Leeds City Council (202336074)

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Decision

Case ID

202336074

Decision type

Investigation

Landlord

Leeds City Council

Landlord type

Local Authority / ALMO or TMO

Occupancy

Secure Tenancy

Date

12 November 2025

Background

  1. Following an inspection of the property in June 2022, the landlord was aware that the resident’s lounge had damp, which it said was caused by condensation. It provided the resident with advice on preventing condensation and improving ventilation. The resident was unhappy with how this was handled, and after raising a complaint, remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response.

 

What the complaint is about

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of damp and mould in the resident’s lounge, and the completion of subsequent repairs.
  2. The Ombudsman has also investigated the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

 

Our decision (determination)

  1. There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of damp and mould in the resident’s lounge and the completion of subsequent repairs.
  2. There was 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

The landlord’s handling of damp and mould in the resident’s lounge, and the completion of subsequent repairs

  1. Its 60-day target to complete repairs took over 260 days, involving more than 14 separate inspections and appointments, which, as it identified, were due to breakdowns in its internal communications.
  2. Despite recognising errors, it did not offer compensation to put things right. In itself, this is a further failure to follow its compensation policy and the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: following a fair process, putting things right, and learning from the outcomes.

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint

  1. Although there were minor shortcomings in how the landlord handled the complaint overall, these were unlikely to cause significant detriment to the resident.

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 £250 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of damp and mould in the resident’s lounge, as well as the completion of subsequent repairs.

This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date.

 

No later than

09 December 2025 

 

2

Energy costs

 

The landlord must ask the resident to provide bills for the previous 12 months’ energy bills or the same period of the previous year, to calculate her overspend and reimburse her the difference.

 

 

 

 

Recommendations

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

Our recommendations

Insurance claim

The landlord should provide the resident with another claim form for her insurer and offer assistance in completing the claim form, as well as in collecting any relevant repair documents and reports.

 

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date

What happened

30 October 2023

In her Stage 1 complaint, the resident said that the damp and mould had persisted in her lounge for two years. She said she was afraid the flooring might collapse because the joist had rotted, and the flooring had shifted. She said there was now a gap between the flooring and the skirting board, allowing cold air and damp into the lounge. She also noted that the lounge was both difficult and expensive to heat. As a result, her husband, who uses a wheelchair, spent most of the day in the cold lounge.

14 November 2023

The landlord responded with its stage 1 letter and upheld the complaint because the previous repairs it had raised to fix the chimney, and the flooring had been cancelled without informing the resident. It said it would raise these jobs again.

29 November 2023

In her escalation, the resident said she had reported the damp and mould in her lounge 2 years prior, but the landlord failed to carry out the necessary works. During this period, they had to live in a house that negatively impacted their health and was more expensive to heat. She wanted the landlord to complete the repair, reimburse her for heating costs, pay compensation, and reimburse her for damage caused to her personal belongings.

2 January 2024

In its final response letter, the landlord:

  • Apologised for the delay and inconveniences, as well as the higher heating charges.
  • Said that due to miscommunication, it failed to complete the work. It apologised for the delay and acknowledged its operatives had not been as proactive as they could have been. It said this was a learning point from the complaint.
  • It had discussed booking the outstanding works with the resident on 14 December 2023, and it was awaiting her confirmation of when operatives could return to complete the works. It asked that she call to book the repair. 
  • Said that since it did not cause the damage directly, it would provide the resident with a claim form so she could claim for damage and compensation from its insurer.

Referral to the Ombudsman

The resident contacted us to request assistance with completing the landlord’s insurance form. She said she had reported damp and mould to the landlord, but the landlord said it was caused by condensation. Due to a lack of action, she suffered damage to her belongings and increased heating costs.

In later correspondence, she told us that the insurance declined her claim for compensation because it said that, based on the information available to it, the damp and mould were caused by condensation.

To resolve the complaint, she would like compensation for the distress and inconvenience, reimbursement for higher energy bills, and reimbursement for damaged belongings.

 

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

The landlord’s handling of damp and mould in the resident’s lounge, and the completion of subsequent repairs

Finding

Maladministration
  1. The resident contacted the landlord in October 2022, saying she had kept the windows open and the heating on, but the issue worsened. She thought there was an underlying issue with the property. She said that cold air was coming up from the edges of the carpet around her lounge. She was struggling to heat the lounge, and she was concerned about her increasing energy costs as a result.
  2. In response, the landlord sent its surveyor to revisit the property on 10 November 2022. They lifted the carpet and inspected the floorboards but found “no standing water”. They also said that the walls did not show signs of dampness, and they found no evidence of mould. They offered to install air grates to aid ventilation, which the resident declined, as she was concerned it would make the house colder. The landlord acted reasonably here. 
  3. Tracing damp in a property can be challenging and may take several inspections and repairs to identify the root cause. There may also be more than one solution to achieve a home free of damp and mould. In this case, 2 different surveyors offered the resident to install air grates, which she declined. Taking an incremental approach to repairs is reasonable and falls within the range of options landlords are entitled to take. 
  4. The resident continued to report damp and mould, and in response, the landlord sent a different surveyor on 3 May 2023. They reported that all readings indicated dry conditions at the property. They identified a “small defect in the floorboard, as draught from the skirting was possibly causing a cold spot, which can cause condensation”. They raised the necessary repair job.
  5. The landlord’s repairs policy says it will complete damp and mould repairs within 60 days. The landlord attended to repair the flooring 65 days later, on 6 July 2023. This was a short delay, which in itself would not cause significant detriment to the resident. Operatives replaced a small section of the flooring. They reportedly told the resident that further work was necessary to make the floor safe, but they left without carrying out the work.
  6. The landlord’s surveyor returned to the property on 20 July 2023 and confirmed that operatives had not completed the works as instructed. They said they would recall the operatives to redo the job. However, the job was not rebooked at this time, leaving the resident in a state of uncertainty, chasing the landlord to complete the repairs.
  7. In their July 2023 inspection, the surveyor also identified that the chimney breast was damp, including in the alcoves. They raised a repair to cap off the chimney, and wrote internally that once completed, if the walls do not dry out, they would raise another job for damp proofing. They returned on 27 July 2023 to carry out the chimney repair, but were unable to gain access to the property next door. They cancelled the job but did not inform the resident.
  8. There was no progress with either repair, leading to the resident raising her formal complaint on 30 October 2023. The landlord upheld the complaint on 14 November 2023. It said it would raise the repairs to the chimney and the flooring again.
  9. The landlord’s repairs policy says it aims to complete repairs on the first visit. Operatives returned to the property on 20 November, 30 November, 1 December, 4 December, 5 December, 12 December, 14 December 2023, and 17 January 2024. The landlord’s records do not indicate why a total of 14 repairs and inspections were necessary for the resident’s property. The landlord said in its final response letter that this was because of issues with its internal communications and insufficient oversight of its repair service.
  10. Overall, the flooring repair was raised on 3 May 2023 and was completed on 17 January 2024, which was 260 days later against a target of 60 days. The chimney repair was raised in July 2023 and completed in December 2023, which was 154 days against a target of 60 days. The delayed repairs amounted to maladministration.
  11. The landlord recognised its errors in its final response letter. It said it identified this as a learning point from the complaint. Despite this, it offered no compensation to the resident. In her escalation request, the resident asked for reimbursement for damaged belongings, higher heating bills, and compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused. After the final response letter, the resident continued to report dampness in her lounge. The landlord inspected the property on 20 June 2024 and subsequently installed a damp proof course to the chimney breast, removed the affected plaster and made good. This resolved the damp issue in the resident’s lounge. 
  12. To put things right, we have relied on the landlord’s compensation policy for situations where the landlord missed an opportunity to put things right, causing unnecessary frustration and repeated inconvenience to the resident. Accordingly, we have ordered compensation of £250.
  13. The landlord provided the resident with a claim form for its insurer. This was a reasonable course of action for her claim for damaged belongings. The resident completed the insurance claim in April 2024.  Since then, the landlord identified further issues in the lounge, and it installed a damp-proof course in August 2024. In September 2024, the insurance company rejected the claim because the damage was deemed to have been caused by condensation. It is unclear whether the insurer had access to the latest findings that the landlord identified in August 2024. We therefore recommended that the landlord provide the resident with another claim form, allowing the insurer to reassess the resident’s claim for damaged belongings.
  14. The landlord’s compensation policy states that when a resident requests reimbursement for higher utility charges due to ongoing works, the landlord will ask the resident to provide bills for the previous 12 months or the same period the previous year and calculate the difference. The landlord failed to apply its policy here. We have issued a further order for them to do so now.

 

Complaint

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint

Finding

No maladministration
  1. The resident raised concerns that the landlord closed her stage 1 complaint. However, upon her escalation request, her complaint was escalated. The Complaint Handling Code says the landlord must acknowledge the escalation request within 5 working days and respond to a stage 2 complaint within 20 working days. Overall, the landlord acknowledged and responded with its stage 2 letter 22 working days after the resident’s escalation, which was reasonable.

Learning

  1. The performance of its repair service did not meet its policy commitments to complete repairs appropriately the first time. The landlord should ensure:
    1. It has a mechanism to inform the relevant department and the resident when a repair has not been completed, and to reschedule alternative appointments as needed.
    2. Its knowledge and information management (record keeping) provides reliable and clear details about the actions taken by its operatives and whether any outstanding tasks remain to be taken. 
  2. In its final response letter, the landlord has been thorough in its explanation of events and findings. The landlord appears to have taken learnings from the resident’s complaint in relation to its internal communication and its communication with its contractors, which was appropriate. However, it could do more to ensure that its responses to residents are clear and concise, thereby avoiding ambiguity.