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London Borough of Lambeth (202334778)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202334778

London Borough of Lambeth

13 August 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 resident’s complaint is about the landlord’s handling of repairs to windows.
  2. We have also considered the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint. 

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord, who is a local authority. The resident lives with her son. The property is a flat in a block of flats with metal framed windows in a conservation area.
  2. The resident made 5 reports about the windows between March and May 2023. The landlord attended an urgent request on 21 June 2023. Its note states it made safe all the windows and closed them as they were stuck open. It stated the windows were needing replacing as all hinges, mechanisms and handles had failed.
  3. The resident sent a formal complaint to the landlord on 26 September 2023 as she had been awaiting the landlord inspecting her windows which she believed to be in disrepair. This was acknowledged on 8 October 2023, advising she would receive a response by 16 October 2023.
  4. The landlord provided its stage 1 response on 26 October 2023. It explained the repairs team were short staffed and regretted the delay. It advised its surveyor had attended on 18 October 2023 and would be returning with a contractor. Although it had appeared the windows were beyond repair, the landlord was seeking a joint inspection with its contractor.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint on an unknown date, provided the history of the service requests and advised of a missed appointment on 4 August 2023. She said that she was housebound due to breaking both legs and was stressed. She complained that the windows had a breeze from them when closed and that £90 compensation did not reflect the 8 months taken to have the windows inspected. The resident has said the landlord responded in October offering £90 but we have not seen a copy of this response.
  6. The landlord provided its stage 2 response on 7 December 2023 and apologised it had taken so long to measure the windows, which would be done on 15 December 2023. It offered the resident £410 compensation for the delays.
  7. The landlord’s contractor did attend on 15 December 2023 but did not measure the windows as promised by the landlord as it wanted to repair them.
  8. The resident made a second complaint to the landlord on 18 December 2023.
  9. The resident brought her complaint to us on 7 January 2024 as she was unhappy, she had not received the £410 compensation previously promised in the complaint response and said she was spending extra on heating due to the condition of the windows. She said the contractor had advised her the windows needed to be replaced and wanted the landlord to do so.
  10. The landlord provided its stage 1 response for the second complaint on 17 January 2024. It stated it had advised its contractor to overhaul the bedroom window and to renew the kitchen and second bedroom window. This it said was in response to the joint survey in October 2023. Its contractors however believed the windows could be repaired on visiting the property. The landlord said it thereafter instructed them again to replace 3 windows and repair 1 on 10 January 2024. It apologised and advised its contractor would contact the resident directly to arrange.
  11. The resident escalated her complaint the same day as she was unhappy, she had not yet received the compensation promised in her previous complaint responses and said that it had taken 46 weeks to carry out 1 measurement. She asked what would happen as she had been told by the contractor the windows in the front room could not be fixed.
  12. The landlord provided its stage 2 response on 21 February 2024 where it apologised for the delays to works. It stated its surveyor would continue to monitor the situation. It apologised there had been a delay in paying the compensation, however this had now been paid and said to contact it if the resident had not received it. It advised the work had been approved and it was attending on 22 February 2024 to overhaul the main bedroom window. It advised the 3 window replacements would take up to 8 weeks.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident has raised concerns about the impact of the landlord’s actions on her mental and physical health. Although we can consider the likely distress and inconvenience any identified failings may have caused, we cannot determine liability for personal injury. We are not qualified to make an assessment as to how the landlord’s actions might have caused a medical condition or resulted in a deterioration of an existing condition. Any such claim would be more appropriately progressed through insurance or the courts. If the resident wishes to pursue a personal injury claim, she should seek independent advice.
  2. In the resident’s complaint to us she complained that the landlord’s contractor was rude to her causing her upset. Although we do not dispute the resident’s version of events, in the interest of fairness, the scope of this investigation is limited to the issues raised during the resident’s formal complaint. This is because the landlord needs to be given a fair opportunity to investigate and respond to any reported dissatisfaction with its actions prior to our involvement. Any new issues that have not been subject to a formal complaint can be raised directly with the landlord and progressed as a new formal complaint if required.

Legal and policy framework

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy seeks to ensure that its residents “live in a warm and dry home that is well maintained.” The policy prioritises response times according to the urgency of the repair. It states that it will:
    1. attend to emergency repairs within 2 hours and aim to fix them within 24 hours.
    2. aim to fix routine repairs within 3 to 28 days depending on what the repair entails.
    3. aim to complete planned works within 90 days.

The complaint about the landlord’s handling of repairs to windows

  1. It is not in dispute that the landlord is responsible for the windows under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, where landlords are responsible for keeping in repair the structure and exterior of buildings which includes windows. The Landlord and Tenant Act also requires landlords to complete repairs within a reasonable timeframe.
  2. The landlord’s repair logs have 5 entries regarding window repairs reported between March and May 2023. The resident has advised the landlord did not attend and there has been no evidence provided to show that it did.
  3. The landlord’s file shows it appropriately identified the resident’s report of 21 June 2023 that she could not close windows as an emergency repair. It attended and made safe the windows in line with its repair policy of doing so within 24 hours. This was an appropriate and customer orientated response. It also noted all 7 windows required replacement as hinges, handles and mechanisms had failed. Although it assigned a repair in its notes, we have seen no records of it arranging a timely inspection or of it keeping the resident updated. This caused the resident to have to chase the repair on 18 September 2023. This was 3 months since the windows were made safe and an unreasonable delay considering it had already identified the windows may need to be replaced. This caused the resident to make a formal complaint on 26 September 2023.
  4. The landlord had agreed to attend on 15 December 2023 and measure the windows. However when the contractor told the resident they were there to repair and not replace the windows it caused unnecessary confusion and upset to the resident and likely caused further delay. The landlord failed to honour its commitment to replace the windows which was unreasonable.
  5. It was positive that the landlord committed in its stage 2 response that its surveyor would monitor the situation, that it would overhaul 1 window (22 February 2024) and renew the 3 other windows within 6 weeks. We have seen evidence of the landlord chasing its contractor in January and February 2024 to repair and replace the windows. It appropriately identified the poor performance and changed contractors. Although the delays experienced were unreasonable it was positive to see the landlord acting, which resulted in the bedroom window overhaul booked in for 27 February 2024.
  6. Although we have not seen records of when the other works were completed, we do know windows were replaced prior to the resident’s request of 9 May 2024 to have them post inspected. The landlord recently wrote to us and stated it replaced a double-glazed unit (unknown room) and replaced 8 window handles in April 2025. Therefore the window replacements were only fully completed on 29 April 2025 which was 112 weeks since the repair was first reported (5 March 2023).
  7. The resident has recently advised us that the landlord did not replace the kitchen window, but did fit secondary glazing, however, is now unable to open that window. Although secondary glazing was installed in her son’s bedroom there remains a hole in the external window. She reports this has made that room cold and windows with secondary glazing remain draughty. In her lounge her window was replaced but she is awaiting secondary glazing for the other window.
  8. Although the landlord stated there had been post work inspections completed, we have not seen evidence of this. The landlord has also not provided any survey reports and we have seen no evidence of the decision making used to decide which windows to replace. This is concerning considering the initial assessment from the contractor (June 2023) was that all windows needed to be replaced. Although the landlord updated us in July 2025 that all works had been completed in April 2025, we have made an order below to have the windows inspected and any outstanding works completed. This is because the resident reports that the issues have not been fully resolved and it is not clear from the evidence provided how the landlord reached the decision to not replace all the windows.
  9. Although the landlord appropriately acknowledged the resident’s vulnerabilities within its complaint response (7 December 2023), it failed to follow its own repairs policy which states that vulnerable tenants will have their repairs prioritised for quicker action. At no stage throughout its handling of the repairs to the windows has it demonstrated that it has provided a quicker than normal response. On the contrary, it failed to adhere to/evidence the 28-day timeframe for routine repairs set out in its policy. In the resident’s complaint to us she complained of the loss of the living room in the winter months. We have seen no evidence the landlord considered interim measures such as heaters or a decant which considering the resident’s reported vulnerability was inappropriate. 
  10. In the landlord’s complaint responses it upheld the resident’s complaints and appropriately apologised for the time it had taken to arrange the window repair and replacement. Although in its stage 1 response of 17 January 2024 it explained the delays were to do with staffing issues, it failed to offer any further explanation within both stage 2 responses, which was unreasonable. The landlord also failed to fully acknowledge the impact on the resident at the time of the complaint’s events. There was no evidence of learning or that the landlord has taken steps to ensure the same failures do not happen again. Although it is positive the landlord acknowledged the delays and mistakes in repairs, its complaint responses did not go far enough in terms of putting things right.
  11. The resident provided the landlord with a copy of her energy top up payments between 15 November 2023 and 1 December 2023 which totalled £93 over 16 days. The landlord thereafter offered £410 compensation explaining this was £10 per week backdated to March 2023, as that is when it had initially agreed for the windows to be inspected. It is unclear if the landlord had considered the residents energy usage or how it calculated its offer of compensation. In its final stage 2 response (21 February 2024) it failed to acknowledge the resident had asked for additional compensation as it had taken a further 5 weeks for its contractor to measure the windows which was unreasonable.
  12. The landlord took a further year following its complaint process to complete the works. It also could not demonstrate that it had permanently or fully resolved the window issues. For all of these reasons we find there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports about her windows.
  13. As highlighted above the evidence in the landlord’s note shows it took a total of 112 weeks to fully complete the repairs. Therefore we order the landlord to pay a total of £1120 compensation which is £10 for each week the resident’s windows were not fully repaired. This is to include the £410 already offered as part of its complaints process. We also order the landlord to pay a further £200 compensation for the distress and impact caused to the resident by its delayed repairs. This total compensation of £1320 is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance where there have been serious failings by the landlord.

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint 

  1. The landlord’s complaints policy states it will acknowledge the complaint within 5 working days at both stages of its complaints procedure. It further states it will respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days and at stage 2 within 20 working days with a possible 10-day extension at either stage. This policy is in line with the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
  2. Complaint 1 was brought to the landlord on 26 September 2023. It was acknowledged on 8 October 2023 (9 working days) and a response was provided on 26 October 2023 (13 workings days from acknowledgement).
  3. Therefore, there was a delay at stage 1 of 4 working days to acknowledge the complaint and 3 working days to provide its response.
  4. Complaint 2 was brought to the landlord on 18 December 2023 and a stage 1 response was given on 17 January 2024 (19 working days). Including its 5 days for acknowledgement the delay at stage 1 was 5 working days.
  5. We also recently requested additional information from the landlord being a copy of the resident’s original complaints made on 26 September 2023 and 18 December 2023. We also requested a copy and date of the escalation made for the complaint response of 7 December 2023. Although the landlord did reply it failed to provide any of these documents. Its failure to maintain and provide the files to us is a concern.
  6. The landlord failed to fully acknowledge the above failures within its complaint responses and was therefore unable to show learning or take steps to ensure it did not happen again. For these reasons we find there was service failure. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident £50 compensation which is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance where there was minor failure by the landlord in the service it provided and it did not appropriately acknowledge these and fully put them right. We have also made a recommendation below to help improve its record keeping.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs to windows.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the Ombudsman orders the landlord to pay the resident £1370 compensation (this is inclusive of the compensation offered during its complaints procedure) comprising:
    1. £1320 for distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of window repairs.
    2. £50 for the time and trouble caused to the resident by its complaint handling failures.
  2. Within 6 weeks of the date of this report the Ombudsman orders the landlord to instruct an independent survey of the property’s windows by a suitably qualified expert. The landlord must share the results of the survey with the resident and us within 2 weeks of the date of the survey along with a timeline of any schedule of works identified for the window repairs or other measures as the landlord sees fit.
  3. The Ombudsman orders the landlord to provide evidence of compliance with the above orders in their respective timeframes.

Recommendations

  1. The Ombudsman recommends that if the landlord has not done so already, it self-assess against the spotlight report on Knowledge and Information Management (spotlight-on-knowledge-and-information-management) and consider the recommendations made in the report.