London Borough of Lambeth (202334914)

Decision
Case ID	202334914
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	London Borough of Lambeth
Landlord type	Local Authority / ALMO or TMO
Occupancy	Leaseholder
Date	27 October 2025

Background

1. The resident lives in a 3-bedroom flat, comprising first and second floor in a purpose-built block. She complained to the landlord about the delays in repairing the bathroom window which resulted in damp and mould.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlords handling of the resident’s:
   1. Repairs to the bathroom window.
   2. Complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. We have found:
   1. There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs to the bathroom window.
   2. There was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

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

Summary of reasons

Handling of repairs to the bathroom window

4. While the landlord did attend to complete repairs during its 2-stage complaint process, it failed to resolve it within a reasonable timeframe. This resulted in the resident chasing for updates over a prolonged period after its final response to get her repair completed.

Complaint handling

5. The landlord’s complaint handling was not in line with its policy or the Code. There were delays in providing responses at each stage. It failed to apologise for the delays or respond to all points raised by 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.

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 24 November 2025
2	Compensation order   The landlord must pay the resident £435 made up as follows:   £300 for the further delays in completing the repair £50 for complaint handling service failure £85 previously offered for the delay in repairs at stage 2   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 24 November 2025

Recommendations

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

Our recommendations
The landlord should consider reinspecting the bathroom window to assure the resident the repairs are complete and remain in working order.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
22 September 2023	The resident initially raised a complaint due to the length of time taken to fix the bathroom window. The issue was raised as a repair in June 2023 and the landlord attended twice, but it was not resolved. The resident chased the landlord to complete the repair on multiple occasions.
27 October 2023	The landlord’s stage 1 response apologised for the inconvenience and delay in completing the repairs. It said the required part to fix the window had been ordered and an appointment was scheduled to complete the repair on 2 November 2023.
6 November 2023	The resident escalated the complaint to stage 2. The landlord attended to repair the window, but the resident returned to find the window was still not closing properly. She raised her concerns about the winter weather and a secondary issue of damp and mould due to being unable to close the window.
11 December 2023	In its stage 2 response, the landlord apologised for the delay in completing the repair, offering £85 compensation to reflect this. It said that its contractor returned after the resident’s escalation request and found the window was working intermittently. It arranged to complete repairs on 8 December 2023 and understood the issue was resolved.
Between 13 December 2023 and 18 October 2024	The resident responded to the landlord after its stage 2 response to say the repair was still outstanding. She said the contractor had not attended in December 2023. She chased it again in February, September, and October 2024.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident brought the complaint to us as she was unhappy with the landlords handling of the repairs. At the time of referral, the resident wanted the repairs to be completed.

 

 

 

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	Repairs to a bathroom window
Finding	Maladministration

What we have not looked at

6. The resident told us that there has been an ongoing leak in the roof that may be causing issues with damp and mould in the bathroom. While she has raised this with the landlord, this matter has not completed the landlord’s 2-stage complaint process and did not form part of this complaint. We have, therefore, not considered this matter under this complaint. She may wish to consider raising a new complaint to the landlord.

What we have looked at

7. The landlord provided limited information about the repair logs and work orders as evidence. This indicates poor record keeping and has affected our ability to accurately assess the timeline of events. This investigation, has therefore, relied on the evidence available to determine this case.
8. The resident reported the issue with the window in June 2023. The landlord attended twice but failed to complete the repairs. In its stage 1 response, the landlord stated it had ordered the relevant part to fix the window. It scheduled a new repairs appointment for 2 November 2023 and attended as planned. However, the resident discovered the window still did not close properly. She reported the issue again and escalated her complaint. At that point, she informed the landlord that damp and mould had developed on the bathroom ceiling due to the window not closing properly.
9. The landlord returned to inspect the window. It found that the window was working intermittently. A repairs appointment was made to complete the work, but the resident said that nobody attended. She raised this again and chased the landlord for updates in February, September, and October 2024. Repairs were completed 18 October 2024, almost 13 months after the initial complaint.
10. The landlord’s repairs policy says that routine repairs should be fixed within 7 days. The policy also refers to the right to repair scheme which states qualifying repairs addressing insecure external windows should be responded to within 1 working day. It is unclear from the evidence if the landlord responded within the allocated timeframe after the initial request.
11. In its stage 2 response, the landlord offered £85 compensation for the delays in completing the repair. It acknowledged the delays and offered some redress. While this action might have addressed the resident’s concerns to some extent, the landlord didn’t resolve the substantive issue until October 2024. Our outcomes guidance is clear that we cannot determine a finding of reasonable redress under such circumstances. This is especially true when the landlord has not identified specific learning points to prevent similar failings in the future.
12. The landlord also failed to comment on the resident’s reports of damp and mould. The landlords damp charter says it will diagnose the issue within 28 days and agree an action plan to resolve the damp, including timeframes. It is not clear from the evidence available that it gave the resident any advice on addressing the issue. Therefore, it missed an opportunity to respond to her concerns.
13. The landlord inspected the window on 18 September 2024 and confirmed it wasn’t closing, which allowed water to enter and cause internal damage to the ceiling. It completed the repairs on 18 October 2024. The resident told us she doesn’t feel confident the window has been sealed correctly, even though the repairs were completed. However, there is no evidence to suggest this has been reported to the landlord. We have made a recommendation in relation to this.
14. With consideration of our remedies guidance, we have made orders for the landlord to apologise and pay additional compensation for the further delays. This is in line with our dispute resolution principles to be fair and put things right.

Complaint	The landlord’s handling of the complaint
Finding	Service failure

15. The Complaint Handling Code (the Code) requires landlords to acknowledge a complaint within 5 days and respond to stage 1 and 2 complaints within 10 and 20 working days, respectively. At the time of this complaint, the landlord was operating a complaint policy which was not in line with the Code. However, the landlord has since introduced a complaint policy which adheres to the Code.
16. The landlord’s policy at the time outlined a 3-stage complaint process. This said that it will acknowledge complaints within 3 working days. It will provide responses for stage 1 and stage 2 within 15 working days and 20 working days for stage 3.
17. The landlord did not provide evidence that it acknowledged the resident’s complaint at stage 1 or stage 2. Its formal responses were both provided 25 working days after the complaint and escalation request. Therefore, both responses were outside the timescales in its policy. While it apologised for the delays in completing the repairs, it did not clearly apologise for the delays in providing its responses.
18. The landlord’s stage 2 response also concludes by saying it operates a 2–stage complaints process and provided information to contact the Local Government Ombudsman if the resident remained unhappy with its response. The complaints process seems unclear for the resident, and she was not given the correct information to escalate the complaint following its internal complaints procedure.
19. The landlord did not respond to all points raised. In the escalation request, the resident said the issue had caused damp and mould to the bathroom ceiling. It did not address this in its stage 2 response. Additionally, it did not check that the repairs had been completed prior to stating it resolved the complaint in its stage 2 response.

Learning

Communication and record keeping

20. Our spotlight report on repairs and maintenance explains that failures can be avoided when landlords:
    1. let residents know what to expect regarding repairs and provide a clear schedule for repair visits.
    2. gather feedback from residents and conduct inspections to ensure the work is satisfactory.

 

21. In this case, the records do not show if the landlord regularly updated the resident on the status of her repairs. Frustration and dissatisfaction may have been avoided if the landlord’s repairs and maintenance team followed these recommendations.