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Colchester City Council (202226334)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202226334

Colchester City Council

21 October 2024

 

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 affecting the property.
  2. The Ombudsman has also assessed the landlord’s record keeping.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. The property is a 2 bedroom second floor flat.
  2. Following an inspection of the property in August 2021 the landlord’s surveyor recommended that thermal boards be installed in the resident’s daughter’s bedroom due to damp in that room. The landlord has confirmed that this was installed by the end of 2021.
  3. On 16 November 2022 the resident raised a complaint as she said there was damp in the corner of her bedroom which she had been told was caused by the guttering outside. She said she had breathing difficulties and her daughter had asthma and that she was concerned about the impact on their health. She said that she had spoken to a surveyor about this and he said that he would keep in touch with her about the guttering but had not done so. She also said that she had previously requested compensation for her daughter’s mattress that had developed rust marks from the moisture in the air and not heard anything back.
  4. In its stage 1 response on 2 December 2022 the landlord agreed to reimburse the resident £78 for the mattress and apologised for the delay in processing the request. It said it had spoken to the surveyor and would arrange for the guttering to be further investigated. It said it would also install a new extractor fan in the kitchen which would help with the humidity. It apologised for its lack of communication and said it would be addressing this as part of a wider review of the department.
  5. The landlord’s contractor attended on 16 December 2022 to assess the work needed for the extractor fan. On 5 January 2023 in response to a complaint survey, the resident advised the landlord that no works had been carried out yet. The landlord advised that the extra fan was due to be fitted by 23 January 2023 and that it would find more information about the other work. The resident contacted the landlord for an update on 13 January 2023 and on 16 January 2023, the landlord advised it would try to find out more information and update her.
  6. The resident escalated her complaint on 21 January 2023 as she had still not had any dates for work to be carried and was worried that the damp and mould were affecting her health. She was also worried that the landlord did not have sufficient resources to deal with damp and mould issues. She requested that she be given a start date for the agreed works, which she believed included thermal boarding of the bedroom.
  7. The landlord visited the resident to discuss her complaint on 20th February 2023. In its stage 2 complaint response on 21 February 2023 the landlord acknowledged that its communication since the stage 1 response had not been up to the standard it aims for. It said its team had been extremely busy as there had been an increase in call volume and works and that it was recruiting a Damp and Condensation surveyor as a result of this. It said that it would call the resident the following week with dates for when the thermal boarding would be installed and the guttering cleaned for the whole block. It awarded £100 for the inconvenience and the poor communication.

Events after the end of the landlord’s internal complaints process.

  1. The resident referred her complaint to the Ombudsman as she was unhappy with the landlord’s response and level of compensation. The landlord has confirmed to this Service that the thermal boarding and plastering were completed in April 2023. It said the guttering was attended on 16th November 2022 and 4th May 2023.
  2. The resident advised us in October 2024 that she has damp in the kitchen which she believes is connected to the guttering. She said that the landlord was currently investigating this but that she was worried as it would get worse during the winter months.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation.

  1. The resident has referred to the landlord’s actions impacting on her own and her daughters health. Although we would give consideration to any distress and inconvenience the resident experienced as a result of any errors by the landlord, it is outside the Ombudsman’s role to draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. This is because we cannot establish whether there was a direct link between the landlord’s actions and/or inaction and the resident’s health. This would be more appropriately dealt with as a personal injury claim through the courts or the landlord’s liability insurer. This is in line with paragraph 42(f) of the Scheme which states:
  2. ‘The Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion concern matters where the Ombudsman considers it quicker, fairer, more reasonable, or more effective to seek a remedy through the courts, other tribunal or procedure.’
  3. This investigation will focus on events up until the landlord issued its stage 2 response on 21 February 2023. The resident has advised us that she has experienced further damp in her property and that there is currently a damp spot in her kitchen. However, as this has not been raised with the landlord as a new complaint, or completed its internal complaints process we will not be investigating this in this report. This is in line with paragraph 42 (a) of the Scheme, which states:
  4. ‘The Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion are made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaints procedure, unless there is evidence of a complaint-handling failure and the Ombudsman is satisfied that the member has not taken action within a reasonable timescale.’
  5. However, the resident can raise a new complaint to the landlord about its more recent handling of her reports of damp in the kitchen. If that complaint completes the landlord’s internal complaints process and she is dissatisfied with the landlord’s final response she can refer that complaint to the Ombudsman for investigation.

Record keeping.

  1. This investigation was impacted by the landlord’s poor record keeping. We expect landlords to keep robust records in order to provide an audit trail, and to enable the Ombudsman to determine whether the landlord followed its policies and procedures. Clear record keeping also allows a landlord to monitor outstanding works, contractor performance, and provide effective services to its residents. It cannot properly investigate and respond to complaints without accurate and comprehensive records, and this can result in unfairness to the resident. Although the landlord provided some records for this complaint, they were not complete. For example, it provided surveyors reports for 2020 and 2021, (which appeared to relate to previous issues, including damp in the resident’s daughter’s bedroom).
  2. However, it did not provide any surveyors reports for 2022 or any official surveyor’s reports connected to the damp in the resident’s bedroom or the surveyors decision to install thermal boards. The resident referred to having had contact from the surveyor about the damp and the landlord did not dispute this in its complaint responses and apologised for its poor communication. However, the landlord did not provide any record of any contact from the resident with its surveyor or other officer about the damp in her bedroom before she made the complaint. Neither did it provide any evidence of previous contact about the compensation claim for the mattress.
  3. In light of the above, the Ombudsman has made a finding of maladministration in respect of the landlord’s record keeping. This has affected the fair and thorough  investigation of this complaint, which ultimately affects the resident. Therefore, redress is due for the impact on the resident of the landlord’s poor record keeping. As such, in line with our remedies guidance for cases of maladministration we will be ordering the landlord to pay the resident £180 compensation for this aspect of the complaint.

Handling of reports of damp and mould affecting the property.

  1. As detailed above it has not been possible for us to make a thorough assessment of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould due to a lack of records. However, the landlord has acknowledged that there was poor communication. This poor communication may in part stem from the lack of records. For example, on 16 January 2023 the landlord’s internal emails show that the complaints team were trying to find out more information on what work was being carried out, in order to update the resident. It said that the resident was “under the impression” that thermal boarding was being installed. Although the surveyor later confirmed that thermal boards would be installed there is no record of when this decision was made. The thermal boards do not appear on the repairs records until the job for their installation was raised on 20 March 2023, which was a month after the landlord issued its stage 2 response.
  2. The landlord also advised in its stage 1 response on 2 December 2022 that it had spoken to the surveyor and would arrange for the guttering to be investigated. The resident also mentioned that she had been told that scaffolding would be needed to do this. However, the only records of any work being carried out on the guttering in the repairs records is the annual cleaning on 16 November 2022 and then nothing until May 2023 when it was reported that the gutter was blocked. It is not clear whether the landlord failed to investigate the guttering between those times or just failed to record it anywhere.
  3. In summary, the landlord took appropriate steps to address the damp by agreeing to take appropriate action such as inspecting the guttering, installing thermal boards, and installing an extractor fan. However, its records relating to these actions were poor, as was its communication about when the work would take place. This resulted in the resident having to contact the landlord for updates, and in delays in the work being carried out. This caused the resident  stress and inconvenience and would likely have exacerbated the concerns she was having about the damp impacting her health.
  4. In light of these failings the Ombudsman has made a finding of maladministration in respect of the landlord’s handling of reports of damp and mould affecting the property. In line with our remedies guidance for cases where there was a failure which adversely affected the resident and the landlord has failed to address the detriment to the resident, we will be ordering the landlord to pay compensation of £350. As it is not clear whether the guttering was ever fully investigated, and the resident has concerns that it is causing the current damp in the kitchen, we will be ordering the landlord to carry out a thorough inspection of the guttering.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in respect of the landlord’s handling of reports of damp and mould affecting the property.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in respect of the landlord’s record keeping.

Orders and recommendations

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this decision the landlord is ordered to :
    1. Apologise to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident compensation of £530, comprised of :
      1. £180 in recognition of its maladministration in respect of its record keeping.
      2. £350 in recognition of its maladministration in respect of its handling of reports of damp and mould affecting the property. (This payment is in addition to the £100 compensation it has already awarded).
  2. Within 6 weeks of the date of this report the landlord is ordered to carry out an inspection of the guttering and to report its findings to the Ombudsman and the resident, along with details of any action it plans to take based on those findings.