London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202441876)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202441876

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

30 July 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. The resident’s reports of damp and mould in the property.
   2. Repairs to the property’s back door.

Background

2. The resident has been a secure tenant of a 3-bedroom house since 2006.
3. The resident’s solicitor reported to the landlord on 4 February 2021 there was damp and mould in the property. The landlord agreed on 30 September 2021 to carry out repairs.
4. On 2 November 2022 the landlord’s contractor inspected the property. They recorded there was damp and mould in several rooms. The landlord carried out repairs between then and February 2023.
5. The resident called the landlord on 29 August 2024. She complained there were still outstanding repairs required for damp and mould at the property. She also said the back door would not close properly. The landlord acknowledged the complaint the same day.
6. The landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 30 August 2024. It said it would carry out repairs within 20 working days.
7. The resident escalated her complaint on 17 September 2024. The landlord acknowledged the complaint the same day.
8. The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 14 October 2024. It said it would arrange the outstanding repair works. It apologised and offered £260 compensation for the delays in carrying out repairs and for not keeping appointments.
9. The resident contacted us on 17 January 2025 as she remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response to her complaint.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

10. The landlord’s records from 2021 show it was told there was damp and mould in the resident’s property. We encourage residents to raise complaints with their landlord in a timely manner. This is because our Scheme states we may not investigate matters that were not brought to the landlord’s attention as a complaint within a reasonable time, normally 12 months from when the issue is first raised. The landlord must be given a reasonable opportunity to consider the issues while they are still ‘live’, and while the evidence is available to reach an informed conclusion about what has happened. As the substantive issues become historical, it is increasingly difficult for either the landlord, or an independent body such as us, to conduct an effective review of the actions taken to address those issues.
11. When deciding the scope of this investigation we have considered that the issue in dispute is the same throughout the whole timeline. Although the resident did not formally complain to the landlord until August 2024, the evidence shows the landlord was made aware of the issue in February 2021 and the resident engaged with it from then onwards.
12. As such we have exercised our discretion, and it is appropriate for this investigation to focus on the landlord’s response to reports of damp and mould in the property from 2021 onwards.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould at the property

13. On 4 February 2021 the resident’s solicitor sent pre-action correspondence to the landlord. They said there was damp and mould in the property. The solicitor arranged for an independent surveyor to inspect the property on 12 April 2021. The inspector found there was damp and mould in the kitchen, bathroom and 2 bedrooms. On 30 September 2021 the landlord agreed to carry out repairs to address the damp and mould within 56 days.
14. Landlords need to make sure their homes are safe, warm, and free from hazards. When a resident reports a risk such as damp and mould, the landlord should quickly inspect the property to check for hazards. They must determine if the home is safe and fit to live in. Ignoring hazards can lead to serious consequences for everyone involved.
15. The landlord’s damp and mould policy states that:
    1. When a resident reports that there is damp and mould in the property it will arrange for its specialist contractor to visit and assess the property within 20 working days.
    2. The assessment will identify the underlying cause of the damp and mould, and the resident will be provided with guidance on how to manage that.
    3. Any remedial action will be carried out within 10 working days of the assessment.
    4. If multiple fixes are required, the landlord will keep the resident updated on its progress.
16. The landlord has not provided any evidence to show it carried out repairs either within its policy timeframes, or within 56 days as set out in its agreement with the resident.
17. The next record of damp and mould being reported to the landlord was on 27 October 2022. The landlord recorded there was damp in the kitchen. Its contractor inspected the property on 2 November 2022. The contractor said there was a leak from the extension roof, and a possible leak from the drainage system causing damp in the kitchen walls. They also said there may also be a leak under the property. The contractor found mould in the bathroom, living room, dining room and 2 bedrooms. A mould treatment was applied to each of the effected rooms.
18. The landlord’s records say the majority of the repairs to address the damp and mould at the property were carried out by February 2023. However, the landlord has not provided any details of what repairs were completed, or when they did so.
19. Although the landlord’s contractor inspected the property within its policy timescale following the further reports of damp in the property on 27 October 2022, the landlord has not been able to provide evidence to show it carried out repairs to address the causes of the damp and mould within its policy timescales.
20. On 20 February 2023 the landlord recorded, as part of its repairs to treat damp and mould, it scraped off the paintwork from the plinth surrounding the outside of the property in preparation for it to be re-painted. The landlord’s repairs policy states it is responsible to make good any surfaces affected after it undertakes a repair. The landlord considers this a routine repair and aims to carry it out within 25 working days.
21. On 16 October 2023 the landlord recorded the resident had reported the plinth had not yet been re-painted. The landlord raised a new work order the same day to do the painting.
22. The resident complained to the landlord on 29 August 2024 as the repainting had not been undertaken as promised 9 months previously. She said the landlord had not completed the repairs to address the damp and mould, and it in addition to it not having re-painted the plinth around the outside of the house. On the same day the landlord raised a work order to treat the damp and mould in the property within 20 working days.
23. The landlord sent a response to the resident at stage 1 of its complaints process on 30 August 2024. It apologised for any inconvenience caused by the delays in carrying out repairs to the property. The landlord said its contractor would send her an appointment and it would complete the outstanding works within 20 working days.
24. Analysis of the landlord’s complaint response shows although it apologised for the delays in carrying out repairs, it did not offer any redress to the resident for its failings, despite the issue being present since 2021 and there being a number of delays in its attempts to put things right. This omission was not in line with its compensation guidance policy, which states an award of compensation can be made when the landlord does not complete repairs within its policy timescale.
25. The landlord’s records say its operatives were due to attend the property to carry out repairs on 6 September 2024, but they did not do so.
26. The landlord’s damp and mould contractor carried out an inspection of the property on 9 September 2024. They treated the mould in 2 bedrooms and the bathroom. The contractor said there was moisture in the internal kitchen wall, which could be caused by cracked drainage under the kitchen floor. As such the issue needed further investigation.
27. The resident escalated her complaint with the landlord on 17 September 2024.
28. On 2 October 2024 the resident emailed the landlord. She said the landlord’s plumber had attended the same day, but the appointment was meant to be for a joiner to check if there was a leak under the kitchen floor. The landlord apologised for the error the same day.
29. The landlord’s operatives inspected the kitchen floor on 8 October 2024. They found rising damp under the kitchen floor. The operatives said the damp needed further investigation, so they could not carry out repairs at that time.
30. On 14 October 2024 the landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response to the resident. It said it had completed the majority of the repairs to address the damp and mould in February 2023. It accepted it had yet to re-paint the plinth outside the property and said it would be done on 15 October 2024. The landlord said it had scheduled to start repair works on 24 October 2024, and its contractors had arranged with the resident to do the kitchen repairs. It said would monitor those works.
31. The landlord apologised and offered £200 compensation for the delays in carrying out repairs. It also offered £60 compensation for the 3 appointments not going ahead as planned on 16 September, 2 and 8 October 2024.
32. A review of the landlord’s complaint response shows it apologised and offered compensation for the delays in carrying out repairs. The landlord’s compensation policy states it will pay £20 for each missed appointment. The £60 compensation offer for the missed appointments was in line with this policy.
33. The landlord’s operative re-painted the plinth around the resident’s property on 15 October 2024. It took the landlord 20 months to complete this repair, which was far outside of its repairs policy timescales.
34. The next record of repairs being carried out was on 23 January 2024. The landlord’s operatives applied damp proofing to the kitchen floor and walls. This treatment was over 2 years from when the landlord’s contractor first recorded there were damp walls. The delays to treat the issue meant the landlord’s response was significantly outside of its policy timescales and far below the level of service the resident could reasonably have expected to receive.
35. The landlord inspected the property on 1 April 2025. It said there was no sign of damp in the kitchen. The landlord’s surveyor completed an inspection report regarding the property on 21 May 2025. They said there were outstanding remedial works in the lounge, kitchen and bedrooms following repairs to treat damp and mould. The surveyor also said a structural engineer needed to inspect the property to determine the reasons for cracks in property’s walls which allowed moisture to penetrate and cause internal repair issues.
36. The resident has told us the repairs have yet to be completed, and the landlord has not sent a structural engineer to inspect the property.
37. Throughout the timeline of the resident’s complaint, the evidence shows there were substantial delays by the landlord to effectively carry out repairs and remedial works to address the resident’s reports of damp and mould. Both of the landlord’s complaint responses recognised there had been delays in addressing the issues raised, and it apologised for this. The landlord offered £200 compensation for the distress and inconvenience the lack of action caused the resident. It also offered £60 compensation for 3 appointments not going ahead as planned.
38. 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 considering this, we take into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: Be Fair, Put Things Right and Learn from Outcomes as well as our own guidance on remedies.
39. When considering our guidance on remedies, the landlord’s compensation offer of £200 was not proportionate to the levels of failures identified by our investigation to address the long-standing damp and mould issues at the property. These failings caused the resident distress and inconvenience. The landlord’s offer of £60 for 3 missed appointments was in line with its compensation policy and proportionate to the level of these particular failings in order to put things right.
40. In its complaint responses the landlord committed to carrying out repairs, but apart from painting the plinth around the property, it did not adhere to its repair policy timescales. The evidence shows the landlord has yet to complete outstanding remedial works at the property, several months after its stage 2 complaint response. The landlord’s failure to follow through with its agreed actions and put things right is unreasonable.
41. The evidence shows the landlord did not offer redress which was proportionate to its failures. It failed to carry out the repairs and remedial works after it identified there was damp and mould at the property. These delays extended over a prolonged 4-year period. These combined failings lead to a determination of severe maladministration. The landlord is ordered to pay £1,260 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its failings, in addition to conducting a number of remedial inspections and works set out below.

The landlord’s handling of repairs to the property’s back door

42. On 29 August 2024 the resident complained to the landlord the property’s back door did not close properly.
43. The landlord raised a works order that day to repair the back door.
44. The landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 30 August 2024. It confirmed it would carry out repairs to the door within 20 working days.
45. On 17 September 2024 the resident told the landlord she remained dissatisfied with its response to her complaint.
46. The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 14 October 2024. The landlord said it had referred the door repair to its contractor. The landlord said it would monitor the works to completion.
47. The landlord recorded on 23 January 2025 its contractor attended the property to repair the back door. However, it said the repair was not completed as it required 2 engineers. The resident has told us the back door was repaired in April 2025.
48. The landlord’s repairs policy states it should repair external doors within 20 working days.
49. The evidence shows the landlord took longer than the timescales set out in its policy to fix the back door. Furthermore, its stage 2 response failed to acknowledge this delay, or that the process took longer than the 20 days it said it would in its stage 1 response. As well as not acknowledging the delay, the landlord did not apologise for the length of time taken to conduct the repair or offer any redress for the distress and inconvenience caused by its failure to conduct the repair within a reasonable timeframe.
50. As such, the landlord’s failure to put things right for the resident for its failures in its handling leads to a determination of maladministration. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £250 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its delays.

Determination

51. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was severe maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould in the property.
52. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of repairs to the property’s back door.

Orders

53. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Provide the resident with a written apology from its chief executive for the failures outlined above.
    2. Pay £1,510 compensation to the resident (the landlord can deduct from this total the £260 offered as part of its internal complaints process if already paid). The balance of the compensation must be paid directly to the resident and not offset against a rent or service charge account. The compensation comprises of:
       1. £1,260 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould in the property.
       2. £250 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of repairs to the property’s back door.
54. The landlord will arrange for a suitably qualified structural engineer to survey the property within 2 weeks of the date of this report. Within 4 weeks of the survey, the landlord will produce a schedule of works to include the outstanding works identified in May 2025, together with any additional works which are newly identified. The works will commence no later than 4 weeks from the date of the survey. A copy of the schedule, and the results of the survey should be shared with both the resident and this Service.