London Borough of Croydon (202441254)

Decision
Case ID	202441254
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	London Borough of Croydon
Landlord type	Local Authority / ALMO or TMO
Occupancy	Secure Tenancy
Date	17 April 2026

 

Background

1. The resident lives in a flat with his partner. Both are elderly and have health vulnerabilities. The resident is being represented by his son on this complaint. For ease of reference, the resident and his son will both be referred to “as the resident” in this report. In February 2023, the resident reported damp and mould throughout the property. It was identified that this was caused from a leak from the wet room. The landlord completed works to resolve the damp and mould in the property in January 2024 and completed the wet room works in August 2024.

 

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about:
   1. Damp and mould at the property.
   2. The landlord’s handling of the complaint.

 

Our decision (determination)

3. There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of damp and mould at the property.
4. There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

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

 

Summary of reasons

5. The landlord acknowledged there were delays in completing works at the property to resolve the damp and mould. However, the compensation it offered was not proportionate to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays.
6. There was a delay in the landlord providing its responses at stage 1 and 2 of its complaints process and it failed to offer sufficient compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays.

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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	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £634.99 made up as follows: £350 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of damp and mould at the property. This is in addition to the £500 the landlord offered during its complaints process for the delays and distress and inconvenience caused for its handling of the damp and mould at the property. £100 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling errors. This is in addition to the £50 the landlord offered during its complaints process for its complaint handling errors. £184.99 to reimburse the resident for the dehumidifier he purchased. 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 15 May 2026

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recommendations

Our recommendations are not binding, and a landlord may decide not to follow them.

Our recommendations
We recommend the landlord pay the resident is original offer of £250 for damaged belongings and £200 for additional electricity costs associated with running the dehumidifier if it has not already done so.

 

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
22 November 2023	The resident complained about damp and mould in the property and reported a strong, pungent damp smell. The resident said the property had experienced damp issues for more than 12 years. The resident reported significant mould in the bedroom and said the bedroom carpet was saturated. The resident also reported damp and mould in the kitchen and bathroom. The resident said they were concerned about the impact of the damp and mould on their own health and on their partner’s health.
4 January 2024	The landlord sent the resident its stage 1 complaint response. It explained when the resident reported damp and mould in the property, it raised a repair work order. However, it did not complete the works because it changed its repairs contractor. The landlord said its new repairs contractor started in August 2023. It confirmed that it also introduced a new repairs system and contact centre to manage and book repairs. It also confirmed that the damp and mould works were in progress and it was due to carry out the decoration works in January 2024.
31 January 2024	The resident escalated his complaint. He said: The landlord provided his stage 1 complaint response late and outside the timescales. He previously asked the landlord to provide dehumidifiers to help dry out the property, but this was not addressed. Therefore, he had to purchase his own dehumidifier and wanted the associated costs refunded. He had forwarded correspondence from the year 2015 relating to reports of damp and mould at the property. He also requested that the landlord provide a list of all works it planned to carry out at the property to resolve the leak and to address the damp and mould.
6 June 2024	The landlord sent the resident its stage 2 complaint response. It explained all of the works to resolve the damp and mould at the property had been completed. However, it confirmed works to the wet room floor were still outstanding and said its surveyor would monitor the works and ensure they were completed to an acceptable standard. It apologised for the delay in responding to the resident’s complaint and for the delay in completing the repairs.   The landlord offered the resident £1000 compensation. This included: £300 for the distress and inconvenience caused. £200 for the delay in completing the repairs. £50 for complaint handling delays. £200 for additional electricity costs associated with running the dehumidifiers. £250 towards replacing damaged belongings.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident asked us to investigate the complaint. He said he wanted additional compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of the damp and mould at the property.

 

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	Damp and mould at the property
Finding	Maladministration

7. The resident raised in his complaint that damp, and mould had been an issue for more than 12 years. We acknowledge that the issue was longstanding. However, we expect residents to raise complaints with their landlords within a reasonable time. This is usually within 12 months from the date a resident became aware of a problem. Not only does this ensure that evidence to investigate the complaint is available, but also so that effective steps can be taken to put things right. Our investigation focuses on events from February 2023. This is because, based on the evidence available, the report from February 2023 exhausted the landlord’s complaint process.
8. In February 2023, the resident reported damp and mould throughout the property. The landlord later identified that the damp and mould was caused by a leak from the wet room. There was a considerable delay in the landlord carrying out works to the wet room and to resolve the damp and mould in the property. The landlord did not start completing any works until December 2023. The delay in starting the repairs was significantly outside the landlord’s routine repairs timescales of 28 working days, as set out in its repairs policy. While the damp and mould issues remained unresolved, the resident purchased a dehumidifier to manage the damp in the bedroom.
9. The landlord acknowledged in its complaint responses that delays had occurred in starting the works to address the damp and mould. The landlord explained that, after the resident reported the issue, it raised a repair work order but did not complete the works because it changed its repairs contractor. It’s positive that the landlord explained the reason for the delay. However, it took approximately 10 months for the landlord to start the works and during this period, the resident and his partner remained living in the property affected by damp and mould. This was unreasonable and would have been distressing for the resident and his partner.

 

10. The resident raised concerns to the landlord that damp and mould issues impacted his and his partner’s health. We acknowledge this has been a very difficult time for the resident and his partner. However, it would be fairer, more reasonable, and more effective for the resident to make a personal injury claim for any injury caused through the courts or the landlord’s liability insurance. 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’ve not investigated this further. We can decide if a landlord should pay compensation for distress and inconvenience.
11. In December 2023, the landlord began works to the wet room and kitchen. The landlord completed further works in January 2024 to address the damp and mould in the remainder of the property. While the landlord completed most works by January 2024, some works to the wet room remained outstanding, including works to the wet room floor.
12. The landlord confirmed in its stage 2 complaint response that it would monitor the remaining works to the wet room floor and ensure that it completed them to an acceptable standard. This was an appropriate step taken by the landlord. It also offered the resident a total of  £950 for its handling of the damp and mould repairs. This included £500 for the delays and distress and inconvenience caused, £250 for the resident’s damaged belongings and £200 for the additional electricity costs associated with running the dehumidifiers. As the resident and his partner had vulnerabilities and there were further delays in the landlord completing the works to the wet room, the compensation offered was not proportionate to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused. It also would have been appropriate for the landlord to reimburse the resident’s purchase of the dehumidifier.
13. The landlord completed the remaining works to the wet room in August 2024. The resident reported that, while these works were underway, they and their partner did not have access to a toilet for 2 days and had to use a neighbour’s toilet. It would have been reasonable for the landlord to offer the resident a decant (temporary move) or provide alternative toilet facilities such as a portable toilet. However, the landlord failed to do this, and this would have inconvenienced the resident.

 

 

14. We have ordered a further sum of compensation as set out above, to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by the additional delays in completing the works to the wet room floor and its failure to offer the resident alternative options when the toilet was out of use. The amount of compensation awarded complies with the Ombudsman’s approach to compensation set out in our compensation guidance published on our website. The compensation guidance suggests awards of up to £600 where there has been a failure by the landlord, which adversely affected the resident, and the offer the landlord made was not proportionate to the failings identified by our investigation. The amount of compensation we have awarded is in addition to the compensation the landlord offered during its complaints process. We have also ordered the landlord to reimburse the cost of the dehumidifier the resident purchased, which was £184.99. We will send the landlord a copy of the dehumidifier receipt for its records.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Maladministration

15. The landlord’s complaints process has 2 stages. The timeframes in the landlord’s complaints policy are the same as the timescales referenced in the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) which sets out our expectations of landlords’ complaints processes. The Code states a stage 1 response must be sent within 10 working days from the complaint being logged, and a stage 2 response within 20 working days.
16. The resident submitted his initial complaint to the landlord on 22 November 2023. Following this, the landlord issued it stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 4 January 2024. It took the landlord approximately 27 working days to provide its stage 1 complaint response. The complaint response was late and outside the 10-working day timescale referenced in the Code and the landlord’s complaints policy.
17. On 31 January 2024, the resident escalated his complaint to stage 2 of the landlord’s complaints process. The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 6 June 2024. The landlord’s response was approximately 3 months late and outside the 20-working day timescale referenced in the Code and the landlord’s complaints policy.
18. The landlord acknowledged there were delays in providing its stage 1 and 2 complaint response and offered the resident £50 compensation. The amount of compensation offered by the landlord was not proportionate to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays. Therefore, we have ordered further compensation to put right the distress and inconvenience caused. We have decided on an appropriate remedy taking into account our Guidance on Remedies and our Compensation Guidance.

 

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

19. The landlord’s records were detailed enough for us to investigate the landlord’s overall handling of the complaint.

Communication

20. There was very limited communication from the landlord to the resident when he initially reported the damp and mould issues. The landlord may wish to review this and consider how it may improve communication with residents in the future.