London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202409857)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202409857

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

26 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

The resident’s complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
1. A leak in the property.
2. Associated repairs following the leak.
3. Damp and mould.
4. Damage to her personal belongings.

Background

The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord, a housing association. The property is a two bedroom flat. The tenancy agreement commenced on 21 September 2011.
The resident states that she reported a leak to the landlord during October 2023. She states this originated in a pipe from the cupboard in her hallway. There was no record of this report in the landlord’s evidence.
During November 2023 the landlord received a report from the resident about a potential leak from the flat above and an appointment was booked for that month. The resident had informed the landlord that the leak was containable.
On 15 January 2024 operatives attended the resident’s property to assess the leak. They stated that an asbestos test was needed first before they could touch anything.
The landlord raised a maintenance work order on 26 January 2024 to do a mould treatment, however this was cancelled on 31 January 2024.
On 26 January 2024 the resident raised a formal complaint to the landlord. She explained she had experienced damp and mould at her property for the past year and reported this several times. She stated it had affected both her and her son’s health as they were now having to use asthma pumps and allergy tablets. The resident also complained about the leaks she had been experiencing for the past 4 months. This resulted in her not having electricity in her toilet and some of her belongings were damaged. As a result of the ongoing issues, the resident stated she had no choice but to temporarily relocate to her parents’ house in Kent, however this caused inconvenience as her son’s school was in London. The resident further complained about the condition of the bathroom, explaining there were cracks, tiles had fallen off and she had no electricity in the bathroom due to the leaks.
The landlord issued its stage one response on 21 February 2024. It was unable to identify any issues that were reported a year and half ago as the resident had stated. It explained a repair was raised on 9 November 2023 and an operative attended on 27 November 2023. At the time the operative found stains on the ceiling but was unable to identify a present leak. A further job was raised on 11 January 2024, however the operative stated that asbestos testing would be required first before he could fully investigate. In regard to the damp and mould, the landlord confirmed there was currently an open case with its specialist. The landlord stated its operative had tried calling the resident on multiple occasions to arrange treatment but was unsuccessful. It stated it would continue to contact her. The landlord explained to the resident it would not offer compensation for damaged possessions as this would need to be claimed from her home contents insurance.
The resident responded to the landlord on 27 February 2024. She explained that the issues had been ongoing for the past 2 years and asked the landlord to check its systems.
On 8 March 2024 an operative attended the property and conducted a survey. This found the following:
1. The radiator in the hallway was leaking from the bottom and not heating effectively.
2. Some tiles on the bathroom wall were missing.
3. The kitchen and bathroom walls were damaged due to a previous leak.
4. Damage to the flooring of the entrance hall. However, it stated this was the resident’s responsibility.
5. Mould was found in several areas of the home. The operative completed a full clean and shield and also advised the resident on best practices in preventing damp and mould.
On 19 March 2024 a work order was raised for an engineer to attend the property to investigate the leaking radiator in the hallway.
The landlord issued its stage two response on 21 March 2024. It recognised the resident’s complaint as being about the following issues:
1. Resolving the leak in the property.
2. Damage to personal belongings.
3. Damage to ceiling, walls, floor and cupboard.
4. Extractor fans to bathroom and kitchen not operating.
5. Service delivery failure by its operatives.
6. Compensation.
The landlord confirmed that since the resident’s stage 1 complaint, all repairs had been fully completed to resolve the leak. It recognised that repair to the kitchen cupboard was outstanding and explained a work order was raised but the operative had no access to the property. This had been re-raised and the landlord had asked that the repair be completed on a Wednesday as per the resident’s request. The landlord confirmed that a repair to the extractor fans in the kitchen and bathroom had been booked for 23 April 2024.
The landlord apologised to the resident for the delay and considered its compensation policy. In recognition of its service failures the landlord offered the resident a total of £1410 compensation. This was to reflect:
1. £20 per month for time delay with complaint handling (1 month).
2. £30 per month for distress (22 months).
3. £30 per month for inconvenience (22 months).
4. £50 time and effort.
5. £20 missed appointment.
The resident responded to the landlord on 22 March 2024. She confirmed most of the repairs had been completed, however there were a few outstanding. She also requested new work jobs be raised for walls to be painted and repairs to the cupboard floor and bricks. The resident expressed upset that her son had not been mentioned or compensated for the distress, emotional breakdown and inconvenience. She was also unhappy that the landlord did not address the health concerns which she had raised.
On 3 May 2024 an operative attended to fix the extractor fans in the kitchen and bathroom. Subsequently, on 15 May 2024 the resident contacted the landlord stating that she had not heard back regarding the outstanding repairs to the kitchen, bathroom tiles and cupboards.
On 6 June 2024 the landlord tried to contact the resident but could not reach her, so the appointment was moved to 20 June. After failing to reach her again on 18 June, the work order was rescheduled to 25 June. The landlord informed its contractors that the resident was only available on Wednesdays, so a new appointment was set. On 3 July, the landlord attempted to call the resident about a new appointment for 10 July, but was again unable to reach her.
On 29 August 2024 the landlord stated it would need to rebook the appointment to repair the tiles in the bathroom, however it was unable to get through to the resident. It was stated that an asbestos test needed to be completed first. The work order for this had been raised and it stated its team would be in touch to arrange an available date to visit. A further appointment was booked for 26 September 2024.
On 24 September 2024 the landlord stated it had tried to contact the resident regarding repairs but attempts were unsuccessful. It informed the resident that it would need to rebook the plastering and tiling appointment for 30 January 2025.
During October 2024, the landlord chased for the asbestos report. The resident states that she was informed works would not occur until January 2025.

Assessment and findings

We understand the resident has expressed distress over the issues raised in this complaint, stating it has affected her and her son’s health and wellbeing. Whilst we have noted this as context, we are unable to draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. This is because claims of personal injury must, ultimately, be decided by courts of law who can consider medical evidence and make legally binding findings. Nonetheless, consideration has been given to the general distress and inconvenience which the situation may have caused the resident.

Leak in the property.

In accordance with the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the landlord is obliged to keep the structure and the exterior of the property in repair. The landlord’s repairs policy states it is responsible for leaks within the property. Therefore, when the landlord was informed of a potential leak, it was appropriate that it investigated the matter.
Section 4.8 of the landlord’s repairs policy sets out its service standards.
1. For routine day to day repairs, it will aim to complete the repair in an average of 25 calendar days.
2. For emergency works, where there is an immediate danger to the occupant or members of the public, it will attend within 24 hours.
3. For emergency works that occur out of hours, it will attend within four hours. The out of hours service will be to ‘make safe’ and lower the immediate risk. The follow-on repair will then be completed at the earliest mutually convenient appointment.
We understand the resident states that she had informed the landlord during October 2023 of the leak. However, we have reviewed the records and cannot see notes to reflect this. The earliest reports noted are during November 2023.
In this instance we see the leak was noted as containable when reported. We have not seen any evidence to suggest it caused an immediate danger to the resident, therefore this type of repair would have been considered to be a routine repair.
The repair records show the landlord raised an order on 9 November 2023 to investigate the suspected leak and an operative visited on 27 November 2023. The operative was unable to identify where the leak was coming from and therefore this required follow on work.
The landlord’s correspondence states that an appointment was booked for 14 December 2023, however we have reviewed the repairs record and there is no information to confirm this. The evidence suggests the operatives did not attend to inspect the leak until January 2024 and, at this point, they stated they were unable to conduct any further work until asbestos was tested.
We can see the landlord proceeded to have a healthy homes assessment completed on 8 March 2024, which concluded there was a leak from the hallway radiator. In response the landlord raised a work order and had the repairs to the leak completed during April.
It took the landlord longer than the expected timeframes to identify the cause of the leak. Whilst we recognise operatives stated an asbestos test would be required before fully investigating, at the time of discovering the source of the leak this test had not yet been completed. If the landlord had acted sooner and carried out a healthy home assessment, this could have prevented delays in repairing the leak.
The landlord considered its compensation policy and awarded the resident overall compensation of £1390 in regard to the leak and repairs. Whilst we recognise the resident would like the amount to be increased to reflect the impact on her son, we find the amount offered to be reasonable. This is because the landlord appropriately acknowledged its failure, apologised and compensated in line with its guidelines. The amount offered was appropriate to reflect the level of failings identified in this case. Whilst the resident’s comments about the effect on her son are noted, compensation amounts are generally intended to recognise the overall impact on a household and landlords are not required to explicitly award amounts for each individual in a household.

Associated repairs following the leak.

In the resident’s complaint, she informed the landlord that she had no electricity in the toilet because of water leaks, and some tiles had fallen off the bathroom wall. At the time the resident was not residing in the property.
We can see that in its stage two response the landlord acknowledged the resident was seeking repairs to:
1. Ceiling, walls, floor and cupboard.
2. Extractor fans to bathroom and kitchen.
The landlord explained that a work order had been raised to complete repairs, however contractors were unable to complete this due to no access. It further stated that these work orders had been re-raised.
In correspondence from the resident on 22 March 2024, she confirmed to the landlord that the majority of reported repairs had been completed. However she explained the following was outstanding or needed to be raised.
1. Floor inside cupboard was damaged by the leak. It needed scraping and a new floor. She stated some of the bricks were broken and falling apart.
2. Due to the leak, the walls were damaged and required new paint.
We have reviewed the landlord’s repairs record which shows that repairs to the extractor fan were completed on 3 May 2024. However further works to the cupboard, ceiling, and walls remained outstanding. This resulted in the resident chasing for repairs throughout 2024. In October 2024 she was informed that works would not occur until January 2025 due to a lack of equipment. To date we have not seen evidence to suggest these works have been fully completed.
The records show that, during an operative’s visit in January 2024, the landlord was made aware that asbestos testing would be required before any work could commence. We can see it informed the resident of this and attempted to arrange appointments. There is no confirmation of when this report was completed, however we can see that on 25 October 2024 the landlord was chasing for the asbestos report. Whilst we recognise that the landlord states on a few occasions it was unable to gain access to conduct testing, we can also see that on several occasions the resident was chasing repairs. It is therefore unclear as to why it took this length of time to have the report completed.
In the stage 2 response the landlord acknowledged the delays and awarded the resident £1390 compensation to reflect the impact caused. However, it is clear that repairs have remained outstanding for a lengthy period of time after the internal complaint procedure, causing the resident additional distress and inconvenience. Therefore, we have made additional orders for the outstanding works to be completed and for compensation to reflect the impact caused to the resident by the additional delay.

Damp and mould within the property.

The landlord’s repairs policy states it is responsible for penetrative and rising damp. Section 4.2 of the landlord’s damp and mould policy states it will do the following when a report is made:
1. It will establish if an immediate repair is required and act in accordance with its repairs policy.
2. It will carry out an assessment of the property at a mutually convenient time for the resident within 20 working days to understand the scale of the problem. The assessment will identify the underlying cause of the damp and mould and provide the tenant with guidance on managing mould within the property.
3. It will record and raised any remedial works identified within 10 working days of the assessment.
4. If repairs are required it will be clear with residents on timescales and keep them informed throughout.
We understand the resident states she had ongoing issues with damp and mould since 2022. However, this service has reviewed the repairs records and is unable to see a record to reflect this. Following the report of the leak in November 2023, the landlord arranged for an assessment to be completed. This was appropriate in response to the report that had been made.
There was a delay in the landlord initially having the damp and mould assessed. We can see the landlord wrote to the resident in February 2024, informing her that its contractors had attempted to contact her on several occasions to carry out treatment work but were unable to reach her.
We have reviewed the healthy homes report conducted on 8 March 2024 and can see the operative identified a leak from the radiator in the hallway. A repair was not completed that day however he did raise a work order to have this investigated further. The evidence shows the operative treated the mould within the property that day and informed the resident of prevention measures she could take. Other remedial works associated to the damp were also booked in. The Ombudsman is satisfied the landlord appropriately followed the steps set out in its damp and mould policy.
Whilst there is no evidence to confirm that the resident raised concerns of damp and mould in 2022, we can see the landlord considered 22 months of impact on the resident in its investigations and calculated compensation back to 2022.
It was appropriate for the landlord to apply its compensation policy to the resident’s case as there was a clear delay in responding to her report of damp and mould. This service has reviewed the landlord’s compensation policy. It states it will award discretionary compensation when a mistake or failure causes a resident distress and inconvenience and where there is a need to spend unnecessary time and effort in getting the landlord to put things right. Specific amounts of compensation are not stated within this policy.
Whilst this service acknowledges that the delay caused an inconvenience and distress to the resident. It is the Ombudsman’s view that the £1390 offered was fair and appropriate to the circumstances. This is because the landlord correctly resolved the damp and mould,was proactive in apologising and offered compensation in line with its guidelines.

Damage to personal belongings.

The resident has explained that the water leak has caused damage to her belongings in the hallway, and she was seeking compensation for this. In response the landlord explained it would not be able to reimburse her for this.
Section 4.1 of the landlord’s compensation policy states residents are expected to take out adequate home contents insurance for their furniture, decoration and personal possessions to insure them against accidental damage, loss, fire or water damage, burglary etc. The compensation policy is not intended to replace or compensate for a customer’s lack of home contents insurance.
We have reviewed the resident’s tenancy agreement and have not seen that this is stated within her agreement. Therefore, whilst the landlord’s policy is clear, there is no reference to this expectation in the tenancy agreement.
In this instance we have not seen evidence to suggest the resident held or made a claim on her own insurance policy or that she was reasonably made aware of this requirement prior to the leak.
We recognise the landlord had explained its position to the resident in its formal response and it is always advisable for residents to have their own home contents insurance. However the landlord should have advised the resident as to how she could make a claim to its insurers, if she considered that it was liable for the damage. This would have been a fair approach to take so that the landlord’s insurers could independently investigate the matter and respond to the resident. This was a service failure on the part of the landlord and we have made an order regarding this.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 53.b of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord made an offer of reasonable redress in respect of the complaint about its handling of the resident’s report of a leak in the property.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s response to associated repairs following the leak.
In accordance with paragraph 53.b of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord made an offer of reasonable redress in respect of the residents reports of damp and mould.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of damage to the resident’s personal belongings.

Orders

Orders.

The landlord to pay the resident a further £100 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused to them by the additional delay in completing the associated repairs following the leak. This should be paid directly to the resident and within four weeks of the date of this letter. On completion the landlord should provide evidence of compliance to our service.
The landlord to discuss all outstanding repairs with the resident within four weeks of the date of this determination letter. It should provide an action plan to the resident and this service setting out when the outstanding works will be completed. The landlord should provide evidence of compliance to this Service within four weeks of the date of this letter.
The landlord shouldexplain to the resident how she can make a claim to its insurers for them to assess her claim of damage to personal belongings independently. This should be done within 4 weeks of the date of this letter. The landlord should provide this Service with evidence to show it has done this.