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London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202347704)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202347704

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

28 August 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

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
    1. Window repairs.
    2. The associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is a shared owner of the property, a 3-bedroom flat on the fifth floor of a new build block. The landlord has advised us it is aware the resident has vulnerabilities.
  2. In January 2018 the resident raised concerns with the landlord about the windows in his flat. The landlord completed an inspection at the time and recorded that no issues were found.
  3. On 17 October 2023 the resident complained to the landlord. He said the issues reported in 2018 had not been addressed and he was currently unable to close one of the windows. The landlord attended the property within 24 hours to make the window safe.
  4. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 24 October 2023 and said no faults had been found with the windows in 2018. It advised the resident to instruct his own contractor to repair the window.
  5. The resident escalated his complaint on 25 October 2023. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 10 January 2024. It confirmed it was not responsible for the repair to the window and offered the resident £60 compensation for the delay in its response.
  6. The resident remains dissatisfied and brought the complaint to us.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. We encourage residents to raise complaints with their landlords in a timely manner, so that the landlord has a reasonable opportunity to consider the issues while they are still ‘live’, and while the evidence is available to reach an informed conclusion on the events which occurred. As the substantive issues become historical it is increasingly difficult for either the landlord, or an independent body such as the Ombudsman, to conduct an effective review of the actions taken to address those issues.
  2. Our Scheme states that we may not investigate complaints which were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period, which would normally be within 12 months of the matters arising.
  3. When deciding the scope of this investigation we have noted the resident reported defective windows in 2018. The landlord completed an inspection in the same year. From this point, there are gaps in the evidence until the resident made his complaint in October 2023.
  4. This investigation will focus on the landlord’s actions between 17 October 2023 to 10 January 2024. This being the date of the first issue that gave rise to this particular complaint, through to when the landlord issued its stage 2 response. We consider this a fair timescale for both parties using the discretion we have under our Scheme.

Window Repairs

  1. On 17 October 2023 the resident reported one of windows would not close properly. The landlord advised him the repair would be his responsibility. The resident made a complaint the same day.
  2. The resident’s lease sets out the repair obligations in relation to the property. The lease states:
    1. The landlord is responsible for the window frames.
    2. The resident is responsible for the inside of the windows, including the glass, equipment, and fittings.
  3. The issue reported by the resident related to an internal fitting of the window. Under the terms of the lease this issue would be his responsibility to repair. Therefore, the advice given by the landlord was appropriate.
  4. The landlord attended the property within 24 hours and recorded the window was “made safe”. Given the landlord was not obliged to complete the repair, its attendance at the property demonstrated it was taking the resident’s complaint seriously and demonstrated a willingness to improve the situation for the resident.
  5. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 24 October 2023. It confirmed it had attended the property and made the window safe. The landlord said that as a shared owner, the resident was responsible for repair, and it was only responsible for external repairs to the windows.
  6. The landlord’s stage 1 response was thorough and reasonably addressed the complaint. The response explained the actions the landlord had taken and the reasons for its decision not to complete the repair.
  7. The resident told us he disputed the landlord had carried out any kind of repair to the window. However, the resident’s escalation request dated 25 October 2023 referred to a “temporary fix” put in place by the landlord. He said this did not make the window safe or secure in the long term. This would suggest some kind of repair was carried out by the landlord.
  8. The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 10 January 2024. It reiterated its position from stage 1 and confirmed the window repair was the responsibility of the resident.
  9. The evidence shows the repair to the inside of the window was not the landlord’s responsibility. Despite this, the landlord acknowledged the resident was vulnerable and attended the property quickly to make the window safe until he could arrange for the repair. This leads to a determination of no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of window repairs.

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord operates a 2-stage complaints process. Its complaints policy sets out the timescales in which the landlord will deal with complaints:
    1. It will acknowledge and record a complaint within 5 working days.
    2. It will issue its stage 1 response within 10 working days from when the complaint was recorded.
    3.  It will issue its stage 2 response within 20 working days from the request to escalate the complaint.
  2. The resident raised his complaint on 17 October 2023. The landlord acknowledged the complaint the following day in line with its policy.
  3. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 24 October 2023. This was 4 working days after it had acknowledged the complaint and was in line with its policy timescales.
  4. The resident escalated his complaint on 25 October 2023. The landlord contacted him on 13 November 2023 and advised there would be a delay in investigating his complaint. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 10 January 2024, 51 working days after it received his escalation request. This was outside of the timescales set out in the landlord’s policy.
  5. In its response the landlord apologised for the delay and offered the resident £60 compensation.
  6. Where there are admitted failings by a landlord, our role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In doing so we consider whether the redress was in accordance with the Dispute Resolution Principles; be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
  7. In the main, the landlord’s complaint handling was timely and in line with its policy. Although its stage 2 response was delayed, the landlord did inform the resident of the delay in advance.
  8. The Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies suggests that an award of £60 may remedy service failure where the impact was minimal and did not significantly affect the overall outcome for the resident. When considering the failures by the landlord, its apology and offer of compensation satisfactorily resolved the complaint. This leads to a determination of reasonable redress in relation to the landlord’s complaint handling.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of window repairs.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 53.b. of the Scheme, there was reasonable redress in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

  1. There are no orders or recommendations for the landlord to comply with.