Vulnerable family forced to eat Christmas dinner on floor after landlord fails to fix flat

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A mom and her two younger youngsters had been forced to eat their Christmas dinner on the floor after water flooded their flat they usually had been moved into momentary accommodation.

The housing ombudsman has ordered their landlord, Yorkshire Housing, to pay almost £4000 to the family after it discovered they had been responsible of extreme maladministration over the dealing with of the leak, damp and mildew.

The mom had raised considerations to the landlord in October 2020 about water coming by way of her floorboards. The leak was in the principle bed room and there was additionally a foul odor, a report by the ombudsman discovered.

On contacting her landlord, she was instructed that the scenario was pressing and a contractor would assist inside 24 hours. However she had to chase 4 days later when nobody had but come to fix the leak, with the damp now spreading into the second bed room and corridor.

The mom, who had psychological well being vulnerabilities, was frightened about her personal well being and about that of her two youngsters, who had been each beneath the age of six, the report mentioned. The bed room window was additionally defective and couldn’t be opened to clear the odor.

After contractors got here spherical to assess the issue however didn’t begin any remedial work, the mom contacted the landlord once more, explaining that the odor and damp was “so bad that we have to walk on black bags and cardboard boxes to avoid stepping in water”.

On twelfth November 2020, the family had been provided a brand new momentary property to stay in because the flooring of their flat had to be eliminated.

In a later e-mail to her landlord, the mom detailed how the transfer and damp flat had impacted her psychological well being. She added: “Initially I was told that it would take a few weeks to fix it all and that I should be back in for Christmas… Almost 12 weeks on, I am still no further forward and it is still not fixed.”

She mentioned she had repeatedly defined to Yorkshire Housing that dwelling in momentary lodging was badly impacting her two younger youngsters. The family had to eat their Christmas dinner on the floor and sleep on mattresses for months, the report mentioned.

They had been given no assist to transfer into the brand new deal with and had to rope in a good friend to assist her shift a mattress.

Have you been affected by related housing issues? Contact holly.bancroft@unbiased.co.uk to share your story

Once the work to fix the leak had been accomplished in September 2021, the family had been requested to transfer again in. The housing ombudsman discovered that Yorkshire Housing had failed to help the family transfer into their new flat and had additionally been sluggish to reply to her preliminary criticism.

They have ordered {that a} senior member of workers apologise to the resident, full all remaining works inside six weeks and pay her £3780 in compensation.

Richard Blakeway, on the ombudsman, mentioned: “This is a distressing case where a landlord failed to provide adequate support for a resident with young children and mental health, despite being aware of their condition for over a decade.

“Too often residents’ vulnerabilities are missed or the response is inappropriate. Disrepair in homes, poor communication and dismissive attitudes can exacerbate vulnerabilities.”

Yorkshire Housing mentioned they “fully accept” the findings and had been “genuinely sorry for the distress and upset this has caused”. They added that that they had accomplished a overview of what had gone unsuitable and “made several changes to make sure this doesn’t happen again”.