London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202426646)

Decision
Case ID	202426646
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	London & Quadrant Housing Trust
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	18 February 2026

Background

1. The resident raised a formal complaint with the landlord about outstanding repairs to her garden wall. She said she had been waiting for the repairs since 2022. She said the landlord said it would complete the repair on an urgent basis, yet it had given her an appointment date in 6 months’ time. She said her health had declined over the last year, which she partly attributed to a lack of sleep caused by the outstanding repairs.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of repairs to a garden wall.
3. We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

4. We found that:
   1. There was maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of repairs to a garden wall.
   2. There was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

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

Summary of reasons

The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of repairs to a garden wall

5. Although the landlord appropriately acknowledged delays, it did not repair the wall on the date specified within its stage 2 response. There was no meaningful resolution to the complaint, as there were further delays in the repair. This left the resident in no better position than she was in prior to the complaint. Although it offered compensation, this was not proportionate to the failings identified by our investigation.

Complaint handling

6. The landlord recognised the delay in issuing the stage 2 response and it apologised. However, it did not consider or offer any redress to put things right even though it said it would.

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 specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic. It has due regard to our apologies guidance.	No later than 18 March 2026
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident: £320 (the landlord may deduct from this amount the £160 compensation it previously offered if this has already been paid) to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its response to the resident’s reports of repairs to a garden wall. £50 to recognise the time and trouble caused by the landlord’s complaint handling. This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date.	No later than 18 March 2026
3	Starting the works The landlord must take all steps to ensure the repairs to the garden wall are started no later than the due date. If the landlord cannot start the works in this time, it must explain to us, by the due date: Why it cannot start the works by the due date and provide evidence to support its reasons. It must provide a revised timescale of when it will start and finish the works; or The steps it has taken to start the works and provide us with documentary evidence of its attempts to ensure the works were started by the due date. It must provide a revised timescale if it is able to or explain why it cannot.	No later than 01 April 2026

 

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
4 April 2024	The resident raised a formal complaint with the landlord about outstanding repairs to a wall in her garden. She said the issue had been ongoing since 2022. She said the landlord had told her that the repair would be categorised as urgent, as she had waited so long. However, it had given her an appointment date of 4 October 2024 for the repair. The resident asked the landlord to complete the work as a priority.
5 April 2024	The landlord sent the resident a stage 1 complaint response. It said: it could see that she had reported repairs to her garden wall in February 2022, but it could only investigate complaints over the last 12 months the resident had reported the repairs to the wall again on 18 March 2024 and it had scheduled an appointment for 4 October 2024 if there were any cancellations, it would look to bring the appointment forward it apologised for the delays and offered the resident £160 compensation in recognition of the distress and inconvenience caused by its delays in completing the repairs
8 April 2024	The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2. She said: the resolutions from her 2022 complaint were still outstanding her health had declined over the last year, which she partly attributed to a lack of sleep caused by the outstanding issues her complaint now included, in addition to the garden wall, an issue with the mezzanine floor, and an issue with her gas fire she could not accept the compensation given the nature of the complaint, the impact on her health and wellbeing, and the time it had taken to chase the landlord the landlord should repair the garden wall urgently
13 May 2024	The landlord sent the resident a stage 2 complaint response. It said: it understood the wall fell down in 2022 and it had not yet repaired it it could see it had booked an appointment for 4 October 2024, although it appreciated that the appointment was not soon enough it would bring the appointment forward should one become available through a cancellation it upheld the compensation offered at stage 1 The landlord did not respond to the resident’s concerns about the mezzanine floor or gas fire within the stage 2 response.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident asked us to investigate her concerns about the garden wall repairs as she said she was unhappy with the landlord’s response to her complaint. She did not refer the issues with the mezzanine floor or gas fire to us. She said she wanted the landlord to complete the repair and offer sufficient 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 landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of repairs to a garden wall.
Finding	Maladministration

What we have not investigated

7. Throughout the complaint the resident has said the ongoing issues had affected her health. It would be fairer, more reasonable and more effective for her to make a personal injury claim for any injury caused. The courts are best placed to deal with this type of dispute as they will 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. We can decide if a landlord should pay compensation for distress and inconvenience.
8. The resident raised a formal complaint with the landlord in February 2022 about outstanding repairs, including the garden wall. She escalated the complaint to stage 2. However, she did not refer the complaint to us. Therefore, we cannot consider that complaint within this investigation. The resident raised a separate complaint in April 2024 about the garden wall. She included repairs to the mezzanine floor and fireplace within the stage 2 escalation request. However, as the landlord did not include the additional repairs in the stage 2 response (in line with the Complaint Handling Code (the Code)), and as the resident only referred the garden wall repair to us, we have not included the mezzanine floor or fireplace within this investigation. If these issues are still outstanding, the resident can pursue these matters separately with the landlord.

What we have investigated

9. The resident contacted the landlord in March 2024 as the repairs to her garden wall were still outstanding following her complaint in February 2022. It is unclear from the evidence provided when the landlord’s contractors visited the resident to repair the wall. However, it sent the resident a letter on 18 March 2024 informing her that, since the visit, its contractors had requested additional instructions to allow them to complete the work. The letter said the landlord had declined the quote for additional works due to the cost. It said it would carry out the works via its minor works route. This letter was likely confusing for the resident as it only provided information relevant to the landlord’s internal processes. It did not provide her with any relevant information about the repair and when it was likely to complete the work.
10. The landlord raised a work order on 18 March 2024 and allocated 20 working days to complete the repair to the wall. The evidence suggests that, at some point between 18 March 2024 and 4 April 2024, the landlord gave the resident an appointment date of 4 October 2024 for the repairs. This was significantly outside of both the 20 working days given within the work order and the timeframe of 25 calendar days set within the landlord’s repairs policy for routine repairs.
11. In its stage 2 response, the landlord appropriately recognised that there had been significant delays in repairing the wall going back to 2022. It offered the resident £160 compensation for distress and inconvenience caused by the delays. It also appropriately recognised that the appointment booked for 4 October 2024 was not soon enough. However, it made no attempt to consider alternative options to ensure it completed the repair within a reasonable timeframe.
12. The landlord did not complete the repair on 4 October 2024 due to the resident’s concerns that not enough time had been allocated for the repair. The landlord increased the time allocated to 4 hours. However, this led to it declining the quote again on 6 March 2025, due to the cost of the works. It again confirmed that it would complete the works via the minor works route, although it did not provide the resident with a new date for the repair. This meant that she was in no better position than she was in March 2024. This also meant that there was no meaningful resolution to the complaint.
13. Where there are admitted failings by a landlord, we will consider whether the redress offered put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this, we take into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with our Dispute Resolution Principles; be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
14. Given the observations above, the landlord has not shown that it put things right through the complaints process. We consider the offer of £160 compensation insufficient given the impact of the landlord’s failings and the repeated issues. We consider an order for the landlord to pay the resident £320 compensation (inclusive of the landlord’s original offer) to be proportionate. This is in line with our remedies guidance where the landlord has acknowledged failings and made some attempt to put things right but the offer was not proportionate to the failings identified by our investigation.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Service failure

15. The landlord’s complaints policy at the time of the complaint complies with the definition of a complaint in the Code (April 2024). The timescales in the landlord’s current complaint procedure complies with the Code.
16. The resident raised a formal complaint with the landlord on 4 April 2024. The landlord acknowledged the complaint and sent the resident a stage 1 response on 5 April 2024. Both the acknowledgement and the response were within the timeframes set within the landlord’s complaints policy.
17. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 8 April 2024. The landlord acknowledged the complaint on the same day. This was within the timeframe set within the landlord’s policy. The landlord sent the resident a stage 2 complaint response on 13 May 2024. This was outside of the 20 working days set within the landlord’s policy. The landlord apologised for the delay at stage 2 and said it would consider redress for the delay within its stage 2 response. However, it did not make any further reference within the stage 2 response to the delay or show that it had considered appropriate redress to put things right.
18. Considering the identified failings, we consider an order for the landlord to pay the resident £50 compensation to be appropriate. This is in line with our remedies guidance where there was a minor failure in the service it provided and the landlord did not fully put it right.

Learning

19. The landlord’s internal repairs processes concerning repair routes, quotes, and budgets should not affect the service it provides to its residents. Residents are unlikely to be concerned with internal matters. The landlord should ensure that residents receive timely responses to their reports of repairs and clear information as to when it will complete the repairs. The landlord should also ensure it completes repairs within the required timeframes. If this is not possible due to issues with contractors, it should consider alternative options. We do have several resources relating to repairs on our Centre for Learning which the landlord may find helpful.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

20. The landlord provided limited evidence in this case. However, this was sufficient to conduct our investigation.

Communication

21. There were no significant identified communication issues. However, the evidence was very limited considering that the issues had been ongoing for so long. This means we have been unable to fully assess the landlord’s communication with the resident.