I gave evidence at the inquest into Awaab Ishak’s appalling and preventable death.
The two-year-old died from a respiratory condition caused by exposure to mould in his family’s Rochdale home, a coroner ruled.
Before I gave evidence, I listened to Awaab’s father, Faisal Abdullah, give evidence. I heard a desperate struggle to get a response to his complaints that is all too familiar in my casework.
Council landlords will want to reflect and take action. I would offer three observations.
First, not only read ‘It’s not lifestyle’, our Spotlight report on damp and mould, but assess your policies and approach against it.
Dig deep and be open and honest about your services. In particular, consider whether a dedicated policy on mould is needed to reflect its complexity. This should be a cornerstone of a proactive, zero tolerance approach.
Then discuss it at the appropriate governing body, as some councils have done.
Second, get a grip on your approach to legal claims and complaints. There is reprehensible practice here, but I also know some myths are developing around disrepair claims.
Foremost, there is nothing in the pre-action protocol that prevents landlords undertaking repairs or gaining access. Nor should landlords necessarily close a complaint prematurely – and the Housing Ombudsman may investigate until the court serves papers.
Landlords should consider reviewing restrictive policies that exclude consideration of complaints where a pre-action legal claim has been made and, instead, consider how better to use the complaints procedure to resolve these disputes. You can find more guidance on our website.
Crucially, do more to raise awareness and access to complaints as an alternative to redress. Our Complaint Handling Code sets out how to achieve this, and we are working closely with the Local Government Ombudsman to make it a joint code.
Councillors can also act as representatives for constituents with a complaint and bring them to the ombudsman.
Finally, promote a learning culture. The common failures on damp and mould are repeated in other areas: poor communication, weak record keeping, and outdated or incomplete policies.
We publish reports looking at these themes – whether damp and mould or, most recently, noise nuisance – to support learning.
In uncertain times, complaints can offer insights into the real-life experiences of services that would be missed otherwise.
