London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202528173)

Background

1. The resident has lived in her property since 2004. She reported damp and mould in the kitchen, bathroom and hallway to the landlord. The resident has health vulnerabilities and lives with her young daughter.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
   1. Damp and mould repairs.
   2. The resident’s complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. We found:
   1. Maladministration in the landlord’s handling of damp and mould repairs.
   2. Maladministration 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 damp and mould repairs

4. The landlord failed to follow its repairs policy time frames when dealing with the resident’s reports of damp and mould. It did not respond to all the resident’s concerns raised in her complaint. The landlord did not recognise its failings or try to put things right for the resident.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint

5. The landlord delayed its stage 2 response by around 11 months. It did not apologise to the resident for the delay or try to put things right. The landlord’s complaint responses lacked detail and investigation.

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.

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 she has experienced mould in her property for decades. We have not seen evidence of a formal complaint exhausting the landlord’s complaints process until July 2025. In the interest of fairness, we focused our investigation on events from when the resident reported damp and mould in February 2023 leading up to her complaint.
7. The resident said the damp and mould harmed her and her daughter’s health and wellbeing. Courts are the most effective place to resolve disputes about personal injury and illness because independent medical experts can give evidence. We considered the overall impact of the situation on the resident, but we cannot decide causation or liability for personal injury like a court can. If the resident wishes to pursue a personal injury claim she may wish to seek independent legal advice.
8. We do not investigate complaints where it would be quicker, fairer, more reasonable or more effective to seek a remedy through the court, tribunal or other procedure. In this case, the complaint issue about the resident’s SAR is better dealt with the Information Commissioner’s Office. For these reasons we have decided not to investigate the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about its handling of her SAR.

What we did investigate

9. On 17 February 2023, the resident reported damp and mould in the kitchen, hallway and bathroom at her property. She said she was pregnant and had health conditions. The landlord inspected the property on the same day and raised a job to carry out a mould wash. The resident asked to rearrange the appointment and the mould wash was completed on 25 May 2023.
10. The landlord’s repairs policy says after a report of damp and mould it will assess a property within 20 days. It says it will try and understand the cause of the damp and mould and raise follow on works within 10 days of the inspection.
11. In its stage 1 complaint response, the landlord asked the resident to send photos of the damp and mould. It had last inspected the resident’s property for damp and mould around 18 months earlier. The resident replied on the same day and said she reported damp and mould a month earlier. The landlord replied the same day and said it would arrange an inspection when the resident was available in October 2024.There is no evidence the landlord inspected in October 2024.
12. On 8 May 2025, the landlord inspected the resident’s property for damp and mould. It has not provided the outcome of this inspection. In its stage 2 response, the landlord failed to acknowledge the resident waited around 9 months for it to inspect her property. This caused the resident distress and inconvenience.
13. Our role is to consider whether the landlord resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. To do this we considered our dispute resolution principles, be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
14. In summary, the landlord asked the resident to send photos of the damp and mould after she raised her complaint, instead of arranging an inspection. It then scheduled an inspection which did not take place. At both stages, it failed to acknowledge its delays resolving the damp and mould at her property. This caused the resident distress and inconvenience.
15. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident £600 compensation for the distress and inconvenience it caused her. This is in line with our remedies guidance for a failure by the landlord which has adversely affected a resident.

16. The landlord’s complaints policy says it will acknowledge a complaint at stage 1 within 5 working days and give a full response within 10 working days. It says it will respond at stage 2 within 20 working days of the escalation request. This is in line with our Complaint Handling Code.
17. The landlord sent a combined acknowledgement and stage 1 response around 3 working days after the resident raised her complaint. The landlord replied to the resident’s complaint at stage 2 around 11 months after she escalated her complaint. It did not apologise for the delay or try to put things right for the resident. The landlord’s complaint responses lacked detail and investigation into the complaint. This caused distress and inconvenience to the resident.
18. We have ordered the landlord to pay £150 compensation to the resident. This is in line with a failing that has adversely affected the resident which the landlord has not acknowledged.

Learning

19. The landlord should ensure inspections for damp and mould are arranged promptly within policy timelines. It should follow up on inspections to avoid missed actions.
20. The landlord should respond to all points raised in complaints. It should also ensure complaints are responded to in line with its policy and are detailed and empathetic.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

21. The landlord should confirm appointments and follow up on inspections to ensure they take place.
22. The landlord should ensure complaints are monitored to avoid excessive delays in responses. It should also document reasons for delays and if one occurs it should acknowledge them, apologise and explain the reasons.