Nottingham City Council (202504955)

Background

1. The resident lives in a 2-bedroom bungalow. The landlord is aware of her health conditions. As part of investigations into damp and mould in the property the landlord arranged for a survey to take place. The resident complained that it had missed the agreed survey appointment.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
   1. The resident’s report of a missed survey appointment.
   2. The complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. We have found:
   1. There was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s report of a missed survey appointment.
   2. There was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

Missed survey appointment

4. While the landlord apologised for its error in relation to the missed appointment, it failed to offer any redress to recognise the distress caused to the resident.

Complaint handling

5. The landlord did not respond to the complaint in line with its policy in place at the time. It failed to recognise this in its final response, apologise, or offer any redress.

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. In her correspondence with us the resident raised complaint issues concerning the landlord’s handling of damp and mould in her property which occurred since the complaint exhausted the landlord’s complaint procedure. We have no power to investigate complaints which the landlord has not had the chance to put right first. There is no evidence the resident raised the issue of the landlord’s handling of damp and mould as part of this complaint, therefore, we have no power to investigate it.
7. We may not investigate matters where a resident has had (or will have) the chance to raise the subject matter of the complaint as part of legal proceedings. In this case, we can see that legal proceedings relating to the damp and mould were issued at court on 27 February 2024. We note from the evidence provided that the court proceedings were stayed under part 36 and that a settlement was reached relating to the disrepair claim on 11 July 2025. This included a settlement sum of £2,025 and to carry out repair works within 90 working days.

What we did investigate

8. It is not disputed that there was an administrative error resulting in the missed survey appointment. When there are failings by a landlord, as is the case here, we will consider whether the redress offered by the landlord (apology, compensation and offer to complete a survey) put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this, we take into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with our dispute resolution principles, be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
9. It was appropriate that in its complaint responses the landlord apologised for missing the appointment. It explained this was due to an administrative error by its contractor and it attempted to call the resident to provide a verbal apology for this. This was reasonable in the circumstances.
10. The landlord’s records do not allow us to ascertain when its contractor re-arranged the appointment with the resident. Although we are aware that the missed appointment caused inconvenience to her, it completed the survey on 15 April 2025. This demonstrates there was no further significant delay caused to the resident by its original error.
11. The landlord appropriately responded to the additional matters raised by the resident in her escalation request. Although we are aware that the resident was unhappy with the conduct of the surveyor on the day of the survey, the landlord demonstrated that it had considered her concerns. It reiterated to its staff that they must carry identification at all times and confirmed its position in relation to the length of time spent at her home and for shoe coverings.
12. The landlord’s compensation policy states that it will consider awarding discretionary compensation where it has failed to attend an appointment. Given its awareness that this was the case, it would have been reasonable for it to offer some redress to the resident in recognition of the detriment caused to her. The fact it did not meant it did not fully put things right for her. We have ordered it to pay compensation for this failing.

13. The landlord operates a 2-stage complaint process. It acknowledges complaints within 5 working days. It responds to stage 1 and 2 complaints within 10 and 20 working days respectively. This is compliant with the Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
14. The landlord acknowledged and responded to the complaint at both stages, within the timescales set out in its policy.
15. At the time of the resident’s complaint the landlord’s complaint policy said it would contact residents to discuss issues raised at stage 1 of its process.
16. There is no evidence that the landlord did so in this case. As part of the resident’s escalation request she said she was unhappy it had failed to provide her with the opportunity to discuss the issue. The landlord failed to respond to this within its final response.
17. We have, therefore, made an order for compensation to recognise the time and trouble caused in the resident raising this issue.