A council now consulting on a huge licensing scheme for private landlords has been slammed – over its own record as a social landlord.

Birmingham’s Labour-controlled council last month launched a consultation on a vast expansion to its existing HMO Additional Licensing scheme.

The proposal is for an Additional Licensing scheme which will cover all 69 wards in Birmingham, made up of approximately 12,000 properties, and will last five years. 

At the moment the council’s existing mandatory licensing scheme only covers 4,000 larger properties with five or more occupants. 

However the council is now in hot water itself having been found culpable of severe maladministration over delays in repairing a water leak and is facing a wider investigation due to “other cases of concern.” 

The Housing Ombudsman found that Birmingham’s Labour controlled council had failed to offer any compensation for distress and inconvenience caused to a resident affected by a leak. 

The resident, a leaseholder, reported a “high volume leak” caused damp and mould from it affected her family’s health.

No fewer than five repair orders had been raised but the council had failed to complete the work which was eventually done by the water supplier, four months after the tenant first reported it.

The Housing Ombudsman ordered the landlord (that is, the council) to apologise to the tenant and pay her £800 in compensation; perhaps more significantly the ombudsman identified other issues with the council’s complaint-handling and compensation, triggering a wider investigation to establish whether there is evidence of systemic failings in the council’s handling of these issues.

To compound the council’s embarrassment, housing minister Eddie Hughes has written to the authority to say he is taking a personal interest in the result of the investigation and the council’s future performance as a social landlord.

Birmingham council has now apologised to the resident and claims it is working with a repairs contractor to improve processes.

It adds that its compensation policy has been reviewed to award compensation to residents for distress and inconvenience resulting from service failure.

A statement says: “We value our relationship with the Housing Ombudsman Service and welcome the opportunity to learn from the concerns which have been highlighted in their consideration of this case. 

“The lessons learnt are being used to develop service improvements which will benefit all our residents.”