London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202502116)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202502116

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

29 September 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of window repairs and associated damp.

Background

The resident has a secure tenancy at the property, which is a 3-bedroom house. She has lived there for 25 years. The landlord is a housing association. It has a record that the resident has vulnerabilities because of health and mobility conditions.
On 11 November 2024 the resident told the landlord that her living room and downstairs toilet window frames were rotten and water was coming in. The landlord added the windows to a renewal programme for replacement works. Four days later the resident contacted the landlord because she was concerned that the glass in the downstairs toilet would fall out because of the rotten window frame. The landlord boarded up the window.
The resident complained to the landlord on 12 December 2024 because she had not heard when the windows would be replaced. The resident advised the landlord that the draught and dampness in the property was affecting her health. She also said that she felt unsafe with the downstairs window boarded up, particularly because of her mobility difficulties.
The landlord responded on 17 January 2025. It said that windows had been added to a renewal programme and would be completed between April 2025 and March 2026. It was unable to bring this forward but would continue to repair the windows in the meantime.
The resident asked to escalate her complaint to stage 2 in mid-February 2025 because she was not satisfied with waiting up to 13 months for the window replacements. The resident reminded the landlord that she has vulnerabilities and felt insecure in her home. She added that she was putting newspaper into the holes in her window frames to try and stop water coming in.
The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response a month later. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s vulnerabilities and confirmed it had prioritised the window replacements. However, it was still unable to provide a date for the work on its major works programme. Instead, it said it was looking at replacing the windows as a responsive repair and was in the process of getting a quote for this. The landlord apologised to the resident and offered £130 in compensation.
The resident is satisfied with the window replacement that took place in July 2025 as a responsive repair. However, when water was coming in through holes in the old window frames it had damaged the wall plaster, and this has not been addressed. The resident wanted the landlord to acknowledge that it could have replaced the windows faster, particularly because of her vulnerabilities. She also wanted the landlord to learn from the circumstances of her case so that it would provide an improved service to residents in the future.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

Throughout the complaint and in communication with this Service, the resident said this situation had a detrimental impact on her health and wellbeing. The courts are the most effective place for disputes about personal injury and illness. This is largely because independent medical experts are appointed to give evidence. They have a duty to the court to provide unbiased insights on the diagnosis, prognosis, and cause of any illness or injury. When disputes arise over the cause of an injury, oral testimony can be examined in court. While the Ombudsman cannot consider the effect on health, consideration has been given to any general distress and inconvenience which the resident experienced because of any service failure by the landlord.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of window repairs and associated damp

The tenancy agreement states that the landlord is responsible for keeping in good repair the structure and exterior of the property including window sills, window catches, window frames (including necessary painting and decoration), and window panes.
The landlord’s repair policy also confirms that the landlord is responsible for maintaining windows as follows:
1. Where age and wear and tear affect key components such as windows, these will be replaced through planned programmes of work.
2. It aims to complete routine day to day repairs in an average of 20 calendar days. It aims to complete emergency repairs in 4 hours.
3. Where a resident is vulnerable, it is able to adjust its service standards where a delay would put them at risk because of their condition. This includes faster appointments for health and safety repairs.
The resident reported on 11 November 2024 that her living room and downstairs toilet window frames were rotten and letting water in. The landlord visited the next day. It did not carry out any repairs but added the windows to its major works programme.
The landlord acted in accordance with its policy when it added the windows to its programme of major works due to age, wear, and tear. However, the windows were also in disrepair, letting in water and cold air to the property. The water was making the wall under the living room window damp.
In August 2025 this Service published a report on learning from severe maladministration in cases relating to windows. The Ombudsman highlighted that landlords identified in the report were routinely deferring repairs in favour of major works later.
In this case, the disrepair was having a negative impact on the structure of the property and on the resident. It would have been appropriate for the landlord to have carried out responsive repairs within 20 days to resolve the disrepair, in line with its policy.
On 15 November 2024 the resident contacted the landlord with concerns that the downstairs toilet window frame was in such poor condition that someone could break into the property. The landlord attended the property for a repair on 10 December and boarded up the toilet window.
It was reasonable for the landlord to make a temporary repair to make the downstairs window safe, however, it took place outside of the landlord’s 20-day target for routine repairs.
On 12 December 2024 the resident sent her complaint to the landlord because she had received no information on when the windows would be replaced. She stated that the damp and draught was affecting her health and she felt unsafe because the downstairs toilet window had been left boarded up.
The landlord extended the deadline for responding to the resident’s stage 1 complaint while it looked into bringing the works forward on the programme. During this time the landlord’s surveyor stated that interim repairs needed to be considered, alongside treatment for damp and mould. However, the landlord did not make any further repairs to the living room or toilet windows until the windows were replaced after the complaints process had been completed.
The Ombudsman’s report on windows suggested that landlords should assess the impact on the individual household before delaying repairs for major works. There is no evidence that the landlord considered the impact of the resident’s individual circumstances when delaying repairs in favour of major works. In accordance with its repair policy, it would have been appropriate for the landlord to have adjusted its service standards because of the resident’s vulnerabilities. In line with this, it could have arranged further temporary repairs to stop the water coming in as a priority, and window replacements as a responsive repair.
The landlord’s stage 1 complaint response on 17 January 2025 (with an updated but similar response sent on 10 February) stated that the window replacement under the major works programme was scheduled to take place between April 2025 and March 2026. It said it was unable to bring the replacement works forward under the programme because there were only 2 months remaining of the current financial year. This response was not line with the landlord’s repair obligations to attend to the repair within 20 days.
On 23 January 2025 the landlord inspected the property. Its operative stated that gaps were ‘everywhere’, water was coming in, and it was freezing in the property. It recommended that the windows should be repaired as soon as possible while waiting for a replacement.
The resident escalated her complaint on 13 February 2025. The resident was concerned about waiting another year (including the possibility of another winter) with the same windows. She told the landlord that she was putting newspaper in the gaps of the windows to stop water from coming in.
The landlord’s stage 2 response on 12 March 2025 acknowledged the resident’s vulnerabilities and advised it had prioritised the window replacements on the major works programme. However, it could still not provide a guaranteed date for works to start on the programme. Therefore, it proposed raising a job with a contractor to replace the windows as a responsive repair. It had requested a quote which would then need to be approved by a panel, but it had sent supporting information to the panel to aid their decision making.
Also, the landlord apologised to the resident and paid to her a total of £130 in compensation, broken down as follows:
1. £90 for the distress and failure to recognise the impact due to vulnerabilities.
2. £40 for the resident’s time and trouble in getting the complaint resolved.
Where there are admitted failings by a landlord, this Service will 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 of: be fair (follow fair processes and recognise what went wrong), put things right, and learn from outcomes.
It was appropriate that the landlord arranged to replace the windows as a responsive repair as part of its stage 2 response. However, the landlord had missed multiple opportunities to make timely repairs to the windows since the disrepair was reported 4 months before.
The landlord’s compensation policy states that it can pay compensation when it fails to deal satisfactorily with repairs and the customer is continuing to live in poor conditions longer than is reasonable. This is not recognised in the compensation that was offered by the landlord in its stage 2 response.
The landlord obtained a quote from a contractor that was approved by the landlord’s review panel on 6 May 2025. It arranged scaffolding and the living room and downstairs toilet windows were replaced in July 2025. This was 4 months after the landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response. However, the landlord had still not offered any temporary repairs during this time. For this reason, the level of compensation offered in its stage 2 response is not proportionate to the impact on the resident and did not put things right for the resident.
When reporting the disrepair, the resident had advised that water coming in through the damaged frames and was causing damp. The landlord carried out damp and mould inspections within the property multiple times between December 2024 and February 2025 (the resident was also experiencing damp and mould elsewhere in the property). However, there is no evidence that the damp under the living room window was addressed following these inspections.
The resident has told us that the wall underneath the living room window is still stained from mould, and plaster is coming away from the wall as a result of the water damage. We could find no evidence that damp, mould, or plaster damage to the wall underneath the window has been reported to the landlord since the window replacement was completed.
We find that there has been maladministration in this case. We order the landlord to pay further compensation of £270 to the resident as follows:
1. £90 for the distress and inconvenience the resident likely experienced because of the landlord’s failure to carry out repairs to the windows during the internal complaints process and before.
2. £180 for the further 4 months that the resident likely experienced additional distress and inconvenience while waiting for replacement windows following the end of the complaints process. This takes into consideration the landlord’s failure to carry out repairs during this time and to prioritise these temporary repairs due to the resident’s vulnerability.
We also order the landlord to contact the resident to arrange a damp and mould inspection and arrange any identified repairs.
The resident wanted the landlord to acknowledge its failures and show learning for the future. Following our report about windows which was published after the circumstances of this case, the landlord said that it has delivered a Repairs Change Project and set up a new team to support residents with complex repairs. The landlord is prioritising urgently needed works through its £3bn Major Works Investment Project. This project will replace windows, kitchens, bathrooms, and roofs in thousands of residents’ homes. The landlord is also implementing measures to respond better to residents with vulnerabilities and has updated its approach to handling unresolved complaints. Therefore, we have not made any similar orders in this case.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of window repairs and associated damp.

Orders

The landlord is ordered to take the following action within 4 weeks of the date of this report, and provide evidence of compliance to this Service:
1. Apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this case. A senior member of staff should make the apology.
2. Pay further compensation of £270 to the resident as follows:
  1. £90 for the distress and inconvenience the resident likely experienced because of the landlord’s failure to carry out repairs to the windows during the internal complaints process and before.
  2. £180 for the further 4 months that the resident likely experienced additional distress and inconvenience while waiting for replacement windows following the end of the complaints process. This takes into consideration the landlord’s failure to carry out repairs during this time and to prioritise these temporary repairs due to the resident’s vulnerability.
  3. The compensation should be paid direct to the resident and not used to offset any monies that the resident may owe the landlord.
3. Carry out a damp and mould survey to the walls surrounding the living room and downstairs toilet windows.
4. Within 2 weeks of the survey the landlord must share a copy of the survey with the resident and us, together with details of any identified works and a timetable for completing the works.