bpha Limited (202433297)

Decision
Case ID	202433297
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	bpha Limited
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	16 December 2025

Background

The resident lives in a house. During the complaint process she told the landlord that one of her children had a diagnosis of asthma. The property has a mechanical ventilation system which extracts air from the kitchen and bathroom. The resident complained that this was not working and that there was mould in her bathroom as a result.

What the complaint is about

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of a defective ventilation system and the associated damp and mould.
We have also investigated the landlord’s response to the associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

We have found that:
1. There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the defective ventilation system and associated damp and mould.
2. There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

There was a delay of over 2 years in the landlord rectifying the issue with the ventilation system. During this time the bathroom had inadequate ventilation which caused damp and mould.
There were delays in the complaint handling process and the landlord did not escalate the complaint to stage 2 when asked. It also failed to follow remedies offered at stage 1 of the complaints process through to completion.

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 13 January 2026
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £1,100 made up as follows: £950 for the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience caused by its handling of the defective ventilation system and resulting damp and mould. £150 for the time, trouble, 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 made.	No later than 13 January 2026
3	Inspection Order The landlord must consider if the current circumstances in the resident’s home amount to a potential emergency or a potential significant hazard. If the circumstances could be, it must investigate in line with the provisions of the Hazards in Social Housing (Prescribed Requirements) (England) Regulations 2025. It must take all reasonable steps to ensure that the inspection is completed by the due date or within the relevant prescribed requirement if it believes Awaab’s law applies. The inspection must be completed by a suitably qualified surveyor. 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. The landlord must ensure that the surveyor inspects the bathroom for any concerns with the ventilation, damp, and mould, and produce a written report with photographs. The survey report must set out: Whether there is an emergency or significant hazard – based on the conditions in the property and the household’s health and circumstances. Whether the property is fit for human habitation and whether there are any hazards. The most likely cause of any damp and mould. A full scope of works to achieve a lasting and effective repair and resolution to the issues (if the landlord is responsible). The likely timescales to commence and complete the work. The landlord must ensure it provides the resident and the Ombudsman with a copy of its report by the due date (or within 3 working days of the date its investigation is concluded, if it finds Awaab’s law applies).	No later than 20 January 2026
4	The landlord must ensure that any outstanding redecoration works associated with this complaint are completed by the due date.	No later than 03 February 2026

Recommendations

Our recommendations are not binding, and a landlord may decide not to follow them.

Our recommendations
The landlord should ensure that it has included the ventilation system on a programme for servicing on a regular basis including regular changing of filters.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
19 December 2023	The resident complained that: She had raised a repair request for her bathroom over a year previously. The mould and condition of her bathroom had worsened over this time. Her son had developed asthma during this period and had difficulty breathing. She had inspected the ventilation unit in the loft and found it was not working. The filters were thick with mould and the pipes were not connected to the unit. 6 people lived in the property with 1 bathroom that had no window.
20 December 2023	The landlord acknowledged receipt of the complaint.
10 January 2024	The landlord provided a stage 1 complaint response. It said that: it apologised for the inconvenience she had experienced and for not providing the required level of service. She had first reported the issue on 9 February 2022. It inspected the bathroom on 16 March 2022 and raised repair jobs to complete a mould treatment, install a roof vent, and fit an extractor fan in the bathroom. However, for several reasons it had only completed the mould wash and the remaining jobs were still outstanding. It had now raised a repair job to install a new heat recovery unit which was on order. It would check with her following fitting to make sure she was happy with it. It offered a goodwill gesture of £250 compensation.
8 March 2024	The resident asked the landlord to escalate the complaint. She said that the contractor had still not fitted the new heat recovery unit and the property still had inadequate ventilation.
15 April 2024	Following further contact from the resident, the landlord escalated the complaint to stage 2 of the complaints process.
17 April 2024	The landlord acknowledged receipt of the escalation request.
5 June 2024	The landlord provided a stage 2 complaint response. It said that: It had instructed a surveyor and plumber to attend the property to carry out water tests in the bathroom on 14 May 2024. They found no issues. A contractor was scheduled to fit the heat recovery unit on the same day. However, the unit did not arrive in time and was finally fitted on 21 May 2024.
Referral to the Ombudsman	In November 2024 the resident told us that the damp and mould treatment and the redecoration of the bathroom ceiling were not yet complete. She also advised us about a leak affecting a living room ceiling and other plumbing issues. However, we have not been able to investigate these as they were not part of this complaint. When we spoke to the resident in December 2025, she told us that the landlord had completed the mould treatment on the bathroom ceiling 2 weeks previously. However, there is still some mould in the bathroom.

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	Ventilation system and mould
Finding	Maladministration

The resident described the effect the leak had on her mental health. The Ombudsman does not doubt her comments but in accordance with our Scheme we cannot decide whether there was a direct link between the landlord’s actions and her or her families’ health. She may wish to take legal advice regarding this. However, we have considered whether she experienced any general distress because of any errors made by the landlord.
The landlord’s repair’s policy says that it aims to attend and complete routine repairs within 28 calendar days.
The resident first reported that there was an issue with the ventilation and damp and mould in the bathroom on 9 February 2022. The landlord attended on 16 March 2022 and decided to install a separate extractor fan in the bathroom to rectify this. This meant that it also had to fit a new roof vent tile prior to fitting the new extractor fan.
An operative attended the property on 8 April 2022 to install the roof vent. However, they could not fit the vent because the pitch of the roof was too steep meaning that scaffolding was required. This oversight at the initial inspection led to further delays. It is unclear from the evidence provided when the contractor fitted the vent tile but a note dated 1 December 2022 said that the work was complete. However, there is no evidence that the landlord communicated this to the contractor that was due to fit the extractor fan. This lack of communication caused further delays which cost the resident time and trouble because she called the landlord during this time to chase the repair.
On 13 December 2022, the landlord raised a further repair job to fit an extractor fan. However, when a contractor attended on 9 January 2023, they told the landlord that there were issues with the ventilation system, with incorrectly fitted ducting and the unit being overdue for its annual service.
The landlord then raised another repairs job on 16 January 2023 to repair and service the ventilation unit. There is a note attached to this job dated 15 September 2023. This says that the contractor sent a report about the issue to a member of the landlord’s staff. However, the landlord has told us that it cannot locate the report because the staff member has since left the organisation. This error caused further delays and means that we do not have all the information available to see why the contractor did not complete the work at that time.
The landlord raised another repair job to replace the extractor fan in the bathroom on 8 November 2023. However, instead a contractor that attended on 19 December 2023 ordered a replacement unit for the existing ventilation system. A contractor finally fitted this on 21 May 2024 which was 2 years and 3 months after the resident first reported the issue. This unacceptable delay caused the resident significant distress and inconvenience. This is evident from the notes taken by the landlord about phone calls she made to it.
During this time the bathroom had inadequate ventilation. It has no window and is the only bathroom in the property which is used by 6 people. This caused damp conditions and mould growth, particularly on the ceiling. There is evidence that the landlord completed mould treatments on 20 July 2022, and during November 2023. However, as it had not resolved the cause of the issue the mould returned. This meant that the resident and her family were living with mould on the ceiling for lengthy periods which caused her considerable distress, especially considering that she also advised the landlord that one of her children had developed asthma and had breathing difficulties.
The landlord has told us that it introduced a new damp and mould procedure in 2024 and provided a damp and mould policy which came into effect in January 2024. Therefore, it has updated its approach to damp and mould since the time of this complaint. Our spotlight report on damp and mould of 2021 said that landlords should ensure that their responses to reports of damp and mould are timely and reflect the urgency of the issue. In this case the landlord failed to respond and rectify the issue appropriately.
The landlord advised that some of the delays were caused by contractors being unable to access the property. We have seen evidence that this was the case on a few occasions over the course of the issue. However, it did not have a major impact on the delays.
In summary, there was a delay of over 2 years in the landlord rectifying the issue with the ventilation system. This caused damp and mould in the bathroom. There was no oversight of the issue with different ideas for a solution to the problem and communication issues adding to the delays. The landlord offered £250 compensation at stage 1 of the complaints process. However, we do not consider that this reflects the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience caused to the resident. We have therefore ordered it to pay £950 compensation to reflect this. As we are unsure if the landlord has completely resolved the damp and mould, we have also ordered it to complete a further inspection, further details are in the orders section above.
The landlord has advised us that since the complaint it now logs all repairs on 1 system. This includes repairs by external contractors. We recognise that this may assist with some of the issues identified in this case. However, we have noted some learning points below which it should consider to ensure that this has resolved the failings identified.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Maladministration

The landlord’s complaint policy in place at the time said that it would respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days of acknowledgment and stage 2 complaints within 20 working days of an appeal panel hearing which it would hold within 20 working days. This was not in line with our complaint handling code (the Code) which said that stage 2 complaints must be responded to within 20 working days. The landlord’s complaint policy has since been updated and is now in line with the Code.
The landlord took 13 working days to respond to the stage 1 complaint and 34 working days to respond to the stage 2 complaint and we have seen no evidence that the landlord kept the resident updated during this time. This delay and failure to follow the Code meant that the resident was waiting longer for a resolution which caused her distress and inconvenience. It also delayed her access to an investigation by this Service.
The resident clearly asked the landlord to escalate the complaint to stage 2 of the complaints process on 8 March 2024. However, the landlord did not do so until 17 April 2024. This further delay cost the resident time and trouble contacting the landlord and also caused her further distress and inconvenience. It also further delayed her access to an investigation by us.
The Code also says that any remedies offered to resolve complaints must be followed through to completion.
In this case in the stage 1 complaint response the landlord promised to chase the contractors for updates and ensure that the work was completed to the resident’s satisfaction. However, it did not do so which cost the resident further time and trouble escalating the complaint to stage 2 of the process and contacting us for assistance.
In summary, there were delays in the complaint handling process and the landlord did not escalate the complaint to stage 2 when asked. It also failed to follow through remedies to completion. Therefore, there was maladministration in its handling of the complaint and we have ordered it to pay £150 for the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience this caused the resident.

Learning

General

The landlord should ensure that it does not raise multiple repair jobs with differing solutions to the repair issue.
The landlord should consider why there was a lack of communication between departments or contractors following completion of the roof vent.
The landlord should ensure that it does not routinely decline complaint escalation requests.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

The landlord should ensure that staff attach all information received, such as reports, to the relevant system. This is to ensure that if they leave the organisation this information is still available.

Communication

The landlord failed to communicate well with the resident regarding the ongoing repair.