Council admits 'mistakes made' over resident's bedbugs nightmare

A resident who lived next door to a council property infested with the pests has received £600 for the “distress” caused, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

credit Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Public Health Image Library via Wikimedia Commons — credit Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Public Health Image Library via Wikimedia Commons

A Haringey resident was left in “distress” after living next door to a bedbug-infested council property.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman ordered Haringey Council to pay the resident, referred to anonymously as ‘Mrs X’ in its report, compensation of £600 to “reflect” the “injustice” caused to her.

Mrs X noticed bedbugs coming into her property from the neighbouring adjoining property, which was leased and managed by the council, in early 2024.

Despite raising the issue in March, Mrs X had to contact a pest control company herself, which she had already done before, despite being told by the council it would contact its own team.

The company found a “high level of infestation” in the neighbouring property, which it estimated had been there “for around a year”. The technician advised the property should be treated “urgently” and charged Mrs X £310 for the inspection.

Sarah Williams, the council’s deputy leader and cabinet member for housing and planning, said she regretted the distress caused and that the council accepted it made mistakes. The council has now apologised to the resident.

Despite contacting the council’s pest control team several times in April, Mrs X had to arrange for another treatment of the infestation which cost another £310.

The ombudsman noted the council’s “initial emails” said “it was not the responsibility of various departments” and only in May did Mrs X’s local MP inform her the council would carry out a first assessment.

It took from 11th April to 10th May to organise gaining the keys to access the property and this was “part of the delay in organising an assessment visit”, but the watchdog said the council “allowed things to drift” and “took too long” to arrange the visit.

Despite departments communicating with each other, this did not lead, the ombudsman said, to “consistent or timely updates to Mrs X despite her chases” and overall caused her “significant avoidable distress, frustration and uncertainty”.

Treatments were agreed for both homes despite the council asserting “there was no evidence of a live infestation” in their property.

The council’s first treatment was scheduled for June and Mrs X’s in July. However, the treatment of the council’s property was not carried out due to “unauthorised occupancy”.

Mrs X then chased the council in July and in August 2024 multiple times but the first treatment only took place on 11th September and then a second and final treatment on 14th October following more “availability issues”.

The council again cited access to the keys due to the key safe being removed as the reason for the delay, however the watchdog concluded there was a “lack of urgency” and a “significant amount of communication between departments that did not always lead to concrete action”.

The ombudsman ordered the council to apologise to Mrs X for the “injustice” and pay her a “symbolic payment” of £600.

Cllr Williams said: “We regret the distress, frustration and uncertainty caused by the handling of this issue.

“We accept that mistakes were made and have apologised for the impact this had on the resident.

“The findings of the ombudsman are taken very seriously and have been used to ensure better handling of these cases in the future, including improving our communication with residents.

“These changes reflect our commitment to learning from the past so that we are delivering a timely and effective service.”

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