London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202522963)

Background

1. The resident and her daughter have underlying health issues. She complained to the landlord about outstanding repairs, which she said caused damp and mould and affected their health. She said the issue had been ongoing for over 10 years.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
   1. Outstanding repairs.
   2. Complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. We found:
   1. Maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s outstanding repairs.
   2. Service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s outstanding repairs

4. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s repairs was poor. It did not complete the repairs in line with its repairs policy timescale and did not keep the resident updated.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint

5. The landlord did not respond to the resident’s stage 1 complaint in line with its complaints policy timescale.

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.

Recommendations

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

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

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.

What we did not investigate

6. The resident said the repair delay, and the condition of the property, impacted her and her family’s health. It would be fairer, more reasonable and more effective for the resident to make a personal injury claim for any injury caused. The courts are best placed to deal with this type of dispute as they will have the benefit of independent medical advice to decide on the cause of any injury and how long it will last. We’ve not investigated this further. We can decide if a landlord should pay compensation for distress and inconvenience.
7. The resident said the repairs have been ongoing for over 10 years. She said she initially complained in 2016 with the assistance of her MP and has made several complaints to the landlord since. These complaints have not been referred to us and we have not investigated. Under our Scheme, we normally expect resident’s to bring a complaint to us within 12 months of the landlord’s final response. The resident did not bring her earlier complaints to us and we have not investigated them as part of this complaint
8. The resident made a new complaint to the landlord about her living room floor and kitchen and received a stage 1 response in February 2026. If she is unhappy with its response, she can escalate it to stage 2 of the landlord’s complaint procedure. If she remains unhappy with its final response she can ask us to investigate further. We have not investigated the new complaint issues. This investigation focuses on the complaint the resident made in February 2025 for which she received a final complaint response in April 2025.

What we did investigate

9. The landlord inspected the property on 12 March 2025. It did not provide us its full inspection report. Its notes show it found mould in the resident’s kitchen, lounge and on the bedroom ceilings and walls. Following its inspection, it raised 4 jobs on 16 March 2025 which included a kitchen extractor fan, mould wash in the living room, bedroom, kitchen and bathroom, plastering work to the lounge and bedroom walls and work to seal around the bathroom floor and clear the guttering.
10. In line with its damp and mould policy, the landlord completed an assessment on 28 March 2025. It installed a moisture sensor and gave the resident advice on managing the mould. It returned on 23 April 2025 to complete a shield and mould wash. In July 2025 the resident reported the mould had not returned to the treated areas.
11. The landlord’s contractor attended on 26 March 2025 for the kitchen extractor job. On 2 April 2025 the resident contacted the landlord and said its contractor could not complete the work and told her he would make another appointment. She was unhappy she had not heard further. The landlord said it would look into it and get back to her, but it did not. It completed the repair on 9 May 2025 which was not in line with its repairs policy timescale, or its target completion date of 11 April 2025.
12. The landlord raised work on 16 May 2025 to seal the bathroom floor and clear the guttering. It recorded this as completed on 25 April 2025, but this only related to the guttering work. At the time of this report, the work to the bathroom floor remains outstanding. It attended on 28 March 2025 to complete the floorwork but was unable to and raised follow on work. In her email to the landlord on 2 April 2025, the resident said the contractor told her it could not complete the floor work because the gaps were too big. She said he told her the floor had shrunk and would need to be replaced. She asked the landlord for an update but there was no evidence it updated her about the bathroom floorwork.
13. Following its inspection in March 2025, the landlord raised plastering work to the lounge and bedroom walls. It recorded a completion date of 11 April 2025 but the repair remains outstanding. The resident told us the contractor was unable to complete the work due to an issue with the living room flooring, which the landlord is currently assessing. The recorded repair for this job includes stripping off the existing walls, cleaning mould from the affected areas, refixing skirting boards and installing thermal boards. She said the contractor attended to skim the walls but the walls were wet and the existing plaster rotten. She said she opens her door to help dry the walls, but the cold affects her daughters health due to an underlying condition, which the landlord is aware of. The landlord is also aware the resident suffers from asthma and she said the conditions caused her recurrent chest infections.
14. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s repairs was poor. At the time of this report, the plastering and bathroom floor work is incomplete. The resident continues to live in a house with outstanding repairs. The resident said she reported these repairs repeatedly over the last 10 years. However, in the year prior to her complaint the landlord only has a heating and hot water repair recorded. She said she has considered rehousing because of the condition of the property and is on a medical move priority list. We cannot order a landlord to rehouse a resident, but we have recommended it provides her with rehousing advice.
15. The landlord’s repairs policy has a ‘right first time approach’ which says it aims to complete repairs in a single visit. Where this is not possible, it says it would proactively manage the repair and keep the resident updated, which it did not do. Its lack of communication and delay caused the resident time and trouble complaining to the landlord and bringing her complaint to us.
16. In view of the repair delays and the landlord’s poor communication, we found maladministration. In its stage 1 response, it offered £120 compensation for the inconvenience its delays and poor communication caused the resident. It said it dated this back to October 2024 when it completed its stock condition survey. Its records show the survey was completed in August 2024, not October 2024, and this identified moderate damp and mould growth. However, it did not act until February 2025. We do not consider its offer proportionate to the failings we identified. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident an additional £500 which is in line with our remedies guidance for failings which adversely affected the resident. We have also ordered the landlord to start the outstanding work and update the resident of any delays.

17. The landlord’s complaints policy says it will respond at stage 1 within 10 working days, and at stage 2 within 20 working days of an escalation request. This is in line with our complaint handling code (the Code).
18. The landlord sent its stage 1 response 17 working days after the resident’s complaint.  This was not in line with its complaints policy timescale or the timescale it gave in its acknowledgment. It did not address the delay in its response.
19. The landlord responded to the resident’s stage 2 complaint in accordance with its complaints policy.
20. Due to the landlord’s delay in sending its stage 1 response we found service failure in its complaint handling. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident £25 compensation which is in keeping with our remedies guidance for service failures which it did not acknowledge but did not affect the overall outcome for the resident.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

21. The landlord’s repair records were poor. Its repair records show when it raised a repair and why but do not confirm what work it did or details of any follow-on work. The status and completion dates are also inaccurate.. It should ensure its repair records are accurate and complete.
22. The landlord did not provide a copy of its full inspection report from 12 March 2025. We expect landlords to have a full record of its inspections showing what issues were found and what follow on work was completed.

Communication

23. The landlord’s communication was poor. It should consider how it can improve its communication with residents for repair and survey updates. It should also consider how it communicates with contractors to ensure it is aware of when it attended and the work completed.
24. The landlord should ensure its complaint responses are accurate, it referred to a stock condition survey from October 2024, which it did not provide a copy of, and the evidence it did provide, suggests this was done in August 2024.