London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202414893)

Decision
Case ID	202414893
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	London & Quadrant Housing Trust
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Shorthold Tenancy
Date	9 February 2026

Background

1. The property is a first floor flat with a balcony. The resident complained that pigeons had been coming onto her balcony, nesting and leaving a mess, since she moved into the property in July 2023.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
   1. Request for it to complete proofing works to the balcony.
   2. The associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. There was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s:
   1. Request for it to complete proofing works to the balcony.
   2. Associated complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

4. In summary, we found the landlord:

Request for it to complete proofing works to the balcony

5. Failed to comply with its repair policy by not assessing the need for new pigeon deterrents on the resident’s balcony.

Complaint handling

6. Failed to recognise the resident’s initial expression of dissatisfaction which delayed her accessing the landlord’s complaint procedure by at least 2 months. Failed to respond in line with its policy and the Complaint Handling Code at stage 2.  

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 manager. The apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic. It has due regard to our apologies guidance.	No later than 09 March 2026
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £450 made up as follows: £300 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for it to complete proofing works. £150 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of the complaint. 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 09 March 2026
3	Inspection order We have made an inspection order because the landlord has not fully assessed the resident’s request for it to install new deterrent for pigeons on her balcony. What the landlord must do  The landlord must contact the resident to arrange an inspection. The landlord must take all reasonable steps to ensure the inspection is completed by the due date. A suitably qualified person must complete the inspection. 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.	No later than 09 March 2026
4	Following the inspection, the landlord must consider the resident’s request for netting in line with its repair policy. It must confirm the outcome of its assessment to the resident in writing. The landlord must include full reasons for its decisions.	No later than 16 March 2026

 

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
31 October 2023	The resident told the landlord she was waiting for it to complete works to stop the pigeons getting onto her balcony. She said the landlord had promised to complete this work before she moved in.
18 January 2024	The resident submitted her complaint. She was unhappy because the landlord had not installed netting on her balcony to stop the pigeons. She did not believe she should have to pay for bird netting because the problem had been there before she moved in. She said she could not use her balcony because of the pigeons. She said she tried to raise a complaint on 29 November 2023 but the landlord did not log it.
18 January 2024	The landlord acknowledged the complaint.
23 January 2024	The landlord sent its stage 1 response. It said the resident could buy an anti-bird net to stop the birds getting onto the balcony. It offered her £50 as a goodwill gesture.
13 February 2024	The resident informed the landlord she was not happy with its response. She said the landlord had not fully investigated her complaint. She was also not happy with the tone of the landlord’s response.
3 April 2024	The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response. It said its stage 1 response was appropriate. It said it had reached its decision on the evidence available and in line with its repair responsibilities. It increased its offer of compensation to £100.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident remained dissatisfied and asked us to investigate. She told us the pigeons continued to come onto her balcony and cause a mess. As an outcome she wanted the landlord to inspect the balcony to understand the issue. She wanted it to put netting up to stop the birds. She wanted compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused.

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 the resident’s reports of pigeons on her balcony.
Finding	Maladministration

7. On 5 July 2023 the resident emailed the landlord setting out her concerns which she asked the landlord to address before she signed the tenancy. One of these related to a nest and bird excrement on the balcony. She asked the landlord to clean up the mess and block off the balcony so that birds could not access it in the future. She said the landlord’s letting officer agreed it would clean the balcony and complete proofing works to stop the pigeons. We have not seen any record of this conversation. We have also not seen any commitment by the landlord to complete proofing works. However, we have seen a text sent by the landlord’s letting officer to the resident on 18 July 2023 arranging the sign up of the tenancy. The text confirmed it had cleaned the balcony.
8. Following contact from the resident, the landlord raised a job to its pest control contractor on 11 August 2023 to clean the balcony again and assess for proofing works. It also asked it to quote for proofing works. The landlord’s repair policy says it will deal with pigeons by repairing existing deterrents or assessing the need for new ones. The repair notes indicate the landlord has a process whereby a panel needs to approve such works.  The resident’s tenancy agreement states the resident is responsible to keep the property clean and tidy, including any balcony. It was therefore reasonable that the landlord agreed to complete another clean whilst it investigated whether it was necessary to install netting.
9. The landlord’s repair policy is silent on the timescale for completing pest control works. The contractor attended on 18 August 2023 which was within 8 calendar days. We consider this to be reasonable. The report shows the contractor cleaned the balcony. It does not refer to any recommendations or quote for proofing works. The landlord should have chased up with the contractor to find out why it had not assessed and quoted for proofing works. This did not happen, which was a failing.
10. The landlord marked the quote job complete with no action on 24 November 2023. The repair notes state the landlord closed the job as it considered this to be an improvement and ‘the panel’ would reject it.
11. We cannot say the landlord’s panel would have approved the works to install bird netting. However, the landlord should have put the resident’s request forward for consideration before closing the repair. This did not happen. This means the landlord did not comply with its repair policy.
12. When there are failings by a landlord, as is the case here, we will consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances.
13. The landlord attempted to put things right by offering £50 as a goodwill gesture at stage 1. The landlord failed to recognise it had not complied with its policy. It also failed to recognise the inconvenience caused to the resident who did not receive a formal response to her request. Our remedies guidance suggests awards of between £100 and £600 for such situations, where there was a failure that adversely affected the resident with no permanent impact. The landlord missed the chance to put things right resulting in the finding of maladministration.
14. We have ordered the landlord must pay the resident £300. This amount fairly recognises the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident and time and trouble in trying to get this issue resolved. We have also ordered it to inspect the resident’s balcony. The landlord should then assess its findings and confirm the outcome to the resident.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Maladministration

15. Our Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out when and how a landlord should respond to complaints. The relevant Code in this case was the 2022 edition for stage 1 and the 2024 edition for stage 2. Our findings are:
    1. The landlord had a published complaint policy, at both stages, which complied with the terms of the Code in respect of the definition of a complaint and timescales.
    2. The landlord failed to recognise the resident’s initial expression of dissatisfaction as a complaint in October 2023.
    3. The landlord’s stage 1 acknowledgement and response were both on time.
    4. The landlord failed to acknowledge the complaint at stage 2 and its response was 10 working days late (19 March 2024 – 3 April 2024).
    5. Our Spotlight Report on Attitudes, Respect and Rights recommends there should be a baseline of empathy and respect in complaint handling. The landlord’s stage 1 complaint response was abrupt and lacked empathy. This caused the resident to feel dismissed. This is not what we would consider good complaint handling.
16. The landlord attempted to put things right by offering £100 compensation for the time taken to address the resident’s concerns and its poor complaint handling. It failed to recognise the resident’s earlier complaint. This delayed the resident accessing the landlord’s complaint procedure by at least 2 months. This leads to a finding of maladministration. We have ordered the landlord to increase its compensation to £150. This is in line with our remedies guidance and fairly recognises the distress and inconvenience caused.

Learning

17. The landlord failed to recognise any learning from the resident’s complaint. Landlords should review complaints to identify any service improvements which it can make.
18. Where there is a policy or procedure in place, it is important that the landlord follows it. In this case, the landlord closed the job without referring the resident’s request to its ‘panel’ for consideration. The landlord should consider if it needs to deliver staff training to avoid this happening in the future.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

19. The landlord’s record keeping in this case was good in relation to the issues we have considered.

Communication

20. There was poor communication by the landlord in respect of updating the resident about the netting. This resulted in her having to chase it for updates. The resident had to submit a formal complaint to receive a response to her request. Landlords should ensure they respond to contact from residents within a timely manner.