THE opposition group on ealing Council have rounded on the ruling Labour party in the wake of criticism of the authory by the Housing Ombudsman.

A new ruling has found severe maladministration for Ealing Council after a nine-month delay in its complaint handling left repairs outstanding and the resident without redress.

The report can be seen here:

https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/2023/06/15/undeniably-unacceptable-nine-month-delay-in-complaint-response-left-residents-in-disrepair/

Liberal Democrat Cllr Jon Ball, Opposition Spokesperson on Planning, Licensing and Housing said: "Liberal Democrats say this catalogue of errors by Labour-led Ealing Council is a shocking litany of failure.

"Over an 18 month period, the council's contractors made multiple visits that failed to find the cause of the water leak, failed to properly communicate with the residents, failed to comply with complaint handling rules, attended the wrong flat on one occasion and even created an additional leak.

"Council tenants have a reasonable expectation that the council will carry out repairs on time and with basic competence. The council failed woefully to achieve that."

Cllrf Jon Ball added: "This case is sadly not an isolated incident. The Housing Ombudsman issued Ealing Council with four complaint handling failure notices in the last quarter alone, 10% of those it issued to all landlords in the whole country.

"We as the opposition group demand that the Labour administration seriously overhaul the housing repair and complaints services to give council tenants a fair deal."