London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202337029)

Decision
Case ID	202337029
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	London & Quadrant Housing Trust
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	17 December 2025

Background

1. The resident lives with her daughter and young grandson in a 2-bed house owned by the landlord. She contacted it in January 2022 to say it had not responded to her reports about a wet external wall and suspected subsidence. The resident continued to chase the landlord for a response throughout 2022, and she complained in April 2023 as she said it had still not fixed the problem.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s:
   1. Response to the resident’s reports of damp and subsidence to the external wall.
   2. Complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

3. We found:
   1. Maladministration in the landlord’s handling of reports of damp and subsidence to the external wall.
   2. Reasonable redress in the landlord’s complaint handling.

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

Summary of reasons

The external wall

4. The landlord failed to investigate the resident’s reports over several years, despite being on notice of the potential repairs. The issue remains outstanding and it is unclear what the landlord intends to do next.

Complaint handling

5. The landlord failed to follow its 2-stage complaints procedure. However, it apologised for its delayed response and made a reasonable offer of 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.

Order	What the landlord must do	Due date
1	Inspection order The landlord must contact the resident to arrange an inspection of the exterior wall adjacent to the kitchen and upstairs bedroom.   What the inspection must achieve The landlord must ensure that the surveyor: Inspects the entire wall and the ground connecting to the wall. Produces a written report with photographs.   What the survey report must set out Whether the landlord is responsible to repair or resolve the issue together with its reasons where it is not responsible. A full scope of works to achieve a lasting and effective resolution to the issue (if the landlord is responsible).   The landlord must provide documentary evidence of its inspection report. If it has any access issues, it must provide evidence of its attempts. It must provide its evidence by the due date.	No later than 18 February 2026
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £700 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its delays to respond to the resident’s reports about the wall. This includes the £455 it previously offered. The landlord must ensure it has paid the total sum of £700 directly to the resident and provide documentary evidence of this by the due date.	No later than 21 January 2026

 

Recommendations

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

Our recommendations
The landlord should also pay the resident £450 it offered for its complaint handling failures, if it has not done so already. The finding of reasonable redress is based on it doing so.

 

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
January to August 2022	The resident contacted the landlord to report that the external wall by the kitchen and an upstairs bedroom was wet and cracked. She said a contractor had visited but failed to understand the problem. The landlord agreed to send a surveyor.
11 April 2023	The resident complained to the landlord as she it had not sent its surveyor as promised and the problem had continued. The landlord did not respond.
6 November 2023	The resident asked the landlord to escalate her complaint to stage 2 as she said it had not responded to her complaint of April 2023.
24 November 2023	The landlord issued a stage 2 response in which it: Apologised for the delay in its complaint response. Said it planned to repoint the brickwork and inject damp proof cream. Offered a total of £905 in compensation for its delays addressing the wall repairs and its poor complaint handling.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident referred her complaint to us as she said the landlord had still not carried out any works. She told us she would like it to identify the root cause of the problem and repair the wall.

 

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	The external wall
Finding	Maladministration

 

6. The resident contacted the landlord on 11 January 2022 to say it had not responded to a report she made 5 months earlier about the external wall adjacent to her kitchen. She said there were noticeable cracks to the exterior of the wall and the ground appeared to be lifting. The landlord logged her report on 17 February 2022. Its records do not state what it did next, however according to the resident’s emails to the landlord throughout 2022, it visited in June and agreed to arrange a surveyor in August.
7. The resident asked the landlord for an update on 28 September 2022 and ultimately complained on 11 April 2023 to say it had still not sent a surveyor. There is no evidence to show that the landlord took any further action until 13 November 2023, when it called her to discuss her complaint. She said a surveyor had visited 3 months earlier and agreed to arrange a camera inspection, but she had not heard anything since. There are no details of this visit in the landlord’s records, and the resident continued to report that the wall was damp. At this stage it was at least 2 years since she reported the issue. During this time, she had made separate reports of damp and mould elsewhere in the property and said she was worried about her young grandson’s health. The delays with the landlord’s response about the wall therefore only added to the resident’s frustration.
8. There is no evidence to show that the landlord adhered to its damp and mould policy, which states it will agree an inspection date within 20 working days of a report. There is also no evidence to show it had regard to our spotlight report on damp and mould, which requires landlords to adopt a zero-tolerance approach and keep residents informed about inspections, repairs, and follow-up checks.
9. In its stage 2 complaint response of 24 November 2023, the landlord apologised for its delays and offered £455 in compensation for distress and inconvenience. It said it had inspected the wall earlier that month and planned to repoint the brickwork and inject dampproof cream. Again, there are no records of that visit, nor is there any evidence to show it either went ahead with the proposed works or decided not to do so.
10. In its response to our request for an update in May 2025, the landlord said it planned to arrange a new structural survey, however there is no further evidence this took place, or of any other work to resolve the issue.
11. The landlord’s response to the complaint and offer of redress may been reasonable, had it subsequently carried out the promised works and communicated with the resident. In the absence of evidence that it did so, it is not possible to conclude that the landlord acted reasonably, or that it took appropriate steps to resolve the issue. Given the scale of the delays involved, and the nature of the repair issue, that was a significant failing.

Complaint	Complaint handling
Finding	Reasonable redress

 

12. The landlord’s complaints policy at the time stated it would respond to new complaints at stage 1, and it would not escalate a complaint until it had provided a stage 1 response. This was in line with our Complaints Handling Code (the Code).
13. The resident raised her complaint in April 2023, but there is no evidence that the landlord acknowledged it. It told us it does not have a record of a stage 1 response. The resident chased it 7 months later, at which point it responded at stage 2. In the absence of evidence, it is not possible to conclude that the landlord adhered to its 2-stage complaints policy or the Code.
14. However, the landlord offered a total of £450 in compensation for its complaint handling delays. While it did not recognise its lack of stage 1 response, its compensation was significant, and its compensation exceeded our remedies guidance for such a failure.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping) and communication

15. The landlord was also attending to separate internal repair issues at the time of the resident’s reports. It included some of its comments about the external wall within its records on other unrelated repairs, without differentiating between the two. There are also clear gaps where the resident confirmed it had visited, but the landlord’s records do not reflect these events. Had it made clear records, it may have been better able keep track of its progress and communication with the resident. This in turn may have avoided the delays and the need for her to complain.
16. The resident asked the landlord to escalate her complaint as it had not responded to her initial complaint. Despite this, it should still have followed its procedure and responded at stage 1. Its failure to do so prevented the resident from following its 2-stage process, which may otherwise have allowed it to resolve the matter internally.