The Community Housing Group Limited (202444152)

Background

1. The resident reported damp and mould in November 2023 and complained in March 2024, stating the issue remained unresolved. During its complaints process, the landlord acknowledged failings, made commitments to address the problem, and awarded compensation. The resident asked us to investigate whether the compensation was proportionate and whether the landlord had properly recognised the delay in resolving the issue. By the time of our investigation, the damp and mould had been resolved.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of damp and mould.

Our decision (determination)

3. There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of damp and mould.

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

Reasons

4. The landlord’s damp and mould policy states it will attend reports of damp and mould within 2 working days to carry out an initial inspection. It will contact residents 3 weeks, 6 months and 12 months after the repairs have been completed to ensure the issue is resolved.
5. The landlord did not dispute that there were failings in its handling of damp and mould at the resident’s property between November 2023 and June 2024. This was demonstrated by its complaint responses and compensation offer of £300 for distress, inconvenience and delay. In such cases, our role is to consider whether it did enough to put things right for the resident. When doing this, we assess the landlord’s actions against our dispute resolution principles: be fair, put things right, and learn from outcomes.
6. As part of its stage 1 complaint response on 19 March 2024, the landlord said its contractor would carry out a damp and mould inspection at the property. It committed to following the recommendations from the report. This was reasonable and demonstrated that it was trying to put things right
7. Furthermore, the landlord awarded the resident an additional £60 in recognition of missed appointments. This was reasonable and in line with its compensation policy.
8. There were further failings in the period following the stage 2 complaint response. The damp and mould inspection recommended a mould wash and the installation of extractor fans in the kitchen and bathroom. However, the final work was not completed until 3 September 2024. This was more than 2 months after the stage 2 complaint response. This was an unreasonable delay which would have caused additional distress and inconvenience to the resident. It may also have led her to believe that the landlord would not do what it said it would do.
9. Additionally, we have seen no evidence that the landlord followed up on any of the work that it undertook at the property to check the issue was resolved. This was a failing because it was not in line with its damp and mould policy.
10. We note that the landlord’s repair log indicates there may have been some issues regarding access to the property. However, we have seen no evidence regarding this.
11. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident an additional £200 compensation in recognition of the distress and inconvenience caused by its lack of communication and delay in completing the actions it had committed to in its stage 2 complaint response.
12. This aligns with our compensation guidance (published on our website), which sets out our approach to compensation. The guidance says that awards within this range are appropriate where there was a failure by the landlord which adversely affected the resident but there was no permanent impact.

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.