Michael Gove names and shames councils who failed to reply adequately to mould and noise complaints

Several councils have been singled out for criticism by Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove over their obvious failure to reply to complaints from residents, starting from damp and mildew to anti-social behaviour.

In public letters to 6 councils – the vast majority of that are Labour-controlled – Mr Gove accused the varied authorities of neglecting their residents’ wants.

In a letter to Southwark Council in London, the cupboard minister mentioned he was “appalled” to study of a case involving a pregnant resident who was left with no heating for six months through the winter.

In a separate case, the council is alleged to have accused a tenant of vandalising his personal kitchen after the council’s contractors had eliminated kitchen items to hold out works. Mr Gove claimed the council accused the resident of a prison act and ordered him to pay for the repairs.

“I was appalled to hear about these cases,” he wrote.

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“Your response to these complaints fell well below the standard your residents should expect. To have four separate judgements published about your service failures gives cause for concern about the quality of service that you are providing.

“I’ve been clear that social housing residents should have the ability to put their belief of their landlords to offer an honest residence and cope with complaints successfully.

“I will be taking a personal interest in how your organisation delivers its responsibilities.”

In one other letter, he accused Barking and Dagenham Council of getting “failed” residents after it didn’t tackle studies of damp and mildew, affecting a household of six with a one-year-old youngster for over two and a half years and forcing them to share a single bed room.

“The delays in carrying out the necessary repairs caused by your mishandling of their complaint, understandably caused the family distress, inconvenience, and put their health at risk,” he mentioned.

“Even when it was known that the family was living in one room and having had medical advice, there was no evidence that you had given consideration of a decant to temporary accommodation while the repairs were undertaken.”

Meanwhile, he accused Sandwell Council within the West Midlands of failing to adequately reply to an anti-social behaviour grievance from a resident with “complex mental health needs” in a potential breach of the Equalities Act 2010.

Mr Gove’s naming and shaming of councils comes as he appears to bolster rights and requirements for tenants as a part of his levelling up agenda.

In July his Social Housing (Regulation) Bill grew to become legislation and can see common inspections of the most important social housing suppliers carried out in addition to the ability to concern limitless fines to rogue social landlords.

The invoice adopted the case of two-year-old Awaab Ishak, who died in December 2020 from a respiratory condition caused by mould in the flat where he lived along with his mother and father in Greater Manchester.

Mr Gove additionally launched the Act in a bid to deal with systemic points recognized following the Grenfell Tower tragedy, through which 72 people lost their lives.

In response to Awaab’s dying, ministers proposed that landlords must examine and repair damp and mildew in social housing inside strict cut-off dates beneath what could be referred to as “Awaab’s Law”.

Awaab’s Law was added as an amendment to the Social Housing Bill in his reminiscence and goals to “make sure no other child, or anyone else, dies due to mould in their home”.

Cllr Kieron Williams, the chief of Southwark Council, apologised to the residents affected however criticised the federal government for “reducing the money we have to spend on our homes”.

“I would like to say again how sorry we are to the residents involved with these cases from previous years,” he mentioned.

“They should not have happened and we have since made many changes to ensure we learn the lessons from each case.

“This week we printed our plans for bettering our repairs service, overseen by a resident board, and that work is already displaying enhancements.”

He added: “We take full duty for the issues that went incorrect in these historic circumstances and can proceed to work with residents to enhance our providers.

“That job would be greatly helped if the government stopped reducing the money we have to spend on our homes.

“Decisions made by authorities ministers have taken lots of of tens of millions of kilos out of the funds councils have to take care of our tenants’ houses.

“Tenants need councils to have secure and adequate funding so we can provide the quality services that we, and the government, believe our residents deserve.”

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A spokesperson for Barking and Dagenham Council mentioned it had “recognised the failings in this case and the impact that this would have had on the family and the ability to enjoy their environment” and supplied its “sincere apologies”.

“As a council it is important that we take complaints and use these as a basis to improve services for our residents, as such we have taken this complaint and determined several learning outcomes to improve the services which we offer all residents.”

A Sandwell Council spokesperson added: “We take our responsibilities to our tenants extremely seriously and we are working hard to provide the excellent services they deserve.

“However, we acknowledge we fell brief on this event and we’ve got made modifications consequently.”