"A public housing tenant complained to the public authority about maintenance work that had not been completed at their property. The public authority had visited the property to identify the work required and raised work orders with their maintenance contractor, but 12 months later the maintenance issues were still not resolved. The tenant complained to the Ombudsman.
The Ombudsman contacted the public authority about the maintenance delay and requested information about the status of the public authority’s work orders. The public authority acknowledged that the maintenance issues had not been resolved in a timely manner and explained it had followed up with the maintenance contractor and visited the property to identify more extensive work to remedy the issues at the property. The Ombudsman requested that the public authority consider further remedies for the tenant in light of the maintenance problems that were not resolved.
The public authority wrote to the tenant to acknowledge that the problems were not resolved in a timely manner, explain the timeframe for completing the outstanding works, and offer a rent credit to acknowledge the inconvenience the tenant experienced.
The Ombudsman later followed up with the public authority to confirm that the rent credit had been applied and the maintenance works completed."