Abri Group Limited (202535167)

Decision
Case ID	202535167
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	Abri Group Limited
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	26 March 2026

 

Background

1. The resident reported a leak in her kitchen to the landlord in September 2024. She complained as she was unhappy with how it responded to her repair.

 

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s:
   1. Reports of repairs at the property.
   2. Complaint.

 

Our decision (determination)

3. We found:
   1. Service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of repairs at the property.
   2. No maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

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

 

Summary of reasons

The response to reports of repairs

4. The landlord did not follow its repairs policy fully when responding to the resident’s reports of repairs. At stage 1, it acknowledged its failings and offered compensation to try and put things right. It later reviewed the case after our involvement and offered further compensation, but this was outside its internal complaints process.

Complaint handling

5. The landlord delayed its stage 2 acknowledgement to the resident. However, the impact of the delay was minimal on her and the landlord offered compensation to try and put things right.

 

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 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 23 April 2026
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident the total £450 compensation previously offered. The landlord must pay the resident directly and provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date. It may deduct from the total figure any payments it has already paid.	No later than 23 April 2026
3	Inspection order The resident said there are outstanding repairs at her property. The landlord must contact her to arrange an inspection of these. It must take all reasonable steps to ensure it is completed by the due date and by someone suitably qualified to complete an inspection of the type needed. If it cannot gain access for 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 the surveyor inspects the property and garden and produces a written report with photographs. The report must set out: 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 repair to the issue (if the landlord is responsible) the likely timescales to commence and complete the work	No later than 07 May 2026

 

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
21 February 2025	The resident complained to the landlord. She said she was unhappy it failed to stop the leak at her property.
24 March 2025	The landlord replied at stage 1 and apologised for its response to the leak in the kitchen cupboard. It said it had not raised the correct jobs and had tried to treat the damp and mould before fixing the leak. It apologised for the delay in responding to the garden repairs. It said the repair was rechargeable, but due to the delays and inconvenience caused, it would waiver the recharge. It upheld the complaint and offered £250 compensation broken down as: £150 for how it responded to the leak £100 for not carrying out a damp and mould wash after the leak repairs
22 May 2025	The resident escalated her complaint. She said she was unhappy with the repairs to her kitchen and the damage to her kitchen flooring.
18 July 2025	The landlord replied at stage 2 and said it found no new failings. It said the garden repairs had been completed and it had raised a new job to replace the kitchen flooring. It said it would measure and get a quote.
2 February 2026	After our involvement the landlord sent a review letter and offered the resident a further £250 compensation, broken down as: £150 for additional repair delays £50 for not addressing its failures in its stage 2 response £50 for the delay in acknowledging the stage 2 complaint
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident told us the landlord had not completed all repairs. She said she would like to be moved to a new 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	The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of repairs
Finding	Service failure

What we did not investigate

6. The resident has referred to the impact the situation has had on her health. It would be fairer, more reasonable and more effective for the resident to make a personal injury claim for any injury caused. 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. We have not investigated this further. We can decide if a landlord should pay compensation for distress and inconvenience.
7. The resident asked to be moved as an outcome of this case, but this is not something we are able to order. This is because this would be subject to the assessed bedroom requirements, availability of properties and the priority of other applicants.

What we did investigate

8. On 9 May 2024, the resident reported a repair to her garden fence to the landlord. She said the damage had been caused by one of her guests and she agreed it should recharge her for the repair. On 24 June and 9 August 2024, the landlord attended the property for the fence repair, and it marked it as complete.
9. On 25 September 2024, the resident reported a leak in her property and said the garden fence repair was not complete. The landlord attended the leak repair the same day and it replaced the kitchen tap. This was in line with its repairs policy which says it will attend an emergency repair within 24 hours. It says for other repairs it operates an appointment-based system. It says it will keep residents informed of timescales and progress of their repairs.
10. On 30 October 2024 the landlord inspected the garden repair. It raised follow-on repairs for around 4 weeks’ later however its notes say it was unable to complete the repair due to issues with the soil in the next doors garden.
11. On 5 November 2024, the resident reported water running down an internal wall and into a light switch. The landlord attended the same day as an emergency repair and this was in line with its policy. It confirmed the electrics had not been affected by the leak. On 8 November 2024, it told the resident it had raised an appointment on 25 November 2024 to take flooring up and locate the leak.
12. On 25 November 2024, the landlord attended the property. It said located the leak and replaced the silicone sealant around the shower tray to stop it.
13. On 3 February 2025, the resident reported a leak and mould in the kitchen. On 7 February 2025, the landlord completed a ventilation survey. It said it was unable to do a mould wash due to a dripping tap in the kitchen and units that needed to be removed to treat the mould.
14. The landlord attended the repair within its damp and mould policy time of 14-calendar days. The policy also says it will complete a ventilation assessment during the visit, which it did. However, the policy also says for damp and mould repairs it will send an action plan to the resident with the proposed works and times. The landlord did not do this and its lack of communication meant she was unclear what the next steps were and when these would happen.
15. On 7 February 2025, the landlord tried to carry out a mould wash at the property but it was unable to due to a kitchen pipe dripping. It raised a repair for the 10 February 2025 to fix this; however, the repair records do not show if this appointment took place.
16. On 21 February 2025, the resident submitted a complaint. She said she was unhappy the landlord had not resolved the leak. The resident reported the leak again on 22 February 2025. The landlord attended as an emergency repair and said it completed a temporary fix.
17. The landlord returned on 4 March 2025, but on 7 March 2025 the resident told it there was still a leak behind her kitchen cupboard. There is no evidence the landlord raised a repair for this which was a failing to meet its repair obligations and is likely to have caused frustration for the resident as the issue continued.
18. On 11 March 2025 the landlord emailed the resident and asked her what repairs were outstanding. The resident replied the next day and said the leak was ongoing. On 19 March 2025, it raised a repair to attend to the leak in 2 weeks’ time.
19. On 24 March 2025, the landlord replied at stage 1 of its complaints process. It acknowledged and apologised for the delay in resolving the leak and garden repair. It said it would not apply the recharge for the garden repairs because of the delay and inconvenience caused. This was reasonable. However, it did not provide timescales or an action plan following its ventilation assessment. This was a failing the landlord did not recognise. It offered £250 compensation to try to put things right. This was in line with its compensation policy which says for a medium impact on a resident it can offer between £101 to £600.
20. On 3 April 2025, the landlord found condensation in the kitchen units, but no leak. On 9 April 2025, the landlord completed the garden fence repair marked the resident’s garden fence repair as complete. This was around 12 months after she raised the repair.
21. On 13 May 2025, the landlord attended to remove the kitchen units and clean the mould, but it recorded no access. It rearranged the repair for 20 May 2025. It attended on 22 May 2025 however the landlord’s records do not show what was completed in this appointment and it raised follow-on repairs.
22. On 22 May 2025, the resident escalated her complaint and said she was unhappy with the kitchen leak repairs. On 1 July 2025, the landlord attended and said it resolved the leak in the kitchen and repaired the kitchen unit. It raised a follow-on repair to replace the damaged lino flooring in the kitchen.
23. On 5 July 2025, the landlord said it attended to get a quote to replace the resident’s damaged kitchen flooring, but she did not like the colours available and refused the repair.
24. On 18 July 2025, the landlord did not uphold the resident’s complaint as it said it found no new failings at stage 2. It failed to recognise the further delay of 4 months the resident experienced before the leak was resolved. It also did not recognise it had not kept the resident informed on the progress and times of repairs.
25. On 2 February 2026, the landlord sent a stage 2 review response to the resident. It identified further repair delays and offered an additional £200 compensation for not recognising these issues at stage 2. Its actions helped put things right for the resident. However, it did not fully acknowledge its failings or increase its offer of compensation until we accepted the case for investigation.
26. When a landlord has acknowledged failings, it is our role to consider whether the redress offered put things right for the resident. To do this we look at our dispute resolution principles; be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
27. In summary, the landlord delayed resolving the repairs for the resident and she continued to live with damp and mould. It did not give the resident timeframes or a breakdown of the repair works. These failures likely caused the resident frustration, distress and inconvenience.
28. The landlord identified some failings at stage 1 and tried to put things right by offering compensation. It decided not to recharge the resident for the garden repairs, even though she said the damage had been caused by one of her guests. However, it did not recognise it failed to keep the resident informed about timescales and the progress of her repairs.
29. At stage 2, the landlord did not acknowledge the repair delays. It later tried to put things right with a further offer of compensation, but this was after its internal complaints process and our involvement. Although we welcome the landlord revisiting the complaint, our outcomes guidance is clear, and we cannot record a finding of reasonable redress in these circumstances.
30. We have found service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s repairs. We have ordered it to apologise and pay the resident the total £450 compensation it had already offered. This sum recognises the distress and inconvenience caused by its response to her reports of repairs which was in line with the landlord’s compensation. It is also in line with our remedies guidance where there has been a failure and the landlord has made some attempts to put things right.

Complaint	The landlord’s response to the resident’s complaint
Finding	No maladministration

31. The landlord’s complaint policy at the time of the complaint complies with the definition of a complaint in the Code (April 2024). The timescales in the landlord’s complaint procedure complied with the Code.
32. At stage 1 the landlord responded within its policy times and the extension it requested. It’s stage 2 acknowledgement to the resident was delayed by around 3 days and it did not recognise this delay in its stage 2 response. Its stage 2 response was within its policy times and the extension it requested.
33. After our involvement, the landlord sent a complaint review response to the resident on 2 February 2026. It offered her £50 for the delay in acknowledging the stage 2 complaint. The £50 is in line with our remedies guidance for a minor failure, however, the delay and impact on the resident was minimal. While we welcome the landlord revisiting the complaint, our outcomes guidance is clear, and we cannot record a finding of reasonable redress in these circumstances.

 

Learning

34. The landlord must ensure it complies with its repairs and complaint handling policy times.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

35. In May 2023, we published a spotlight report on knowledge and information management. We expect landlords to keep a robust record of contacts and repairs. Clear, accurate and easily accessible records provide an audit train and help landlords identify and respond to problems when they arise.

Communication

36. The landlord’s communication with the resident in this case was detailed and friendly.
37. The landlord should keep residents informed of any delays. In this case there was no evidence to show it kept her updated about its actions or missed appointments. As outlined in the Ombudsman’s spotlight report on repairs complaints, we expect landlords to complete repairs within a reasonable time. What is reasonable will depend on the circumstances and the nature of the repair. Where there is a delay in completing repairs, we expect landlords to be proactive in communicating with residents and identifying what it can do to mitigate the impact of delays on residents.