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Royal Borough Of Greenwich (202451608)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202451608

Royal Borough Of Greenwich

30 September 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 response to the resident’s report of water entering the property and the associated damp and mould.

Background

  1. The resident is a leaseholder of the property which is a flat. She rents this privately to tenants. The leaseholder will be referred to as the resident within this report.
  2. In November 2024 the resident reported damp in the property. By late December 2024 no work had been done so she instructed her own survey. This concluded that water was entering the property via ‘weep holes’ in the exterior brickwork where cabling had been fitted and had damaged the flashing. It recommended that the cables be repositioned and the flashings replaced.
  3. The resident made a complaint to the landlord in January 2025 as the landlord had not addressed the repair issues. The landlord upheld the complaint and said it had booked the work for 5 February 2025.
  4. The resident escalated her complaint on 7 February 2025 as the work had not been done. The landlord responded at stage 2 and said a contractor had not been able to gain access. It had identified defective pointing above the flashing and had instructed this to be repaired. It offered £150 compensation.
  5. The resident referred her case to us. She said she wanted the work to take place and to be compensated.

Assessment and findings

  1. Paragraph 53.c. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that:

“The Ombudsman may determine the investigation of a complaint immediately if satisfied that the member has made an offer of redress following the 2 Ombudsman’s intervention which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily”.

The Ombudsman’s intervention

  1. We contacted the landlord on 16 September 2025 and provided it with a summary of our understanding of the events. This included some comments on areas that could have been handled better and what the landlord could do to resolve the resident’s complaint.
  2. The landlord has now offered to do the following:
    1. Apologise to the resident.
    2. Pay a total of £600 compensation.
    3. Instruct a contractor to complete the works to the external brickwork, flashing and weep holes within 4 weeks.
  3. The resident has indicated that she would be satisfied with this as a resolution to her complaint.
  4. We are therefore satisfied that, following our intervention, the landlord has agreed to take actions to remedy the matters raised which resolve the complaint satisfactorily.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53.c of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the complaint was resolved with intervention.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord should take the following action within 4 weeks of the date of this report. If the landlord does not do so within 4 weeks, the resident has the option to ask us the review our determination:
    1. Apologise to the resident.
    2. Pay a total of £600 compensation.
    3. Instruct a contractor to complete the works to the external brickwork, flashing and weep holes.
  2. The complaint has been resolved with intervention on this basis.