The Housing Ombudsman has launched a special investigation into a Labour council after 16 ‘severe Maladministration’ cases in a year and a series of compliance issues.

The council is Lewisham in south London.

The Housing Ombudsman says the problems focus on how the council responded to its social housing tenants’ complaints about leaks, damp and mould.

A statement says the Ombudsman “will conduct a further investigation to establish if these complaints are indicative of wider failure within the landlord.”

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, says: “Complaints are an essential tool for landlords to learn and improve and can help landlords navigate challenging periods.

“For several months we have been concerned at the repeated failings we have seen in the landlord’s complaints, particularly involving property conditions. 

“We have given the landlord the opportunity to address some of these issues through our orders and will now progress to a further investigation. This will involve engaging with the landlord and its residents about some of the issues we have seen.

“Decent, safe and secure social housing has never been more important and the learning from this report will help the landlord to improve the experiences of residents.”

In response the council says: “Our Housing Service has been going through big changes and we know it is in need of improvement. We referred ourselves to the Regulator of Social Housing for a potential breach of its consumer standards in December 2023, and we intend to be open and transparent with both Regulator and Ombudsman until we satisfy their requirements.”

It adds that it has “already made progress in some areas, though we still have a long way to go.”