Warning: Michael Gove [UK Parliament cc by 3.0]

MICHAEL Gove has written to the boss of Westminster City Council warning him that he is responsible for a “severe maladministration” that saw a tenant left in a rotting council flat for more than two years.

The secretary of state for housing urged Stuart Lowe, the long-serving council chief executive, to get his house in order and said he was now taking a “personal interest in how your organisation continues to deliver its responsibilities to its residents”.

The letter is one of a dozen sent out this week to local authorities and social housing providers as part of an official government policy of “naming and shaming” failing landlords. It follows a ruling against the city council by the Housing Ombudsman earlier this year.

Mr Gove’s letter said: “I write following a finding of severe maladministration by the Housing Ombudsman. This was for your failure to address issues of damp and mould in one of your resident’s homes for over two years. You did this while knowing that there was also a four-month-old child living in the property. Despite a survey report finding significant signs of rising damp, you failed to offer a decant until four months later and even then, informed the tenant that a decant would only be considered after a further inspection. Eight months later you told the resident a decant was not an option, and then took a further five months to carry out another survey.

“You failed to produce evidence that you had considered the vulnerabilities of the residents, nor the impact to their health and wellbeing. Two years later some of the issues were still outstanding.

“It is unacceptable that your residents should wait for this length of time to have issues such as this addressed – especially with a young child involved. Residents should expect that when they report an issue, it will be acted upon swiftly and effectively, not months and not years later.”

In April the ombudsman ruled there had been “severe maladministration” at the council after a family with a four-month-old baby was left in a home with “damage to a number of walls”, “ongoing leaks” and “significant signs of rising damp”. There had been unreasonable delays in responding to the family’s complaints, the ombudsman had said.

Westminster, like all councils across the country, has been significantly hit by cuts from the government, of which Mr Gove has been a stalwart on the frontbench, since 2010. Tenants have borne the brunt and the Labour group in Westminster has repeatedly called for greater investment in housing from central government.

A city council spokesperson said: “The council fully accepts the findings from the Housing Ombudsman in this case which dates back to 2021. We have apologised to the resident for the distress caused to them due to our failings. We know that the housing services our residents have been receiving have not always been as good as they need to be.

“The lessons we’ve learned from this regrettable case have directly informed our service improvements including how we identify, record, and tailor our service to support vulnerable housing residents.

“Earlier this year we introduced a council-wide Housing Improvement Programme. This includes reviewing the repairs process and working with our contractors to significantly improve the service our residents receive.

“We would like to thank the ombudsman for their engagement with us and with our residents, who recently hosted an event for them to speak directly to residents about the valuable role they play.”