Ealing Council has been forced to pay £3,600 to a woman after failing to fix her leaking roof for six years.

The tenant complained over the years and got nowhere – and now a report by the Housing Ombudsman has found Ealing Council guilty of "severe maladministration" after failing to deal with the problem.    

Ealing Council was ordered to pay the tenant £3,600 for the delay and poor standards of the works completed.

Going forward, it must also pay the tenant an additional £50 for each month that the repairs were not completed.

According to the tenant, the leaking roof had caused "extreme mould" to grow in her flat over a number of years, affecting her health and requiring extensive repairs. 

The Ombudsman's report found the council first recognised the roof repairs were necessary in 2015, but by 2019 those works had still not been carried out.

Water damage caused by the leaking roof required repairs to the plasterwork in the tenant's property, as well as in the building's communal areas.

The tenant submitted a formal complaint to the Ombudsman in 2019. A number of delays caused by procurement issues and then Covid-19 prevented adequate repairs from being carried out.

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The Ombudsman's report found that temporary repairs had been carried out on the roof and chimney stack, as well as the tenant's windows, but they were inadequate and were not carried out in a reasonable time frame.

The investigation also found Ealing Council had bungled its complaints process, having failed to escalate the tenant's complaint as requested and missing her responses during its communication.

Concluding the report, the Housing Ombudsman determined that Ealing Council had failed to address all parts of the tenant's complaints, saying there had been "maladministration" after they ignored her complaints regarding the quality of the temporary repairs carried out on the roof.

The Ombudsman also said the council was guilty of "severe maladministration" for how it handled the complaints process, leading to a "lengthy, frustrating and ultimately unsatisfactory experience" for the tenant.

A spokesperson for Ealing Council said: "Further to the council's comment provided within the Ombudsman's report, the council has put new measures in place to ensure there is not a repeat of the issues identified in this case and would like to apologise for the inadequate service that was offered."