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Paragon Asra Housing Limited (202227582)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202227582

Paragon Asra Housing Limited

20 May 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. Reports of damp and mould.
    2. The resident’s complaint.

Background and summary of events

  1. The resident has been an assured tenant of the landlord since 2019. The property is a third floor flat. The landlord is aware the resident has asthma.
  2. The resident told the landlord there was damp and mould in her bedroom on 5 January 2023.
  3. The landlord completed a mould wash of the bedroom on 27 February 2023. It needed to complete further repairs following the mould wash. The landlord completed the repairs on 17 May 2023.
  4. The resident complained to this Service about the damp and mould in her bedroom on 21 May 2023. We wrote to the landlord to ask it to provide a response to the resident under stage 1 of its complaint procedure. At that time the resident had an existing complaint with the Ombudsman about the landlord’s handling of reports of damp and mould.
  5. The landlord provided its stage 1 response on 7 June 2023. It apologised for delays in completing repairs to the bedroom. It awarded her £240 compensation. That consisted of £200 for distress and inconvenience and £40 for 2 missed appointments. It agreed to another damp and mould inspection of the resident’s home on 30 June 2023.
  6. The landlord completed a damp and mould inspection of the resident’s home on 25 July 2023. It completed repairs to her kitchen and bathroom on 27 July 2023.
  7. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 6 September 2023. She was unhappy with the level of compensation offered. She said the issues had gone on too long.
  8. The landlord provided its stage 2 response on 11 October 2023. It told the resident after reviewing the compensation it offered at stage 1 it found the amount was reasonable. However, as further works were delayed by a further 2 months it offered her a further £200 compensation.
  9. The resident contacted this Service on 17 November 2023. She was unhappy with the amount of compensation. She wants the landlord to reduce her rent by between 50 and 100% for the period she slept in a bedroom with damp and mould.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The landlord’s internal complaint procedure investigated and responded to issues about the resident’s gas supply. However, the resident has subsequently confirmed to this Service that she only considers the issues defined above to be outstanding and that her complaint about the gas supply has been resolved. Accordingly, this investigation has focussed on and assessed the circumstances of the 2 issues that remain outstanding.
  2. On 29 September 2023 the Ombudsman issued a report under reference 202224963 about the landlord’s handling of the reports of damp and mould. That case included an assessment of the issues covered in the landlord’s stage 1 response from 6 June 2023. It is important to explain this investigation will not assess the same issues considered within a previous investigation. However, as the landlord considered further delays after May 2023 as part of its stage 2 response we can consider that period.
  3. The resident has also said that these issues have had a negative effect on her physical and mental health. Whilst this service is an alternative to the courts, it is unable to establish legal liability or whether a landlord’s actions or lack of action have had a detrimental impact on a resident’s health. Nor can it calculate or award damages. The Ombudsman is therefore unable to consider the personal injury aspects of the resident’s complaint. These matters are likely better suited to consideration by a court or via a personal injury claim. However, consideration has been given to any general distress and inconvenience which the resident may have experienced as a result of any service failure by the landlord.

Damp and mould

  1. The landlord’s damp and mould procedure in place at the time of the resident’s complaint stated that for areas of mould over 1 square metre, an appointment would be made for a surveyor to begin the investigation. This would require 1 to 3 visits over a 4-week period.
  2. In the landlord’s stage 1 response it booked in a damp and mould survey for 30 June 2023. The landlord has not provided evidence of the communication with the resident around that appointment. From its stage 2 response it appears the resident requested a change of date but it took several communications to rearrange the date. Had it been quicker in arranging a new date it may have been able to have completed the inspection sooner than it did, almost a month later, on 25 July 2023. However, once it had completed the inspection it was proactive in completing the repairs identified. It repaired vents in the kitchen and bathroom on 27 July 2023.
  3. The landlord apologised for the delay in arranging an inspection and the impact it had on the repairs. It told her its delay had meant it had taken a further 2 months to resolve the damp and mould in her home. It awarded her £200 compensation. The landlord’s compensation policy defines a high-level impact as a serious or prolonged service failure resulting in severe distress, disruption or inconvenience. Where it considers a high-level service failure to have occurred it will award between £100 and £500 compensation. Its approach at stage 2 was reasonable as it showed it had considered the wider impact of the 2 month delay in relation to the resident’s earlier complaint.
  4. This Service’s remedies guidance states that we will award up to £100 compensation following a service failure determination. The landlord’s compensation award of £200 is above that amount. The landlord also recognised its delay in arranging the inspection and apologised for that. It was prompt in its response to the repairs identified in that inspection. Considering the landlord’s response at stage 2 in the Ombudsman’s opinion the landlord has made an offer of reasonable redress.

Complaint handling

  1. Under the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) in place at the time of the resident’s complaint, a landlord should acknowledge complaints within 5 working days. It must provide a stage 1 response within 10 working days of receiving the complaint. If the resident requires an escalation, it should respond to stage 2 complaints within 20 working days. The landlord’s complaints policy in place at the time of the resident’s complaint was compliant with the Code.
  2. Following contact from the resident we contacted the landlord on 21 May 2023. We asked it to provide a stage 1 response by 13 June 2023. The landlord sent the resident a stage 1 acknowledgement on 23 May 2023. It was appropriate that it provided its stage 1 response within the timeframe set by this Service, on 7 June 2023.
  3. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 6 September 2023. Under the Code the landlord should have acknowledged her complaint by 13 September 2023 and provided its response by 4 October 2023. The landlord has not provided evidence it sent the resident an acknowledgement at stage 2. It also provided its response 1 week late on 11 October 2023. There is no evidence it contacted her in advance of that date to agree an extension. It did not apologise for its delay in responding.
  4. As the landlord’s failure to acknowledge the resident’s stage 2 complaint increased the impact of its 1 week delay in providing a response there was service failure in its complaint handling. The resident may have been unaware her complaint was being investigated until its response was provided. While it is noted the landlord’s compensation policy states it will award a maximum of £20 for a low impact service failure the starting point of compensation for service failure in this Service’s remedies guidance is £50. That is for failings where the impact is considered to have been minimal, for a short duration and may not have significantly affected the overall outcome for the resident. As the period from the resident’s stage 2 escalation to the landlord’s response was little over 1 month the impact any its failure to acknowledge the complaint and respond within timescales was short lived. It did not affect the overall outcome for the resident so, for those reasons an order of £50 compensation is proportionate to the landlord’s service failure.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53 (b) of the Housing Ombudsman Code the landlord has made an offer of reasonable redress in respect to its handling of reports of damp and mould.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Code there was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Apologise to the resident for its handling of her stage 2 complaint.
    2. Pay her £50 compensation for the inconvenience caused by its stage 2 complaint handling.
  2. The landlord should provide this Service with evidence of compliance within 4 weeks.

Recommendation

  1. The landlord should pay the resident the £200 compensation it awarded in its stage 2 response if it has not done so already.