Social Tenant Access to Information Requirements (STAIRs) consultation is now open. 

Take part in the consultation

Haringey London Borough Council (202319401)

Back to Top

 

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202319401

Haringey London Borough Council

5 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 handling of:
    1. the repairs to the resident’s kitchen following a flood.
    2. the repairs to the resident’s property’s leaks.
  2. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident occupies the property under a secure tenancy with the landlord in a 3-bedroom ground floor property. The landlord has no vulnerabilities recorded for the resident and her family.
  2. Following previous concerns reported about the property’s leaks and the subsequent repairs from at least June 2022, the resident raised a complaint with the landlord on 5 July 2022. She said she was unhappy that:
    1. she reported black mould and a leak under the sink in the kitchen, which was the result of a severe flood from the burst pipe under the sink.
    2. she waited for about 3 hours for the landlord to arrive and the same pipe had leaked again.
    3. she was told the kitchen would be replaced, as water had damaged the wood and was dripping again, adding to the mould.
    4. she felt this was a health hazard, as she had to wear a mask and bleach it constantly, and there were no further calls since the plumber had arrived.
  3. The landlord acknowledged the complaint on 6 July 2022 and said the resident should receive a response by 7 July 2022. It also acknowledged it made an error with the response when the resident requested an update on 7 July 2022 and said it would respond by19 July 2022. It then informally told the resident on 20 July 2022 it had responded to the complaint on 19 July 2022, confirming the appointment it booked for 22 July 2022 was made to address the leak and take the measurements for the replacement worktop and cupboard.
  4. The resident later made another complaint to the landlord on 12 September 2023 about the kitchen’s flood and outstanding repairs, bathroom tap and roof leaks, and missed appointments. It issued a formal stage 1 complaint response on 26 September 2023, after the resident made several attempts to contact the landlord before this. In its response, it partially upheld the complaint. It said:
    1. the kitchen complaint was first raised on 6 July 2022 and it acknowledged and apologised for the substantial delay in initiating the replacement of the kitchen. It acknowledged it cancelled several installation jobs on several occasions. It said further appointments were made to install the new kitchen from 16 to 19 October 2023.
    2. the resident contacted the landlord on 29 March 2023 about the roof and tap leaks, no hot water, and the bathroom disrepair. The plumber had attended and turned off the tap but did not pass the job to the day team. It apologised for not progressing it accordingly.
    3. the issue for the kitchen leak and mouldy kitchen cupboards was reported again on 8 August 2023. The operative had attended on 23 August 2023 and noted there were multiple issues within the property. Temporary repairs were carried out to the kitchen sink and bathroom basin and the roofing job was referred to the roofer to inspect. It said it would repair the external roof leaks and a surveyor was to be sent out to inspect the property for internal leaks. This was booked for 23 August 2023 for an operative who no longer worked for the landlord. It therefore apologised for this error and another appointment was booked for 30 August 2023, which was not attended and that it also apologised for. Another attendance on 23 October 2023 could not gain access and a further appointment was then rearranged for 7 November 2023.
  5. On 30 November 2023, the resident requested the complaint be escalated to stage 2. The resident stated she felt insulted with the £60 compensation offer the landlord recently made to her for missed appointments and would refer the case to the Ombudsman. She said she lived with a kitchen for one year with the smell of rot and mould. The job was meant to be completed on 24 October 2022 and still had not been fully completed, as a painter still needed to show up. The resident also said the bedroom roof was still leaking despite 3 operatives taking a look at this, which had dripped onto her mattress and rug. The second kitchen installation appointment booked for July 2023 had also been missed as no one turned up. Lastly, the resident said she was left with an active leak for nearly 2 years, which exposed her health to the mould. By the time the worker had got to her property in October 2023 the floor and under the units were wet.
  6. In its stage 2 complaint response dated 6 February 2024, the landlord offered the resident £350 compensation for the inconvenience and delays, and it said the £60 it previously offered was based on the old policy. It said it had been told all painting works had now been completed, but it would arrange an inspection to confirm exactly what remained outstanding, and that an appointment was made for the roofer for 9 February 2024. It acknowledged the substantial delays and that the first appointment where roofer tried to attend was on 14 September 2023.
  7. The resident complained to us that she is unhappy about her kitchen, which had been flooded, and wanted a new one that had only been provided after over a year. She is also unhappy with the missed appointments and the incomplete kitchen repair works, with her also incurring a further roof leak that soiled her rug. The resident is seeking further compensation, as her rug and mattress cost more than £350, and would like the landlord to finish the bathroom repair to the hole under the sink, finish the kitchen works, and fix the ceiling hole so that she no longer has to live with black mould.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident said the repair works and the communication between her and the landlord affected her health and damaged her belongings, which we are concerned to hear. Matters of personal injury or damage to health or belongings are, however, more appropriately addressed by way of the courts or the landlord’s liability insurer as a personal injury claim. This is because we do not have the authority or expertise to determine liability or award damages for these in the way the courts or a liability insurer might. However, we can consider any distress and inconvenience, time and trouble, or loss of enjoyment the resident may have experienced as a result of errors by the landlord. Therefore, we have made a recommendation for the landlord to provide the resident with the relevant details for its liability insurance so she can make a claim for her ill-health and damaged goods, including her rug and mattress, if she wishes to do so.

Kitchen repairs following a flood

  1. The resident’s tenancy agreement states it is the landlord’s responsibility to keep the structure and exterior of the building in good repair, including gutters, drains, and external pipes. It is also responsible for keeping in good repair and proper working order its installations for sanitation and for the supply of water.
  2. The landlord’s repairs handbook defines its obligations as:
    1. Emergency repairs, which refer to a repair which puts a person or property at risk during the day. It will attend within 24 hours of the resident reporting it, and it will attempt to complete the repair on its first visit. This includes burst pipes, major water leaks, or leaking waste pipes from a sink.
    2. Agreed appointments, for which it will offer an appointment to suit the resident and can keep within 28 days. This includes minor plaster repairs and roof leaks.
    3. Planned repairs, which are those that it knows the job has to be pre-inspected for, in order for larger components to be measured and manufactured, and that could take several days to complete. For these repairs, it will inspect within 28 days and tell the resident at the inspection when the job will be carried out.
  3. In its complaint responses, the landlord acknowledged it had not acted promptly in addressing the resident’s reports of the leak. It is not clear when the resident first reported the leak to the landlord, but she initially contacted the landlord on 5 July 2022. She said she reported a leak under the sink in the kitchen on 24 June 2022, which she said was the result of a severe flood from the burst pipe under the sink. The resident said she waited about 3 hours for the landlord to arrive. This was an appropriate action for the landlord to take and followed the handbook’s requirement for emergency call outs to be attended within 24 hours.
  4. The resident said she had contacted the landlord again on 5 July 2022 to let it know the same pipe had been leaking again and said the landlord attended the property on 24 June 2022 as an emergency callout with the intent to come back and stop the leak. However, no further action was taken for this at that time. The resident was told a new kitchen would be required, as the water had damaged the wood.
  5. On 20 July 2022, the landlord responded to the resident, letting her know an appointment was booked for 22 July 2022 for an operative to visit her property to address the leak and take the measurements for the replacement kitchen worktop and cupboards. However, on 10 August 2022, the landlord said that, due to the current kitchen not being up to the council standard, it needed to seek authorisation to approve the kitchen renewal. This was an appropriate action to take and followed the handbook’s requirement for planned repairs, which it inspected within 28 days. However, it did not let the resident know at the inspection on 22 July 2022 when the job would be carried out. Therefore, it did not follow the handbook fully.
  6. The repair log shows the landlord visited the resident’s property on 11 October 2022 and marked the job as complete on 23 October 2022, which stated a new kitchen was required. It had a job booked for 20 September 2022, which was then cancelled, and it was unsure why this was the case.
  7. It is concerning that the resident repeatedly had to chase the landlord on at least 7 occasions about the kitchen repairs from 5 July 2022 to 1 September 2023. In addition, the resident’s kitchen appointment was rescheduled again from 5 September 2023 to 16 October 2023. Furthermore, it also likely caused her inconvenience, as the resident said she moved all the things around in the house and changed her plans to accommodate this appointment. Several appointments had also been missed or booked incorrectly, including on 24 October 2022 and 23 and 30 August 2023, which the landlord acknowledged.
  8. The repair log shows the kitchen had been renewed by 7 November 2023 but the resident told the landlord on 14 and 30 November 2023 that she was still waiting for the kitchen to be painted.
  9. The landlord informed the resident on 6 February 2024 that it had been told the painting was completed but that it would inspect to confirm this. It then told the Ombudsman on 19 August 2025 that a note was made on 7 April 2025 that a follow on appointment would be required to complete the paint job. However, this was not booked and the job was closed in error. A new appointment had therefore been made for 19 September 2025 to complete the outstanding works.
  10. The above delay was not reasonable. The landlord should have processes in place to make sure it has appropriate oversight of outstanding repairs. The landlord acknowledged this failing in its complaint responses. This caused substantial delays for the resident. The resident said this had an effect on her health, both physically and mentally, which she said was caused by the infestation of woodlice and the mould and the use of bleach.
  11. As the landlord confirmed the works were still not fully completed on 19 August 2025, it meant the resident is still without properly completed kitchen repairs after more than 3 years from 24 June 2022. This is not acceptable.
  12. Therefore, the landlord is ordered below to apologise to and pay the resident another £400 compensation to reach a total to proportionately recognise this delay, as well as the £350 compensation it previously offered if it has not done so already. This is in line with our remedies guidance, which recommends awards within this range in such circumstances where there was a failure that had significantly affected the resident.
  13. Therefore, there was failure by the landlord in its handling of the repairs to the resident’s kitchen following a flood. The landlord unreasonably delayed carrying out effective repairs, which contributed to significant delays in the repairs being resolved, for which the resident ought to be further compensated.
  14. Overall, in the Ombudsman’s opinion there was maladministration in the landlord’s response about the resident’s kitchens repairs. Although the landlord tried to put things right and acknowledged its failures, the landlord should have communicated more clearly and kept the resident informed.

Repairs to the leaks

  1. The landlord’s repairs handbook states it strongly encourages residents to take out contents insurance against damage to their possessions due to unforeseen events such as burst pipes or leaks.
  2. The landlord provided repair logs as part of this investigation, which shows the resident contacted the landlord on 29 March 2023 to report a leak from the water tank. The plumber attended and it marked the job as completed on 30 March 2023. The landlord said in its stage 1 response dated 26 September 2023 the plumber had attended and turned off the tap but did not pass the job to the day team. The resident said that, since the tap had been off, she was unable to wash her face and hands in the sink with hot water. The landlord apologised for not progressing this accordingly.
  3. An inspection was carried out on 30 March 2023 to make the basin safe and inspect the suspected roof leak, which the landlord had a target to complete the job for by 15 May 2023. It is unclear when the job was completed but the repair log shows another job was raised on 8 August 2023 for the roofing, which said its last visit was on 13 March 2023 and the target date for this job was 18 September 2023.
  4. The resident also said the leaks appeared to have been making stains on the ceiling downstairs and that she called the landlord about this in early August 2023.On 23 August 2023, it investigated the leaks and carried out temporary repairs to the basin and sink, after more than 3 months later than the target date of 15 May 2023. Furthermore, it noted there were multiple issues within the property.
  5. An operative booked a survey job for 23 August 2023 to repair an external roof leak and to inspect the property for internal leaks for another operative who no longer worked for the landlord. It apologised for the error and a new appointment was booked for 30 August 2023 but no one had attended. It rearranged the appointment for 7 November 2023.
  6. The landlord’s handbook states it understands how stressful a leak can be, so it is now being much firmer on this. It states the resident should let it know where the leak is coming from and how bad it is, and it will agree a time with the resident to come round and fix it. However, the resident had to call the landlord again to chase the repair works for the for the leak on several occasions on 24 May 2023 and on 28 September 2023.
  7. The landlord then called the resident on 29 October 2023 to reschedule her appointment from 16 October 2023 due to planned strike actions. This likely caused further stress to the resident, which she then requested be escalated to the manager.
  8. The landlord informed the Ombudsman the bathroom leak was treated before the surveyor’s inspection on 7 November 2024, during which several appointments were carried out, including on 1, 17, 18, 19, 20, and 23 October 2024. This was completed after almost 18 months from the time the resident first raised a job about this in March 2023.
  9. Considering all the circumstances, in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, it is ordered below for the landlord to apologise to and pay the resident £400 compensation to proportionately recognise this. This is in line with our remedies guidance, which recommends awards in this range in such circumstances, where there was a failure that adversely affected the resident.
  10. The resident has confirmed all works have now been completed except the ceiling, which needs replacing, and the painting job. The resident also said there is mould underneath the sink, which was from the leak from the tap. The landlord has therefore been ordered below to complete the resident’s outstanding works. As she has also reported concerns about her ill-health being affected, it has been recommended below to contact the resident to find out if there are vulnerabilities for the resident and to make sure it updates its relevant records for these if so.

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord’s feedback policy states that the landlord operates a 2- stage complaints process, as set out in the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code). At stage 1, it will contact the resident and speak to them to clarify the complaint, if that is required, or if it believes they may not have presented all the information needed. It will respond within 10 working days. At stage 2, it will issue a response within 20 working days from the request to escalate.
  2. The resident raised a stage 1 complaint with the landlord on 5 July 2022 and it acknowledged the complaint on 6 July 2022, which it said it would respond to by 7 July 2022. The resident called the landlord for an update on 8 July 2022, but it informed the resident it made an error with the response date, which should have been 19 July 2022. The landlord informally contacted the resident via email on 20 July 2022 to say it had contacted her on 19 July 2022 to respond to the complaint and inform the resident appointments had been made for the repair jobs. However, we have not been able to locate a formal stage 1 response from the landlord for the complaint raised by the resident on 5 July 2022 from the information it sent us about this.
  3. The resident contacted the landlord again on 12 September 2023 to raise another stage 1 complaint. It formally responded to the resident’s stage 1 complaint on 26 September 2023. The delays were significant, as the evidence on record shows the resident first logged a complaint with the landlord on 5 July 2022 without a formal stage 1 response being issued until 26 September 2023. Therefore, this was a delay of more than 14 months and contrary to the policy’s 10-working-day stage 1 response timescale.
  4. The stage 2 complaint was escalated on 30 November 2023 and the landlord issued a stage 2 complaint response on 6 February 2024. This was also contrary to the policy’s 20-working-day stage 2 response timescale, which it took more than 2 months to issue a response for.
  5. The landlord’s delays in providing responses at stages 1 and 2 was inappropriate and amounted to failures. The landlord must provide responses to complaints according to its feedback policy and the Code.
  6. In line with our remedies guidance referenced above, we have made an order for the landlord to pay the resident the £150 compensation for its complaint handling failures. This is to reflect the fact that, while the landlord acknowledged and apologised for them in its complaint responses, it failed to recognise the full extent of its delays in its complaint handling or compensate the resident for them. The delays were likely to have caused additional frustration and inconvenience to the resident, as she had to also chase the landlord for response. We have therefore ordered it to pay her a level of compensation for its complaint handling failures under our remedies guidance that is in the range for such circumstances, where there was a failure that adversely affected the resident.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52. of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the repairs to the resident’s kitchen following a flood.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52. of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the repairs to the resident’s property’s leaks.
  3. In accordance with paragraph 52. of the Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its complaint handling.

Orders and recommendation

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. provide a written apology to the resident for the further failures identified in this report.
    2. complete the resident’s outstanding repair works to replace her ceiling, carry out the painting job, and remedy the mould underneath the sink from the leak from the tap.
    3. pay another £400 compensation directly to the resident for its handling of the kitchen repair works.
    4. pay another £400 compensation directly to the resident for its handling of the leak repairs.
    5. pay another £150 compensation directly to the resident for its handling of the associated complaint.
    6. pay the £350 compensation it previously offered directly to the resident if it has not done so already.
    7. contact the Service within 4 weeks to provide evidence of compliance with the above orders.

Recommendations

  1. We recommend that the landlord:
    1. provide the resident with the relevant details for its liability insurance so she can make a claim for her ill-health and damaged goods, including her rug and mattress, if she wishes to do so.
    2. contact the resident to find out if there are vulnerabilities for the resident and to make sure it updates its relevant records for these if so.