London Borough of Ealing (202411436)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202411436

London Borough of Ealing

31 July 2025

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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of reports of damp and mould throughout the property, and associated repairs.
The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Background

The resident occupies the property, a 2 bedroom first floor flat, under a secure tenancy. The resident has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and lives at the property with her son.
On 4 January 2023 the resident told the landlord she did not want to proceed with the planned replacement of her kitchen and bathroom due to damp in the property. On 6 June 2023 the landlord arranged for a mould wash to be carried out at the property. On 22 September 2023 the resident contacted the landlord to report there was still damp and mould in her property.
On 4 March 2024 the landlord’s surveyor inspected the property and identified works which needed to be completed to rectify the damp and mould at the property.
The resident contacted the Ombudsman in June 2024. She said she had complained to the landlord in December 2023, but had not received a response.
The Ombudsman wrote to the landlord on 19 June 2024 to request a response to the resident’s complaint. The Ombudsman told the landlord the resident’s complaint was about its handling of reports of repairs for damp and mould throughout the property and associated repairs for the property rendering and kitchen.
The landlord issued a stage 1 complaint response on 22 July 2024. It apologised for the delay and any inconvenience caused to the resident and said it needed to improve its communication with residents. It said its surveyor had said the resident had refused some of the ventilation works at the property. It said it would contact the resident to arrange an inspection of works carried out so far by its contractor, and once the issue with the outside wall had been rectified, it would ask its Asset Management Team to contact the resident about replacing her kitchen and bathroom.
The resident asked to escalate her complaint on 2 and 3 September 2024. She said the damp and mould was getting worse and she had been complaining for years but nothing was getting done. She said the landlord had only replaced the extractor fan in the kitchen and changed the fascia on two breeze blocks. She said the whole of the outside of the flat needed to be stripped and re-rendered. She said the reason she had refused a new kitchen in January 2023 was because she could not see the point in having a new kitchen, then having to have it pulled out again because of the damp coming straight through. She told the landlord she could not use the cupboards in the kitchen because she had black mould. She said the mould was all over the kitchen, in the cupboards, on the ceiling and on the walls in the hallway and in the bathroom. She said her son’s bedroom was also damp. She asked if a senior surveyor could come and help to resolve the issue as she felt like no progress was being made.
The landlord issued a stage 2 complaint response on 31 October 2024. It said it partially upheld the resident’s complaint. It said the resident had refused ventilation works, and its surveyor had tried to contact the resident on several occasions but had been unsuccessful. The landlord said it had contacted the resident on 31 October 2024 on the telephone numbers it held for the resident but was unable to get through. It said it would visit on 7 November 2024 to inspect the works and assess the kitchen.
The resident confirmed she wanted the Ombudsman to investigate her case. She said the repairs remained outstanding and there was still damp and mould at the property. She wanted the landlord to complete the external repairs, treat the damp and mould, and then complete the necessary refurbishments to her kitchen and bathroom.
After the stage 2 complaint response, the landlord arranged a further damp and mould survey in April 2025. The report confirmed the previous findings in July 2024, that repairs to the render were required. In email correspondence to this Service dated 16 July 2025, the landlord confirmed the repairs to the render remain outstanding.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

The resident has said she is concerned that the ongoing problem with damp and mould at the property may have exacerbated her COPD symptoms. It is outside the Ombudsman’s remit to establish whether there is a direct link between the actions or inaction of the landlord and the effect on the resident’s health. These matters are better suited to a court or liability insurer to determine.
We have, however, considered the general distress and inconvenience which the situation may have caused the resident, as well as the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about her health.
The resident has said that there is a long history of damp being reported to the landlord by the resident. However, this investigation has primarily focussed on the events that led to the resident’s complaint in December 2023, until the landlord’s stage 2 response on 31 October 2024. This is because residents are expected to raise complaints with their landlords, and with this Service, in a timely manner, so issues can be considered while the evidence is available to reach an informed conclusion on the events that occurred.

The landlord’s handling of reports of damp and mould throughout the property and associated repairs

Under the terms of the tenancy agreement, the landlord must keep the structure and outside of the property in good repair.
The landlord’s repairs policy states routine repairs should be completed within 28 working days, and the landlord will prioritise repairs according to resident needs.
The Ombudsman’s Spotlight Report on Damp and Mould (published October 2021) provided recommendations for landlords, including that they should:
1. Adopt a zero-tolerance approach to damp and mould interventions. Landlords should review their current strategy and consider whether their approach will achieve this.
2. Ensure they can identify complex cases at an early stage and have a strategy for keeping residents informed and effective resolution.
3. Ensure they clearly and regularly communicate with their residents regarding actions taken or otherwise to resolve reports of damp and mould.
4. Identify where an independent, mutually agreed and suitably qualified surveyor should be used, and share the outcomes of all surveys and inspections with residents to help them understand the findings and be clear on the next steps. Landlords should then act on accepted survey recommendations promptly.
The landlord’s damp and mould policy says the landlord will proactively tackle both the symptoms and the causes of damp and mould. It states that once the risk to the resident has been removed by treating the symptoms, remedial works will be completed as soon as possible.
On 4 January 2023, the resident signed a refusal of works form for a planned replacement of her kitchen and bathroom. The reason given by the resident was that she thought it was pointless to have a kitchen replacement as there was too much condensation from the outer wall being too thin.
We have not been provided with any records which show the landlord responded to the resident’s concern about problems with condensation until 26 June 2023, when there is a record of a request by the landlord for a mould wash to be carried out at the property.
There was therefore a delay of over 5 months before the landlord took any action to treat damp and mould at the property. This delay was contrary to the damp and mould policy which required the landlord to proactively treat the symptoms of damp and mould. It was also contrary to the requirements of the landlord’s repairs policy, which required routine repairs to be attended to within 28 days.
In addition, there is no evidence the landlord took steps to establish or address the cause of the damp and mould during this period, or investigate the resident’s claim that the outside wall was too thin and causing the condensation in the property. The failure to investigate a reported problem with the external wall was a breach of the landlord’s obligations under the tenancy agreement to keep the structure and outside of the property in good repair.
On 22 September 2023 the resident contacted the landlord again. She said there was damp and mould in the property, and although 4 surveyors had visited, nothing had been done. She told the landlord she was upset and worried because the GP had told her the condition of the property was affecting her health.
We have not been provided with any records which show the landlord responded to this report of damp and mould from the resident, or took any further action, until 4 March 2024. This was a delay of 6 months after the resident reported her concerns that ongoing damp and mould at the property was affecting her health. This was a further failure to comply with the timescales set out in its repairs policy which required the landlord to attend to routine repairs within 28 working days.
On 4 March 2024 the landlord’s surveyor identified a range of works which needed to be carried out at the property. The internal works included topping up the loft insulation, replacing the extractor fan in the kitchen and bathroom, replacing sealants, and overhauling the bathtub, installing extractor fans in the bedrooms and new airbricks in the living room and bedroom. Externally, the surveyor said the gutters needed to be cleaned and the roof inspected. He also said the render should be removed and replaced on the kitchen’s back wall. He said the wall around the extractor grill needed to be repaired and the drainpipes needed to be checked. He also said the bathroom windowsill needed to be repaired.
There is evidence the landlord’s contractors and employees appropriately attended the property throughout March 2024 and April 2024 to carry out works to clear the gutters, repair the bath, check the drains, replace the kitchen extractor fan, and install ventilation bricks. However, no evidence has been provided to show the landlord arranged or carried out any work on the external walls or render during this period. This was inappropriate, particularly in light of the fact that problems with the outside wall had been reported by the resident as early as January 2023, and had been identified by the landlord’s surveyor as a necessary repair.
Following contact from the Ombudsman on 19 June 2024 to request a stage 1 response, the landlord arranged a damp and mould inspection at the property. Its contractor attended on 2 July 2024. This was an appropriate response to the resident’s reports of damp and mould, but it was not carried out in a timely manner. It should have taken place sooner, after the resident’s report of ongoing damp and mould in September 2023.
The damp and mould contractor said the plaster on the front and rear elevations of the property had blown and had cracks. The contractor said this had allowed water to ingress into the brickwork which had caused high moisture and mould growth in the kitchen and second bedroom walls. It recommended further investigation and repairing the walls to prevent water ingress. This recommendation from the landlord’s damp and mould contractor was in line with the landlord’s surveyor’s assessment on 4 March 2024, that the render needed to be removed and replaced on the kitchen’s back wall.
There is no evidence these works to the external wall were arranged either after the surveyor’s inspection in March 2024 or after the damp and mould survey in July 2024, which was inappropriate.
In its stage 1 and stage 2 complaint responses the landlord said the resident had refused some of the works intended to improve ventilation at the property. However, it did not specify which of the works had been refused, and was unclear as to which of the works remained outstanding, saying it needed to inspect the property to find out what needed to be done.
The resident has told this Service she did not refuse any remedial works, and when we asked the landlord to provide further details, it confirmed this allegation could not be substantiated.
The lack of clear information available as to which repairs remained outstanding and which repairs had been completed indicates poor record keeping and poor communication between the landlord and its contractors. This is likely to have contributed to the unacceptable delay in carrying out the required works at the resident’s property.
In the stage 1 complaint response, the landlord said its surveyor had tried to access the property on 13 June 2024, but was unsuccessful. There is no record of this attempt, or any explanation about why the visit did not go ahead, within the records provided to the Ombudsman.
It was appropriate that the landlord told the resident its surveyor would contact the resident again to arrange an inspection of the works in order to progress the repairs. However, there is no evidence within the records provided to the Ombudsman that any further attempt to contact the resident was made between July 2024 and October 2024.
In the landlord’s stage 2 complaint response on 31 October 2024, the landlord said again that it had previously attempted to contact the resident on several occasions, including on the 31 October 2024, but it had been unsuccessful in reaching her by telephone. We have not seen records of any calls, emails, or correspondence with the resident during this period to arrange an inspection or carry out the outstanding works. There is therefore insufficient evidence to show the landlord took all appropriate and reasonable steps to carry out effective and lasting repairs at the property.
It was appropriate for the landlord to arrange to attend on 7 November 2024to identify which of the repairs remained outstanding. However, no records have been provided to the Ombudsman to show that the landlord or its contractors attended on that date, or any date afterwards, until April 2025.
A further damp and mould inspection took place at the property on 7 April 2025. The contractor carried out a clean and shield treatment and said the external works highlighted in their previous report in July 2024 remained outstanding. The contractor repeated the recommendation to rectify the issues with the cracked render. The contractor also recommended that the landlord should check the eaves around the property, as they thought they may be blocked due to the pattern of mould appearing on the ceilings of the property.
At the date of this report, we understand the repairs to the render remain outstanding and therefore the underlying cause of damp and mould at the property has not been addressed. It is not reasonable that these repairs remain outstanding 2.5 years after the resident reported a problem with the external walls causing damp in the property, and over a year after the landlord’s surveyor confirmed repairs to the render were required. The resident has had to repeatedly contact the landlord before it took action to investigate the damp and mould. There is no evidence that the landlord took steps to prioritise the repairs or to follow up to ensure the repairs had been completed.
The failure to treat the repairs with urgency is particularly concerning due to the fact the resident has told the landlord on several occasions she was worried about the impact of the damp and mould on her health. The resident has COPD and told the landlord her GP had said the condition of her property was exacerbating her symptoms.
There is also no record the landlord acknowledged the resident’s concerns regarding the ongoing effect of the damp and mould on her health. The landlord did not acknowledge or apologise for the distress and inconvenience this may have caused in its complaint response, which was inappropriate.
In addition, as a result of the delay to the works to resolve damp and mould, there has been a delay to the resident’s planned kitchen and bathroom replacement. It was reasonable for the resident to refuse the works to replace her kitchen and bathroom in January 2023 in order to wait while the landlord resolved the damp issue she had reported. She explained she did not see the point in going ahead with the works unless the damp had been resolved.
It was appropriate that the landlord recognised the delay to the kitchen and bathroom works in its stage 1 response and said its asset management team would contact the resident once the problem with the outside wall had been resolved.
However, the effect of the landlord’s unreasonable delay in completing the repairs to resolve damp and mould, has meant the resident has waited an additional 2.5 years for her kitchen and bathroom to be replaced. This was an excessive delay to these necessary planned works.
Overall, there was severe maladministration by the landlord in its handling of reports of repairs for damp and mould at the property and associated repairs. The landlord has partly upheld the resident’s complaint at both stage 1 and 2 but has not acknowledged the extent of its failings in addressing the cause of damp and mould at the property, or offered compensation at either stage to put things right.
There has been a seriously detrimental impact on the resident. She told the landlord she was unable to use her kitchen cupboards due to mould. There was mould in the kitchen, hallway, living room, bedroom, and bathroom, and she said the entire property smelled of damp. The problem has been ongoing since January 2023 and, while there is evidence the landlord has engaged damp and mould specialists to treat the mould during this period, and undertaken some ventilation works inside the property, the underlying cause of the issue has not yet been resolved. The distress and inconvenience caused to the resident has been heightened due to the fact the resident has COPD. She has been understandably concerned that the damp and mould could make her condition worse.
Orders are set out below for the landlord to carry out the outstanding repairs, and ensure the damp and mould issues are resolved. The landlord has also been ordered to pay the resident the sum of £1,000 in compensation for the distress and inconvenience, time, and effort required to pursue the repairs. This sum is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for awards where there was a failure which had a significant impact on the resident. The sum also reflects that the resident’s vulnerabilities meant the delays in carrying out the repairs had a more severe effect on her compared to other residents in the same position without her vulnerabilities.
In addition, it is clear from the records that the cause of the damp and mould at the property went unaddressed for a significant period of time, and remains unresolved at the date of this report. These ongoing issues would have impacted the resident’s ability to fully enjoy the property.
In light of this, an order has been made for the resident to receive compensation for the loss of full enjoyment of the property at a rate of 10% of the weekly rent payment. This has been calculated from 28 days after the landlord was notified of the problem on 4 January 2023, until the date of this report.
The weekly rent at the property was £ 119.28. The compensation therefore became payable at a weekly rate of £11.93 from 1 February 2023 to the date of this report 31 July 2025, a total of 130 weeks. The total payment for loss of enjoyment of the property has therefore been calculated to be £1,550.90
We previously ordered the landlord to review its policy and practice in relation to damp and mould. Some of the issues identified in this case are similar to the case already determined. The landlord has demonstrated compliance with our previous wider order, so we have not made any orders or recommendations as part of this case that would duplicate those already made to landlord. The landlord itself should consider whether there are any additional issues arising from this later case that require further action.

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint

A landlord’s complaint handling should aim to resolve issues quickly, effectively, and fairly. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out what good complaint handling looks like, and all landlords are expected to follow this.
Under the Code, landlords are required to:
1. Acknowledge a complaint within 5 working days.
2. Respond to the complaint within 10 working days of acknowledgement. The landlord can extend this timeline up to a further 10 working days, providing the resident with a clear explanation for the reasons.
3. Acknowledge an escalation request within 5 working days.
4. Provide a final response within 20 working days of the date of acknowledgement. The landlord can extend this up to a further 20 working days, providing the resident with a clear explanation for the reasons.
The resident has stated she complained to the landlord in December 2023, but did not receive a response. The landlord said it had searched its systems to locate the resident’s stage 1 complaint, but it could not be found. It appropriately apologised for this in its stage 1 response.
The Ombudsman contacted the landlord on 19 June 2024, asking it to provide a stage 1 response to the resident’s complaint. The landlord should have acknowledged the resident’s complaint within 5 working days, by 26 June 2024. We have not been provided with evidence the landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint, which was inappropriate.
The Ombudsman asked the landlord to ensure it provided its response by 10 July 2024 at the latest. It said if the landlord would need more time, it should contact the resident and the Ombudsman to let them know straight away. In fact, the landlord contacted the resident on 11 July 2024 to say it would need more time to provide its stage 1 complaint response. It said it would provide this by 24 July 2024. Whilst the landlord was entitled to an extension of time under the Code, it was inappropriate that it did not notify the resident it would need more time before the expiry of the 10 day time limit for providing its response. It went on to provide its response on 22 July 2024, prior to the expiry of the 10 day extension period.
At stage 2, the resident contacted the landlord by telephone on 2 September 2024 to ask it to escalate her complaint. The landlord appropriately acknowledged the request on 3 September 2024, and said the resident should receive the response no later than 30 September 2024.
The landlord did not issue the stage 2 response until 31 October 2024, which was 42 working days after the escalation request. This was a significant delay, and we have seen no evidence the landlord informed the resident it would need an extension of time to provide the stage 2 response.
Additionally, the landlord provided the stage 2 response by email and via its portal. This is in spite of the landlord’s records showing that the resident did not wish to receive emails but wished to be contacted by phone or SMS. As a result, the resident told the Ombudsman she had not received the response.
The Ombudsman asked the landlord to provide the response on 17 March 2025. The landlord sent it by email to the resident again and also emailed the response to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman posted a copy of the response to the resident on 18 March 2025.
It was not reasonable that the landlord chose to use email and its portal to correspond with an elderly resident who had informed it that she did not wish to receive correspondence in that manner. The landlord’s poor communication with the resident meant she did not receive the stage 2 response until 6 months after she had asked the landlord to escalate her complaint. This caused an unnecessary delay in progressing the resident’s complaint.
Overall, there was maladministration in the handling of the resident’s complaint. There were delays and poor communication and the resident had to make contact several times with the landlord and the Ombudsman in order to progress her complaint. The landlord has not offered compensation or apologised for its failures, so has not attempted to put things right.
The landlord is ordered to pay £100 to the resident in recognition of these failings. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for cases where there was a failure which adversely affected the resident, and the landlord has failed to acknowledge its failings or put things right.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was severe maladministration in the landlord’s handling of reports of repairs for damp and mould throughout the property and associated repairs.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Orders and recommendations

The landlord must, within 4 weeks of the date of this determination:
1. Provide the resident with an apology from the chief executive for the failings outlined in this report. The apology must be drafted in line with the Ombudsman’s apologies guidance. A copy of the apology must be provided to the Ombudsman.
2. Pay the resident compensation of £2,650.90. This is made up of:
  1. £1,000for the landlord’s handling of damp and mould throughout the property and associated repairs.
  2. £1,550.90 for loss of enjoyment of the property.
  3. £100 for the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Proof of payment of the compensation must be provided to the Ombudsman.

Within 12 weeks of the date of this determination, the landlord must:
1. Complete the outstanding external repairs to the property specified by its surveyor on 4 March 2024 and in the damp and mould reports of 2 July 2024 and 7 April 2025. The landlord must provide the Ombudsman with a post inspection report following completion of the works.
2. Complete a further damp and mould survey and carry out any treatments necessary to eradicate any remaining damp and mould following completion of the external works. A copy of the report and confirmation of any damp and mould treatment undertaken must be provided to the Ombudsman.
3. Provide the resident with a schedule for completion of the kitchen and bathroom renewals, which should take place following completion of the external repairs and damp and mould survey. Confirmation of the planned date for the works should be provided to the resident and the Ombudsman.