The Housing Ombudsman has found six cases of severe maladministration in Birmingham City Council’s handling of issues reported by tenants.
In one case, a resident and her vulnerable mother were left in a home that was in a ‘terrible state’ with ‘severe’ damp and mould, although the ombudsman noted that the mother was offered alternative accommodation.
Another case involved Birmingham’s ‘wholly unreasonable’ complaint handling after a sprinkler activated flood damaged a resident’s ceiling.
The council also failed to undertake damp and mould work in a property where one room was ‘uninhabitable’, which the tenant said impacted his health, and failed to resolve another resident’s leak for more than three years.
Housing ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: ‘Throughout these cases there were similar points of failure in the landlord’s process, whether inadequate diagnosis of the problem, failing to escalate issues, or delays often caused by missing appointments.’
Birmingham City Council said: ‘The council fully accepts the findings of the Housing Ombudsman in these cases and has apologised to the residents for the failures identified and complied with the orders and recommendations made.’
These events took place before the ombudsman’s special report into Birmingham last year, the council added.
