Clarion Housing Association Limited (202340162)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202340162

Clarion Housing Association Limited

8 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:
   1. The resident’s reports of leaks, causing damage to the bedroom floor.
   2. Its decision to pay compensation into the resident’s rent account.
2. We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

3. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. This is a 2-bedroom top floor flat in a block. The landlord is a housing association. There are multiple resident vulnerabilities noted on file, including mobility issues and poor mental health.
4. The resident reported water coming in through her bedroom floor on 2 November 2023. She said the floor was very wet and damaged, due to the water ingress. The landlord attended the same day to make safe and put boards down beneath the resident’s carpet as a temporary measure. Another contractor came on 8 and 10 January 2024 to make the external areas outside the bedroom watertight.
5. The resident made a stage 1 complaint on 25 January 2024. She said water had been coming through her bedroom floor since the beginning of November 2023. She had sustained an injury due to the temporary repairs. Despite attendance of the landlord’s contractors, the issues persisted.
6. The landlord responded to the resident’s stage 1 complaint on 25 January 2024. It said:
   1. During her initial reports, it had attended within its 24-hour emergency timeline and laid down wooden boards beneath the carpet. This was a temporary measure.
   2. The landlord had tried to make a follow up appointment on several occasions but had been unable to get through to the resident. It had attended in January 2024 to remove pebble covering and “water- sealed” the affected areas. It noted that it would need to assess if the completed works had successfully resolved the water ingress.
   3. It had arranged a further appointment for 6 March 2024 to inspect the previous works and would arrange any necessary follow on works after this inspection.
   4. It completed an injury form with the resident and forwarded this to the “relevant department.”
   5. It acknowledged there had been delays in completing the works to resolve the leak. It had not completed the works within its 28-day timescale so awarded the resident £250 compensation. (£200 for inconvenience caused and £50 for the delay).
7. Between 5 and 23 February 2024, a downstairs neighbour in the block reported water ingress coming from outside the resident’s flat, affecting both the resident’s and neighbour’s property. The landlord raised works on 23 February 2024, to seal the balcony and rectify the external wall insulation.
8. The resident made a stage 2 complaint on 5 March 2024, to which she added on 6, 7 and 11 March 2024. She said she suffered from various health problems, mobility issues and poor mental health. She reiterated her concerns about her injury, sustained on the wooden slats. She said she had been sleeping in the living room due to the damage to the floor. She also had to rip up the wet carpet and could not afford to replace it. She was unhappy that the landlord had paid the £250 compensation into her rent account, instead of directly to her. She wanted a review of the landlord’s compensation policy and of its offer, and her vulnerabilities to be listed on file.
9. The landlord responded to the resident’s stage 2 complaint on 3 April 2024. It said:
   1. It had been made aware of another leak in February 2024. It informed its managing agent of this leak in February 2024 (It did not give specific dates) and its contractors attended and repaired the leak on 14 March 2024.
   2. It had raised works to repair the resident’s flooring, and these were scheduled for 3 April 2024.
   3. It had offered the compensation in line with its policy. However, due to further delays in addressing the leaks and flooring repairs, it offered a further £150 compensation (£400 in total). Its compensation policy stated that if residents were in arrears, it would pay compensation into the rent account.
   4. It had completed an injury form during its telephone call to the resident in February 2024. The resident should contact the landlord’s insurer if she wanted to claim for injuries.
10. The resident contacted this Service as she wanted the compensation to be paid directly to her. She also wanted the bedroom floor to be repaired. As of 30 September 2025, the resident advises that the bedroom floor has still not been repaired.

Assessment and findings

Scope of Investigation

11. The resident has told us that the handling of this matter has led to a deterioration of her health and resulted in injury. Whilst we appreciate the resident’s distress, we cannot draw conclusions on the causation of, liability or impacts on health and wellbeing. We have however, considered the resident’s general distress, frustration, and inconvenience. We have suggested that the resident pursue this via an insurance claim or through the courts. The resident has told us that she did pursue this via the landlord’s public liability insurance and was awarded a settlement.
12. Given that the landlord committed to repairing the resident’s floor in its stage 2 response, and it has still not done so as of 30 September 2025, we consider it reasonable to investigate until 30 September 2025.

Leaks causing damage to the bedroom floor

13. The landlord says it complies with Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. It is responsible for the structure of the building, roofs, water mains, waste pipes and external drains. It is responsible for keeping the structure of the building watertight. It is also responsible for flooring (supplied by the landlord), floorboards, and floor joints. Residents are responsible for their own floor coverings if they have fitted these themselves.
14. The landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy sets out that emergency repairs will be attended to and made safe within 24 hours. Non emergency repairs will be offered within 28 calendar days of the repair being reported. Major works will be referred to the relevant teams to deliver through planned works programmes.
15. The landlord’s compensation policy says that it may pay discretionary compensation (£50 – £700 plus) when there has been a service failure causing inconvenience to the resident. This is dependent on the failings and the impact on the resident.
16. The landlord’s compensation policy states that it may offer compensation for loss of room use, and common reasons include severe damp or unsafe or collapsed flooring. It offers 25% of the weekly rent for the loss of 1 room.
17. The resident reported a leak into her bedroom floor on 2 November 2023. It was reasonable that the landlord attended the same day and made the area safe. This was appropriate and within its published timescales.
18. There is no dispute that there were delays between the emergency works and works to remedy the leak and repair the floor. The landlord has apologised for this and offered the resident £400 at its stage 2 complaint response. It also agreed to repair the resident’s flooring. However, it did not go far enough to remedy the adverse effect on the resident.
19. It did not attend to the leak until 5 January 2024 and then 10 January 2024. In its stage 1 response, the landlord advised the resident that it had tried to contact her to arrange an appointment between 3 November 2023 and the end of December 2023. Strong record keeping is a pre-requisite to providing a good housing management service. The landlord did not have any records of its attempted contacts with the resident and this is a failing. There is no evidence of emails, texts or contact notes with the resident on file for these dates. It is not clear if the landlord did attempt to make these contacts, but the fact that there are no notes is not appropriate.
20. Also, the resident advised the landlord of her vulnerabilities and health problems in her stage 1 complaint. There is no evidence that the landlord considered these. Nor did it offer any alternative solutions to the repair, or communicate with her to manage her expectations. This is not resident focussed and is further inappropriate.
21. Further, the landlord attended on 10 January 2024 and completed some repairs to the external walkway and external insulation outside the resident’s flat. But the landlord’s repair records show that the leaks remained until 15 March 2024.
22. Although we understand that identifying and rectifying the causes of leaks can be a multifaceted process, had the landlord investigated within its timeline of 28 days then the leak may have been resolved sooner. The resident reported the leak on 3 November 2023, and she continued to experience water ingress until 15 March 2024. This is a total of 92 days, and significantly outside the landlord’s repairs policy of 28 days. This is an unreasonable delay and caused her distress and frustration and impacted on the enjoyment of her home. This is particularly pertinent as the resident had multiple vulnerabilities, which the landlord was aware of. She had water ingress on her bedroom floor and said she was unable to use her bedroom. She was anxious about both the holes in the floor and fear of falling.
23. The landlord’s stage 2 response stated that it would be repairing the bedroom flooring on 3 April 2024. Its repair records show that there were various communication issues with the repair of the bedroom floor. The repair was initially scheduled for 3 April 2024. It was rescheduled for the 25 April and then again for 29 May 2024. The works were not completed as at the contractor’s visit of 17 July 2024.
24. On 17 July 2024, the landlord’s contractor attended the resident’s property and determined it could not fit the new bedroom flooring as leaks into the building had not been resolved. The resident states that the repairs to the bedroom flooring have still not been completed and she is living with a bare, broken floor. This is an unreasonable delay and significantly outside the landlord’s repairs timeline.
25. Although we appreciate that the leak would need to be resolved before repairing the floor, the records indicate that the leak had been repaired on 15 March 2024, so it is unclear why the repairs to the flooring were not carried out. The conflicting information caused the resident confusion, distress, inconvenience, and frustration. It also continued to impact on the enjoyment of her home. The resident has told us that because of her degenerative spine disease and arthritis, and the condition of the bedroom floor, she has been unable to use her bedroom and has been sleeping in the living room. She said this is because she is afraid of falling over on the broken floor.
26. The landlord has advised us that it was unable to complete the repairs it committed to at its stage 2 complaint, as it discovered another leak. It is unclear which leak this refers to, as there are several leaks referenced from April 2024 onwards.
27. Regardless of this, we would have expected the landlord to carry out the repairs it undertook to do or communicate any changes to the resident. It failed to manage her expectations, and this caused her additional distress and frustration. It also failed to consider any aggravating factors, such as her poor physical and mental health. This lack of communication was not resident focussed and impacted on the landlord and resident relationship.
28. Also, although it communicated the reasons for the delay to us, there is no evidence that it offered any explanation to the resident. It offered no alternative solution to her. Such as considering a temporary move until the repairs were carried out. It would have been reasonable for the landlord to consider any alternative solutions, pending the repairs. It did not do this and this is a failing, which continued to have a significant impact on the resident’s enjoyment of her home.
29. The landlord has still not completed the floor repairs as of 30 September 2025. This is a period of 485 working days and an unreasonable delay. The resident is still living with a bare, damaged floor. We have seen recent photographs of the flooring with significant large holes and gaps. The landlord does not dispute that the repairs have not been completed. The resident suffers from multiple physical health problems and has poor mental health. Given the significant delays and lack of alternative solutions explored, and the impact on the resident, we have made a finding of maladministration along with orders for redress.
30. We have made an order for the landlord to carry out an inspection of the bedroom floor and any associated leaks and to provide a timeline of repairs.
31. We have also made an order for £1000 compensation for the distress and frustration to the resident. And time and trouble in pursuing the repair, along with the impact on the enjoyment of her home. This figure is in line with our remedies guidance where there have been significant failings by the landlord, which have had a seriously detrimental impact on the resident.
32. We have also ordered the landlord to carry out repairs policy training to all relevant staff.

The landlord’s decision to pay compensation into the resident’s rent account

33. The landlord’s compensation policy says that compensation and discretionary compensation payments will be used to offset rent or other arrears.
34. There is no dispute that the resident’s rent account was in arrears. So, it was reasonable for the landlord to pay the compensation into her rent account. It abided by its policy and this was appropriate.
35. Also, the evidence shows that it communicated the decision to the resident and explained the policy to her on 5 and 7 March 2024. It also reiterated this in its stage 2 complaint response of 3 April 2024. This was appropriate and demonstrated that the landlord clearly explained its decision and acted within its policy.
36. The landlord abided by its compensation policy and explained the decision to the resident. As such, we have made a finding of no maladministration in the landlord’s decision to pay compensation into the resident’s rent account.

The landlord’s complaint handling

37. This Service’s Complaint Handling Code (The Code) and the landlord’s complaints policy says that stage 1 complaints must be acknowledged within 5 working days. And responded to within 10 working days of the acknowledgement.
38. The landlord’s compensation policy says that it may pay discretionary compensation (£50 – £700 plus) when there has been a service failure causing inconvenience to the resident.
39. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s stage 1 complaint on 29 January 2024. This is 2 working days after receiving the complaint. This is appropriate and in line with its policy, and compliant with the Code.
40. However, it did not issue a stage 1 complaint response until 20 February 2024. This is 16 working days after its acknowledgement. This is not compliant with the Code. However, this is a short delay which had no significant impact on the resident. Also, the landlord did acknowledge the delay, and it apologised to the resident.
41. In summary, although there was a minor delay, the landlord acknowledged and apologised for the delay and there was no significant impact on the resident. As such, a finding of reasonable redress is made.

Determination

42. In accordance with Paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of leaks causing damage to her bedroom floor.
43. In accordance with Paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s decision to pay compensation into the resident’s rent account.
44. In accordance with Paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was reasonable redress in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

45. Within 4 weeks of this report the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Apologise in writing to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Arrange training for all relevant staff in respect of its repairs and maintenance policy (in particular, working within its published timescales for repairs).
    3. Arrange for a suitably qualified person to inspect the bedroom floor and any associated leaks and provide a timeline for repairs to the floor.
    4. Pay the resident £1000 in respect of its handling of the leaks causing damage to her bedroom floor. This is in addition to the £400 already offered. This must be paid directly into her bank account and not offset against any arrears (if applicable). This is made up as follows:
       1. £700 for the distress and inconvenience and impact on the enjoyment of her home.
       2. £300 for the time and trouble in pursuing the repair.
46. The landlord should provide this Service with evidence of compliance with the above orders.