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London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202223256)

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Decision

Case ID

202223256

Decision type

Investigation

Landlord

London & Quadrant Housing Trust

Landlord type

Housing Association

Occupancy

Assured Tenancy

Date

14/11/2025

Background

  1. The resident lives in a 3-bedroom flat, comprising lower and ground floors. She complained to the landlord about the delays in completing repairs to a blocked drain.

What the complaint is about

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
    1. Reports of a blocked drain.
    2. Associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

  1. We have found:
    1. Maladministration for the landlord’s handling of reports of a blocked drain.
    2. No maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Summary of reasons

Handling of reports of a blocked drain

  1. The landlord acknowledged its failings, apologised, offered compensation, and has since completed the repairs. However, it did not complete the required repairs to address the drain blockage within its policy timeframes for a further 7 months after its stage 2 response.

Handling of the associated complaint

  1. The landlord responded within its policy timeframes and offered appropriate redress.

Putting things right

Where we find service failure, maladministration or severe maladministration we can make orders for the landlord to put things right. We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction.

Orders

Landlords must comply with our orders in the manner and timescales we specify. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with our orders by the due date set.

Order

What the landlord must do

Due date

1

Compensation order

The landlord must pay the resident £1,800 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by time and effort taken to complete repairs, and inconvenience caused to the resident.

The compensation is made up as follows:

  • £720 offered in its stage 2 response
  • £1,080 offered in its revised stage 2 response

This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date, if not already paid. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date.

No later than

12 December 2025

 

Recommendations

Our recommendations are not binding, and a landlord may decide not to follow them.

Our recommendations

We recommend the landlord pay the compensation of £220 offered in relation to complaint handling, if not already paid.

 

 

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date

What happened

19 June 2023

The resident complained about delays in repairing a blocked outside drain that caused the kitchen sink to fill with foul water. She said that the contractor made some progress but needed a follow-up visit. After months without an appointment, she chased the landlord and it said it would need to raise a new job. At the next visit, concrete was found in the pipe and it needed to return to clear it. No further appointments were made, and the issue persisted.

28 June 2023

The landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response. It said a repair had been raised to remove the concrete from the drain. It would also carry out a CCTV survey. It had emailed its contractor to request a date for the repairs to be carried out and would confirm this with the resident. Compensation would be offered once works were complete.

2 November 2023

The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2. The landlord summarised that the outstanding pipe blockage caused problems when using the washing machine and sink. It provided contact details for the relevant person to address the flooding in the garden caused by the blocked drain.

29 November 2023

The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response. It apologised for its poor communication and lack of action. It said it attended the original job on 21 October 2022, inspected the blockage, and determined a CCTV survey was needed. On 17 November 2022, it completed the survey and recommended using a 2-man jet to remove the concrete and resurvey the pipes. As the cost exceeded its direct maintenance team’s limit, it waited for a variation order and said the contractor would contact the resident to schedule the work. It offered £840 compensation for failing to recognise the resident’s vulnerabilities, her time and effort, and poor complaint handling.

Between December 2023 to August 2024

The resident repeatedly chased the landlord during this period. She stated that the repairs were not complete. As a result, the garden flooded, and the kitchen sink filled with water which produced an unpleasant smell.

12 August 2024

The landlord sent a revised stage 2 complaint response. It acknowledged and apologised for the delays, miscommunication and frustration caused to the resident. It confirmed the repairs to the blocked drain were complete in July 2024. It identified learning from the complaint to improve its service delivery and communication. It offered additional compensation of £1,180 to recognise the distress and inconvenience and for her time and effort to resolve the complaint.

Referral to the Ombudsman

The resident brought the complaint to us as she was unhappy with the landlord’s handling of the repairs. At the time of referral, the resident wanted the repairs to be completed and additional compensation.

What we found and why

The circumstances of this complaint are well known by the parties involved, so it is not necessary to detail everything that’s happened or comment on all the information we’ve reviewed. We’ve only included the key information that forms the basis of our decision of whether the landlord is responsible for maladministration.

Complaint

Reports of a blocked drain

Finding

Maladministration
  1. It is not disputed that there were delays in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a blocked drain. When there are failings by a landlord, as is the case here, we will consider whether the redress offered by the landlord (apology, compensation and offer to complete repairs) put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this, we take into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with our dispute resolution principles, be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
  2. The resident reported a blocked drain in September 2022. The landlord demonstrated that it attended and made some progress with the blockage but required a follow up appointment with cameras to investigate further. The inspection identified concrete in the pipes and recommended using a two-man jet to remove it. It raised a work order, and she chased for an update. However, it told her it had closed the job because the costs required a variation order to authorise the work.
  3. The resident also raised a related concern about the overflow of wastewater, which spread throughout her garden during the repairs. She explained that the garden became infested with flies and asked the landlord to rectify the issue. The evidence does not clearly show that the landlord offered any support to resolve the problem. In this case, the resident reported that she had to clear the excess water herself.
  4. In both complaint responses, the landlord said it would confirm a date to attend and complete the works. It also stated it would monitor work to completion. However, it failed to do so, and the resident had to repeatedly chase for updates. As a result, she had to try to arrange the appointments herself, which likely added frustration. It would have been more appropriate for the landlord to have taken ownership of coordinating the works. That said, it acknowledged its failings and offered £720 compensation in its stage 2 response for time, effort, and inconvenience.
  5. While the landlord’s apology, offer to complete repairs, and compensation offer could be said to put things right for the resident, it failed to complete the required work to remove the blockage until July 2024. This was not in line with its repairs policy which states it carries out repairs to a good standard within a reasonable timeframe, aiming to complete routine repairs in an average of 25 calendar days. The evidence shows that the issue persisted for a further 7 months after its final response. This likely caused further distress and inconvenience for an unreasonable length of time.
  6. The landlord sent a revised stage 2 response and compensation offer after completing the repairs in July 2024. It offered an additional £1,080 for the further delay and inconvenience. It was unclear from its complaint responses if the revised offer was inclusive or in addition to its previous offer. However, it has since confirmed that it was an additional payment. Its total offer of £1,800 was in line with our remedies guidance for when there has been a significant impact over a prolonged period.
  7. While the landlord apologised and offered compensation, it failed to maintain communication with the resident and did not complete the repairs within a reasonable time. It took a further 7 months from its stage 2 response to complete the repair. Our outcomes guidance is clear that a finding of reasonable redress cannot be determined under such circumstances. That said, its total compensation offer was in line with our remedies guidance and we have not ordered any additional compensation. We have made orders to pay the compensation offered in its complaint responses, if not already paid. This is in line with our dispute resolution principles to be fair and put things right.

Complaint

Handling of the complaint

Finding

No maladministration
  1. The landlord operates a 2-stage complaint process. It aims to acknowledge complaints within 5 working days. It will respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days and stage 2 complaints within 20 working days of the complaint acknowledgement. This is compliant with the Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
  2. Although there was a slight delay in providing an acknowledgement to the complaint, the landlord sent its stage 1 and 2 responses in line with timescales set out in its policy. Despite this it offered £120 for poor complaint handling and an additional £100 after completing the repair. Its offer was within the range of awards set out in our remedies guidance and reasonable in the circumstances.

Learning

Complaint handling

  1. It is good practice for landlords to identify clear learning points where it has identified failings during its complaint process. In this case, while it recognised its failings, it could have been more specific in detailing what actions it would take to prevent similar failings in the future.

Communication

  1. The landlord should consider our spotlight report on repairs and maintenance. This explains that failures can be avoided when landlords:
    1. let residents know what to expect regarding repairs and provide a clear schedule for repair visits.
    2. gather feedback from residents and conduct inspections to ensure the work is satisfactory.
  2. The landlord should proactively keep residents informed about the timescale of repairs and any delays and ensure it monitors repairs to completion.