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London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202341552)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202341552

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

30 April 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 the resident’s:
    1. Reports of a leak.
    2. Associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident has an assured tenancy for a 3-bed house, which began on 8 April 1996. She lives with her partner and son.
  2. The landlord is a housing association. It is aware of the resident and her household’s disabilities and vulnerabilities.
  3. On 22 September 2023 the resident reported to the landlord that there was a leak from her roof.
  4. The resident made a complaint to the landlord on 8 December 2023. She wanted an update on when the leak would be resolved. She said water was now running down the wall of the bathroom.
  5. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 19 December 2023. It said it had attended the repair and submitted a quote for scaffolding. It would update her on this soon. Once the leak was resolved it would arrange internal works and award compensation and decorating vouchers.
  6. On 18 January 2024 the resident asked to escalate her complaint as she was not happy with the landlord’s response.
  7. The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 10 April 2024. In its response it:
    1. Said the scaffolding quote was declined on 22 January 2024. It did not say why.
    2. Confirmed it inspected the resident’s property on 23 February 2023 and a new quote was raised for scaffolding. It would update her once a decision was made on this quote.
    3. Offered the resident £420 compensation. This was broken down as:
      1. £320 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the delay in repairing the leak.
      2. £100 for the time and trouble getting the complaint resolved.

Events after the expiry of the landlord’s complaints procedure

  1. The scaffolding was erected on 22 July 2024, and the repairs to the roof were completed on 23 July 2024.
  2. The resident told us the internal works were completed shortly after this.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. The resident told the landlord the leak impacted her and her household’s health. We can consider whether a landlord’s actions or lack of action has caused any distress and inconvenience to the resident. However, we are unable to establish whether the resident’s health and wellbeing was impacted. This would be down to a court to decide.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a leak

  1. We find maladministration for the landlord’s handling of the resident’s report of a leak. The reasons for my findings are below.
  2. The landlord’s repairs policy states it will attend emergency repairs within 24 hours. It will make the situation safe and follow on repairs will be completed at the earliest appointment. It states it will carry out routine repairs within 25 calendar days.
  3. The resident reported a leak to the landlord on 22 September 2023. The landlord’s records do not show if it logged this as an emergency repair. It attended the resident’s property on 25 September 2023, which was outside its target timescale of 24 hours. There landlord’s records state the wrong contractor attended and there are no notes from the appointment. There was no evidence to show the landlord checked the electrics were safe as it states it will in its repairs policy.
  4. Between September and December 2023, the resident chased an update from the landlord several times. The evidence shows the landlord chased its contractor on 8 November 2023, but there was no evidence it got a response or that it updated the resident. The landlord failed to be pro-active in resolving the leak. It left a vulnerable household in a position where they did not know when the leak would be resolved.
  5. The landlord was aware of the resident and her household’s vulnerabilities. The resident told the landlord the leak, damp and mould were affecting her and her household’s health. The landlord’s repairs policy states it can adjust its service standards where a delay would put a vulnerable resident at risk.  There was no evidence the landlord considered the risks or discussed the impact the leak was having on the resident and her household’s health. There was no evidence it offered her any advice, signposted her to support services, or considered a decant while she waited for the repairs to be completed. This was a significant failing.
  6. The resident raised concerns about damage to her personal belongings in January 2024 which she said was a result of the delay in the leak being resolved, and damp and mould in the property. The landlord acted appropriately by providing the resident with it’s insurance details so she could make a claim. It is unclear whether the claim was accepted. However, we are unable to comment on insurance claims as we can only consider the actions of the landlord.
  7. The landlord declined a scaffolding quote on 22 January 2024. The landlord contacted the resident on 7 February 2024 and said one of its own operatives would attend to investigate the leak. There was no evidence the landlord explained to the resident why the quote was rejected and the reason it needed to inspect the leak again. This resulted in her chasing updates and raising concerns that the landlord was booking in recurring appointments to investigate the leak but not taking any action to resolve it.
  8. The landlord carried out the repairs and resolved the roof leak on 23 July 2024. This was 10 months after the resident reported the issue. This was a significant delay and outside the landlord’s target timescales. Although the need for scaffolding can cause delays with repairs. The landlord’s internal processes around obtaining and authorising the quotes for the scaffolding caused unnecessary delays. A recommendation has been made for the landlord to review its processes to minimise delays in the future.
  9. A landlord who has an obligation to repair must also rectify damage to decorations as a result of the repair work. The landlord said it would offer the resident decorating vouchers instead of rectifying the damage itself. It said this was because it did not offer patch work when repainting. A recommendation has been made for the landlord to review its policy and procedures to ensure it considers whether decorating vouchers are an appropriate option for a vulnerable and/or disabled resident.
  10. In its stage 1 response the landlord said it would award compensation once the roof leak was resolved. The landlord awarded compensation in its stage 2 response, despite the fact the roof and internal repairs were outstanding. This conflicting information caused the resident frustration and confusion. It resulted in her contacting the landlord several times to ask if it was still going to carry out internal repairs and offer her decorating vouchers. The landlord failed to effectively communicate with the resident and manage her expectations.
  11. In summary there was a delay in landlord resolving the roof leak. It’s processes in obtaining and authorising the scaffolding quotes caused unnecessary delays. There was evidence of poor communication and record keeping. The landlord also failed to consider the resident’s vulnerabilities and offer appropriate support.
  12. In its stage 2 response the landlord apologised and offered £320 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays. Although the landlord showed it wanted to put things right, it did not show it had learnt from the complaint. There was evidence of continuing poor communication with the resident and it look a further 3 months for the leak and the damage to decorations to be resolved. Therefore, the compensation offered did not reflect the distress, inconvenience, time and trouble caused to the resident.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s associated complaint

  1. We find reasonable redress for the landlord’s complaints handling. The reasons for my findings are below.
  2. The landlord’s complaints policy states it will acknowledge complaints within 5 working days. It states it will respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days, and stage 2 complaints within 20 working days.
  3. The resident made a complaint to her landlord on 8 December 2023. The landlord acknowledged her complaint on 19 December 2023. This was outside the landlord’s target timescale of 5 working days. The landlord acted appropriately by contacting the resident before issuing its response.
  4. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 19 December 2023. This was just outside its target timescale of 10 working days.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint on 18 January 2024. The landlord acknowledged the escalation on 3 April 2024, this was significantly outside its target timescale of 5 working days. This resulted in the resident chasing a response and contacting this service. The landlord only responded because we contacted it and asked it to provide a stage 2 response.
  6. The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint on 10 April 2024. This was within its 20-working day target timescale. The landlord responded to all the complaint issues within its response.
  7. In summary there was a delay in the landlord acknowledging the complaint, issuing its stage 1 response and escalating the complaint. In its stage 2 response the landlord acknowledged it’s complaint handling failures. It apologised and offered the resident £100 compensation for the time and trouble caused. This amount of compensation was in line with its compensation policy.

Determination

  1. There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s report of a leak (paragraph 52 of the Scheme).
  2. There was reasonable redress in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s associated complaint (paragraph 53.b of the Scheme).

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Apologise to the resident in writing for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident £200 compensation for the time, trouble, distress and inconvenience caused to the resident by its handling of the resident’s report of a leak.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord should review its policies and procedures in obtaining and authorising quotes for scaffolding to ensure it can minimise delays and meet its repairing obligations.
  2. The landlord should review its policy and procedures when offering decorating vouchers to vulnerable or disabled residents. It’s staff should communicate with resident’s and ask if they are able to carry out the redecorating themselves. If not, it should ensure it takes reasonable steps to rectify damage to decorations itself.