A2Dominion Housing Group Limited (202325326)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202325326

A2Dominion Housing Group Limited

23 January 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:

a.     Damp and mould reports and the associated works.

b.     Boiler repairs.

c.      The resident’s complaint.

Background

  1. The resident has an assured tenancy which began on 9 October 2006. The property is a 3-bed house.
  2. The resident reported damp and mould in the property prior to his complaint in October 2023. The landlord attended the property on 30 September 2023, following a report of a leak from the boiler. The operative identified that parts were required to complete the repair and the boiler should be turned off. The resident refused to allow the boiler to be switched off and requested the landlord replace the boiler. The operative advised that, as it was less than 10 years old, the boiler would not be replaced.
  3. On 6 October 2023, the landlord was refused access to install the required parts to the boiler. It attempted to book a further appointment but the resident would not agree to this, as he wanted a new boiler to be installed. The landlord reiterated that it would not replace the boiler due to its age. The resident requested that the works be cancelled.
  4. The resident raised a stage 1 complaint on 10 October 2023 regarding the boiler fault and historical damp and mould issues in the property. The landlord arranged for damp and mould works to be progressed during the complaint period but no works were agreed for the boiler repair.
  5. An appointment to repair the boiler was made for 7 December 2023. The operative found that additional parts were required to complete the repair and had to cap the gas supply. Temporary heaters were provided the next day. Following visits on 13 December 2023 and 14 December 2023, the boiler was repaired.
  6. The landlord provided its stage 1 response on 15 December 2023 and acknowledged the delays in completing the boiler repair. It said this was caused by the resident wanting the boiler replaced rather than repaired and was also due to waiting on boiler parts when a repair was eventually agreed. It said that required damp and mould works had been identified on 31 October 2023 and were in progress.
  7. The resident responded the same day to escalate the complaint. He reiterated his dispute over the age of the boiler and said the engineer had recommended it be replaced. He also disputed the landlord’s claims that it was refused access on 3 occasions. The resident said that damp and mould had been a problem for some time and that the landlord had failed to carry out required works that were recommended in March 2022.
  8. A further boiler fault was reported on 16 January 2024 and the operative ordered new sensors but noted that, following a reset, the boiler was working. An appointment was booked to fit the new sensors on 31 January 2024.
  9. The landlord provided its stage 2 response on 29 January 2024 and the complaint was not upheld. It provided a timeline of events for the boiler repair, highlighting that the resident refused the operative’s recommendation on his initial visit and that the resident would then not agree a follow on repair. The landlord said that all agreed damp and mould works had been completed, outside of a vent installation which was booked for May 2024. It offered a payment of £50 to address the delay in the stage 1 response and £24 to compensate for the week without heating and hot water in December 2023.
  10. A further damp report was completed in March 2024 with more works recommended. The landlord’s evidence shows that these were noted as having all been completed by September 2024.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. It is recognised that this situation has caused the resident distress as he experienced damp and mould in the property over a lengthy period of time. Aspects of the complaint relate to the impact of his living conditions on the family’s health. Where the Ombudsman identifies failure on a landlord’s part, we can consider the resulting distress and inconvenience caused to a resident. However, unlike a court, we cannot establish liability or calculate and award damages; this would usually be dealt with as a personal injury claim through the courts.

Damp and mould reports and associated works

  1. Within this Service’s Spotlight report on damp and mould from October 2021, we recommended that landlords should adopt a zero tolerance approach to damp and mould reports. We said that following any damp and mould inspections, the landlord should act on the survey recommendations in a timely manner.
  2. On 31 March 2022, a disrepair survey was carried out at the property and the report said that there were “defective rubber weather seals” around the windows. It suggested this allowed draughts to enter the property and was a contributory factor to the presence of mould. It recommended that these were replaced, along with other damp and mould treatments. Despite requests from this Service, the landlord has not provided any evidence of these works being completed prior to the October 2023 complaint.
  3. The resident referenced these works not having been completed within his complaint on 2 occasions. Although the landlord engaged with its damp and mould team and arranged for some works to be completed during the complaint period, the window seal replacement was not acknowledged by the landlord. Given that this had been identified by an independent surveyor as being a contributing factor to the presence of mould more than a year earlier, it is unreasonable that the landlord did not check, or address, this potential repair.
  4. The landlord did not act on requests for these works on 2 occasions and then failed to consider them when it carried out its own inspection following the resident’s complaint. This is a service failing on the part of the landlord. This meant that the landlord did not resolve all of the potential causes of damp and mould that it was aware of. The landlord said in its January 2024 stage 2 response that all works were complete except for installation of a positive input ventilation unit but it is not clear that this included the earlier recommended window repair.
  5. Despite the landlord saying damp and mould treatment works were in progress when it responded to the resident’s complaint in December 2023 (and claiming most works were complete when it responded further in January 2024), it is apparent that these did not provide a lasting solution. The landlord has provided limited evidence of damp and mould related works being carried out despite the resident’s stated concerns about impact on health and wellbeing.
  6. The landlord reattended the property in March 2024 to conduct a further survey. This recommended similar treatment works to 2 bedrooms and the bathroom less than 5 months after its previous inspection in October 2023. This indicates that either works were not completed as scheduled or that the mould problem rapidly returned.
  7. Overall, the landlord failed to provide lasting solutions to the damp and mould issues reported by the resident. Although it apparently conducted treatment works to eliminate the presence of damp and mould, it failed to carry out preventative works to stop the problem returning. This is despite having been provided with a potential solution in March 2022, which the resident raised with it again during late 2023 to early 2024.
  8. The landlord failed to provide any explanation of why these works were not completed and did not address this when the resident raised it within his complaint. The landlord committed to completing works through the complaints process but these remained incomplete several months after the stage 2 complaint response. The Ombudsman therefore finds there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the damp and mould reports and the associated works.

Boiler repairs

  1. The landlord attended the resident’s property on 30 September 2023 following his report earlier that day of a leak from the boiler. This was appropriate and met the timeline of 24 hours outlined in the landlord’s repair policy. It identified that more parts were needed so an immediate repair was not possible. Although the loss of the use of the boiler while awaiting the repair would be disappointing, the operative’s recommendation to switch off the boiler was noted as being a “make safe” while the required parts were obtained.
  2. The initial delay in completing the repair was the result of a dispute about whether the boiler needed repair or replacement. This dispute was centred around the age of the boiler as the landlord said it was less than 10 years old but the resident said it was at least 17 years old. The landlord has provided the Ombudsman with a copy of the boiler commissioning certificate from 2017. Given that this therefore demonstrates that the boiler was less than 10 years old at the time of the dispute and its contractor identified that a repair was possible, it is reasonable that the landlord took the decision to repair rather than replace.
  3. The tenancy agreement states that the resident should allow access to the landlord in order for it to carry out works. The landlord was unable to gain access on 6 October 2023 and the resident asked for it to cancel the repair job on 10 October 2023. The landlord was therefore not at fault for the boiler repair remaining incomplete during October-November 2023.
  4. Once the resident contacted the landlord on 30 November 2023 and indicated a desire to have the boiler repair completed, the landlord acted quickly in obtaining the required parts and scheduling a visit to fit them. Its notes show that it proposed a repair date of 4 December 2023, only 2 working days after receiving the request and this was only delayed further due to the resident’s availability.
  5. The attempted repair on 7 December 2023 could not be completed due to further parts being required. Although the gas supply was capped and the resident was left with no heating and hot water for a week, the landlord did provide temporary heaters for use while awaiting the parts and final repair. In line with its repair policy, the landlord also offered a payment for the time that the resident was without heating and hot water (through its January 2024 stage 2 complaint response).
  6. A further boiler fault was reported in January 2024 – a note was made that the boiler was intermittently switching off. The landlord found the boiler was working when it attended but new sensors were ordered as a precaution. When the landlord reattended to install them, the resident reported that the boiler had been working fine since and the parts were not required. There was again no fault in the landlord’s handling of this boiler repair report.
  7. It is the Ombudsman’s view that the landlord acted reasonably in handling the boiler repairs throughout the complaint period. Although it did not complete the works for more than 2 months, it made reasonable attempts to do so but the resident refused it access. The resident’s concern around the age of the boiler was understandable but the landlord provided evidence of the boiler being installed in 2017, making it less than 7 years old at the time. In view of this, it was reasonable that the landlord did not look to replace it based on its age.
  8. When the landlord attended each repair, it took or proposed reasonable actions to bring the boiler back into operation quickly and provided temporary measures when it was unable to. When it addressed the complaint, it offered a payment, in line with its policy, for the time the resident was without heating and hot water. The Ombudsman therefore finds no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the boiler repairs.

The resident’s complaint

  1. The landlord failed to manage the resident’s complaints in line with its own complaint policy. The policy states that it should acknowledge receipt of the complaint at both stages of the process. Although it acknowledged the stage 1 complaint, it failed to acknowledge the stage 2 escalation.
  2. The complaint policy states that it should provide a stage 1 response within 10 working days and a stage 2 response within 20 working days. In this case, the landlord did not provide either response within the timeframe set out in its policy. There was a delay of almost 2 months at stage 1 and around a month at stage 2.
  3. It is accepted that some investigations may require an extension to usual timeframes but the resident should be notified of such delays. At neither stage was the resident updated about a likely delay and the reason for this. This is evident in his emails to the landlord which mention a lack of contact throughout the complaint process.
  4. When addressing the stage 1 complaint, the resident was offered a point of contact to assist with ensuring the completion of the required works. However, he was not offered direct contact details for that point of contact, instead being given the general telephone number for the landlord.
  5. Within the stage 2 response, the landlord identified its delay in providing a stage 1 response and offered a payment of £50 for the delay. However, it did not reference the delay in providing the stage 2 response. Despite the landlord offering a compensation payment, it has since advised the Ombudsman that no payment was made to the resident.
  6. There were delays in the landlord addressing the resident’s complaint and it did not offer sufficient redress for these. The Ombudsman therefore makes a finding of service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of damp and mould reports and associated repairs.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the boiler repairs.
  3. 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

  1. Within 28 days of this report, the landlord is required to provide a written apology to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
  2. Within 28 days of this report, the landlord is ordered to make a compensation payment of £400 to the resident, made up of:

a.     £300 for the distress and inconvenience caused to him by the failings in its handling of the damp and mould reports and associated repairs;

b.     £100 for the time and trouble caused to him by the failings in its handling of his complaint (this is inclusive of the £50 it offered in its stage 2 complaint response).

  1. Within 28 days of the date of this report, the landlord should arrange for a new independent damp and mould survey. Based on the outcome of the survey, it should put in place a schedule of works for any further works or treatment, if required. The survey should include an assessment of the condition of rubber seals around windows in the property.
  2. The landlord should provide a copy of the survey report to the resident within 14 days of the inspection along with details of timescales for required works and a specific point of contact who he can contact for updates pending completion of works.
  3. The landlord must reply to this Service with evidence of compliance with these orders within the timescales set out above.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord should pay the resident the previously offered loss of heating and hot water amount of £24 as per its stage 2 complaint response.