Raven Housing Trust Limited (202440957)

Decision
Case ID	202440957
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	Raven Housing Trust Limited
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	20 March 2026

Background

The resident reported that repairs were needed to her back door, which was constantly wet, a wall which was damp, a blocked downstairs toilet and drain, and draughty windows. The landlord did repairs, however the resident raised a disrepair claim as she felt the repairs were not complete and were contributing to damp and mould in her property. The landlord responded to the claim as a complaint, inspected the property, and identified repairs. The resident referred the complaint to us as she was unhappy the time the landlord was taking to resolve the repairs.

What the complaint is about

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of repairs to address damp and mould, and for a blocked toilet.
We have also investigated the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

We found maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs to address damp and mould, and for a blocked toilet.
We found no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

There were significant unexplained delays in the landlord’s handling of the repairs. There is insufficient evidence that the work was done effectively and the damp and mould was resolved. The landlord communicated poorly with the resident about the repairs, which caused her avoidable inconvenience in chasing matters.

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 senior 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 21 April 2026
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £900 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its repairs failures. This is in addition to the £450 it previously offered the resident. The landlord may deduct this amount if it can show it has already paid it. 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 21 April 2026
3	Inspection order The landlord must contact the resident to arrange an inspection. It must take all reasonable steps to ensure the inspection is completed by the due date. The inspection must be completed by someone suitably qualified to complete an inspection of the type needed. 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. What the inspection must achieve The landlord must ensure that the surveyor: Inspects the property for damp and mould and produces a written report with photographs Assesses the thermal comfort of the property and identifies if the property can be kept sufficiently warm The survey report must set out: Whether the property is fit for human habitation and whether there are any hazards The most likely cause or causes of the damp and mould What can be done to keep the property warm Whether the landlord is responsible to repair or resolve the issue together with reasons where it is not responsible A full scope of works to achieve a lasting and effective resolution to the issue (if the landlord is responsible) The likely timescales to commence and complete the work Whether temporary alternative accommodation is necessary either because of the condition of the property or during the works	No later than 21 April 2026

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
22 October 2024	The resident made a disrepair claim to the landlord through her solicitor about repair issues she said were outstanding since 2021. She said faulty windows, leaking guttering, and the draughty back door were leading to damp and mould in her property. The resident also said a drain was repeatedly backing up and blocking her toilet, leading to a sewage smell in her property.
28 October 2024	The landlord logged the resident’s disrepair claim as a formal complaint.
27 November 2024	The landlord issued its stage 1 response and said: The drain had dropped, causing waste to build up. It would do work to redivert the toilet pipework. It had done a mould wash, repaired the back door, and installed a ventilation system. It would do a damp inspection and would add the property to a sensor programme which would monitor the heat and humidity. It offered £350 compensation for the delay and the resident’s distress
27 November 2024	The resident said she was unhappy with the compensation the landlord offered. She said the new ventilation system was blowing “freezing” cold air and increasing her heating costs.
23 December 2024	The landlord issued its stage 2 response to the complaint. It said: It would inspect the ventilation system given the resident’s concerns about cold air. It planned to do work to divert the toilet drainage to another manhole. The property would be fitted with sensors for the humidity monitoring programme in the new year. It would increase its offer of compensation to £450 for the inconvenience caused by its delays.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident said she remained unhappy with the landlord response to her concerns, and that the conditions in the property had not been resolved. The resident said she was still awaiting the work to deal with the blocked toilet and drains which was scheduled for 10 April 2025.
9 March 2026	The resident told us: The ventilation system was still making her property excessively cold. The cold affected her health and meant she had to keep her heating on constantly. She had not been told about the outcome of the landlord’s humidity monitoring or a subsequent heat loss survey. The back door was still constantly wet with condensation.

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 repairs to address damp and mould, and for a blocked toilet
Finding	Maladministration

The landlord’s responsive repairs policy says it will complete non-emergency repairs – repairs that are not an immediate risk to health and safety – within 28 days. The policy also says it will improve repair response times for residents with vulnerabilities.
The resident said in her disrepair claim to the landlord on 22 October 2024 that the repairs had been an issue since 2021. We normally expect residents to complain to the landlord about an issue within a reasonable time of it happening. This would normally be within 12 months. This is because, as time passes, it becomes difficult to make a reliable decision on the events as the evidence may no longer be reliable or available.
In this case there was a period of 10 months between January and November 2023 when the resident did not report any repairs to the landlord. Given the gap in reporting, and that no complaint was raised at the time, we have decided to investigate events from October 2023 onwards. This is 12 months before the resident raised her disrepair claim which the landlord handled as a formal complaint.
There were failings in the landlord’s handling of the repairs:
1. On 9 November 2023 the resident reported excessive dampness on her back door which was making the nearby wall mouldy. The landlord took 6 months to complete the repair. It is noted that the delay was linked to the landlord asking the property developer to replace the door. It was reasonable for it to do this, and we are therefore satisfied that not all of the delay was avoidable. However, it should have told the resident and kept her up to date with progress. It failed to do this which led to uncertainty and frustration for her.
2. There was no evidence to explain why the landlord took 5 months between November 2023 and April 2024 to pursue the developer for replacement of the back door. There was also no evidence that it then pursued this in a timely manner with the developer to try to resolve the repair promptly.
3. The resident reported leaking guttering causing persistent damp on 6 February 2024. The landlord took 7 weeks to inspect the issue and then a further 2 weeks to complete repairs. There was no evidence to explain why it could not have inspected and done repairs sooner. Since there was no evidence of an unavoidable delay, the landlord failed to follow its own repairs timeframes and failed to communicate with the resident about the delay.
4. Between March and June 2024, the resident reported that her secondary toilet was blocked on 3 different occasions. The landlord completed 2 repairs and then carried out a CCTV inspection. This was reasonable. However, the follow-on works were not completed for another 10months. The reason for much of the delay is unclear. However, during this time the resident continued to experience inconvenience from the blocked toilet, and she spent time and trouble chasing the repair.
5. We acknowledge that 2 months of this delay was outside of the landlord’s control. This is because in February 2025 its contractor said the originally proposed work was not possible and it needed to find a different way to do the repair. The revised repair was more extensive, and the landlord needed to move the resident to temporary accommodation to allow the work to proceed. It was positive that the landlord considered the disruption the resident would experience.
6. In April 2024 the landlord agreed to install sensors to monitor the humidity in the property. Despite the resident’s chases and formal complaint, it did not install these until January 2025, 9 months later. While it was positive that the landlord agreed to install the sensors, the unexplained significant delay reduced their usefulness in resolving the resident’s damp issues.
7. Furthermore, the landlord did not seek a report from the sensor monitoring until September 2025. There was no explanation for this delay, and it was unreasonable it waited so long to check the results. This meant it failed to use the monitoring results to assess improving conditions in the resident’s property despite having access to the information.
It was reasonable for the landlord to install a ventilation system and extractor fans after the resident’s complaint about the damp and mould. When she escalated her complaint, she said the ventilation system was making her property excessively cold and affecting her health. The landlord was aware from March 2024 that the resident had a “physical health impairment”. However, there was no evidence it fully considered this in its final complaint response despite the resident highlighting the effect on her health.
While the landlord did attend to turn down the ventilation system, it would have been reasonable for it to consider carrying out a heat loss survey and calculation, in consideration of the resident’s health issues. It was unreasonable that it did not do this until she spent further time and effort in raising a new complaint in February 2025.
The landlord offered the resident £450 compensation in its final stage complaint response to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its repair delays. However, as the issues were unresolved at the time of the final response, and the delays continued after this, the resident was inconvenienced further and therefore its award is not proportionate overall.
To recognise the distress and inconvenience the resident experienced due to the landlord’s delays and poor communication, we order it to increase its compensation to £900. This is in line with our remedies guidance which is available on our website. This says compensation of between £600 and £1,000 is appropriate when the landlord’s failures have had a significant impact on a resident.
The landlord carried out a post inspection in June 2025 which noted “most works completed and resident generally happy”. The landlord has not provided the full report of this to us and so the basis for its comments is unclear. In addition, the resident told us that the back door damp issue was never fully resolved and her property continues to be excessively cold. She also said that she was never provided with reports from the humidity monitoring, heat loss survey, or any inspections. There is no evidence that the issues leading to the reported damp and mould and excessive cold were fully resolved and we order the landlord to carry out a new inspection to assess these issues.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	No maladministration

The landlord has a 2 stage complaints process. The timeframes in the landlord’s complaint policy mirror those set out in our Complaint Handling Code (the Code) which sets out our expectations of landlords’ complaint handling practices. These are 10 working days for responding at stage 1, and 20 working days for responding at the final stage.
The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 27 November 2024. While this was 17 working days after the complaint, the landlord appropriately wrote to the resident and extended the timescale to provide a response.
It was positive that during this time the landlord was actively working to resolve the complaint by inspecting the property and doing repairs.
The landlord issued its final stage complaint response to the resident 19 working days after her escalation. This was in line with its policy and the Code.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

The landlord provided repairs records in several different formats. However, these did not consistently and clearly record when repairs were completed, what work was done on these repair visits, and which repairs were raised as follow-on work. Our spotlight report on knowledge and information management highlights that poor or inconsistent record keeping leads to poorer repairs outcomes for residents. The landlord may wish to review its record keeping procedures to ensure that it keeps clear and comprehensible records to improve its management of repairs.

Communication

There was little evidence of effective communication with the resident during the repairs. When repairs are delayed, the responsibility would be on the landlord to keep the resident updated and manage their expectations. Poor communication can lead to frustration and disappointment for residents and increase the number of complaints. The landlord may wish to review its communication procedures with residents to ensure it keeps them sufficiently updated.