples of cases we have looked into where housing associations, social landlords and councils needed to put things right for tenants, especially when there was cause for concern for health issues being caused or exacerbated by damp and/or mould.
For example, a complaint on behalf of Mr E said that he was elderly and in poor health and that his front door was ill fitting and in need of repair/replacement. He would put blankets over the door and in gaps to try to deal with the draughts and some water ingress. Tai Calon Community Housing told us that it would take around six months to find a permanent solution and fit a new door.
We considered this to be an unacceptable delay, given Mr E’s vulnerability, and the steps he was having to take to ensure he could be warm and dry. Also, Tai Calon Community Housing’s own repairs policy included an undertaking to tailor its repairs service to those occupiers who were vulnerable and who needed support. We felt that the housing association had not met these standards in Mr E’s case, by suggesting there would be a delay of six months before a new door could be fitted and it had not provided any rationale for this.
We resolved the case with an early resolution, with Tai Calon Community Housing agreeing to undertake temporary works to stop the immediate water ingress within five working days and, within eight weeks, to fully replace his front door. In addition, Tai Calon was asked to apologise to Mr E and make a payment to him of £250 to reflect his higher heating costs, as a consequence of trying to keep warm with the defective door in place.
Another case where ill-health was a concern involved Mr G, who complained about damp and mould at his home which he said impacted on his health. He said he suffered from mental ill health and chronic respiratory pulmonary disorder (COPD). His social worker and councillor had reported the damp issues to Hafod Housing Association, as well as his other concern about needing steps to access his steep garden.
Hafod Housing Association confirmed to us that there had been a delay in addressing the concern about damp which it had now begun to take action to resolve, which would also include the installation of a new radiator in due course. Hafod said it was not practical, given the terrain, to create steps, but would fence off part of the upper garden and take over liability for their regular maintenance which we felt was reasonable in the circumstances. It agreed to apologise to Mr G for the delay, make him a payment of £100 for his trouble and to complete the works and install the radiator within 30 days.
The themes and learning points we identified in our report as a result of the cases presented include public bodies needing to decide when a complaint is triggered and when it is not, a reminder that landlords are required by law to ensure properties are both in repair and fit for habitation at the point of letting, and that the human cost to anyone living in poor conditions is greater if the occupier is elderly or disabled. We are hopeful that these learning points will aid those in the housing sector to provide a higher standard of service to their tenants.
Report recommendations
We offered several recommendations in our report to improve current practice in the housing sector, such as:
- All public sector/social landlords should proactively undertake a stock survey, as advocated by Welsh Government, to better identify properties within their holdings that are suffering from, or at risk of, damp and mould
- All public sector/social landlords should undertake a full and proper pre-letting inspection before an occupier moves in and completes all necessary works (that are more than cosmetic), before the occupancy begins.
- Public sector/social landlords should reflect on this report, together with our previous thematic report in relation to complaint handling, and engage with our complaints standards authority team to prepare for adoption of our model policy and training on complaint handling.
These recommendations should improve the way social housing landlords respond to concerns about disrepair and damp and mould and ensure such concerns are resolved adequately and in a timely manner. The recommendations should also contribute to improving the public’s health in turn if public sector/social landlords can take a proactive approach and prevent problems before they arise. It is also expected that we will see a reduction in how many complaints we see related to housing issues.
Good practice
We have also seen some evidence of good practice when it comes to bodies seeking independent professional opinion during their complaint investigations, demonstrating a robust investigation and a desire by the landlord to find the cause of the issue.
For example, Miss K said that her home was damp and that she had asthma. Swansea Council said it was condensation. In responding to our enquiry, the council said it had already instructed an independent surveyor as part of its complaint investigation and was waiting for the report. Without evidence of maladministration or service failure, we decided we could not achieve anything further and the independent report would set the outcome.
In Mrs L’s case, she owned her home and complained that dampness at her property was caused by Swansea Council carrying out work at her neighbour’s home, which it owned. The Council had already commissioned two separate independent surveys – in response to Mrs L’s first complaint and again when she escalated her complaint. Both had found the damp was not caused by the work the council had undertaken, but by work Mrs L had commissioned herself. However, the survey had identified some remedial work the council needed to do and it had delayed carrying that out. Swansea Council agreed to our recommendation for to provide an apology for the delay and for it to complete that work within 30 days.
Conclusions
We cannot ignore the growing cost to the health service from failures to address housing conditions and this situation cannot continue. It is clear, from the number of complaints received, that the condition of housing in Wales is not without significant challenges in terms of ensuring people live in good quality housing that support good health and well-being. This is something that we must strive to achieve, for our health service, our communities and our future generations and we will continue to respond to complaints and work with social landlords to ensure this work informs service improvement across social housing in Wales.
Michelle Morris is the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales