London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202510197)

Decision
Case ID	202510197
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	London & Quadrant Housing Trust
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Secure Tenancy
Date	16 December 2025

Background

The resident lives in a flat. She is elderly and has Parkinson’s disease which the landlord is aware of. Her daughter supported her in bringing her complaint to us. For clarity, we will refer to the resident and her daughter as ‘the resident’ in this report.

What the complaint is about

The landlord’s handling of:
1. Roof leak repairs.
2. The resident’s complaint.

Our decision (determination)

We found:
1. Maladministration in the landlord’s handling of roof leak repairs.
2. Service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Summary of reasons

The landlord’s handling of roof leak repairs

There were significant delays in the landlord’s handling of roof leak repairs due to its management of a Section 20 process. At the time of this report, the roof repair was outstanding causing concern about the resident’s safety.

The landlord’s complaint handling

There were minor delays in the landlord’s complaint handling. However, it took 4 months after sending its complaint response to make a stage 1 compensation offer. The offer made did not reflect this delay.

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	Apology order The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure: the apology is provided by a senior manager the apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic the apology includes an explanation for the delays it has due regard to our apologies guidance	No later than 15 January 2026
2	Compensation order– rent The landlord must pay the resident £374. This is based on a 10% proportion of rent between 28 November 2024 and 22 May 2025 (25 weeks) at a set amount of £149.64 (based on the Regulator’s average rent). This is to recognise the loss of enjoyment of the home or part of the home.	No later than 15 January 2026
3	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £1,140 made up as follows: £650 offered in its previous complaint responses for repair handling failures £90 offered in its previous complaint responses for complaint handling failures £350 additional payment for distress and inconvenience related to repair delays £50 additional payment for delays in making a stage 1 compensation offer This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date. The landlord may deduct from the total figure any payments it has already paid.	No later than 15 January 2026
4	Urgent/emergency or make safe works order The landlord must determine what urgent/emergency or make safe works it can do and complete these by the due date. This includes stopping the water from leaking into the building and homes.	No later than 15 January 2026
5	Inspection order The landlord must contact the resident to arrange an inspection. It must take all reasonable steps to ensure the inspection is completed by the due date. The inspection must be completed by someone suitably qualified to complete an inspection of the type needed. If the landlord cannot gain access to complete the inspection, it must provide us with documentary evidence of its attempts to inspect the property no later than the due date. What the inspection must achieve The landlord must ensure that the surveyor: inspects the extent of the damage caused to the affected internal areas of property and produces a written report with photographs The survey report must set out: whether the property is fit for human habitation and whether there are any hazards it must consider what internal remedial works to complete to put right the damage once it completes the permanent roof repairs. a full scope of works to achieve a lasting and effective repair to the issue the likely timescales to commence and complete the work once roof repairs are complete whether temporary alternative accommodation is necessary either because of the condition of the property or during the works It must provide us and the resident with a copy of the report.	No later than 29 January 2026
6	Communication order The landlord must provide the resident with an update about the ongoing Section 20 process and the likely timescales for beginning works to repair the roof.	No later than 15 January 2026

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
28 November 2024	The resident complained to the landlord about its handling of a leak into the property from an outstanding roof repair. The landlord acknowledged the complaint.
13 December 2024	The landlord sent its stage 1 response to the resident and upheld her complaint. It said its contractor would complete the repair on 16 December 2024 and it would assess compensation once it completed the repair.
11 April 2025	The landlord offered the resident £140 compensation for inconvenience, time, and effort.
16 April 2025	The resident escalated her complaint as works remained outstanding.
23 April 2025	The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint escalation.
22 May 2025	The landlord sent its final complaint response to the resident and upheld her complaint. It acknowledged its poor communication and information handling. It said it communicated with leaseholders about the Section 20 process, but it would not have helped the resident’s situation as she did not receive this. It gave an update about the Section 20 process and offered £600 compensation for repairs and complaint handling failures.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident asked us to investigate her complaint as the landlord has not completed the roof repairs. She would like the landlord to complete repairs, explain why it has taken so long, and increase its compensation.

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 handling of roof leak repairs
Finding	Maladministration

The landlord’s repairs policy says it will complete complex routine repairs, such as those needing scaffolding or a specialist contractor, within 40 working days. Where the repair needs to follow the Section 20 process under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, it will ensure it carries out the correct consultation.
The resident reported a roof leak on 10 July 2024. The landlord attended and requested quotes from contractors to start the Section 20 process. In August 2024, it asked contractors to include more repairs in an amended quote. There was no evidence it updated the resident about the process.
The resident reported the leak again in November 2024 during rainfall. She complained about the ongoing repairs and safety concerns. The landlord told her it would contact her with an appointment once it approved quotes. There is no evidence it did this prior to her complaint.
The landlord’s stage 1 complaint response did not include information about the ongoing Section 20 process. It is unclear whether the complaints team had access to information about the process. However, not sharing the status of repairs led to a significant mismanagement of the resident’s expectations.
In January 2025, the landlord’s contractor completed a drone survey of the building. It received a quote over the Section 20 trigger threshold. It began the process and explained this to the resident, apologising for earlier miscommunication. It later said it would arrange works after 17 January 2025 when the observation period of the process ended. While this was a positive step, it was still chasing scaffolding in late March 2025, over 2 months later.
In April 2025, the landlord’s contractor asked for written permission to go ahead with works. When investigating this internally, it found it had not responded to leaseholder observations made during the Section 20 process. It needed to respond and therefore could not start works. In the meantime, it made a delayed stage 1 compensation offer of £100 for not recognising the impact on the resident. It did not explain how it calculated this offer. However, in line with our remedies guidance it was not sufficient for the length of time the leak had been ongoing.
The landlord told the resident of the Section 20 delays on 16 April 2025, and she escalated her complaint due to the further delay. Its complaint handler chased for updates internally, highlighting the resident’s vulnerability.
The landlord acknowledged it had not fully explained the Section 20 process to the resident in its final complaint response. It upheld the resident’s complaint because of its poor communication and information handling. It said it only sent updates about the process to its leaseholders, and this did not help her situation. It said once it chose a contractor, it would start the second stage of the Section 20 process. It offered £550 compensation for distress, time, and effort related to its failures.
While the landlord’s apology for poor communication and failure to explain the ongoing processes was fair, it did not acknowledge the time it took to reach the second stage. It first requested a Section 20 quote after the resident’s report in July 2024. It did not reach the second stage of the process until 10 months later. There is no evidence it considered applying to dispense with Section 20 to carry out works, or whether it could have done these works sooner.
The landlord’s compensation policy says it will calculate the amounts it offers by impact, duration, and distress. In this case, it based its offer on medium impact for services not meeting a required standard or having an impact greater than is reasonably tolerable.
In December 2025, the resident told us the landlord had not started works, around 17 months since she reported the leak. She said when it rains, the water forms a puddle on the floor which is a risk to her. She has received no further updates since the landlord’s stage 2 response.
Considering the above, the landlord’s total compensation offer of £650 was not sufficient for the length of time it took to follow the Section 20 process and the impact on the resident. As such, we find maladministration and will order the landlord to pay additional compensation. We will also order the landlord to update the resident and assess whether it can complete any temporary repairs.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Service failure

The landlord has a 2-stage complaints policy. It says it will acknowledge complaints within 5 working days and respond at stage 1 within a further 10 working days. It will reply to stage 2 complaints within 20 working days. This is compliant with the Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
The landlord responded to the resident’s stage 1 complaint within 11 working days. The impact of this delay would have been minimal. It offered to consider a compensation offer once it completed repairs. This was fair at the time. However, it did not complete repairs and 4 months later offered £40 compensation for time and effort getting the complaint resolved. This was in line with its guidance of £40 for low to medium impact but did not reflect its delay making the offer.
The landlord’s sent its final complaint response 23 working days after receiving the resident’s escalation request. This was outside of policy response times, but it did acknowledge this with a further £50 compensation offer which was fair in the circumstances. This brought its total offer to £90 across both responses.
Overall, there were minor delays in the landlord’s complaint responses. Its stage 2 compensation offer was fair. However, its stage 1 offer did not fairly reflect the time it took to offer compensation. As such, we find service failure and will order added compensation.

Learning

The landlord did not manage the Section 20 process within expected timescales. It also did not properly manage the resident’s expectations around works.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

We found no concerns with the landlord’s record keeping.

Communication

The landlord’s communication with the resident was poor. It did not keep her regularly updated with the Section 20 process.
The landlord should consider keeping both leaseholders and tenants informed about Section 20 processes affecting their properties in future.