Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (202426184)

Decision
Case ID	202426184
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea
Landlord type	Local Authority / ALMO or TMO
Occupancy	Secure Tenancy
Date	18 November 2025

Background

1. The resident lives in a 1-bedroom basement flat. He moved into the property on 3 August 2022. The resident felt the landlord should not have let the property to him, as he said there was no hot water or heating, no locks on the windows and damp in the property when his tenancy began. After its stage 2 response, the resident informed the landlord he had severe anxiety and depression.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports that there:
   1. was no hot water or heating at the start of the tenancy.
   2. were no locks on the windows.
   3. was damp in the property.
3. We have also investigated the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Our decision (determination)

4. We have found that there was severe maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports that there was no hot water or heating at the start of the tenancy.
5. We have found that there was maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s:
   1. reports that there were no locks on the windows.
   2. reports that there was damp in the property.
   3. complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

Hot water and heating

6. The landlord unreasonably delayed in completing repairs or providing replacements, which left the resident without hot water or heating for 285 days. It did not offer temporary solutions or consider whether temporary accommodation may have been required. It did not fully recognise the detriment caused to the resident.

Window locks

7. The landlord delayed in responding to the resident’s reports that there were no locks on the windows.

Damp

8. The landlord did not complete the arrangedworksfollowing a damp inspection. It completed some recommended repairs following a second inspection but provided insufficient evidence that it completed them as agreed or within the agreed timescale.

Complaint handling

9. The landlord delayed unreasonably in escalating the resident’s complaint and did not respond to his complaint that the property was uninhabitable when it was let to him.

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 its Chief Executive Officer. 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 16 December 2025
2	Learning order The landlord must write to the resident and set out what it has learnt from the failures identified in this report and what actions it will take to prevent the same failures from happening again in the future. The landlord must provide the Ombudsman with a copy of its learning.	No later than 16 December 2025
3	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £3,800.80 made up as follows: £2,194.50 for the loss of heating and hot water (285 days at £7.70 per day) as per its compensation policy. £284.90 for the time and trouble caused by the loss of heating and hot water (37 weeks after 3 consecutive weeks of loss at £7.70 per week) as per its compensation policy. £21.40 for a missed appointment as per the landlord’s complaint’s policy. £500 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its response to the resident’s reports that there was no hot water or heating at the start of the tenancy. the £300 offered for the distress and inconvenience caused by its response to the resident’s reports that there were no locks on the windows. £300 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its response to the resident’s reports that there was damp in the property. £200 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its 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. The landlord may deduct from the total figure any payments it has already paid as offered in its complaint responses.	No later than 16 December 2025
4	Specific action The landlord must investigate the resident’s complaint that the property was not at a lettable standard when he moved in as there was no hot water or heating, no window locks, and damp. It must issue a written complaint response to the resident.   The complaint response should refer to relevant evidence relating to the landlord’s voids process, and any relevant policies or procedures. It should provide the resident with information about how to escalate his complaint if he is unhappy with its response.	No later than 16 December 2025
5	Specific action The landlord must respond in writing to the resident’s reports that: there is still damp in the property. it did not paint the lounge wall. The landlord must also set out its position to the resident in writing on whether it traced and remedied a leak into the property following an inspection on 2 October 2023 and whether this leak is ongoing. The landlord must provide us with a copy of this.	No later than 16 December 2025

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
3 August 2022	The resident moved into the property and reported that there was no heating or hot water. The landlord said a heating contractor was due to attend but the resident was not available.
20 December 2022	The resident complained that there had been no hot water or heating since he moved in and he wanted compensation.
3 January 2023	The landlord issued a stage 1 response. It said: it apologised that it had not rearranged an appointment on 3 August 2022 and that the resident had to chase it after it ordered parts for the boiler in November 2022. an electrician needed to attend, and it had booked an appointment for 10 January 2023. it would discuss compensation and decide whether the complaint was upheld once the issue was resolved.
15 May 2023	The landlord installed a new boiler.
15 August 2023	The resident reported damp in the property. He also told the landlord he thought the property was uninhabitable while there was no hot water or heating and said he wanted compensation.
21 August 2023	The resident wrote to the landlord about his complaints and his request for compensation. He asked it to investigate as he said the property was uninhabitable when he moved in as: there was no hot water or heating. there were no locks on the windows facing the road which was a safety concern. He said he had to instal locks himself. the property was damp and there was paint peeling from the walls.
2 October 2023	The landlord completed a damp and mould inspection. It recommended works to trace and remedy a leak, paint a wall and install an air vent.
7 December 2023	The landlord apologised for the delay in offering compensation. It offered: £7.70 per day for the loss of heating and hot water in line with its compensation policy. It calculated this as £1,486.10 for 193 days. an additional £7.70 per week after the first 3 weeks in line with its compensation policy. It calculated this as £192.50 for 25 weeks. £300 for the inconvenience and high impact during a cold winter. £21.40 for a missed appointment. It said another team would deal with his enquiries about damp and window locks.
2-16 January 2024	The resident confirmed he wanted the landlord to escalate his complaint which he said was about it letting an uninhabitable property. He confirmed the reasons for escalating the complaint were that the property did not meet lettable standards when he moved in due to a lack of heating, hot water and window locks and damp in the property.
25 January 2024	The landlord inspected the property and made recommendations for works including to: replaster and paint the living room wall due to damp. remedy defects in the hallway flooring. clear the rear guttering of debris.
12 February 2024	The landlord issued a stage 2 response and: apologised for the period the resident was without hot water or heating. reoffered the same amount of compensation it offered on 7 December 2023. It split this in the same way but said the £300 was for the issues with his windows and did not offer compensation for the increased impact of having no hot water or heating over winter. confirmed it would start works the week commencing 12 February 2024 as recommended in its recent inspection.
22 March 2024	The landlord said it cleared the guttering by this date.
8 May 2024	The landlord said it had completed works to the hallway flooring and living room wall by this date.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident said he did not think the property met basic living standards when he moved in. He said there was still damp in the property and that the landlord had not painted the lounge wall. He wanted increased compensation. The resident said his mental health diagnoses meant the impact on him was increased.   The landlord recently confirmed to the Ombudsman that it miscalculated the compensation offered for the resident’s loss of hot water and heating.

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 no hot water or heating.
Finding	Severe maladministration

10. The landlord must keep installations for the supply of gas, electricity, heating and water in good repair and working order in line with section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (LATA) and the resident’s tenancy agreement. The landlord responded to the resident’s initial reports that there was no hot water or heating within its repairs policy 24-hour timescale for emergency repairs. However, it did not re-book an appointment when the resident was not available. Nor did it consider any temporary solutions to provide interim hot water and heating. It would have been reasonable for it to do this given it was aware of reports that there was no heating or hot water in the property.
11. The landlord did not inspect the property until 4 November 2022, which was an unreasonable delay and outside of its repairs policy timescales. It identified an electrical issue with the boiler and that it was not connected to the electric supply. It ordered parts and told the resident they would take 3-5 days to arrive. It did not update the resident about the parts. It was unreasonable that the resident had to contact the landlord about this on 7 December 2022.
12. On 23 December 2022 contractors attended and confirmed an electrician needed to reconnect the boiler. When the resident chased this on 28 December 2022, the landlord said no-one could attend until 10 January 2023. The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) is a risk-based evaluation tool introduced by the Housing Act 2004. HHSRS identifies excess cold as a potential health hazard.
13. The landlord should have had regard for the Homes (Fitness for Human Habitation) Act 2018 and the LATA to ensure the property remained fit for habitation. Given the prolonged lack of heating and hot water, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to consider the impact on habitability and take steps to mitigate risk, such as providing temporary heating or alternative accommodation, until repairs were completed.
14. In his complaint the resident told the landlord he had to spend time at friends and families’ homes, and the lack of hot water and heating had impacted his quality of life. That it did not consider offering alternative solutions during winter was unreasonable. Given that the landlord had identified a failure of service, it would have been reasonable for it to consider whether it was appropriate to offer redress in its stage 1 complaint response, instead of delaying this.
15. The landlord could not access the property on 16 January 2023. We do not have enough evidence to assess the reason for this, but it has not provided evidence that it gave the resident notice of this visit.
16. It attended on 17 January 2023, found further works were required to the boiler and ordered parts. It told the resident the parts would be available by 20 January 2023 but did not contact him until it tried to call him on 25 and 26 January 2023. On 7 February 2023 it fitted the parts and identified the boiler was rusting and defective. The resident confirmed there was still no hot water or heating on 15 February 2023. On 20 February 2023 the landlord confirmed the boiler was beyond repair and needed to be replaced.
17. Although the landlord took action to progress the boiler repairs, it did not consider alternative solutions to provide hot water and heating while the repairs were outstanding. It took no further action until a boiler survey on 27 March 2023 and did not keep the resident updated. It tried to contact the resident in April and May 2023 to arrange appointments to instal the new boiler.
18. Once the boiler was installed and the hot water and heating were working, the landlord did not consider offering compensation as agreed in its stage 1 response. This was a delay in putting things right. It did not respond to the resident’s concerns that the property was uninhabitable when it was let to him as there was no hot water or heating. This was despite him raising this issue and requesting compensation in August and October 2023.
19. When the landlord offered compensation in December 2023:
    1. when calculating the amount of compensation to offer under its policy, it miscalculated the number of days the resident was without hot water or heating between 3 August 2022 and 15 May 2023, which was 285 days, not 193.
    2. it was in line with its compensation policy to offer redress for the appointment it missed on 10 January 2023.
    3. it was reasonable to offer compensation for the increased impact during a cold winter.
20. In its stage 2 response, the landlord failed to respond to the resident’s concern that the property was uninhabitable when he moved in. It is unclear why it did not include the £300 compensation for the impact of a cold winter that it offered in December 2023.
21. The landlord unreasonably delayed in ensuring there was hot water and heating in the property for a significant period of time. It did not offer temporary solutions, consider any potential health and safety risks or whether to temporarily rehouse the resident. It identified some failures of service and offered the resident redress but did not identify all its failures or respond to all his concerns.
22. Its offer of redress was delayed, and it miscalculated and reduced the compensation offered without explaining why. We have therefore ordered the landlord to put things right. This includes an order to pay additional compensation in line with our Remedies Guidance, taking into account the reported impact on the resident and the increased impact over winter.

Complaint	The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of no locks on the windows.
Finding	Maladministration

23. The landlord’s repairs policy suggest insecure windows and locks are a landlord’s responsibility as they are a qualifying repair under the Right to Repair. The current information on the landlord’s website about lettable standards says security locks to windows on the ground floor will be provided before a resident moves into a property. The landlord did not respond to the resident’s concerns that there were no locks on his windows or inspect the windows when he raised this in August and October 2023, which was unreasonable.
24. Although the landlord told the resident it would deal with his enquiries about damp and window locks on 7 December 2023, it did not respond until it issued its stage 2 response. This was an unreasonable delay. The landlord decided to include its response to the resident’s reports there were no window locks in its stage 2 response. However, it did not meaningfully engage with the complaint. It did not assess against its letting standard, respond to the resident’s reports that he had to instal his own locks, or inspect the windows.
25. It offered compensation “in recognition of the issues” with his windows in line with our Remedies Guidance for a failure that adversely affected the resident, and we have ordered it to reoffer this compensation. However, it did not respond to the resident’s concerns that the property was not at a lettable standard when he moved in. We have therefore ordered it to put things right in line with our Remedies Guidance by issuing a response to his concerns.

Complaint	The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of damp in the property.
Finding	Maladministration

26. There landlord has not provided evidence of the action it took in response to the resident’s reports of damp in the property until 12 September 2023, when it wrote to him to say its contractor had been trying to contact him to book an inspection. This was a record keeping failure.
27. The landlord completed a damp and mould inspection on 2 October 2023. This identified an external leak causing the paintwork to peel. It recommended tracing and remedying the leak and painting the lounge wall once it had dried. It also recommended installing a passive air vent in the resident’s bedroom. The resident confirmed he did not want a vent to be installed. On 5 October 2023 it told the resident it would complete these works and arranged an appointment to paint and decorate on 6 November 2023. The landlord did not provide evidence it traced and remedied a leak or painted the lounge wall.
28. On 16 January 2024 the resident confirmed there was still a damp smell and paint peeling from the walls. The landlord inspected the property on 25 January 2024 which was reasonable action to take. It identified signs of penetrating moisture on the lounge external wall causing defects to the plaster and paint. It recommended checking for external defects and plastering/paint works. It identified defective hallway flooring and blocked guttering.
29. On 31 January 2024 the resident asked the landlord for an update on the works and the landlord raised works on 2 February 2024. The reason for the delay in raising the works is unclear.
30. The landlord decided to include its response to the resident’s reports of damp in its stage 2 response. It was in line with our Dispute Resolution Principles for the landlord to agree to complete the works raised on 2 February 2024. However, it did not respond to the resident’s concerns that the property was uninhabitable when it was let to him due to damp, despite him raising this on multiple occasions. It did not acknowledge any failures or offer redress. It did not provide evidence that it started works in the week commencing 12 February 2024 as agreed or provide evidence of the reason for any delays.
31. The landlord said its contractors provided invoices and photographs of completed works to unblock the guttering on 22 March 2024. It said its contractors provided invoices of works to secure the hallway flooring, painting and plastering works to the lounge external wall and to check the external elevation for defects on 8 May 2024. This was after the period within which its repairs policy said it would respond to routine repairs. It provided us with invoices and photographs confirming the roof, hallway and lounge works were completed. Although it confirms that the landlord carried out repairs in response to the reports of damp and mould, the evidence does not confirm whether the repairs were completed within the timescale agreed or include written details of the works completed.
32. The landlord did not identify its failures of service or offer redress for these. We have therefore made orders to put things right in line with our Remedies Guidance for a failure that adversely affected the resident where the landlord failed to acknowledge its failings.

Complaint	The landlord’s handling of the complaint.
Finding	Maladministration

33. The landlord’s complaints policy did not cover acknowledgement of complaints, and the landlord did not acknowledge the resident’s complaint in line with the Complaint Handling Code 2022 (the Code). Its complaints policy now covers acknowledgement in line with the 2024 Code. It issued a stage 1 response within 7 working days which was within the 10-working day timescale of its complaints policy.
34. When the resident wrote to the landlord on 15 and 21 August 2023, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to consider whether to escalate his complaint and/ or log a new complaint. That it did not, likely led to a delay in its complaints process. He contacted the landlord on 3 October 2023 asking the landlord to assess the issues he raised on 21 August 2023 and asking it to compensate him. The landlord again failed to consider whether to escalate the resident’s complaint. This created a further delay and demonstrated obstructive complaint handling.
35. The landlord failed to provide a meaningful response to the resident’s request for compensation in August 2023. On 11 October 2023 it agreed to confirm a compensation outcome within 10 working days but failed to do so. When the landlord offered compensation on 7 December 2023, it is unclear why it had not also escalated the resident’s complaint to stage 2. This was not in line with its complaints policy which said it should contact residents to establish how they want it to proceed if it is unclear whether they want to escalate a complaint.
36. The resident spoke to the landlord on 8 December 2023, and he confirmed he wanted it to escalate his complaint. The landlord asked him to confirm this by email and specify his reasons. It asked him to confirm his reasons again on 9 January 2024 and did not log the escalation until 16 January 2024. This was obstructive and an unreasonable delay given that he had confirmed he was unhappy with its stage 1 complaint response and had already told it why he was still dissatisfied.
37. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s escalation on 24 January 2024 and agreed to issue a response by 13 February 2024. It issued a stage 2 response within 19 working days of logging the escalation, in line with its complaints policy timescales. However, given that the resident indicated that he remained dissatisfied with the stage 1 response from August 2023, this was an unreasonable delay.
38. The landlord failed to respond to the resident’s complaint that the property was uninhabitable when it was let to him, despite him raising this on multiple occasions from August 2023, which was not in line with the Code. We have therefore made an order for it to issue a stage 1 response to this element of his complaint. The landlord did not acknowledge its complaint handling failures or show any learning. Nor did it offer any redress. We have therefore made an order for compensation in line with our Remedies Guidance for a failure that adversely affected the resident where the landlord did not acknowledge its failings.

Learning

39. The landlord did not set out any learning at either stage of the complaint.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

40. The landlord did not evidence that it provided the resident with notice of appointments. It did not provide detailed repairs records which impacted our ability to assess its actions.

Communication

41. The landlord showed a lack of oversight of its contractors. It did not provide regular updates to the resident and failed to engage with his concerns that the property was uninhabitable when it was let to him. Its complaint handling was obstructive which likely caused delays. We have made an order for it to set out any learning from the complaint.