Haringey London Borough Council (202425243)
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Decision |
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Case ID |
202425243 |
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Decision type |
Investigation |
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Landlord |
Haringey London Borough Council |
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Landlord type |
Local Authority / ALMO or TMO |
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Occupancy |
Leaseholder |
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Date |
12 December 2025 |
Background
- The resident reported that there was a leak coming into their property from the neighbour’s balcony. They said during that time they had a heart condition and surgery. They were dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and referred the complaint to us.
What the complaint is about
- The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
- Report of a leak in the property and subsequent damp and mould.
- Complaint.
Our decision (determination)
- We have found there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
- Report of a leak in the property, and subsequent damp and mould.
- Complaint.
We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.
Summary of reasons
Report of a leak in the property and subsequent damp and mould
- The landlord delayed following the terms of the lease and its repair policy to remedy the leak and start an insurance claim for the subsequent damage in the property. It had not triaged the leak to understand the timescale to respond, there were excessive delays to inspect and repair the leak and poor communication with the resident. There was no meaningful redress to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused.
The complaint
- The landlord delayed providing a complaint response to the resident. It acknowledged poor communication and investigation of the complaint but had not offered compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident.
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.
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Order |
What the landlord must do |
Due date |
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1 |
Apology order The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure:
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No later than 09 January 2026 |
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2 |
Compensation The landlord must pay the resident £700 made up as follows:
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 paid. |
No later than 09 January 2026 |
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3 |
Learning order The landlord must write to the resident and set out what it has learnt from the failures identified in this report and what actions it will take to prevent the same failures from happening again in the future. |
No later than 09 January 2026 |
Our investigation
The complaint procedure
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Date |
What happened |
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18 April 2023 |
The resident reported a leak from their neighbour’s property, which they said caused damage to their kitchen. |
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4 May 2023 |
The landlord visited the neighbour’s property. It could not find a leak but identified an issue with condensation. |
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Between 5 May 2023 and 26 September 2023 |
The resident continued to report a leak into their property. The landlord said it had tried to visit the resident, but there was no answer and so it closed the report of a leak. |
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24 May 2024 |
The resident complained to the landlord that it had not repaired the leak into their property for over a year. |
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17 June 2024 |
The landlord’s stage 1 response explained it had not found a leak when it inspected the neighbour’s property. It did not uphold the complaint. |
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6 September 2024 |
The resident escalated the complaint. They said the landlord could not find them on their system, they had not received call backs, and the landlord had not visited the property when it said it would. They had found this exhausting and the leak and damp was affecting their health. |
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13 December 2024 |
The landlord apologised for the delay to respond to the complaint and addressing the leak and damp at the property. It acknowledged it had initially inspected the wrong property after the leak was reported. It had since found a leak in the resident’s property from the balcony roof and repaired that on 2 October 2024. It set out learnings that it should identify leaks and respond to complaints sooner. It referred the resident to its insurers for damage to their property and belongings. |
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Referral to the Ombudsman |
The resident referred the complaint to us as they wanted the landlord to take accountability, learn from what happened, and pay compensation. |
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.
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Complaint |
The report of a leak in the property and subsequent damp and mould |
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Finding |
Maladministration |
- The lease sets out the landlord is responsible to maintain, renew and repair the structure of the building, including the roof. It specifies that the landlord arranges insurance for risks it thinks it needs to cover, as agreed with the insurer. If there is damage to the building and subsequent damage to fixtures and fittings, a claim should be made.
- The resident reported a leak into their property from the balcony roof above them on multiple occasions. They reported that the leak caused the walls to swell and damage the kitchen. They raised a complaint about it and escalated it before the landlord inspected the issue.
- It had taken 15 months for the landlord to investigate and find there was a severe leak, as well as mould and degradation of the kitchen wall. This was not in line with the lease to maintain the roof. It was also not in line with its repair policy which sets out it would understand the severity of the leak and repair it either within 24 hours or 28 working days it. The delay was inappropriate, excessive and meant the resident had to live in a property with an active leak.
- The resident said they were up at night collecting rainwater from the leak. They had contacted the landlord’s insurer and was told it was waiting for the landlord to confirm the leak was repaired. The resident said they were managing a heart condition at the time and found the situation stressful. The delay to inspect and remedy the issue caused distress and inconvenience to the resident.
- After the landlord’s inspection, it was recommended to repair the leak from the balcony roof and make good the damage to the kitchen walls and damp and mould behind the kitchen units.
- The resident felt they had to chase the landlord about the issue before it repaired the leak on 2 October 2024. It had taken the landlord over 17 months to repair the leak. This was inappropriate, not in line with its repair policy and the lease. It had also delayed the next steps to make an insurance claim to be considered by the insurer.
- In the landlord’s complaint response, it acknowledged it had not inspected the leak around the time it was reported. It said it had learnt from this and would find issues sooner and better communicate with residents. In line with the lease, it provided its insurance details to make a claim for the damage caused to the property and the resident’s belongings. It had not offered redress for its handling of the leak, the subsequent delay for an insurance claim to be made, and the impact on the resident.
- Based on our investigation, we found failures, outlined in the Summary of Reasons section of this report, that the landlord did not recognise. This was not in line with our Dispute Resolution Principles, which require landlords to be fair, put things right, and learn from outcomes.
- We have made orders to put things right in line with our Dispute Resolution Principles. We have made an order for the landlord to apologise and set out learnings for the failures recognised in this report. We have also made an order to pay compensation to the resident in line with our remedies guidance for the failures which have had an impact on the resident. In this case, the resident said they lived in the property for over 12 months whilst the issues were ongoing and had to chase the landlord about it. They said this was stressful whilst handling their heart condition and surgery.
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Complaint |
The handling of the complaint |
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Finding |
Maladministration |
- Our Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out when and how a landlord should respond to complaints. The relevant Code in this case is the 2024 edition.
- The landlord has a 2-stage complaint process. It aims to acknowledge stage 1 complaints within 5 working days and the resident should receive a stage 1 response within 10 working days. At stage 2, the resident should receive a formal response within 20 working days.
- The landlord provided a copy of the acknowledgement of the complaint and the resident’s escalation of the complaint. However, the acknowledgement emails were undated. The resident chased the landlord for a stage 2 response, and it set out 4 times that it needed an extension. It provided a stage 2 response on 13 December 2024.
- The undated evidence was a failure of the landlord’s record keeping and has made it difficult to assess if it had responded to the complaint, and escalation of the complaint, in line with its policy and the Code. This was unreasonable.
- In the landlord’s complaint response, it apologised for its delay to respond to the complaint, that it had not provided regular updates about it, and that it had not properly investigated the case when it provided the stage 1 response. However, it did not offer redress for the distress and inconvenience caused. This was not in line with its compensation policy.
- We have made orders to put things right which includes compensation in line with our remedies guidance and the landlord’s compensation policy for the distress and inconvenience caused for its complaint handling failures.
Learning
Knowledge information management (record keeping)
- Our Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) Spotlight report recommends that landlords should keep clear records, monitor progress, and update the resident. Landlords who keep accurate records can meet their obligations and provide us with the necessary information for a thorough investigation
- The landlord had not provided clear evidence of all records about the complaint such as the date the acknowledgement letters were sent to the resident. At times, this has impacted our ability to assess its actions.
Communication
- The landlord failed to communicate proactively with the resident about the reports of a leak and damage to the property and their subsequent complaint. This likely contributed to their distress when expecting responses to their reports and the complaint.