London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202418709)

Decision
Case ID	202418709
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	London & Quadrant Housing Trust
Landlord type	Housing Association
Occupancy	Assured Tenancy
Date	18 November 2025

Background

The resident and her 2 adult children live in a 3-bedroom house. The resident complained that water leaked through the ceiling of her daughter’s bedroom, leaving the room without lighting. She asked us to investigate as she was not satisfied with the landlord’s final response.

What the complaint is about

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
1. The resident’s reports of damp and mould.
2. The resident’s reports of a leak and the associated repairs.
3. The resident’s complaint.

Our decision (determination)

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould is outside of our jurisdiction.
There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a leak and the associated repairs.
There was no maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

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

Summary of reasons

Damp and mould

The resident’s concerns about damp and mould were not part of the resident’s original complaint to the landlord. They are therefore outside our jurisdiction for investigation at this time.

Leak and repairs

The landlord did not complete repairs to remedy the leak as it promised it would. It did not keep the resident updated on any works and did not investigate the interior of the property to help it decide on further support for the family, including temporary lighting and temporary relocation. It offered some compensation, but this did not address all failings.

Complaint handling

The landlord responded to the complaint in line with its policy and procedures.

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	Compensation order In light of the failings identified in this report, the landlord must pay the resident compensation of £1210. This is made up of: £300 for its failure to inspect the property to consider if the bedroom was unusable and if could support the family in the property. £400 for its failure to update the resident about repairs and failure to complete further temporary repairs from January 2025 onwards. £560 it previously offered to the resident if it has not already paid this. This was £360 on 22 April 2024 and £200 on 12 December 2024.	No later than 16 December 2025
2	Inspection order The landlord must contact the resident to arrange an inspection of the daughter’s bedroom, which was affected by the leak. It must take all reasonable steps to ensure the inspection is completed by the due date by a suitably qualified person. The inspection report must set out: Whether the room is fit for human habitation and usable and whether there are any hazards. A full scope of works to temporarily resolve the leak and lack of lighting in the room whilst the full roof replacement is pending. The likely timescales to commence and complete the work. Whether temporary alternative accommodation is necessary either because of the condition of the property or during the works.	No later than 09 January 2026
3	Further compensation order Following completion of its inspection at the property and whether the daughter’s bedroom is usable, the landlord must consider whether it should pay compensation for the loss of use of this room. This should be in line with its compensation policy, which states it will award 25% of daily rent for loss of the use of a bedroom. This should be from the date the issue was reported to the date on which the landlord is satisfied the issue is resolved. It must provide clear evidence of how it reached its decision, and how it calculated any compensation it has decided on.	No later than 06 February 2026

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
2 November 2023 to 3 November 2023	The resident reported a leak from her daughter’s bedroom ceiling. The landlord’s contractor disconnected the ceiling light fitting and made the electrics in the room safe. The following day, the landlord raised a work order to investigate and repair the roof. There is no evidence that it completed this.
12 April 2024	The resident complained to the landlord. She said it told her it had booked an appointment to repair the roof on 22 October 2024. She was upset at the time taken to complete the repair. She said her daughter, whose room was affected, had recently had a serious surgical procedure. She said the leak was ongoing and there was no light in the room.
22 April 2024	The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response. It said the contractor it asked to complete the roof repair in November 2023 was no longer contracted to it. It said it would inspect and raise any necessary repairs on 9 May 2024, but it would complete the repair on 22 October 2024. It offered compensation of £360.
24 May 2024	The landlord’s contractor found they needed scaffolding to inspect the roof. They said the roof looked deteriorated and potentially needed a full renewal.
23 May to 9 October 2024	The resident contacted the landlord on 7 occasions without reply to chase the repair to resolve the leak.
10 December 2024	The resident escalated her complaint. She said the landlord had completed no repairs and the roof was in a bad state, particularly when it rained. She said her daughter was due to have further surgery on 17 December 2024 and was unable to sleep in her bedroom.
12 December 2024	The landlord provided its stage 2 response. It said it inspected the property on 9 May 2024 and had tried to arrange temporary repairs with the resident since. It said the resident rejected temporary repairs at the current time due to her daughter’s pending surgery, and she wished to wait for the permanent repairs scheduled for 13 January 2025. The landlord offered further compensation of £200 and apologised for the delay in resolving the repair.
13 January 2025	The landlord’s contractor installed scaffolding at the property. On 7 April 2025, it asked the contractor to remove the scaffolding following a positive asbestos test of the roof tiles.
12 September 2025	The resident raised a further complaint about the leak, and the landlord provided a further stage 2 response on 12 September 2025. In this response it said the property required a new roof, and it would carry this out in its 2026/2027 programme.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident told us on 4 June 2025 and 4 November 2025 that no repairs had taken place. She said her daughter had been unable to use her bedroom. She said the property had damp and mould. She wanted the landlord to replace the roof, remove all damp and mould, restore the bedroom lighting, and fix the damage there. She also wanted further compensation and a partial rent refund.

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 resident’s reports of damp and mould
Finding	Outside jurisdiction

The resident told us she reported damp and mould in her complaint of 12 April 2024 and her escalation of 10 December 2024. However, she did not raise a complaint about damp and mould in the property before the landlord’s final complaint response of 12 December 2024. We have no power to investigate complaints which the landlord has not had the chance to respond to first and we will not investigate this issue.

Complaint	The resident’s reports of a leak and the associated repairs
Finding	Maladministration

Scope of investigation

The landlord provided a further stage 2 response on 12 September 2025 to a new complaint raised by the resident. This took place after we accepted the resident’s complaint for investigation. As such, we acknowledge the information provided in this response, but we will not be assessing it as part of this investigation. If the resident is dissatisfied with the landlord’s complaint response of 12 September, she can return to us and ask us to consider this as a new complaint.

What we have investigated

The landlord’s stage 1 response explained that it did not complete any repairs between November 2023 and April 2024, due to a change in its contractor. This exceeded the 20-working day timescale for standard repairs given in its repairs policy. The policy states that when repairs are more complex, it will arrange a timeframe with the resident. There is no evidence that it did this either, and it did not acknowledge or apologise for this in its complaint responses.
The landlord agreed in its stage 1 response that it would inspect the roof on 9 May 2024 and complete repairs by 22 October. It did not complete the repair on this date. It completed the inspection on 24 May. The resident escalated her complaint on 10 December 2024. This was following her chasing the repair without a reply from the landlord on 23 May, 11 July, 16 July, 17 August, 28 August, 7 October, and 9 October.
In its stage 2 response, the landlord said it tried to contact the resident by telephone from 9 May 2024 to arrange a temporary repair but was unable to reach her. There is no evidence of the landlord’s contact attempts, so it is unclear the period and the number of times it tried to contact her, or if it did. The resident acknowledged that at this time she had some issues with her telephone. However, there is no evidence that the landlord attempted to email her to arrange repairs, despite her emailing it to chase the repair on 23 May.
Furthermore, the landlord said internally in October 2024, it was waiting for internal approval (from May 2024) to install scaffolding at the property. It also told the resident this at the time. This contradicts its stage 2 response that it was unable to complete any work, as it could not arrange a date with the resident.
In its stage 2 response, the landlord agreed it would begin the roof repairs on 13 January 2025 after installing scaffolding on 9 January. Evidence shows it installed the scaffolding as agreed, but there is no evidence it completed any repairs before taking the scaffolding down in July 2025, when it determined a full roof renewal was required. This was not in accordance with the timescale in its policy for completing a repair, and it did not communicate any delays to the resident. Furthermore, there is no evidence that it attempted any temporary repairs when it was aware it could not complete a permanent repair.
Throughout the complaint, the resident told the landlord about the impact on her daughter, who had health issues and ongoing surgical procedures. In her complaint and escalation, she said her daughter’s bedroom was affected, and the room was unusable due to the lack of lighting and the persistent leak in the room when it rained. She told us her daughter did not have her own space and slept in the resident’s bedroom and she slept on the lounge sofa.
There is no evidence of the landlord inspecting the inside of the property and so it had no way of assessing the resident’s concerns about the deterioration of the property, particularly her daughter’s bedroom. Doing this would also have supported its consideration of other measures to support the family, including providing temporary lighting or assessing if there was any risk in their living situation.
Furthermore, the landlord has a temporary relocation during repairs policy. This states it will consider temporary relocation when there is significant issue to the safety and well-being of a resident. The resident told the landlord about the impact on her daughter numerous times, and in her complaint and escalation. There is no evidence that the landlord considered this policy. This was also not in accordance with its vulnerability policy in addressing the individual needs of the resident and her daughter.
The landlord offered £360 at stage 1 for the failure to complete the repair between November 2023 and April 2024. It offered £200 at stage 2, made up of £100 for the time and effort to complain and £100 to “recognise the impact due to vulnerabilities”. The total amount of £560 was in line with high impact in the compensation policy, acknowledging a serious failure over a period of time. This was proportionate to the inconvenience and distress caused by the failure to complete a permanent repair between November 2023 and December 2024.
The landlord’s compensation policy confirms it will offer compensation of 25% of the daily rent when there is a loss of a used bedroom. It states this is only available when it has not offered the resident temporary relocation. There is no evidence that the landlord considered this within its compensation offer. It should have done this as the resident told it on several occasions the bedroom was at least partly unusable.
In summary the landlord, the landlord failed to meet its commitment to resolving the roof repair, and the issue remains unresolved. This caused 2 years of inconvenience, loss of a bedroom and distress, all aggravated by the daughter’s health conditions. Some of its explanations are not supported by the evidence. It took some steps to remedy its failings but it did not investigate the property’s interior to consider how it could support the family. Doing this would have supported its understanding of whether temporary relocation or compensation for loss of use of a bedroom was appropriate.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	No maladministration

The landlord acknowledged and provided both its stage 1 and stage 2 complaint responses in accordance with its complaints policy and our Complaint Handling Code (the Code). We have identified no failings in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Learning

Communication

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