London Borough of Tower Hamlets (202544263)

Background

1. The property is a 2-bedroom ground-floor flat that the resident has lived in since 2012. The resident’s complaint relates to security concerns following her reports to the landlord about insecure windows and its subsequent response.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
   1. Concerns relating to window repairs.
   2. Complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns relating to window repairs.
4. There was reasonable redress which satisfactorily resolved the complaint about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

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

Reasons

Concerns relating to window repairs

5. The landlord’s repairs policy states that it is responsible for carrying out repairs to windows. Repairs that involve making windows secure due to a security or injury risk are classified as emergency repairs.
6. The landlord failed to treat the resident’s 8 September 2025 report of insecure windows as an emergency, despite the clear security risk and its policy requiring attendance within 24 hours (or 2 hours to make safe). Instead, it logged the issue as a routine repair, leading the resident to repeatedly chase updates on 15, 18, 22, 24 and 27 September 2025 without receiving an appointment or adequate response.
7. The landlord did not confirm or adjust the repair priority as required, even after the resident restated her security concerns on 18 September 2025. No escalation occurred until 30 September 2025, when the resident expressed significant frustration. Only then was the issue treated as urgent. This 3‑week delay demonstrated a failure to assess the security risk properly or provide a timely response.
8. After the temporary fix on 30 September 2025, the landlord failed to arrange a follow‑up appointment. The resident had to chase updates on 3 October and 13 October 2025, and the temporary repair left a gap letting in cold air. With no progress monitoring, the resident experienced continued uncertainty, discomfort, and inconvenience while waiting for the full repair.
9. The landlord’s record keeping was inadequate, as the repair log contained little meaningful detail about the work completed and did not show any evidence of oversight or monitoring. This lack of accurate and up‑to‑date records meant the progress of the repair was not tracked to completion, leaving the resident with no clear information and forcing her to repeatedly chase the landlord for updates.
10. The landlord’s £175 offer of compensation was insufficient given the 6‑week delay, repeated chasing by the resident, her security concerns, and its poor communication. A higher amount would have been more appropriate to reflect the avoidable distress and inconvenience caused to her.

Complaint handling

11. The landlord provided its complaint responses within a reasonable timeframe, although the stage 2 acknowledgement was issued one day outside of policy. It appropriately acknowledged an inaccuracy in its response and offered the resident £50 in compensation.

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.

Recommendations

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