The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration for a local authority’s delays in repairing a tenant’s windows.

The London Borough of Lambeth’s lengthy delays left a resident with boarded up bedroom windows since June 2019.

The Housing Ombudsman says Lambeth had made temporary window repairs with wooden boards after two panels had fallen out of their frames from the bedroom windows in the resident’s fifth floor flat. She immediately reported it and then made a formal complaint eight months later. She said she had no choice but to live in a flat with a boarded bedroom window that let in rain and a cold draught, which she said was intolerable in the autumn and winter months.

The landlord said the windows would be replaced which required scaffolding but then delayed. In its final response on the resident’s complaint nine months later it apologised and confirmed a window replacement would be fitted but did not give any timescales.

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “It is simply not acceptable to expect a resident to live in a property in this situation for such a prolonged period. It is concerning again to see poor records management impeding an effective response.

“I have  serious concerns that months after our special report we are continuing to see significant issues and such a high level of service failure.

“I have requested a meeting with the landlord to understand how they are implementing more effective learning from complaints and how the corporate leadership is driving change.”

The Ombudsman also found maladministration for the landlord’s complaint handling due to unacceptable delays in this case and ordered it to pay compensation to the resident and arrange for the windows to be replaced.

The full report can be read here.