A TENANT has been awarded £2,000 after the Housing Ombudsman found there was “serious maladministration” by a council following complaints about repairs to a leaking roof.

Tendring Council had offered the tenant, who lives in a Grade II listed council property, just £100 after they were forced to deal with a lengthy delays and water damage.

The frustrated residents complained repairs carried out by a council contractor had not solved the problem.

The complainant told the ombudsman issues with the roof had been going on for more than a year, although the council said finding mutually convenient times for inspections added to the delays.

A report by the council said: “Apologies had been issued for these matters and the sum of £100 was offered in recognition of the complainant’s time and trouble in pursuing the matter.

“This was declined before then taking the matter to the Housing Ombudsman.”

The ombudsman found the council had not kept a complete record of how it handled the repairs or whether it had established the root cause of the issue.

The ombudsman criticised the service for “considerable and unacceptable delays” between investigation work being undertaken and repairs being commissioned and for not acknowledging the impact the delay was having on the tenant.

It said the “modest offer” of £100 was inadequate and ordered an award of £2,110 be paid to the complainant.

The ombudsman determined there was “severe maladministration” by the council regarding its handling of repairs, maladministration regarding its handling of the complaint about the repairs, and “service failure” regarding its record keeping.

It said the council should review the performance of the individual contractors used in the case and ensure any performance related matters are raised via its contract management and monitoring processes.

The council has since started a review of the repairs processes and an in-house repairs team has been established, while further training is being sourced over complaint handling.

The council added: “Over at least the past ten years, this is the first report from the Housing Ombudsman to indicate there was maladministration by it in its role as a landlord.”

Paul Honeywood, the council’s cabinet member for Housing, said: “I would like to reiterate the apology to our tenant who we failed to provide a quality service to and offer reassurance that we take this issue very seriously.

“I have taken this issue up with officers and expressed my disappointment in the Ombudsman’s findings.

“However, I am heartened to hear measures have been put in place to address our shortcomings and we will continue to look to improve the service we provide to our tenants.”