Lewisham Council (202207293)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202207293

Lewisham Council

14 February 2023

 

Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:

a)     The resident’s reports of damp and mould.

b)     The associated formal complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. In December 2021, the resident complained about damp and mould in her property. On 6 January 2022 the landlord raised an order for mould treatments to be carried out in two bedrooms, the hallway, and the lounge, along with the installation of fans to assist with the mould. The landlord attended on 19 January 2022 to carry out the mould washes, but no fans were installed. During its visit, the landlord identified additional follow-up work to be completed in the property, which included:

a)     The hall and lounge be redecorated.

b)     Grout bathroom tiles.

c)     Install a new bath panel.

d)     Seal windows in lounge, bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom.

  1. The resident contacted the landlord on a number of occasions between January and March 2022 as she had not been contacted about any of the follow-up work.
  2. The landlord responded to the resident’s complaint (at stage two of its complaint process) on 17 March 2022. It apologised for its failure to provide a stage one response, and also apologised to the resident for delays in completing the follow-up work, saying that this had been due to a technical issue which meant the order had not been processed, but it had now been approved. The landlord also said that an order was raised on 26 February 2022 for the skylight and roof to be assessed, and it was awaiting feedback on this. The landlord awarded the resident £150 compensation in recognition of its failure to progress the repairs and the inconvenience that this had caused.
  3. The Ombudsman understands that some works such as external re-pointing, a mould wash, and a roof inspection, were carried out over the next month, although there are no records of these attendances.
  4. In the meantime, the resident escalated the complaint to the final stage of the landlord’s complaint process, the Independent Adjudicator. The resident set out the delays that she had experienced with the works, and noted that a surveyor was due to inspect on 13 April 2022, but had not arrived.
  5. In their final response dated May 2022, the Independent Adjudicator found that, ‘There had clearly been delays and communication failings’. They concluded that it was reasonable that the resident did not want any internal decorations carried out until the cause of the damp and mould had been identified and addressed. They recommended that the landlord:

a)     Apologise.

b)     Award an additional £100 compensation.

c)     Provide the resident a date by which it would complete all the works specified in the variation order.

d)     Arrange a joint site visit with contractors to decide the next steps, which may need to be followed by a specialist survey, giving that the ongoing problem was not apparently due to issues with the roof.

  1. The resident referred the complaint to this Service in July 2022 because, whilst she was satisfied with the Independent Adjudicator’s response, the landlord had not carried out the recommendations, and the issue was ongoing. As a resolution, the resident would like the landlord to identify the cause of the damp and mould, sufficiently treat this and complete any remedial works required.
  2. More recently, the resident has advised the Ombudsman that the landlord attended the property on 30 November 2022 to install thermal boarding in the hallway, and that on 9 December 2022, the landlord advised her that a dehumidifying system needed to be installed upstairs and an extractor fan in the kitchen. The resident states that this work has not taken place.

Assessment and findings

Policy and procedure

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy set out that it would attend to routine (non-urgent) repairs within 20 working days, although recognised that completion of work may fall outside of this timescale in some cases, for example where completing follow-up work that could not be achieved in a single visit, or where inspections were required to make a diagnosis.
  2. The landlord’s complaint policy sets out a three stage process. At stage one the landlord would send a response within 10 working days. At stage two a review of the actions and decisions taken at stage one would be carried out to check that they were thorough, reasonable and fair, and a response sent within 20 working days. At stage three, an Independent Adjudicator would determine whether something had gone wrong and the resident suffered as a result, and aim to put things right by recommending a suitable remedy.

Damp and mould

  1. As part of this investigation, the Ombudsman asked the landlord for information relating to this repair, including copies of any survey or inspection reports, correspondence or notices sent to the resident concerning the findings, records of dates the property was attended and an explanation of works completed at each visit, and confirmation that the issue has now been resolved (or details of any outstanding repairs and any plan in place to resolve these). Very little information has been provided, and notably, the landlord has not confirmed whether or not the issue has been resolved.
  2. From the information that is available, it appears that when damp and mould was reported, the landlord attended within a reasonable time frame. Due to follow-up works and inspections required the repair was not completed within 20 working days, which was in line with the information set out in its repair policy. However, the landlord should have progressed the follow-on works promptly, and kept the resident updated on progress. The resident’s contact with the landlord between January 2022 and March 2022 indicates that this did not happen.
  3. The landlord subsequently acknowledged its failing to action the follow-on works in its 17 March 2022 complaint response, apologised for this, offered £150 in compensation, and assurances that the repairs would now be progressed. This was a reasonable response to the matter and would have provided an appropriate resolution, had the source of the damp and mould been fully addressed and any follow-on repairs completed in a timely manner.
  4. While it seems that some works did go ahead following in April 2022 (although as noted in the background section, there is no record of these), the works identifiedon 19 January 2022 do not appear to have been carried out, and it is unclear whether or not the landlord considered that it had identified and addressed the source of the damp and mould by this point.
  5. In May 2022 the Independent Adjudicator upheld the resident’s complaint and set out the actions that the landlord should take to resolve the failings identified, and the date that this should be done by, as per the complaints policy. As such, the landlord should have completed these actions by the date set. There is no indication that this occurred, and no evidence of any inspections or repairs being carried out in the following months. This was a failing on the part of the landlord to ‘put things right’ for the resident. This has led to further time and trouble to the resident in pursuing the matter.  As noted in the background section, the resident has advised the Ombudsman of works undertaken at the end of 2022, but has said that these remain incomplete. It is unclear how these works relate to the actions set out in the Independent Adjudicator’s final response.
  6. The Housing Ombudsman’s Spotlight on Damp & Mould report (2021) notes that it is imperative that residents are not left living with damp and mould for an extended period. If damp and mould is not dealt with at the earliest opportunity this will likely increase the frustration and discomfort of the resident and can lead to problems worsening and becoming more complex and intrusive to resolve. This reinforces the importance of focussing on an accurate diagnosis at an early stage, along with clear record keeping so that progress can be monitored. Landlords should recognise that issues can have an ongoing detrimental impact on the health and well-being of the resident and should therefore be responded to in a timely manner. This does not appear to have occurred in this case.
  7. Orders are made below to address the failings identified above. The compensation ordered is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance (which can be found on our website), which suggests awards of £100 and over where the landlord has acknowledged failings and made some attempt to put things right, but failed to address the detriment to the resident.

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord’s complaints policy states that it should provide a stage one response within ten working days of the complaint being raised. In this case the resident raised a formal complaint on 14 December 2021, and no stage one response was ever provided. This is in direct contrast to the landlord’s complaint handling policy and the Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code (which can be found on our website).
  2. In addition, as the landlord did not provide the resident with a stage one response, it did not seek to resolve the complaint at the earliest stage possible. This Service’s Complaints Handling Code states that a complaint should be resolved at the earliest opportunity presented to the landlord.
  3. The resident also had an unnecessary level of involvement in the progress of the complaint process. The resident had to contact the landlord on at least four separate occasions to receive a response to her complaint. This is not reasonable as the landlord should take ownership of the complaint and act in accordance with its complaint handling policy. This level of involvement and need to repeatedly contact the landlord to escalate her complaint would have inevitably caused distress and inconvenience to the resident. Finally, as noted above, the landlord failed to carry out the actions to resolve the failings identified as set out in the final response to the complaint.
  4. In light of the impact these failings had on the resident, an order for compensation is made below, along with an order to address the complaint handling failures themselves.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the reports of damp and mould in the property.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the associated formal complaint.

Orders

  1. Within four weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must:

a)     Pay the resident a total of £550 compensation, comprised of £400 in relation to the handling of the damp and mould, and £150 for the poor complaint handling. If any amount of compensation previously offered via the complaint process has already been paid (for example the £150 offered in the March 2022 stage two response), it can be deducted from this total.

b)     Write to the resident, copying in the Ombudsman, confirming whether the source of the damp and mould has been identified and fully addressed.

  1. If it has, the landlord should also identify and confirm any further works that remain outstanding, for example internal redecoration and the ventilation installation referred to by the resident, and the date that these will be complete, which should be within a further four weeks.
  2. If it has not, the landlord should arrange for a surveyor to attend the property and determine whether damp and mould is present, and if so, what actions are required to address this. Any recommendations made by the surveyor should be carried out within a further four weeks.

c)     Review the handling of the formal complaint, to identify the reasons for the failings with this as set out in this report, and the actions that have been/will be taken to prevent a recurrence of these in the future. The landlord should then write to the Ombudsman detailing the outcome of the review.