The Housing Ombudsman is launching an investigation into Hammersmith and Fulham council to see if shortcomings in the local authority’s handling of complaints and repair reports point to wider failure.
The Ombudsman has 13 open cases relating to the London borough that have been assessed as high or medium risk, as well as making 12 findings of severe maladministration across five cases since 1 April 2022.
After further monitoring complaints and receiving reports of delays to repairs and poor communication, the watchdog has said it will investigate and produce a learning report for the council.
Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: ‘After repeated failures in the past year by this landlord, we’ve seen a high number of cases concerning the landlord identified as high or medium risk.
‘Under the circumstances, I’ve asked my team to expedite these investigations.’
Hammersmith & Fulham Council’s strategic director of economy, Jon Pickstone, said: ‘We fully recognise the historic failings in our handling of complaints and repairs in our ageing housing stock.’
He added: ‘We will co-operate fully with the Ombudsman’s investigation and look forward to receiving its report. We will study it closely and act on its recommendations.’
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