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London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202416492)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202416492

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

15 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:
    1. The resident’s reports of damp and mould and the associated repairs.
    2. The resident’s complaint.

Background

  1. The resident has an assured tenancy with the landlord for a 2-bedroom ground-floor flat. She lives with her adult son.
  2. Between October 2020 and September 2023, the resident reported damp and mould patches in her living room. The landlord completed a number of mould washes at the property in this period. However, it is unclear if it completed repairs to the external brickwork of the living room it believed was a cause of water ingress.
  3. The landlord raised repairs to the external brickwork of the living room and drainpipe in March 2024 to resolve the water ingress issue. The resident complained on 12 September, stating that the damp and mould in her living room had worsened over 3 years. She also said she now had damp and mould in her “passage” and kitchen. She wanted the landlord to complete all external repairs and redecorate the interior of her property.
  4. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 17 September 2024. It said it could only investigate issues up to 1 year old. In June 2024, it reassigned repairs for the external brickwork for the living room from a contractor to its minor works team (MWT). It asked them to update the resident. It apologised for the delay and offered £105 compensation.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint on 17 September 2024. She asked why the landlord assigned work to the wrong contractor. She believed work should be completed to the external wall and went “beyond” just spraying damp and mould. As she received no reply, the resident chased up her complaint on 4 November 2024. On 29 January 2025, the Ombudsman asked the landlord to reply by 5 February 2025.
  6. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 5 February 2025. It explained that due to an error on its part it had not yet referred the work to the living room to its MWT. It said its surveyor would arrange to inspect the brickwork. It apologised for the further delays and lack of communication. It offered £380 compensation. This was £280 for the inconvenience and time, and effort and £100 for its complaint handling.
  7. On 23 April and 10 July 2025, the resident told the Ombudsman the landlord had attended on 19 February to complete the repair. She said it had only repaired part of the wall. She said she raised this with the landlord, but it did nothing further, and she still had damp in her property. She said no work has taken place in the passage or kitchen.

Assessment and findings

Damp and mould and the associated repairs

  1. In her initial complaint of 12 September 2024, the resident stated she had damp and mould in her living room which had gotten worse over 3 years. She also said there was damp and mould in the passage and kitchen. She said she had many visits from a damp and mould specialist, but the issue had “gone beyond” spraying the mould. She wanted the landlord to complete repairs to the exterior of the property to fully resolve the issue.
  2. The landlord’s stage 1 complaint response assured the resident that the repair for the water ingress in the exterior brickwork was in progress with its MWT. It recognised it had not updated the resident on the matter and confirmed the MWT would contact her. There is no evidence that this took place. It explained this later in its stage 2 response, which acknowledged it had failed to raise the repair to the MWT in error.
  3. The landlord’s complaints policy confirms it will “monitor progress until all outstanding actions are complete”. There is no evidence it did so. Had it done this following its stage 1 response of 17 September 2024, it may have been able to recognise that it had not raised the repair with the MWT sooner. As such, it was not prompted to take further action until it provided its stage 2 response on 5 February 2025. This was over 4 months later.
  4. Furthermore, between 17 September 2024 and 5 February 2025, there is no evidence of the landlord communicating with the resident about the repair or managing her expectations about what was happening. This is despite her chasing this in September, October, November 2024 and January 2025.
  5. The landlord’s stage 2 response confirmed it would arrange for a surveyor to inspect the brickwork. This was an appropriate step considering over 10 months had passed since it originally arranged the repair. This would ensure it was fully aware if there were any changes to the requirements of the repair.
  6. Between 6 and 19 February 2025, the landlord’s surveyor inspected the external brickwork to the living room. The landlord has not provided evidence of the inspection outcome and therefore it is unclear what the surveyor suggested.
  7. The landlord’s records show it completed repairs on 19 February 2025 “as agreed with the surveyor” and show as “complete”. However, in emails with the landlord on 25 February and 23 April the resident said it only repaired a plinth and had not fully repaired the wall. She also said the property continued to be damp. There is no evidence of the landlord replying to her concerns on either matter.
  8. The landlord’s complaint response acknowledged part of the complaint was about the damp and mould in the passage and kitchen. Yet although evidence shows it inspected this in the living room, there is no evidence it did this in the passage or kitchen. The resident told the Ombudsman on 10 July the landlord had done nothing in these areas. There is no further evidence of the landlord communicating with the resident on this issue.
  9. The landlord’s complaint responses said it could only investigate events in the past 12 months of its reply of 17 September 2024. This was in accordance with its complaints policy. However, it then only investigated events from June 2024, despite its repair records showing the resident reporting issues in September 2023 and March and May 2024. As such, it did not appropriately and fully address all her concerns.
  10. In her complaint, the resident asked the landlord to plaster and redecorate the damaged interior parts of her property as a remedy for its poor service. The landlord did not respond to this point in its complaint response, . Furthermore, following the repairs it completed to the exterior wall on 19 February 2025, there is no evidence that it managed the residents’ expectations about any interior repairs or redecoration.
  11. The landlord offered total compensation of £280 for the inconvenience caused by the delay in completing the repair. This was in accordance with its compensation policy and proportionate to the prolonged duration, and its lack of communication. However, the compensation did not include its failure to respond about redecorating, the damp and mould in the kitchen and passage, or to investigate all events in the 12 months up to its complaint response.
  12. In summary, there were a range of failings in the landlord’s handling of the issue, some of which it acknowledged and provided remedies for. Nonetheless there were other failings which it did not identify which means it did not resolve the complaint fully.

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord’s complaints policy confirms it will escalate a complaint when a complainant is dissatisfied with its initial decision. It will acknowledge escalation requests within 5 working days and respond within 20 working days.
  2. In total, from the resident’s escalation on 17 September 2024, the landlord took 98 working days to provide its stage 2 response on 5 February 2025. The landlord did not acknowledge or accept either complaint made on 17 September 2024 or 4 November 2024, or communicate with her about these. The Ombudsman intervened on 29 January 2025 when the landlord failed to reply or communicate about the complaint, leading to its 5 February 2025 reply.
  3. The landlord’s complaints policy states it will learn from complaints and seek to address any weaknesses in business areas. The landlord explained that its delayed response was due to the staff member who wrote the stage 1 response leaving its employment. However, it is unclear what approach it took to mitigate against this in future. It should have explained this for assurance that it was learning from the complaint.
  4. The landlord’s compensation policy suggests it will consider its communication and the duration of the inconvenience when assessing compensation. It offered £100 compensation for its complaint handling. This was in accordance with its compensation policy. Furthermore, the landlord acknowledged the significant delay and its impact, explained how it happened apologised and offered compensation.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould and associated repairs.
  2. In In accordance with paragraph 53.b of the Scheme, the landlord has offered redress to the resident prior to investigation, which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, satisfactorily resolves the concerns about the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

  1. In light of the failings found in this report, the landlord must pay the resident £680 within 4 weeks of this report. This comprises:
    1. £300 for its failure to fully investigate the resident’s complaint over a 12-month period, address her concerns about damp and mould in the passage and kitchen, and her concerns about redecoration.
    2. £380 it offered to the resident on 5 February 2025, if it has not already paid this.
  2. Within 8 weeks of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Show evidence it has now addressed all the relevant issues its inspections have identified, including providing the relevant inspections outcome. It must also confirm it has responded to the resident’s concerns about the kitchen, passage and internal damage and redecoration.
  3. Evidence of compliance with these orders must be provided by their respective deadlines.