Lambeth Council has been ordered to pay £13,000 in compensation after six severe maladministration findings.
The Housing Ombudsman has made six findings of severe maladministration against the London borough across three different cases.
The Ombudsman’s report identified a number of problems, including repair delays, poor record keeping and complaint handling.
In one of the cases, the council took 197 weeks to fix a broken pipe and complete the associated replastering and redecorating. It also took 196 days to register the complaint.
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: ‘These latest findings show three residents having to go to extraordinary lengths to get the landlord to resolve serious problems with the condition of their homes.
‘In each case, the delays to repairs being completed after first being reported was unreasonable and caused huge distress to all households.’
A Lambeth Council spokesperson said: ‘Lambeth has more than 33,000 council homes, and we are determined that every one of our tenants and leaseholders receive the high-quality service they deserve from us.
‘We are therefore extremely sorry that our service in these cases did not meet the high standards expected.
‘Lambeth has apologised to each tenant for the distress and inconvenience they have experienced because of these failings; we have paid compensation and resolved the problems reported at each property, to each tenant’s satisfaction.'
