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Town and Country Housing (202346049)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202346049

Town and Country Housing

28 August 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 reports of damp and mould, the associated repairs, and requests to replace the bathroom.
  2. The Ombudsman has also investigated the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the property, a 2-bedroom semi-detached house and has lived there since 1995. The resident and her husband are asthmatic.
  2. On 29 September 2023, the resident told the landlord that the stop valve in the bathroom had seized up and black mould covered it. A surveyor attended the property on 9 October 2023 and identified multiple repairs needed to the bathroom including black mould on the ceiling. The resident raised a complaint on 4 December 2023 because the landlord had not given any updates about the repairs, and she wanted to know if she would receive a bathroom replacement.
  3. The landlord provided a stage 1 complaint response on 4 January 2024. It said that it upheld the complaint and apologised that the resident had not been kept informed while the landlord held internal discussions about the possible replacement of the bathroom. It also said that the bathroom was expected to have a further 18 years left before being considered for replacement and it would complete all repairs identified by 26 January 2024.
  4. The resident requested to escalate her complaint on 8 January 2024. She said that she felt that she needed a new bathroom rather than repairs. The following day she told the landlord to cancel a booked appointment and said she did not want anyone to attend to the bathroom until her complaint was resolved.
  5. On 16 January 2024, the resident made an additional report about mould in the property and said that both her and her husband had asthma. The landlord completed a mould wash and repainted two bedrooms and a hallway on 6 February 2024.
  6. On 7 February 2024, the landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response. It said that it did not uphold the complaint and would only consider a replacement if the bathroom was beyond repair which it was not satisfied was the case.
  7. The resident escalated her complaint to the Ombudsman on 13 March 2024 as she remained unhappy about the landlord’s handling of the damp and mould, the repairs, and her requests for a replacement bathroom.

Assessment and findings

The scope of the investigation

  1. We understand that the resident raised another complaint on 22 February 2024 regarding the damp and mould treatment completed on 6 February 2024. A stage 1 complaint response was issued on 14 June 2024, though this complaint was not escalated and did not complete the landlord’s internal complaint’s procedure (ICP).
  2. In the interest of fairness, the scope of this investigation is limited to the issues that have completed the landlord’s ICP. 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 the Ombudsman. If the resident remains unhappy, she should escalate the complaint to the final stage of the landlord’s complaint process and then refer it to the Ombudsman.

The landlord’s handling of reports of damp and mould, the associated repairs, and requests to replace the bathroom

  1. The resident reported the stop valve was covered in mould on 29 September 2023. A surveyor attended the property on 9 October 2023 and repaired the stop valve on the day but was unable to replace it as it would have caused damage to the tile bath panel. This was within the landlord’s set timescale for investigation into reports for damp and mould.
  2. The surveyor completed a report on the same day which said that the following repairs were needed to the bathroom:
    1. Bath/shower mixer needed replacing.
    2. Bath enamel in poor condition with crackle glaze look.
    3. Basin had a chip.
    4. Black mould observed on ceiling.
    5. Incoming main stopcock was rusted and required replacement. To complete this the bath panel and tiles would need removing, along with some floor tiles following reinstatement.
  3. Between October 2023 and December 2023, the resident contacted the landlord multiple times asking for updates. The landlord logged a stage 1 complaint on 4 December 2023 as the resident complained repeatedly that no one had provided her with any updates. The landlord did not acknowledge the complaint or respond to her requests for updates or call backs. It was unreasonable to not contact the customer regarding the repairs for over 3 months.
  4. The landlord acknowledged in internal emails that it had failed to contact the resident or provide updates. For example, on 7 November 2023, 4 December 2023 and 18 December 2023, internal emails noted that no one had contacted the resident to give any updates. During this time, a senior project manager was looking at the case and said that due to the age of the bathroom, only repairs would be completed as the bathroom would not be on any near future planned improvements programme. Not providing updates to the resident was a missed opportunity to demonstrate that something was being done.
  5. There was a clear failure to follow both the Damp and Mould Policy and the Repair Policy. The landlord did not raise the job orders to complete the repairs identified by the surveyor, including the black mould, until 29 December 2023, 81 days after the surveyor attended the property. The Damp and Mould Policy says the landlord will act on any recommendations within 10 working days. The Repair Policy says that routine work (which is classified as all non-emergency work) should be completed within 28 calendar days.
  6. The landlord responded to the stage 1 complaint on 4 January 2024 and confirmed the repairs identified by the surveyor on 9 October 2023. It said:
    1. The bathrooms were on a 30-year rolling programme for replacement. The bathroom was installed in 2011 and was expected to have another 18 years left before consideration for replacement.
    2. It would complete all repairs identified by 26 January 2024.
    3. The complaint was upheld because it had not kept the resident informed while internal discussions were ongoing about the possible replacement of the bathroom. It said it would tighten controls around communication to avoid residents being kept in the dark.
  7. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 8 January 2024. She said the landlord’s plumber told her that it would be easier to put a new bathroom in. She felt this was needed, rather than all the individual repairs.
  8. The following day, the resident contacted the landlord as she received a text confirmation for a plumber to attend her property on 16 January 2024. She asked the landlord to cancel the appointment as she did not want anyone to work on the bathroom until the complaint was resolved. However, she made another report on 16 January 2024 about mould in 2 bedrooms, the hallway, and the bathroom again. This was the first point in evidence that the resident reported that both she and her husband had asthma.
  9. The landlord attended the property on 6 February 2024 and said the two bedrooms and hallway were all mould washed and painted with anti-mould paint. There was no mention of any works to the mould in the bathroom, though we note the resident had previously requested no work in the bathroom until the complaint was resolved. This response was within timescale for the landlord’s damp and mould policy. However, the resident was unhappy with the treatment completed on 6 February 2024. This was raised as a new complaint which did not complete the landlord’s ICP.
  10. Within the stage 2 complaint response provided on 7 February 2024, the landlord said that the mould in the bathroom was easily treatable but that bathroom tiles would need to be removed as part of the remedial process. The landlord repeated that it could not replace the bathroom as it would only consider a replacement if the bathroom was beyond repair.
  11. The landlord’s policy on planned home improvements says that it assesses the condition of the bathroom through a stock condition survey. The landlord told the resident on 20 March 2024 it had checked the recent stock condition survey results. It repeated that it does not normally look to replace an entire bathroom unless it is at least 30 years old or completely beyond economical repair. This is in line with policy which also says that the decision to replace bathrooms is made by the landlord and so requests from residents or comments from contractors do not guarantee a replacement. The 30-year lifespan is also in line with the Government’s Decent Home Standard.
  12. During the ICP, the landlord acknowledged that the resident was not kept informed throughout the process, but failed to acknowledge the delays in taking action to begin repairs. There was no compensation offer made which is not considered reasonable given the amount of contact the resident made and the time taken to order any repair works or take any action about the reported mould.
  13. We have seen that the landlord had arranged to complete repairs in January 2024 but was unable to do this as the resident refused to allow access to the bathroom until her complaint was resolved. The landlord provided information to the resident to allow her to escalate her complaint to us and offered again to complete repairs in March 2024 which the resident did not accept.
  14. The Ombudsman considers the landlord to have acted reasonably in response to the request for a new bathroom. The landlord clearly detailed the reasons that the bathroom was not suitable for a replacement, and offered to complete all repairs identified by the surveyor. Although this will be disappointing for the resident, the landlord has acted appropriately in its decision to repair rather than replace the bathroom as requested.
  15. The landlord also acknowledged the poor communication in its stage 1 response and said that it would tighten controls around communication to avoid residents being kept in the dark. However, no compensation was offered, despite the issues being reported in September 2023 and no action taken until January 2024. The resident has since told us that she is experiencing mould again. We advised her to report this to the landlord.
  16. We consider there to have been maladministration by the landlord in its handling of reports of damp and mould, associated repairs, and requests to replace the bathroom. The landlord failed to communicate throughout with the resident and its actions were not in line with the timescales set out in the Repair Policy or Damp and Mould Policy.
  17. In accordance with our remedies guidance, the Ombudsman orders the landlord to pay £150 to the resident for its poor communication throughout the case, delays in actioning repair recommendations and its failure to acknowledge delays throughout the ICP. Although the landlord acknowledged communication failings, and identified learnings, we feel that the offer was not proportionate to the failings identified by our investigation.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint

  1. The resident reported issues with the stop valve on 29 September 2023. The surveyor completed the inspection and report on 9 October 2023. Following this, the resident contacted the landlord on multiple occasions from October 2023 until 4 December 2023 when the landlord logged a complaint. There is no evidence that the complaint was acknowledged which is a failure to follow complaint process which states that the landlord should acknowledge complaints in writing within 4 working days.
  2. The stage 1 complaint response was issued on 4 January 2024. This was a service failure as it was 20 working days after the complaint was logged and exceeds the time set out in the complaint policy which states that a stage 1 response should be completed within 10 working days.
  3. The resident requested her complaint be escalated on 8 January 2024. This was acknowledged on 12 January 2024 which was in time for the complaint policy of the landlord. The stage 2 response for this complaint was then issued on 7 February 2024, this was 22 working days after the complaint was escalated and exceeded the expected timescale as the complaint policy states that a stage 2 response should be completed within 20 working days.
  4. During the ICP, the landlord failed to acknowledge the delays in responding to complaints, though acknowledged the failure to provide updates. We have determined that there was a service failing in the landlord’s handling of the complaint. This is because the resident was subject to delays, albeit short, in responding to the complaints raised. Although these failings were of minimal impact due to the time, the landlord missed the opportunity to acknowledge the failings in its responses.
  5. In accordance with our remedies guidance, the Ombudsman orders the landlord to pay the resident £50 for the failure to respond to complaints within policy timescales.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of its handling reports of damp and mould, the associated repairs, and requests to replace the bathroom.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failings by the landlord in respect of its complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Provide a written apology to the resident.
    2. Pay £200 in compensation directly to the resident. This includes:
      1. £150 for the poor communication throughout the case, delays in actioning repair recommendations and its failure to acknowledge delays throughout the ICP.
      2. £50 for the failure to respond to complaints within policy timescales.
    3. Provide a timescale for when the bathroom repairs will commence and be completed. The landlord must try to minimise disruption to the resident by organising multiple repairs to be completed together where possible.
  2. The landlord is ordered to provide evidence of compliance with the above orders to the Ombudsman within 4 weeks of the date of this determination.