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Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (202401876)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202401876

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

28 October 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 repairs and damp and mould.
  2. The Ombudsman will also consider:
    1. The landlord’s complaint handling.
    2. The landlord’s knowledge and information management.

Background

  1. The resident has been a secure tenant of a 3-bedroomed house since 19 February 2018. The landlord is aware that she has kidney and back issues, 3 of her children use inhalers for breathing issues and one of her sons is autistic.
  2. The resident phoned to log a stage 1 complaint on 29 November 2023. A surveyor had inspected her property the previous week following reports of damp and mould. He had raised an order for a fungi wash. The resident felt she was being misled as this had been attempted previously and not been effective. She had been told by a previous surveyor in summer 2023 that the whole upstairs needed insulating due to the curve of the ceiling. She was concerned as three of her children had been prescribed inhalers. The resident wanted to know what the long-term plan of action was, as the whole upstairs area was affected by damp.
  3. The landlord responded to the complaint on 13 February 2024. It apologised for the service that had been provided. It advised that the external walls and rakes to the ceiling would be thermal boarded to offer additional insulation. It also offered advice on how condensation and damp and mould are formed and how to prevent them. It signposted the resident to an information video on YouTube.
  4. The resident requested that her complaint be escalated to stage 2 on 22 March 2024. Some of the works mentioned in the stage 1 response had not been done. She felt she had been blamed for the issues by the landlord. She felt there was a lack of communication from the landlord both with herself and internally. This had led to unreasonable delays to repairs and further cost to the resident. The stage 1 response did not offer any resolution to her concerns.
  5. The landlord responded on 4 April 2024, upholding the complaint. It confirmed delays with works raised not being passed to planners to be booked in. It stated that this was not the level of customer service the landlord expected. It arranged for the outstanding works to be completed on 15 April 2024. It awarded compensation of £100 for lack of communication about repairs, unnecessary frustration and expense caused to the resident. It apologised for its failings and advised that feedback would be provided to the team involved to ensure improvements were made to communication and customer service.
  6. The resident brought her complaint to the Ombudsman on 13 April 2024. At stage 2 the landlord had raised repairs that had already been completed, which she felt confirmed that there was a lack of communication. Throughout the process the landlord had repeatedly changed its mind about a course of action, before it finally carried out the work it had originally ordered. This impacted on the length of time it took, and the inconvenience caused to the resident. The resident felt she carried the burden of chasing jobs and ensuring that they were raised in the correct order. The resident was unhappy with the implication that she had caused the damp and mould when the landlord signposted her to YouTube videos about condensation.

Assessment and findings

Repairs handling

  1. The Housing Act 2004 introduced the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). One of the 29 identified hazards is damp and mould. Landlords have an obligation to minimise or remove the identified hazards. When a resident reports a risk, the landlord should quickly inspect the property to check for hazards. It must determine if the home is safe and fit to live in. Ignoring hazards can lead to serious consequences.
  2. In November 2022 the Regulator of Social Housing (the Regulator) wrote to social housing providers requesting assurance on addressing risks related to damp and mould in properties. The landlord self-referred itself to the Regulator for non-compliance with HHSRS in relation to damp and mould. In the self-referral letter the landlord stated it had established a dedicated damp team. The team would carry out assessments to see if immediate action was needed as well as any remedial works. The letter further states that its immediate priority is to remove mould hazards from properties regardless of the cause. Longer term they would invest in housing stock to make them fit for modern living, including installation of thermal insulation.
  3. The Ombudsman’s Spotlight Report on Damp and Mould (published October 2021) recommends that a landlord should respond to reports of damp and mould quickly and that the response reflects the urgency of the issue. It should also ensure that it clearly and regularly communicate with the residents on actions taken to resolve damp and mould.
  4. Under the tenancy agreement the landlord is responsible for repairs to maintain the structure and exterior of the property. This is in line with section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. It states that it must carry out repairs “within a reasonable time” and will tell the resident when it will carry out the work depending on the urgency. The landlord’s website states that plastering is classed as “large non-urgent repairs”. There is no timescale provided.
  5. The resident first reported damp and mould in a bedroom on 10 January 2023. She re-reported it in February 2023. The landlord carried out a mould wash to the bathroom and all 3 bedrooms. She reported damp and mould to the landlord again in March 2023. The resident states that the landlord inspected the property in June/July 2023 and carried out a further mould wash in August 2023. There is no evidence of this mould wash. However, the landlord verifies that several inspections took place in 2023. The landlord raised another inspection in November 2023. It raised a further mould wash to the bathroom and 3 bedrooms, however there is no evidence of an inspection report.
  6. The resident raised her complaint on 29 November 2023. She was unhappy that a further mould wash had been recommended. The surveyor who attended in summer 2023 had stated that the whole of the upstairs needed insulating. She was concerned as 3 of her children had been prescribed inhalers. The resident wanted to know what the long-term plan was to resolve the issues.
  7. Mould washes had been applied twice in a year, and the mould had reappeared. Recommendations had been made to address the underlying issue with insulation, but this was not actioned. The landlord had failed to follow its procedure set out in its self-referral.
  8. The landlord raised a repair order for an area of plastering in December 2023. The operative who attended said that far more work needed to be done. He passed the job back to the planner with recommendations for thermal boarding and plastering. A senior surveyor stated in an email: “7 people in a small 3 bed house, I don’t want to jump to conclusions but insulating walls probably isn’t going to solve the problems they face, especially if we have visited many times before, I would suggest Local Housing team complete Home Check in the first instance.” There is no evidence that the local housing team contacted the resident.
  9. A further inspection took place on 18 December 2023. The inspection report recommended re-skimming the window walls and ceiling in all 3 bedrooms. When the plasterer arrived to do the job on 11 January 2024, the electricians had not done their preliminary work. The resident had to chase this, and the job was rebooked. The operatives returned on 22 January 2024 and began to carry out the raised repairs. He again fed back that further work was needed. The full rooms needed insulating as well as plastering.
  10. By the end of January 2024, the landlord had completed works in the bathroom but work to the bedrooms had halted. Work in the bedrooms recommenced on 12 February 2024. As the operatives began removing plaster in the bedrooms, the plaster started falling from the walls and ceiling on the stairs and landing. The landlord completed boarding and plastering to the bedrooms, stairs and landing on 27 March 2024. This was 309 working days from the resident reporting the damp and mould in January 2023. This was not completed within a reasonable time as stated in the tenancy agreement.
  11. Between 11 January 2024 and 27 March 2024, 4 of the resident’s children had to share a bedroom. The resident slept in the living room with her partner and the youngest child. During this time they had the use of one bedroom, another was used as storage and one was being replastered. She also lost the use of the bathroom for around 2 weeks while work was being carried out. They went elsewhere to bathe. As plaster was falling on the landing and stairs and the bedroom walls had holes, the resident kept the family downstairs during the day for safety. The landlord did not offer the resident temporary accommodation. When the resident raised concerns for safety and requested temporary accommodation, this was not acted upon.
  12. Overall there has been maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs and damp and mould.

Post internal complaint procedure

  1. At the time of the resident’s complaint, the landlord did not have a repairs policy, decant policy or vulnerable residents policy in place. These have been put in place in 2025.

Complaint handling

  1. In its complaints policy, the landlord defines a complaint as per paragraph 1.2 of the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code). It is an expression of dissatisfaction about the standard of service, actions or lack of actions by the landlord. It states it will acknowledge receipt of a stage 1 complaint within 3 working days and respond to the complaint within 10 working days.
  2. The resident phoned to log a complaint on 29 November 2023. There is no evidence of any acknowledgement or response until 13 February 2024 when the landlord submitted its stage 1 response, 51 days later. In its response it stated that the complaint was logged on 22 January 2024. That would still result in the response being overdue by 6 days.
  3. The stage 1 complaint response did not cover the resident’s point that mould washes had been offered previously. It took the resident raising her complaint for the underlying cause to be actioned.
  4. The landlord did not make it clear in the response if they were upholding the complaint.
  5. The landlord appeared to attribute some of the blame on the resident not adequately heating and ventilating the property. Although the resident had raised the issue of having to redecorate, which would have a financial implication for her, the landlord did not offer any compensation.
  6. The stage 2 response did not address the resident’s concerns about her being blamed for the damp. The compensation of £100 offered was not reflective of what the resident and her family had endured.
  7. The resident submitted her stage 2 complaint on 22 March 2024 stating that not all the work had been completed. The outstanding works were completed on 27 March 2024. The landlord responded to the stage 2 complaint on 4 April 2024, stating that it had raised works to be completed on 15 April 2024. The resident contacted the landlord several times to advise that the work was completed, however, the contractors turned up on 15 April 2024. This points to poor record keeping and communication.
  8. Overall there has been maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

The landlord’s knowledge and information management

  1. A landlord should have systems in place to maintain accurate records of repair reports, responses, inspections, investigations, and communications. Good record keeping is vital to evidence the action a landlord has taken and failure to keep adequate records indicates that the landlord’s processes are not operating effectively. The landlord’s staff should be aware of a landlord’s record management policy and procedures and adhere to these.
  2. As detailed in this report the landlord has failed to provide copies of inspection reports to this Service. It has also failed to provide detailed evidence which has hampered the Ombudsman’s investigation. In addition, while the landlord provided evidence of repairs in a schedule, this was difficult to understand and did not contain full information on the dates repairs were raised and completed.
  3. There was service failure in the landlord’s knowledge and information management.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in relation to the landlord’s handling of repairs and damp and mould.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in relation to the landlord’s complaint handling.
  3. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in relation to the landlord’s knowledge and information management.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Apologise to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay compensation of £1,260.40 directly to the resident:
      1. £260.40 for loss of 2 bedrooms for 11 weeks.
      2. £500 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of repairs.
      3. £400 for the time and trouble of the resident having to chase repairs and coordinate works.
      4. £100 for the service failures with complaint handling.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord should consider including timescales for planned works on its website.