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London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202424815)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202424815

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

14 May 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 a leaking roof and associated damp and mould at her property.
    2. The complaint.

Background

  1. The resident has an assured tenancy with the landlord for a 1-bedroom first-floor flat, which has a flat roof above.
  2. The resident reported a leak from her bedroom ceiling on 22 June 2023. The landlord completed a repair to the roof on 20 December 2023. She complained to the landlord on 8 February 2024. She said she could hear rain dripping in her bedroom, so did not believe the roof had been fixed. She also said there had been damp and mould in her bedroom since June 2023.
  3. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 19 February 2024, confirming it repaired the roof in December 2023. However, it asked its contractor to attend the same day to investigate the further leak. Once repairs were complete to the roof, it would ask its damp and mould specialist to attend. It offered total compensation of £210. This was £160 for distress and inconvenience and £50 for decoration costs.
  4. On 19 February 2024, the resident confirmed that the contractor attended to repair the roof. She said it was “unacceptable” this was the first repair from her report in June 2023. On 22 February, the landlord replied, reconfirming it repaired the roof in December 2023, and damage to the roof could happen in more than one place. It said it would arrange for the damp and mould specialist to attend. It increased its compensation to £420 total. This was £320 for distress and inconvenience and £100 for decoration costs.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint on 23 February 2024, but the landlord did not respond. She further escalated on 1 May 2024. She said there was a damp mark on her bedroom ceiling and wall, and she did not believe the roof had been repaired properly. She asked for a surveyor to inspect.
  6. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 18 July 2024. It confirmed it had completed damp and mould treatment on 13 March and had arranged for a surveyor to inspect the roof following a call with the resident on 4 July. It reoffered the £420 compensation and offered further compensation of £180. This was £60 for its delayed stage 2 response and £120 for inconvenience and distress.
  7. The landlord completed repairs to the roof by December 2024. On 24 March 2025, the resident told the Ombudsman that rain was dripping into her bedroom despite the repair. She said the landlord had completed a mould wash in January 2025.
  8. The resident said she wanted more compensation from the landlord and reimbursement for her damaged carpet and belongings. She said sleeping in a damp room was affecting her health, and she had stopped contacting the landlord as it took no action.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. In correspondence with the Ombudsman in March 2025, the resident stated a further leak had occurred at her property. It is unclear if she raised this as a complaint with the landlord. However, as this took place after the landlord’s final complaint response of 18 July 2024, it did not have the opportunity to respond to these concerns under its complaint’s procedure.
  2. The Ombudsman may only consider complaints that have exhausted the landlord’s complaints procedure. The resident has the option to raise a further complaint with the landlord. The resident can raise her concerns to the Ombudsman, after the landlord provides a final complaint response.

The roof leak and damp and mould

  1. In the resident’s initial complaint of 8 February and further email of 19 February 2024, she believed the landlord had not previously repaired the roof following her report in mid-2023. The landlord addressed this in its responses on 19 and 22 February 2024. It appropriately explained that it had completed a repair in December 2023. This is reflected in the landlord’s repair records, which show a roof repair was completed on 20 December 2023.
  2. The resident’s report of 8 February 2024 is the first evidence that she raised the leak following the repair of 20 December 2023. The landlord’s complaint response confirmed that it had arranged for this new issue to be looked at. Its repair records show it did this on the same day the resident raised it. It appropriately managed the resident’s expectations by confirming it would carry out damp and mould treatment once it completed any further roof repair. These were prompt actions appropriate to the nature of the issue the resident had reported.
  3. In its stage 1 reply of 19 February 2024, the landlord offered compensation of £160. It later increased this on 22 February 2024 to £320. It said this was £40 per month for the distress and inconvenience between June 2023 and February 2024. The evidence shows little action from the landlord from the original report until December 2023, nor is there any evidence explaining why nothing was done. This was service failure and it was appropriate for the landlord to acknowledge this and offer compensation.
  4. The compensation offer was in accordance with its compensation policy and appropriate consideration for the time taken to complete the repair between June and December 2023. The landlord acted reasonably in including the period December 2023 and February 2024 in its offer.
  5. The resident contacted the landlord again on 19 February 2024. She believed the new leak was evidence it had not repaired the roof. In its further complaint response of 22 February, the landlord reiterated its explanation that the roof was repaired in December 2023. It explained how the new leak could have occurred despite the repair work in December. Its explanation is supported by the evidence.
  6. Following the roof repair, on 22 February 2024, the landlord arranged for a damp and mould specialist to complete a mould wash at the property. It completed this on 13 March. The landlord therefore complied with the agreement it made in its stage 1 to do this once the roof repair was complete.
  7. In her complaint escalation of 1 May 2024, the resident reported a new leak and a damp mark on her bedroom ceiling and wall. She believed the landlord had not previously successfully repaired the roof. She asked the landlord to send a surveyor to inspect the roof.
  8. The landlord confirmed in its stage 2 response of 18 July 2024 that it was arranging for a surveyor to attend. It said this was based on a call with the resident on 4 July. It did not explain the delayed response to the resident’s report of the new issue on 1 May. It should have, because in the absence of any evidence explaining it this delay was further poor service.
  9. The landlord apologised for this and offered £120 compensation. This was £40 per month for the distress and inconvenience caused for the 3-month period. This was in accordance with its compensation policy and equivalent to its offer at stage 1.
  10. The landlord’s records show a surveyor attended on 3 September and it completed further roof repairs on 22 October and in December 2024. It completed a mould wash following the repair, in January 2025.
  11. Throughout her complaint, the resident stated her carpet had been damaged as a result of the leak and damp and mould at the property in 2023 and 2024. The landlord explained in both its stage 1 and 2 complaint responses it could not compensate the resident for this. It directed her to claim through her home contents insurance or its own insurance. This was in accordance with its compensation policy that it cannot pay compensation when the resident can make an insurance claim.
  12. The resident also raised through her complaints that her bedroom needed to be redecorated due to the damp and mould at her property. The landlord’s repairs policy confirms it is not responsible for redecoration. It confirms it will make the walls good for the resident to redecorate. The landlord stated this to the resident in its complaint responses. It appropriately offered £100 decoration costs for the resident to allow her to do this herself. This was reasonable and in accordance with its compensation policy.
  13. In summary, the landlord acknowledged it was delayed in completing the initial roof repair in 2023 and responding to the further report in May 2024. It apologised for both and offered reasonable compensation to the resident. It responded quickly to the resident’s report in February 2024 and completed work as it agreed to. The landlord acted in accordance with its policy in directing the resident to her insurer for damage to her carpet. It also informed the resident she was responsible for redecorating, in line with its policy, but appropriately offered compensation to do this, to recognise some of the potential impact from its delays.

Complaint handling.

  1. The resident escalated her complaint on 23 February 2024. The landlord did not respond to this or log her escalation, despite the resident chasing this in a further email on 6 March.
  2. The resident further escalated her complaint on 1 May 2024, and the landlord acknowledged this in accordance with its policy within 5 working days. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 18 July 2024. This meant that from the 1 May escalation, it exceeded the 20-working day timescale for response in its policy by 34 working days.
  3. The resident chased the stage 2 response on 26 June and on 28 June it said it would complete it in due course. It also acknowledged it had exceeded 20 working days. However, the landlord failed to agree a new timescale for reply as its policy and the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code dictates.
  4. The landlord recognised the delay in its stage 2 complaint response and apologised. However, it failed to recognise it did not respond to the resident’s escalation request on 23 February 2024. From this date to its response, it exceeded its response timescale by 81 working days.
  5. The landlord offered £60 compensation for the delay in responding between 1 May and 18 July 2024. When considered against the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance the amount offered did not reflect the length of delay or the resident’s efforts to obtain a response. It failed to acknowledge the escalation of 23 February and was delayed in responding in excess of its policy for almost 5 months.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53.b of the Scheme, the landlord has offered redress to the resident prior to investigation, which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, satisfactorily resolves the concerns about its handling of the resident’s reports of a leaking roof and associated damp and mould at her property.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in respect of the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

  1. In light of the complaint handling failings found in the report, the landlord must pay the resident compensation of £160 within 4 weeks of this report. This is inclusive of the £60 it previously offered.

Recommendations

  1. If it has not already done so the landlord should pay the £540 it offered to the resident in its stage 2 response of 18 July 2024, as the determination in this report is based on it doing so.