Places for People Group Limited (202410084)
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Decision |
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Case ID |
202410084 |
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Decision type |
Investigation |
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Landlord |
Places for People Group Limited |
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Landlord type |
Housing Association |
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Occupancy |
Assured Tenancy |
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Date |
2 December 2025 |
Background
- The resident lives in a 3-bedroom flat in a converted house with her husband and 3 children. The resident’s tenancy began on 12 November 2021. The landlord’s records evidence that the resident reported a leak from the roof from 3 May 2022. She continued to report damp and mould issues in the property from this date. She reported issues with her windows being rotten from 31 December 2022 and the front door being insecure from 31 August 2023. She also reported fire safety concerns with the way the door opened from December 2023.
What the complaint is about
- The landlord’s response to:
- The resident’s reports of leaks, damp and mould and associated repairs.
- The resident’s reports of repairs in the property to the windows and front door.
- The associated complaint.
Our decision (determination)
- There was reasonable redress in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of leaks, damp and mould and associated repairs.
- There was maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of repairs in the property to the windows and front door.
- There was maladministration in the landlord’s response to the associated complaint.
We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.
Summary of reasons
- There were unreasonable delays, along with poor communication and record keeping issues that impacted the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of leaks causing damp and mould issues in the property. The delays caused detriment to the resident and her family who had a prolonged stay in temporary accommodation with 7 temporary moves during this period. The landlord failed to follow its repairs policy timescale.
- There was delay in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of repairs to the windows and front door. There was poor follow up, poor communication and the landlord failed to follow its repairs policy timescale.
- The landlord failed to log the resident’s initial complaint and there were significant delays in its complaint handling and unreasonable extensions. This was not in line with the landlord’s complaints policy or the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
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.
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Order |
What the landlord must do |
Due date |
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1 |
Apology order The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure:
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No later than 09 January 2026 |
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2 |
The landlord must pay the resident £600 made up as follows:
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No later than 09 January 2026 |
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3 |
Inspection order We have made an inspection order because the resident has advised us that there are still problems with the windows. 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. The landlord must provide us with evidence of the inspection and any schedule of works and estimated completion date. |
No later than 09 January 2026 |
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4 |
The landlord must complete a senior management review of this case to identify why the failings have occurred and to consider learning to prevent similar failings from happening. The landlord must send a copy of its review outcomes and action plan to the resident and to us within this period.
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No later than 15 January 2026 |
Recommendations
Our recommendations are not binding, and a landlord may decide not to follow them.
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Our recommendations |
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We recommend that the landlord provide contact details and an address to the resident so that she can forward receipts for out-of-pocket expenses. It should also arrange to pay these as promised if it has not already. |
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We recommend that an appropriate manager contacts the resident to ensure that the further work it has undertaken has remedied the leaks, damp and mould and to discuss any outstanding issues. |
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We recommend that the landlord pays the £12,650 compensation it offered in its final complaint response of 17 September 2024, as our reasonable redress determination relies upon this being paid to the resident. |
Our investigation
The complaint procedure
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Date |
What happened |
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5 October 2022 |
The resident raised a complaint as she was unhappy that the landlord had not completed work that was due to take place to sort a damp problem in the property. She said the landlord had sent the same operative, but it advised her it needed to complete follow up work. |
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8 August 2023 |
The resident raised a further complaint saying that the landlord had failed to resolve damp in the bedroom which she had reported in May 2022. She said the landlord arranged a damp survey in June 2023, but nothing had happened since. |
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24 November 2023 |
The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response, apologising for the delay in its response due to the complexity of the issues raised. It said that:
It offered £600 in compensation comprising £100 for distress and inconvenience and £500 for time and trouble for the extended delays. It had passed the outstanding repairs to its contractor who would schedule an appointment. |
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25 November 2023 |
The resident was unhappy with the landlord’s complaint response. She said the landlord had made points that were incorrect concerning the date and time. |
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17 September 2024 |
The landlord issued its final complaint response, explaining that it had to extend the deadline due to the complexity of the issues.
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Referral to the Ombudsman |
The resident referred her case to us on 25 November 2024. As a remedy she wished the landlord to pay the compensation and to reimburse her expenses. |
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.
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Complaint |
The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of leaks, damp and mould and associated repairs |
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Finding |
Reasonable redress |
What we did not investigate
- The resident described to us that the issues of damp and mould had impacted on her and her family’s health. It would be fairer, more reasonable, and more effective for the resident to make a personal injury claim for any injury caused. This is because courts can deal with this type of dispute as they have the benefit of independent medical advice to decide on the cause of any injury and how long it will last. We have not investigated this further under any of the complaint grounds. We can decide the overall distress and inconvenience and if a landlord should pay compensation for this.
- The resident advised us that she had reported damp from before she moved into the property in November 2021. Whilst there was a repair to the extractor fan completed, there was gap in the records of a further report until 2022.
What we did investigate
- We have considered the period from 2022 to the date of the landlord’s final complaint response of 17 September 2024 in this investigation. Following the resident’s report concerning leaks, damp and mould, between 3 May to 5 October 2022, the landlord raised some works orders. Its contractor marked attendance at the property on 20 May 2022 assessing the condition of the bedroom wall after a leak. The contractor requested follow on work at this point. However, there was some delay with the landlord arranging a further appointment for 22 July 2022. Its contractor’s notes stated that there was no piping where the leak was occurring above the bedroom on the flat roof causing wall damage. The landlord’s repair records are unclear as to whether it completed any work as it stated that this was a client inspection.
- The landlord’s contractor attended another appointment on 5 October 2022. This again identified follow-on work and its contractor noted that the wall may need to be removed. The delay in actioning these initial repairs was not in line with the landlord’s repairs policy timescale. This says that the landlord will complete appointable repairs within 28 days and planned repairs within 90 days.
- This led to the resident’s 5 October 2022 complaint setting out her frustration as she could not see that the landlord had completed any work. This frustration was understandable as the landlord’s internal email of 24 May 2024 confirmed that the resident was unable to use the bedroom from 3 May 2022. Given the size of the household, this would have been difficult for the resident and her family. The 5-month delay in completing initial repairs to address the damp and mould was inappropriate. The landlord’s further works order of 31 December 2022 outlined the extent of the damp issues stating that there was 99% damp in the bedroom for over a year.
- The landlord arranged a further appointment for 13 January 2023, but it needed to manage the resident’s expectations and communicate clearly what would happen at this appointment. The resident had expected that this would be to complete the work by knocking down the wall as the landlord had mentioned in 2022. However, it was to assess the wall instead. The landlord arranged a further appointment for 3 March 2023, and the repair records stated that it was waiting for the roof leak to stop before fixing the wall and ceiling. There was therefore further delay in the landlord fixing the issues.
- We have not seen that the landlord appropriately risk assessed the damp and mould given the high moisture content and considering the resident’s circumstances. When it surveyed the property on 30 June 2023 the high moisture was still present at 98% in the bedroom. Its contractor provided a quote for work to replace guttering and to renew lead flashing on 21 July 2023. The landlord completed a further survey on 15 August 2023. The landlord said to the resident at this time that a specialist surveyor would inspect the roof. It is unclear why this did not happen at an earlier point.
- The landlord’s damp and mould policy states that the landlord should remove the immediate risk after a resident reports damp and mould, identifying the root cause. It should create works orders to remediate and it should reinspect at least 6 weeks after to confirm that the damp and mould is resolved. It introduced its damp and mould policy on 1 November 2023 however, so it was not in place at this point. However, by the landlord’s stage 1 complaint response of 24 November 2023, this was in place.
- The landlord arranged for its contractor to complete work on 22 December 2023. However, the resident advised the landlord its contractor had not checked the back of the property. After the landlord chased up its contractor on 3 January 2024, its contractor informed the landlord the day after that it had found another leak on the roof. It said that it had completed a temporary repair, but the chimney stack needed repointing. It said it had also provided humidifiers to assist with the drying out process which was appropriate. The landlord agreed for its contractor to quote for the further works.
- The resident notified the landlord on 8 January 2024 that its contractor had noticed that the roof of a private neighbouring property was also causing water to leak into the resident’s property and required repair. Whilst the neighbour’s actions were outside of the landlord’s control, we have considered how the landlord managed this. The landlord said it would talk to the neighbour to advise of the work needed and get a full report from its contractor which was advisable. It advised the resident that day that it was also expecting its contractor to return to complete further repairs that Saturday.
- There was delay in the landlord resolving the issue with the neighbour. The landlord chased the neighbour on 19 to 30 April 2024, who then confirmed, as per the landlord’s internal email of 16 May 2024 that they had completed the repairs the week before. It is not clear from the landlord’s records whether there were issues getting the neighbour to respond. It is also unclear whether it chased the neighbour prior to this as it needed to.
- Despite the presence of a further roof leak from the neighbouring property, the landlord’s contractor went ahead with completing work including plastering and painting from 25 March 2024 to 5 April 2024. It would have been appropriate for the landlord to try and resolve the issue with the neighbour’s roof as early as possible so that this did not impact on the repairs causing further issues.
- Due to the scope of works required, it was appropriate for the landlord to arrange temporarily accommodation whilst its contractor completed works. The landlord arranged hotel accommodation from 24 March 2024. However, as the landlord’s contractor failed to resolve the damp issues, this led to the landlord instructing a different contractor. The new contractor had to scope out the works on 18 June 2024 before the landlord finally confirmed to the resident what work its contractor would complete on 16 July 2024.
- The delayed work extended into the peak school holiday period. This caused additional detriment to the resident. The landlord had to temporarily move the resident 7 times for the duration, primarily into hotels, and an apartment, until she moved back into the property on 18 August 2024. Had the landlord correctly diagnosed the cause of the leaks and resultant damp and mould at an earlier point, it could have managed this better avoiding the peak holiday periods that meant there was less accommodation available.
- The landlord did however, act in accordance with its temporary moves policy in providing the resident with a food allowance and food vouchers It also promised to pay the resident her out of pocket expenses. The resident has since advised us that the landlord did not keep to its promise to pay the expenses. We have recommended that the landlord confirms details to the resident of where to send her receipts to. The landlord also offered 2 temporary properties rather than hotel accommodation. However, the resident refused these as they were too far from the school and she did not drive so this was understandable. It also tried to accommodate the resident’s cat and offered £25 per day if the resident could find someone to look after it.
- The landlord’s contractor completed the repairs on 15 August 2024, and the resident moved back into the property on 18 August 2024. This was over 2 years after the resident’s initial report of a roof leak on 3 May 2022. The landlord took too long to identify the root cause of the damp and to complete effective and lasting repairs.
- After the end of the internal complaints process, the landlord raised a further works order on 17 September 2024 as promised in its final complaint response. This was for work the resident reported when she was due to move back to the property. The landlord’s contractor said that the resident did not allow access on 2 October 2024 requesting a regional manager to attend. The landlord arranged for its regional maintenance manager to attend on 31 October 2024. However, it is unclear whether this went ahead. It is also unclear whether damp persists in the property as the resident told us during this investigation that her daughter is still unable to use the bedroom.
- As a remedy, the landlord offered £12,650 in its stage 2 complaint response of 17 September 2024 for this complaint issue. This award was considerably more than its compensation policy thresholds as well as our guidance on remedies. It recognised that there were failings and apologised for these failings. The Ombudsman therefore considers that there was reasonable redress for the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of damp and mould and the associated repairs. We have recommended that an appropriate manager contacts the resident to ensure that the further work it has undertaken has remedied the leaks, damp, and mould. We have also recommended that the landlord pays the compensation to the resident, if it has not already done so.
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Complaint |
The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of repairs in the property to the windows and front door |
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Finding |
Maladministration |
What we did not investigate
- The resident described to the landlord on 8 September 2024, that following work to the communal front door, that the step was too steep. This issue did not form part of the resident’s complaint that went through the landlord’s internal complaints process. We are unable to investigate this issue. However, the resident may wish to raise a separate complaint about this if she is unhappy with the landlord’s response to the issue.
What we did investigate
The windows
- According to the landlord’s repair records, the resident reported that the windows were rotten on 31 December 2022. There was delay in the landlord arranging an inspection appointment for 22 February 2023. The landlord arranged further appointments on 3 October 2023 and on 17 November 2023 to assess the condition of the windows. It is not clear from the landlord’s records whether it completed any work at this time. In the landlord’s message to the resident of 15 December 2023 who had been chasing this up it said it had requested an update on the windows.
- The landlord messaged the resident again on 18 December 2023. It said that it would be using a new contractor who would contact the resident to arrange an appointment. The resident confirmed that date that the contractor was due tovisit the next day to survey the windows. She also said she hoped this would be the last time that the landlord would survey the windows as someone had already surveyed them on 17 November 2023.
- The landlord messaged the resident again on 8 January 2024 to advise that the estimated window installation would be the end of January or early February 2024. Its internal email of 8 January 2024 said that the double-glazed bay windows were being manufactured. This would cause delay depending on the timescale to manufacture the windows which would be outside of the landlord’s control. The landlord’s contractor installed the bay windows on 9 March 2024. This was an unreasonable delay that was outside of the landlord’s repair policy timescales. However, it did appropriately arrange 2 nights’ accommodation in a hotel whilst the window installation was taking place. The resident chased up the landlord after the end of the internal complaints process on 27 November 2024 saying that there were still issues with some of the windows that had been previously surveyed.
The door
- The resident reported her concerns that the front door was not secure on 31 August 2023. The landlord inspected the door following the resident’s further 3 October 2023 report. This led to repeat repairs to check it was secure; however, it is not clear from the landlord’s records what work its contractor completed. The resident raised a fire safety concern regarding the front door in December 2023 and the way it opened that prevented an exit route from her property. On 13 December 2023, the landlord requested the resident to provide a video of the door in operation so it could clarify what the issue was.
- The landlord then raised a works order on 15 December 2023 to inspect the door to see if it could rehang the flat door so that it would open the opposite way. The landlord’s records are incomplete as it marked the completion date and appointment date as not known. The landlord reported that as it had made no appointment within 28 days, it had not booked this. This was inappropriate. It said it needed to book the appointment as soon as possible as it was part of an ongoing complaint. The resident confirmed its contractor had arranged an appointment for 10 January 2024. The landlord’s message of 19 January 2024 was to phone the resident to provide an update, but its records did not record what the update was. This evidenced the landlord’s poor record keeping practices.
- In the landlord’s internal email of 14 January 2025 reporting outstanding works, the landlord had listed a works order to ease and adjust a upvc door. The landlord’s internal emails between 22 and 25 January 2024 noted that it could potentially change the door to open inwards. However, it said this could create other health and safety issues due to there being steps outside of the front door. It described the front door as a communal door that opens to 2 internal flat doors.
- We have not seen the landlord’s further update to the resident until 8 February 2024. The landlord advised the resident that its fire team would complete a full assessment of the door, and it would chase this up. The landlord appropriately followed up on the resident’s report at this time after visiting the resident. In its internal email of 22 February 2024, it said that the front door was very awkward to navigate and would be almost impossible to move anything inside and outside.
- In the same email, the landlord suggested moving the self-closer to outside and reposition the emergency light higher so the door could open more. It suggested considering switching the door around as previously suggested. It also said that both doors were not in good condition and were not fully secure. It said it had raised a job to replace the doors with new doors. It suggested chasing this up. In the meantime, the landlord raised repair orders to adjust the door.
- In the landlord’s further internal emails of 6 March 2024, it said that it had approved the replacement doors. It requested its contractor to complete a survey by the end of the week and for costs the week after so it could order the doors. Prior to this, the resident reported on 30 April 2024 that the landlord’s contractor had adjusted the door on 29 April 2024 which was a different date to the one the landlord had mentioned in its stage 1 complaint response. She said that the landlord needed to arrange for an electrician to adjust the electric box for the lighting. The landlord arranged an appointment 16 May 2024 to adjust the emergency lighting. This was also a different date to the date the landlord mentioned in its stage 1 complaint response.
- It was unclear from the landlord’s contractor’s job completion report of 14 June 2024 whether it had made further adjustments to the door. However, according to the resident’s 10 July 2024 email, she said that the contractor had completed adjustments, though she still felt that the door was a hazard. The landlord subsequently advised the resident on 16 July 2024 that it would be replacing the door. It is unclear when this happened, however the resident mentioned the contractor had replaced the door in her email of 18 August 2024.This meant it had taken the landlord a year to provide a lasting solution which was unreasonable.
Summary
- The Ombudsman considers that there was maladministration in its response to the resident’s reports of repairs in the property to the windows and front door. The landlord failed to follow its repairs policy timescales and there was delay in the actions it took to repair and eventually replace the front bay windows and the front door.
- After carefully considering our guidance on remedies, we have ordered the landlord to pay £350 in compensation. This comprises £200 in respect of the delays and £150 in recognition of the distress, inconvenience, time and trouble caused to the resident in seeking a resolution to the issues raised. The resident told us that there are still problems with the windows that had been previously surveyed so we have ordered the landlord to complete an inspection to identify any work that is required.
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Complaint |
The landlord’s response to the associated complaint |
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Finding |
Maladministration |
- The resident made a complaint on 5 October 2022, and we have seen no record that the landlord acknowledged or responded to this which was inappropriate and not in line with the landlord’s complaints policy or the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
- The landlord’s complaints policy and the Code require landlords to acknowledge a complaint at both stages within 5 working days. A landlord should respond at stage 1 within 10 working days from its acknowledgement, with a possible 10 working day extension permitted. It should respond at stage 2 within 20 working days of its acknowledgement, with a possible 20 working day extension permitted.
- The resident made a further complaint on 11 August 2023. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 24 November 2023. This was 290 working days after the resident raised her initial complaint. This was an unreasonable delay that was not in accordance with the landlord’s complaints policy and the Code.
- The resident requested that the landlord escalate her complaint on 25 November 2023. We noted that the landlord extended the complaint response deadline several times from 2 January 2024 and on 25 January 2024, 29 February 2024 and 28 June 2024. It said this was due to the complexity of the work. It emailed the resident on 15 July 2024 as the resident was unhappy regarding the complaint extensions, and it advised that this was due to the repairs being outstanding.
- The Code states that a landlord should provide a complaint response when the answer to the complaint is known, not when it has completed the outstanding actions. Landlords should track and action outstanding actions promptly with appropriate updates provided to the resident. The landlord needed to ensure it set out in its response the actions that it would take rather than delaying its complaint responses. It then needed to ensure it tracked the promised actions to completion. It failed to do this which was inappropriate.
- The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 17 September 2024 which was 205 working days after the resident’s escalation which was unreasonable and not in line with the landlord’s complaints policy and the Code. It also unnecessarily extended the complaints process which was unreasonable. The Ombudsman considers that these failings amount to maladministration.
- After carefully considering our guidance on remedies, as above, we have ordered the landlord to pay £250 in compensation for its response to the associated complaint. This recognises the additional distress, inconvenience, time, and trouble caused to the resident by the landlord’s failings. We have also ordered the landlord to complete a senior management review to prevent similar failings from happening in the future.
Learning
- The landlord said in its final complaint response of 17 September 2024 that it had identified areas of improvement. This was concerning the communication process and repairs journey, and it was committed to making changes to ensure a prompt response to issues. This would be a positive step to take to ensure the landlord responds appropriately to repair issues. We recommend that the landlord reviews its self-assessment of its knowledge and information management based upon the recommendations set out in our Spotlight report on Knowledge and Information Management (May 2023) and follow up report (January 2025) to improve its record keeping practices.
Knowledge information management (record keeping)
- We have seen record keeping failings in this case. The landlord’s repair records were sometimes unclear as to what work its contractor had completed and when, or why its contractor had cancelled works orders. The poor record keeping would have caused the landlord difficulty in following up on the repairs to ensure that its contractor completed them within a reasonable period. We have made a recommendation for the landlord to review its self-assessment of its knowledge and information management. It should use our Spotlight report on Knowledge and Information Management (May 2023) and follow-up report (January 2025) to improve its record keeping practices.
Communication
- The landlord’s internal and external communication was not sufficient at times. The landlord did not always explain to the resident what work its contractor would be completing. There were gaps in its communication that meant that the resident had to chase repairs up. It acknowledged this in its final complaint response of 17 September 2024. However, we have seen that the landlord did keep the resident informed by WhatsApp messages from 13 December 2023 onwards until after its contractor completed the damp and mould repairs on 16 August 2023. It also held weekly internal meetings during the 2024 repairs which would help it to keep track of the repairs.