London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202527927)

Background

1. The resident has multiple sclerosis (MS) and a skin condition which means she needs to shower daily. She has a wet room that does not have a bath. The evidence shows that landlord is aware of her vulnerabilities. On 22 August 2025 the resident reported that her electric shower was intermittently working. The landlord replaced it on 26 September 2025. It offered the resident £100 compensation for the delay. The resident considers that the compensation amount does not reflect the impact the delay had on her.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reported electric shower repair.

Our decision (determination)

3. There was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reported electric shower repair.

Reasons

4. The landlord is responsible for keeping in repair and working order all fixtures and fittings for sanitation and the supply of water, including showers.
5. The landlord’s repair policy says that the timeframe it takes to carry out a repair is determined by different factors, which include a resident’s age, health or other special circumstances.
6. The landlord’s compensation policy says it may offer compensation to a resident “where the customer had no choice but to pay for something because of our inaction, delay or negligence”.
7. The landlord acknowledged that given the resident’s vulnerabilities, it should have attended the initial appointment to her electric shower repair within 24 hours. Instead it attended after 13 working days, on 10 September 2025. It accepted that while the parts for the shower needed to be ordered at the time of the visit, attending earlier would have allowed it to request them faster and complete the repair sooner.
8. The landlord apologised to the resident and offered her £100 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused, taking into consideration her vulnerabilities.
9. The resident has told us that she had to go to a family member’s gym to shower while she waited for her own shower to be replaced during the 3-week period. This caused her distress and inconvenience, in particular because of her vulnerabilities.
10. Given the resident’s circumstances and vulnerabilities, the landlord’s offer of compensation did not go far enough to put matters right for the impact its failing had on her. Therefore, we have made an order for it to pay the resident an additional £100 compensation. This is in line with our compensation guidance.
11. It is acknowledged that the landlord explained that the feedback about the issues the resident had experienced would be shared as part of the complaints process so it could improve its service. This was positive.
12. There is no evidence to suggest that the resident incurred out-of-pocket expenses during time she was waiting for the shower to replaced. However, we have made an order for the landlord to contact her to clarify the matter.

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.