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One Housing Group Limited (202327023)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202327023

One Housing Group Limited

16 July 2025

 

Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of water ingress, subsequent damp and mould and damage to his property.

Background

  1. The resident is a leaseholder of the landlord, under a shared ownership scheme and the landlord is a housing association. The property is a one-bedroom, third floor flat. This is a small, mixed-tenure block of flats. There are no resident vulnerabilities noted on file.
  2. On 6 October 2023 the resident reported water ingress under his kitchen and living room floors, which he believed to be from water rising under the concrete in his flat. He said that this had also caused significant damage to walls and plasterboard.
  3. On 18 October the resident sent the landlord a report from a water damage specialist that he had arranged himself. The report included the following findings and recommendations:
    1. Water ingress into the floor surface and beneath the flooring system.
    2. Deterioration of wall finishes, including the open plan lounge/kitchen and bedroom.
    3. Swelling on the laminate flooring and mould contamination.
    4. Water moisture damage at the base of the party walls, adjoining flats and in the communal corridor.
    5. External rainwater penetration and cracks in the external walls, together with missing or damaged pointing. It noted water pooling and poor drainage outside.
    6. Very high moisture readings inside the property.
    7. It recommended an immediate extensive leak detection survey for the resident’s and adjoining properties and corridors. After leak identification, it recommended several remedial works. It also recommended a temporary move and storage of the resident’s belongings, during repair works.
  4. The landlord raised a job for a plumber to attend and investigate a leak and booked the job in for 26 October 2023.
  5. The resident made a stage 1 complaint on 23 October 2023. He said:
    1. He was unhappy with how the landlord had addressed the recurring water ingress issues.
    2. He was dissatisfied with the condition of his home due to damp and mould.
    3. He wanted to stop paying service charges due to the leaks not being resolved.
  6. The landlord responded to the resident’s stage 1 complaint on 3 November 2023. It said:
    1. Its plumber had attended on 27 October 2023 and found no leaks from the plumbing systems outside the flat. The plumber had suggested water might be infiltrating from the balcony, due to its stone slabs and dampness on exterior walls.
    2. It had arranged for its surveyor to attend on 7 November 2023 to conduct a more detailed assessment and investigate the potential sources of external leaks. After this, it would promptly take action to remedy the situation.
    3. It thanked the resident for the report from the water damage specialist and apologised for the inconvenience caused by the leaks and damp.
    4. It did not uphold the complaint as it had acted within its published repairs policy timescales.
    5. There were multiple factors potentially contributing to leaks into the resident’s home so the process in identifying these could be protracted.
  7. The resident reported several further instances of water ingress and damp and mould in his property between 9 November 2023 and April 2024. Within this time, the landlord commissioned 4 specialist surveyors to inspect the roof, the building structure, the communal external brickwork and balconies.
  8. The resident made a stage 2 complaint on 26 April 2024. He said:
    1. His flat had suffered significant damage due to rainwater ingress. The situation remained unresolved since October 2023 and was impacting on his living conditions.
    2. The landlord had commissioned 4 separate contractors to assess the property and the building’s structure. All the contractors had identified severe construction defects that rendered his flat “uninhabitable.”
    3. The contractor appointed to address issues with his balcony did not complete the works according to the scope specified. His flat was still full of mould and had no proper flooring (as he removed this, due to water penetration).
    4. He wanted a comprehensive action plan, outlining how the landlord would locate the leaks and rectify the internal wall and flooring damage in his flat.
  9. The landlord responded to the resident’s stage 2 complaint on 10 June 2024. It said:
    1. Its contractor had repaired the slabs in the balcony and renewed the underlaying felt system. It then reinstated the slabs and tested the area for leaks.
    2. Its damp and mould team would attend the resident’s property. This job had been raised on 20 May 2024, and the team would contact the resident directly to arrange an appointment.
    3. Once the survey had been completed, it would make all the necessary repairs to the property.
    4. It had booked a drainage company to look at the internal stack pipes so it could see if there were any blockages or cracks in the pipework.
    5. It provided details of its insurance company.
    6. Its named team member would stay in touch with the resident during the works and after completion.
    7. It upheld the complaint, as it had taken so long to identify the source of the leak. Once the works had been completed, it would look at appropriate compensation.

After the internal complaints process

  1. In response to the landlord’s stage 2 complaint letter, the resident stated that his balcony slabs had not all been removed and not been tested for leaks. The landlord later confirmed it had provided wrong information and the resident was correct.
  2. The landlord’s contractor completed a closed circuit television (CCTV) survey of the drains on 22 August 2024.
  3. The landlord appointed a specialist roofing contractor who attended sometime after 13 September 2024. (The survey is undated and the landlord does not have its own record of when this occurred). The survey noted poor installation of the roofing membrane and a faulty rainwater system. It said that the previous works to the resident’s flat had been misdiagnosed and unsuccessful. It recommended a further CCTV survey to confirm where the faults were. It quoted the landlord for works, which could not commence until the faults had been identified.
  4. In October 2024 the landlord advised the Ombudsman that it had offered the resident some cosmetic work, whilst awaiting major roofing works to be carried out. It told us that it might need a Section 20 consultation before any major works commenced in the building. It was working on getting an alternative quote from another roofing contractor before proceeding.
  5. We contacted the resident on 25 June 2025. He said that the landlord had completed no remedial works to the building or his property. He said he had received no compensation and that his flat has sustained further significant damage due to water ingress. As an outcome to his complaint, the resident would like the works to be completed and compensation for the impact on the enjoyment of his home, and distress and inconvenience.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. In the interest of fairness, the scope of this investigation is limited to the issues raised during the resident’s formal complaint. This is because the landlord needs to be given a fair opportunity to investigate and respond to any reported dissatisfaction with its actions prior to the involvement of this Service. Therefore, we have considered events from when the resident raised the leak in October 2023 to the date of the landlord’s final complaint response in June 2024. It is open to the resident to make a new complaint to the landlord about events after 10 June 2024.

Water ingress and subsequent damp and mould and damage to property

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy, which does not include planned works, states that it will comply with all relevant legislation, which includes Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. It is responsible for keeping the structure of the home in good repair. This includes the communal roof, drains, gutters and external pipes. It is also responsible for internal walls, skirting boards and floors, as well as central heating and water systems.
  2. It continues to say that it will complete an inspection where required to determine the nature of a repair and resolve the fault at the first repair visit, wherever possible. Where an inspection is required, it will complete this within 7 calendar days.
  3. It operates the following timeline for responsive repairs:
    1. Emergency repairs will be attended to and made safe within 12 hours ( repairs which have an immediate health and safety risk to residents, the home or neighbours). This includes burst plumbing or floods or leaks that cannot be contained.
    2. Urgent repairs will be carried out within 5 calendar days. This includes severe visible mould on internal plastered surfaces.
    3. Routine repairs will be completed within 28 calendar days.
    4. There is no published timeline for planned (major) works.
  4. The landlord’s damp and mould policy states that it will respond to all reports of damp and condensation and complete any repair works within its repairs policy timescales. It will investigate in order to determine the cause of the damp and carry out remedial repairs and actions. It says it will diagnose the cause of damp correctly and deliver effective solutions, to deal with the cause of the damp and not just the symptoms. It will keep residents updated with estimated timescales of works from the start to completion. It will take responsibility for maintaining homes to avoid water penetration and rising damp and will take remedial action if these problems occur. It says that it will always first consider whether the source of damp and mould is a design, construction or maintenance issue, which it can eliminate through work to the home.
  5. Under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, a landlord is required to consult with leaseholders before it undertakes any work which will cost any leaseholder more than £250. This includes repairs, maintenance and improvements to the building.
  6. The landlord’s compensation policy states that it can award compensation following a service failure or for damage to a resident’s belongings. It offers discretionary compensation of between £50 and £1,000 depending on the severity of the impact. Claims for litigation will be dealt with through the landlord’s insurers. Damage caused by unforeseen failures in the structure of the building would be paid by building insurance and not compensation. Room loss payments are only made to tenants and not homeowners.
  1. The resident first reported water ingress into his property on 6 October 2023. The landlord’s repairs policy says that it will carry out an inspection, where needed, within7 calendar days. It also says that it will deal with urgent repairs within 5 calendar days. The landlord did not raise a work order until 20 October 2023 for its plumber to attend and they did so on 27 October 2023. We would have expected the landlord to raise an inspection within 7 calendar days of the resident reporting the issue, particularly as the resident mentioned significant water ingress through his floor and damage to the structure of the building.
  2. Further, the resident later sent a report from a water penetration specialist, advising that there could be several sources of water ingress which needed to be investigated. This included structural issues, drainage issues and possible leaks in the communal area and neighbouring properties. It was reasonable that the landlord initially raised a job for a plumber. It was also reasonable that it then raised a survey when that visit did not identify any leaks in the plumbing system.
  3. The records show, that further to the landlord’s surveyor inspection of 7 November 2023, the resident chased the landlord on at least 4 occasions between November 2023 and January 2024 to request an update on proposed actions and works. He also stated that his property was suffering significant damage. We acknowledge that resolving leaks can be complex and take time. In these circumstances it is important for the landlord to provide clear and effective communication to the resident giving regular updates and setting out its expectations. In this case, the landlord’s communication with the resident was not reasonable; there were few updates and he had to regularly chase for information. This caused the resident time and trouble in pursuing the issue, frustration, and continued to impact on the enjoyment of his home.
  4. The evidence suggests that the landlord was taking steps via a process of elimination to identify and resolve the source of the leak. We appreciate that it can be difficult to identify the source of a leak and pinpoint the exact area where the ingress of water occurred. That is why investigations must be managed effectively and handled with a sense of urgency, to identify and resolve the problem at the earliest opportunity. The landlord acknowledged in its final complaint response that it took too long to identify the source of the leak.
  5. Further, on 19 November 2023 the resident asked the landlord for its insurer’s details to make a claim for damages to his flat and there is no record that the landlord provided this information until its stage 2 response of 10 June 2024, 7 months after the resident asked for this and this is an unreasonable delay. The landlord should provide this information to leaseholders upon request so he could have pursued a claim, regardless of the outcome. This would also have enabled him to ask the insurer about temporary alternative accommodation if he felt the property was uninhabitable because of disrepair.
  6. Also, there is evidence of poor record keeping on file. Strong record keeping is a prerequisite to providing a good housing management service. The landlord had incorrect information regarding the repair of the resident’s balcony, which it did not acknowledge until after the internal complaints process. Had it had clear records, it would have been aware that the issue with the water ingress in the resident’s balcony had not been addressed. The fact he had to pursue this issue, caused the resident time and trouble and distress and inconvenience. It impacted on the issue being addressed in a timely manner and on the enjoyment of his home.
  7. Further, there is evidence of confusion and miscommunication in the landlord’s repair records. It did not monitor the work order for the CCTV drainage works. The CCTV works were raised on 3 April 2024 and were not completed until 22 August 2024 as, by its own admission, the landlord said the contractor had not received the work order from the landlord. This delay caused the resident distress and frustration and time and trouble in pursuing the issue, as well as continuing to impact on the enjoyment of his home.
  8. Additionally, the landlord commissioned a roofing survey and this survey is undated. When this Service asked for the date of the survey, the landlord advised it did not have this information. This is a further failing, which could have impacted on the substantive issue being resolved.
  9. The landlord did go some way to address the damp and mould issues in the resident’s property and the block. It commissioned 4 separate surveys during the internal complaints process. This included a structural survey and damp and mould surveys. This was between 18 December 2023 and 21 March 2024. However, this was over 2 months after the resident reported the issue and provided his own report. These are inappropriate delays and significantly outside of the landlord’s damp and mould policy timescales.
  10. The resident reported significant water ingress into his home on 6 October 2023 and the works remained outstanding as at 10 June 2024 (when it issued the stage 2 complaint response). The landlord has acknowledged this delay which caused the resident significant distress and inconvenience and time and trouble in pursuing the issue. The delays to works had a significant impact on the resident’s enjoyment of his home, and he told us he was still unable to have any flooring in his living room and kitchen, due to the water ingress. The delays and poor communication also impacted on the resident and landlord relationship.
  11. Further, although the landlord advised us that it was pursuing a further quote and would be starting Section 20 consultation process, the resident informs us that this has not occurred, 8 months after the landlord advised us it was pursuing this. The resident has told us that no works have been completed as at end of June 2025 and that his property continues to deteriorate, due to the water ingress. We have therefore made an order for the landlord to provide the resident with a timeline for repairs, including the Section 20 consultation if appropriate.
  12. Also, although the landlord has advised us that it is considering compensation, in line with its compensation policy, it has not yet offered the resident any compensation. It would have been reasonable for the landlord to have offered compensation in its final complaint response, even if this was an interim offer, rather than after the repairs had been completed.
  13. Due to the fact that the landlord did not provide an approximate repair timeline to the resident, from October 2023 to 10 June 2024, did not keep in contact with him and did not complete the recommended repairs, we have made a finding of maladministration. We have made an order for £1,100 compensation. This is £600 for distress and inconvenience for approximately 6 months and £500 for time and trouble in pursuing the issues. This is in line with our remedies guidance where there have been failures, which have had a seriously detrimental impact on the resident and the failures accumulated over a significant period of time. We note that the works are still outstanding and have also made orders for the landlord to carry out remedial works. We have also made an order for a policy review for the landlord to consider publishing a timeline for planned works.

Determination

  1. In accordance with Paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of water ingress and subsequent damp and mould and damage to his property.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Apologise in writing to the resident for the failings identified in this report. The apology needs to be from a member of its senior leadership team.
    2. Commit to undertaking the necessary repairs to solve the water ingress issues.
    3. Provide a timeline for repairs, including Section 20 consultation if appropriate.
    4. Provide a single point of contact to the resident and commit to keeping the resident updated on a weekly basis until the repairs are completed.
    5. Pay the resident £1,100 compensation. This should be paid directly to his bank account and not offset against any arrears (if applicable). This is made up as follows:
      1. £600 for the distress and inconvenience and loss of amenity.
      2. £500 for time and trouble in pursuing the repair issues.
    6. Following completion of repairs, commit to contacting the resident to consider further compensation for delays since the stage 2 complaint response of 10 June 2024.
    7. Review its repairs policy to consider including a timeline for planned works.
  2. The landlord should provide this Service with evidence of compliance with the above orders.