Inside Housing – Home – Residents with cancer and chronic asthma left in homes with damp and mould for almost two years

“Neither has it indicated any learning in terms of identifying what went wrong and how it would prevent a reoccurrence,” the ombudsman said.
It ordered the landlord to pay the resident £6,620 in compensation and to appoint specialist contractors and surveyors to confirm any outstanding works and undertake them.
In both cases the ombudsman ordered the chief executive to make a direct apology to the residents concerned and to self-assess against the ombudsman’s Spotlight report into damp and mould.
Richard Blakeway, the housing ombudsman, said: “Social housing can be vital for residents with vulnerabilities and these cases provide important learning for landlords to ensure it does so effectively.
“These entirely separate cases are united by vulnerable residents living in poor conditions and damp and mould being allowed to persist.
“The central failings in each case speak strongly to different recommendations we made in our Spotlight report on damp and mould.
“There’s a huge amount of learning that landlords can take from these cases, especially centering on regeneration and decanting. 
“I’d urge landlords to look past the headlines and to delve into the detail of the cases for that added learning, and where the sector can drive improvements to its services.
“For those landlords looking to go one step further than the reports, our CPD-accredited Centre for Learning contains e-learning on various aspects of housing management, including damp and mould.”
In a statement, Wandle said: “We’re deeply sorry that our service to these residents didn’t meet the standard we strive to deliver and thank the housing ombudsman for allowing us to learn from both cases.  
“When we received the determinations in April and August 2023 respectively, we apologised unreservedly to both our residents in writing and in person, and reviewed policies and procedures to prevent something like this from happening again.”
The landlord said it had completed the ombudsman’s damp and mould self-assessment to “ensure our response to damp and mould is in line with the regulatory approach”, introducing a triage process and dedicated oversight for damp and mould cases.
It has also reviewed its handling of repairs and its record keeping practices for repairs by commissioning mandatory training for all staff on its customer relationship management system.
This was completed alongside a review of its complaint handling process and improved training for all staff who handle complaints, and regular meetings have been introduced to review decant requests and major works.
“These, and all our learnings from feedback from residents, have been reflected in our repairs policy review.
“We value our relationship with the housing ombudsman service, and always use feedback and findings to continually improve service, constantly striving to deliver outcomes for customers that make us proud,” Wandle said.



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