Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTV) (202332990)

Back to Top

 

A blue and grey text AI-generated content may be incorrect.

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202332990

Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTV)

29 July 2025

 

Our approach

Under our early resolution process, the Ombudsman works with the resident and landlord to explore the issues in dispute, identify the matters that remain outstanding and assist in reaching an agreed settlement.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request that he be reimbursed for the costs he incurred following a sewage leak.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53.c. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress, following the Ombudsman’s intervention, which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.

How the complaint was resolved

  1. The resident is a shared owner of a flat in a converted office block, owned by the landlord. The lease began in January 2020.
  2. In April 2022, the resident reported a sewage leak at his property, which was traced to a blockage in the communal waste pipe. The landlord unblocked the pipe, which had inadvertently caused further damage to the resident’s property.
  3. The remedial works were carried out by the building insurer, although the resident had to pay a £350 excess cost for the works. The insurer also did not cover the cost of replacing the resident’s carpet, which was part of the original fixtures and fittings in the property.
  4. To restore the resident to the position he had been in had the leak never occurred, he requested the landlord reimburse him for the cost of the excess and the cost of replacing the carpet.
  5. With the Ombudsman’s intervention, the landlord agreed to restore the resident to the position he would have been in had the issue never occurred, as follows:
    1. The landlord would reimburse the resident with £350, which he had paid for the insurance excess.
    2. Additionally, the landlord would assist the resident in making a claim for the replacement carpet through the landlord’s insurer. If the settlement amount was insufficient to cover the cost of the replacement carpet, the landlord would contribute the remaining amount up to the value of £650, which is the estimated cost of replacing the carpet, according to the resident.
  6. The resident has accepted the landlord’s offer.
  7. Paragraph 53.c. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that “The Ombudsman may determine the investigation of a complaint immediately if satisfied that the member has made an offer of redress following the Ombudsman’s intervention which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.
  8. I am therefore satisfied, following the intervention of this Service, that the landlord has now taken actions to remedy the matters raised, which resolve the complaint satisfactorily.

Recommendation

  1. Within 4 weeks from the date of this report, the landlord should pay the resident £350 and provide him with details to initiate the insurance claim. It should also provide the resident with details of the person to contact once the insurer has determined the value of the claim.