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London Borough of Lambeth (202426737)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202426737

Lambeth Council

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 rehousing application.
    2. The resident’s reports of outstanding repairs and damp and mould within her property.

Jurisdiction

  1. What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. This is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.

The resident’s rehousing application

  1. Paragraph 42.j of the Scheme states the Ombudsman may not consider complaints that fall properly within the jurisdiction of another Ombudsman, regulator or complaint-handling body.
  2. The resident complained about the landlord’s handling of her rehousing requests and application.  Her grounds for wanting to move included overcrowding, , the health of her youngest child, and domestic violence threats. She wanted the landlord to change her banding level to help her move.
  3. The landlord’s assessment of the resident’s rehousing application and its banding decision were carried out under its capacity as a local council. This falls under the jurisdiction of the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) to investigate. Because of that, this part of the complaint will not be investigated in this report.
  4. The resident has the opportunity to raise her concerns with the LGSCO. They can be contacted by phone on 0300 061 0614, or at their website: www.lgo.org.uk/contact-us.

Background

  1. The resident has a secure tenancy with the landlord, a local council, in a 1-bedroom flat on the second floor. She lives with her two children.
  2. The resident complained to the landlord on 8 December 2023. She believed the property was a “mess” and there were repairs logged with the landlord.
  3. In January 2023 the resident reported issues with damp and mould in her home.
  4. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 24 January 2024. It said it would deal with her reports of damp and mould separately, as she reported this on 23 January after she made her complaint. However, it agreed to inspect the damp and mould and any repair issues.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint on 24 January 2024. She said the property was “not in a habitable condition.” The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 15 March 2024. It confirmed it found damp and mould in its inspection and would complete work to resolve this in the next few weeks. It provided contact details for its housing manager to discuss any further issues.
  6. The resident started a pre-action protocol for disrepair claim around 3 June 2024. Her solicitor’s surveyor’s report in support of the claim found damp in the living room and bedroom and mould in the bathroom.
  7. The resident told the Ombudsman she wanted an investigation into the landlord’s failure to carry out repairs, including damp and mould. She said it was affecting her children’s health and the landlord had only “sprayed her walls.”
  8. The landlord informed us on 23 June 2025 the disrepair claim has not gone to court.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. In a call with the Ombudsman on 6 June 2025 the resident raised concerns about the presence of asbestos and structural damage in her property. As there is no evidence the landlord has had opportunity to investigate such matters, it should be given the opportunity to do so. The resident should raise any concerns she has with the landlord, and if she is dissatisfied with its handling of them, she can make a complaint. Once the landlord responds to her complaint she has the option of asking the Ombudsman to investigate. .

The resident’s reports of outstanding repairs and damp and mould within her property

  1. In her initial complaint on 8 December 2023, the resident said her home was a “mess” and there was a “catalogue of repairs logged” with the landlord. She did not provide further details about what was outstanding. The landlord did not comment on its repair’s history at the property in its response. However, its repairs records show no evidence of outstanding repairs at the property.
  2. The resident reported damp and mould in the property on 18 January and 23 January 2024. The landlord confirmed it would not investigate this in its stage 1 complaint response complaint response as it was not part of the resident’s original complaint. This was accurate and in accordance with its complaints policy.
  3. The landlord did, however, appropriately confirm that it would inspect the property for the repair issues and the reported damp and mould. The landlord arranged the inspection on the same day.
  4. The resident escalated her complaint on the same day she received the landlord’s stage 1 complaint response. She said the landlord had completed repairs at her property, but work was not “up to standard” despite post-work surveys. She said the property was not up to a “habitable standard.”
  5. The stage 2 complaint response confirmed it inspected the property on 2 February 2024, finding the property to be “habitable.” However, it found damp in the living room and bedroom and had appropriately completed a mould wash and repairs, (which it did not detail). Evidence shows it completed repairs to electrical sockets. Although there is no evidence of it completing a mould wash, the resident did later confirm that a mould wash had been completed.
  6. The landlord also said it needed to repoint the windows behind the living room and bedroom to address where mould was present. It said it would carry out the work in the next few weeks. Evidence shows it raised the work on 8 February 2024 and allocated it to a contractor on 8 April.
  7. However, there is no evidence that the landlord completed the repointing of the windows, and this is a failing. Furthermore, the resident reported further damp and mould in the living room on 3 May 2024. The landlord completed a mould wash at this time, but there is no evidence that this prompted it to progress with the repointing repair.
  8. In summary, the landlord initially responded appropriately to the resident’s reports of damp and mould and that her property was not habitable. It inspected the property and completed repairs and a mould wash. However, it determined repairs were required to the windows to alleviate damp and mould, but there is no evidence that it completed these. Nor is there evidence explaining the delay or lack of action, or updates to the resident. In the absence of such evidence the landlord cannot be said to have fully resolved the resident’s complaint.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 42.j of the Scheme the landlord’s handling of the resident’s rehousing application is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of outstanding repairs and damp and mould within her property.

Orders

  1. In light of the landlord’s failures identified in this report, the landlord must pay the resident compensation of £200 within 4 weeks of this report.
  2. The landlord must complete an inspection of the property to investigate damp and mould. As part of this it must provide a timescale for completing any outstanding repairs to repoint the windows, if it has not already done so. It must do this within 8 weeks and share the outcome with the Ombudsman and resident.
  3. Evidence of compliance with these orders must be provided by their deadlines.