London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202301345)

Background

1. The resident instructed a legal advocate to initiate a pre-action protocol for disrepair in May 2022. On 30 August 2023 the landlord reached an out of court settlement with the resident and agreed to pay £5000 compensation, legal costs and complete the repairs within 90 days. The resident raised a formal complaint about the delays completing the repairs in October 2024.

What the complaint is about

2. The resident’s complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
   1. Repairs at her permanent property.
   2. The associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. We found that there was:
   1. Maladministration of the landlord’s handling of the repairs.
   2. Maladministration for the landlord’s complaint handling.

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

Summary of reasons

4. The landlord failed to complete the repairs within a reasonable timescale and failed to communicate effectively with the resident in respect of this.
5. The landlord failed to provide a clear response to the resident in respect of the matter complained about and did not appropriately acknowledge its failings.

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.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

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.

What we will not investigate

6. We will not investigate the events that occurred before the end of November 2023. We expect residents to raise a formal complaint with the landlord within a reasonable timescale, which we consider to be within 12 months of the issue occurring. Additionally, evidence showed the landlord reached a settlement with the resident on 31 August 2023 to complete the repairs within 90 days (end of November 2023). It is therefore reasonable to investigate the events that occurred after this date up to the landlord’s final response on 28 February 2025. Although we are not investigating the events that took place prior to November 2023 we have noted them for context.
7. Additionally, we will not investigate issues that occurred after the landlord’s stage 2 complaint response, other than to ensure the landlord has followed through on any agreements it might have made during the complaints process.

What we have investigated

8. Our investigation considers the resident’s complaint that the landlord did not complete repairs within a reasonable time. The repairs included damp in the living room, kitchen and rear ground floor, and a missing rainwater pipe.
9. On 27 November 2023 the resident asked the landlord for an update on the repair timescale. She said the issues were affecting her health and she was still waiting for the landlord to move her into temporary accommodation so it could complete the repairs.
10. Evidence showed the landlord was looking for alternative accommodation for the resident. However, we have not seen evidence that the landlord kept the resident updated with its progress until 18 January 2024 when it told the resident it had found a suitable temporary alternative property. The landlord’s failure to provide regular updates indicates poor communication. This caused the resident distress. Additionally, she said she thought the landlord was ignoring her.
11. The resident moved into a temporary property on or around 11 March 2024 and expected to stay there for no longer than 8 weeks. However, we have seen little evidence of updates from the landlord to the resident in respect of the progress of repairs. Additionally, a post inspection form dated 17 May 2024 showed several repairs, including damp and mould works, were still outstanding.
12. A further post inspection report dated 2 October 2024 showed there was still evidence of damp and mould in the property. A works order dated 4 October 2024 set a target date for completion of the outstanding issues by 1 November 2024.
13. Following the resident’s stage 1 complaint the landlord said it was addressing the outstanding repairs highlighted at the post inspection visit and apologised for the delay.
14. In its stage 1 response on 12 December 2024 the landlord said it had completed all outstanding repairs and arranged a joint inspection with the local council’s environmental health team for 17 December 2024 to sign off the repairs. It also said it would agree any compensation for the delays with the resident’s solicitor.
15. The joint inspection on 17 December 2024 identified outstanding repairs including damp in the kitchen, and damp staining at the rear ground floor. Landlord’s must always be in control of their repairs service, including when contractors deliver works. The fact that repairs were still outstanding when the landlord said they were complete indicates poor monitoring of repairs.
16. The landlord failed to provide any further update about the outstanding repairs in its stage 2 response other than to advise the resident that its disrepair team would monitor the outstanding them.
17. A further inspection of the property on 23 April 2025 showed damp and mould was still present in the property. Evidence showed the landlord did not sign off the repairs until 22 October 2025.
18. We have seen little evidence that the landlord kept the resident updated throughout the repairs process. This was contrary to its repairs policy which states it will give resident’s certainty in what repairs it will do. This was not appropriate and the resident told us it felt as though the landlord was ignoring her.
19. We understand the landlord experienced issues with instructing reliable contractors to complete the outstanding work. The landlord has identified and acknowledged what went wrong in this case. However, the landlord took far longer than its repairs policy allowed to complete the repairs. The time it took to resolve the outstanding repairs was excessive and detrimental to the resident, who did not occupy her permanent home for approximately 19 Months while the landlord attempted to complete the repairs.
20. The resident was in temporary accommodation for longer than the landlord initially indicated. Additionally, the landlord failed to take responsibility for the delays during the complaint process. Nor did it communicate clearly with the resident in respect of the timescale for completing repairs. This caused her distress and inconvenience. Regardless of the disrepair claim the landlord still had a duty to complete the repairs within a reasonable timescale and in line with its policy.
21. Having carefully considered the evidence available we find maladministration for the landlord’s handling of the outstanding repairs. The landlord took too long to complete the repairs and did not fully address the detriment to the resident of the delay.
22. The landlord agreed a settlement with the resident of £5000 as part of the disrepair claim prior to the complaint period we are investigating. In its stage 1 complaint response it told the resident it would agree compensation for the delayed repairs under the legal disrepair claim. We have not seen any evidence that the landlord agreed further compensation for the additional delay from November 2023 until October 2025.

We have considered the landlord’s compensation policy, our own remedies guidance and the landlord’s offer of £5000 as part of the disrepair settlement case. We accept that this is a considerable amount of compensation. However, the delays completing the repairs from November 2023 exceeded repairs timescale set out in the landlord’s policy. We consider a further £500 a proportionate amount of compensation for the distress and inconvenience to the resident caused by the landlord’s delays completing the repairs.

23. We understand the landlord has completed the repairs and the resident has moved to an alternative property on a permanent basis. The landlord has also set out how it has learnt from its failings in its handling of this complaint. Therefore, we will not be making any further orders in respect of its handling of the repairs.

24. We expect landlords to investigate all complaints unless there is a valid reason not to do so. Commencing pre-action protocol does not constitute legal proceedings. It is our view that the matter does not become ‘legal’ until proceedings have been ‘issued.’ It was therefore reasonable for the landlord to respond to the resident’s complaint about the delay completing the outstanding repairs in her permanent home.
25. The landlord operates a 2 stage complaints process in line with our Complaint Handling Code (the Code). It took the landlord 36 working days to respond to the resident’s stage 1 complaint. This exceeded the timescale set out in its policy and our Code, which states landlords must respond to a stage 1 complaint within 10 working days of acknowledging it.
26. The landlord acknowledged and apologised for this delay in its stage 1 complaint response and offered the resident a £50 e-voucher in recognition of the inconvenience caused by the delay. This was proportionate to the failing identified by the landlord.
27. In its stage 1 response on 12 December 2024 the landlord told the resident it had completed the repairs at her home. This was not correct. The repairs were still outstanding at that time. Additionally, it told the resident it could not compensate her for the delays completing the repairs, through its complaints process. However, its complaints policy states that it will follow our guidance in respect of pre-action protocol. Consequently, it should have considered compensation in line with its compensation policy and its failure to do so was unreasonable.
28. The landlord responded to the resident’s stage 2 complaint within the timescales set out in its policy. However, it failed to acknowledge the continued delay in completing the repairs at her permanent home. Its stage 2 response did not comply with the Code which states it must include details of:
    1. The remedy to put things right.
    2. Any outstanding actions.
29. Although it told the resident the disrepair team would monitor the repairs, the landlord was not clear with the resident about what this meant. Additionally, it did not provide a timescale to complete the outstanding repairs and subsequently took a further 8 months after its stage 2 response to complete the repairs.
30. Also, the landlord did not acknowledge it had failed to complete the repairs within its published timescales. Nor did it give the resident a reason for the delays.
31. Having carefully considered the evidence provided we find maladministration for the landlord’s complaint handling. The landlord did not acknowledge the delays in completing the outstanding repairs. Additionally, despite telling the resident it would arrange for the appropriate team to monitor the ongoing repairs, there is no evidence it did so. It also did not give the resident a clear timescale setting out when it would resolve the matter complained about.
32. In considering an offer of compensation, we have reviewed the landlord’s compensation policy and our own remedies guidance and we order the landlord to pay directly to the resident £100 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s failure to provide a clear response to the complaint.
33. We note that further to an order made in a recent investigation by us the landlord has advised that it has recently provided additional training to its complaint handling staff about the importance of keeping residents updated. We also note that the landlord has identified that it must continue to improve its communication with residents. While we will not be making a further order in respect of this, we recommend that the landlord continues to learn and improve on its communication with residents. To ensure its complaint responses are in line with the Code.

Learning

General learning

34. Following the conclusion of this complaint the landlord acknowledged that it has struggled to instruct good contractors. The landlord explained it has been through a procurement process to build a pool of contractors, and it will continue to build on this.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

35. Evidence indicated a lack of good record-keeping which meant the resident received incorrect information about the outstanding repairs. Since the conclusion of this complaint the landlord has provided evidence in respect of improvements it has made to its record-keeping process and therefore, we will not make any further orders in respect of this.

Communication

36. The landlord failed to communicate effectively with the resident in respect of the outstanding repairs. However, following the conclusion of this complaint the landlord has taken steps to strengthen its communication with residents. Therefore, we will not make any further orders in respect of this.