GreenSquareAccord Limited (202339998)

Decision
Case ID	202339998
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	GreenSquareAccord Limited
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	17 December 2025

Background

The resident raised the issue of damp and mould at the property, particularly in his son’s bedroom, between 2019 and 2023. The landlord attended on several occasions within this period and undertook some repair work. It fully rectified the issue in March 2023.

What the complaint is about

The complaint is about the landlord’s response to reports of damp and mould at the property.
We have also investigated the landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

We have found there was maladministration in the landlord’s response to reports of damp and mould at the property.
The landlord made a reasonable offer of redress in its complaint handling.

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

Summary of reasons

Response to reports of damp and mould

The landlord provided proportionate redress and accepted responsibility for failures spanning November 2019 to March 2023. However, it failed to acknowledge that the resident first reported the issue in February 2019. This oversight caused frustration and delays for the resident that went unacknowledged in the complaint responses.

Complaint handling

It apologised and offered the resident compensation in line with its policy. The landlord’s compensation offer was fair and satisfactorily resolved the complaint.

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 specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic. It has due regard to our apologies guidance.	No later than 21 January 2026
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £250 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s failing in its response to reports of damp and mould at the property. 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 finding of maladministration is based on the fact that the landlord has already paid the resident the £6626.25 offered within the internal complaints procedure.	21 January 2026

Order

What the landlord must do

Due date

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 specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic.
It has due regard to our apologies guidance.

No later than

21 January 2026

Compensation order

The landlord must pay the resident £250 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s failing in its response to reports of damp and mould at the property.

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 finding of maladministration is based on the fact that the landlord has already paid the resident the £6626.25 offered within the internal complaints procedure.

21 January 2026

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
February 2019	The resident reported mould in the front bedroom. The landlord inspected in March 2019. Following the inspection, it advised the resident to stop drying his clothes upstairs, raised a job to renew tiles on the roof and noted that the radiators were not working properly.
November 2019 to March 2023	In response to the resident’s continued reports, the landlord undertook several surveys and repairs, including a roof replacement in 2021. Despite this, the bedroom and bathroom continued to show signs of damp. After correspondence from the local Councillor, the landlord completed final works to put things right in March 2023.
8 June 2023	The resident raised a complaint. He was dissatisfied with the length of time it took the landlord to resolve the damp and mould.
14 August 2023	The landlord upheld the complaint on the basis that it took 7 months, between August 2022 and March 2023, for it to rectify the damp and mould. It said its communication was poor. It offered the resident £670 compensation broken down into: £350 for the delay in arranging an inspection. £70 for the lack of communication and updates. £250 for distress and inconvenience.
19 October 2023	The resident escalated his complaint via his local Councillor. He said: It took 5 years for the landlord to rectify the damp and mould, during which time he was in regular contact with the landlord. By January 2023 there was black mould throughout the property. His son’s clothes and belongings were covered in damp. He said the damage to the walls was such that the wall could not support a curtain rail. He had been diagnosed with asthma because of the damp. The family stayed in the property whilst repairs were completed, they should have been offered temporary accommodation. He wanted £29,843 compensation comprised of a 5-year full rent rebate, the cost of redecoration for the affected bedroom, and the cost of replacement of damaged clothing.
13 November 2023	The landlord issued its final response. It upheld the complaint and said it acknowledged that the resident first reported damp and mould in November 2019. It made a revised compensation offer of £6626.25 broken down into: £5,733.25 for the loss of enjoyment of 3 rooms within the resident’s home: the bathroom, toilet and one bedroom (30% usage) between November 2019 and March 2023. £600 to replace the damaged clothing. £200 for laminate flooring as per its compensation policy. £93 for redecoration materials.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident asked us to investigate. He would like a higher offer of compensation. He said his family went through “torture” for the 5 years the damp and mould went untreated. He said his son’s mental health suffered. He said he developed asthma because of the landlord’s inaction.

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 reports of damp and mould at the property
Finding	Maladministration

What we cannot consider

The resident said he developed asthma in the period under investigation. We are unable to determine the precise cause of the illness. This matter would be more appropriately addressed by the courts, which have access to comprehensive medical reports and expert testimony. However, we have considered any distress and inconvenience likely caused to the resident.

What we have considered

The evidence shows that the landlord responded to the resident’s first report of damp and mould in February 2019 by inspecting the property in March 2019 and advising him not to dry clothes upstairs. It identified faulty radiators and raised a job to re-bed loose tiles in the gable end of the roof. However, the roof repair was cancelled after an April 2019 inspection found cracks but nothing that would “cause problems.”
While it was appropriate for the landlord to inspect the roof and fair of it to rely on a qualified contractor’s advice, its record-keeping and communication were poor. There is no evidence that it repaired the radiators or that it informed the resident that the roof repair was closed. Given that the roof was found to be in working order, it may have put things right for the resident sooner if the landlord had continued to liaise with the resident to establish the cause of the damp.
The resident continued to report leaks and damp and mould between November 2019 and March 2023. It was reasonable for the landlord to have accepted full responsibility for failing to rectify the damp within despite having completed several inspections this period in the stage 2 complaint response. Its calculation for compensation of rent was in line with its compensation policy which recommended each room represented 10% of the rent for cases with severe damp.
It was also fair for the landlord to have offered the resident the total amount of compensation he requested in the complaint escalation for the replacement of his son’s belongings and redecoration materials. It offered the resident £50 more than the £150 he requested for the replacement of the laminate flooring, in accordance with the cost of floor replacement its compensation policy. It was appropriate for the landlord to meaningfully reflect on its failings, take responsibility and attempt to put things right for the resident.
However, in the stage 2 complaint response, the landlord said the resident first raised damp and mould in November 2019. As evidenced above, the records show the resident raised it 9 months before this, in February 2019. The resident said that the length of time it took for the landlord to take responsibility and address the problem, as well as having to repeatedly report it, caused him distress. We have therefore found maladministration in the landlord’s response to reports of damp and mould.
The survey photographs from 2019 show the damp as mild in severity when compared with the survey photographs from 2022. In line with our remedies guidance, we have made an additional compensation order of £250, rather than a direct rent repayment calculation for use of the bedroom.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Reasonable redress

The landlord acknowledged the Stage 1 complaint 6 working days outside the timeframe outlined in the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code).It issued its stage 1 response 28 days beyond the timeframe. The landlord apologised and explained that it was managing a high volume of complaints. It was appropriate and in line with our dispute resolution principles to ‘put things right’ that the landlord accepted responsibility and provided a reason for the delays.
The landlord responded at stage 2 appropriately and within the timeframes prescribed in the Code.
Our guidance on remedies suggests that an apology may remedy a failure which may not have significantly affected the overall outcome for the resident. When considering the length of the delay, we consider that the landlord’s apology resolved the complaint. This leads to a determination of reasonable redress in relation to the landlord’s complaint handling.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

The landlord kept appropriate records about its contact with the resident and the decisions it made in this case. We have not identified any issues with the landlord’s record keeping.

Communication

The communication with the resident was poor and led to confusion, stress and delays in getting the matter resolved. The landlord may wish to consider lessons that could be learned from our spotlight report on dealing with damp and mould, published in October 2021.