Westminster City Council failed to tackle damp and mould in a resident’s home for over two years despite knowing there was a baby living there, Ombudsman reveals.

Following a complaint by the resident, the council found damage to a number of walls and ongoing leaks, and said specialist ventilation would be arranged.

Appointments were made to resolve these issues, but they were delayed due to problems with access.

The resident’s solicitors subsequently sent a Letter of Claim, which led to the landlord carrying out a survey to assess the extent of damp and mould. This survey revealed significant signs of rising damp.

The household, including a four-month-old baby, were only offered the option of leaving the property four months later – an offer that was then retracted after eight months because the council decided works could be carried out while the family was on the premises. The city council then took another five months to act.

The landlord said that the residents refused the council access and the Housing Ombudsman found evidence of several appointments being booked but none completed due to access issues. The resident says she never had an appointment booked.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: ‘There were excessive delays in the landlord progressing the works to remedy the rising damp that cannot be fully justified by issues with access.

‘The landlord failed to evidence that it had taken into account the individual circumstances of the resident either in respect of its handling of the repairs or in its decision to refuse to decant the resident and her son.

‘The landlord also failed to recognise, given the age of the resident’s son, the risk of detrimental impact on his health and well-being.

‘After the tragic case of Awaab Ishak, there is a need for landlords to ensure they know their residents and understand the individual circumstances in order to deal appropriately with any issues.

‘I welcome the landlord’s response on its learning from this case?and the changes being made to improve its?service. I would encourage other landlords to consider the learning the case offers for their own services.’

A Westminster City Council statement said: ‘We accept the decision by the Housing Ombudsman Service regarding this case which dates back to January 2021.

‘This determination has been used to add more momentum to our drive for continuous improvement regarding complaint handling and is supported by our new complaints management structure.

‘We’ve learnt several lessons from this case and have initiated numerous pieces of work which will improve how we identify, record and tailor our service to support vulnerable housing residents.’