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Orbit Housing Association Limited (202443467)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202443467

Orbit Housing Association Limited

12 September 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 damp and mould and related repairs.
    2. The resident’s complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured shorthold tenant of the property, a 3 bedroom house. She lives at the property with her 3 children. Her son has been diagnosed with autism and has asthma.
  2. On 8 February 2023 the resident reported damp and mould in 2 upstairs bedrooms. The landlord inspected the property on 11 April 2023 and completed work to the loft insulation on 16 August 2023. The resident reported problems with damp and mould again on 15 November 2023 and told the landlord she was worried the problem was affecting her son’s health.
  3. The resident complained to the landlord on 15 December 2023. She said she reported damp and mould again at her property, but had not heard back from the landlord. She said she told the landlord many times the night storage heaters were not working, and this did not help with keeping the house warm and dry. She said the damp and mould was affecting her son’s asthma.
  4. On 12 January 2024 the landlord conducted a damp and mould inspection. The landlord’s inspector recommended checking and fixing any leaks to the roof, filling gaps in the external insulation, checking the loft insulation and carrying out a 3 stage mould treatment to the bathroom ceiling.
  5. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 20 March 2024. It apologised for the delay in conducting a damp and mould inspection after the resident’s report in November 2023 and offered £167 in compensation. This was broken down into £50 for service failure, £100 for inconvenience and £17 for the damp and mould inspection being outside of the required timeframe.
  6. The resident asked the landlord to escalate her complaint on 19 April 2024. She said she had reported damp and mould since 2021. She said she raised the issue again in 2023 because her son’s asthma was worse. She said the night storage heaters were not working for months and this contributed to the problem. She said the landlord inspected the loft on numerous occasions and it did work to the loft insulation twice, with further works booked for 11 April 2024. She said the works to cover the gaps in the external insulation, raised on 15 January 2024 had never been completed. She said the stage 1 complaint response incorrectly said it completed this job on 31 January 2024. She said she had been waiting for over 2 years for the problem to be addressed. She said she lost days of earnings waiting for inspections and repairs. She said the problem with damp and mould remained unresolved and she did not accept the landlord’s offer of compensation.
  7. The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 19 November 2024. It upheld the resident’s complaint and offered her a further £250 compensation. This was broken down as £100 compensation in recognition of the poor service and length of time it took to resolve the damp and mould issue and £150 for poor complaint handling. It said after its inspection in January 2024, it raised several jobs to address damp and mould. The landlord said it carried out a 3 stage damp and mould treatment, and its surveyor had recommended works to fill gaps in the external wall insulation. The landlord said the surveyor also recommended thermal boarding inside the property, but the resident refused this. The landlord said its contractors would visit the property to carry out works to the internal and external insulation.
  8. The resident was unhappy with the landlord’s complaint response and asked us to investigate her complaint. She said she was dissatisfied with the landlord’s compensation offer. She told us she wanted the landlord to do the outstanding works to fill the gaps in the external insulation and insulate the bathroom ceiling.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident said this situation had a detrimental impact on the health and wellbeing of her son The courts are the most effective place for disputes about personal injury and illness. This is because independent medical experts can give evidence. We cannot decide on causation based on review of the housing file. We can consider 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.
  2. The resident said there was a long history of her reporting damp and mould to the landlord. However, this investigation has primarily focussed on the events that led to the resident’s complaint in December 2023, until the landlord’s stage 2 response on 19 November 2024. This is because residents are expected to raise complaints with their landlords, and with this Service, in a timely manner, so issues can be considered while the evidence is available to reach an informed conclusion on the events.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould and related repairs

  1. The tenancy agreement says the landlord will maintain and keep in proper working order the structure and outside of the property including roof and outside walls. The landlord is also responsible for maintaining heating and water heating equipment and electrical equipment and installation.
  2. The landlord’s repair policy says it will conduct emergency repairs within 4 or 24 hours and routine repairs within 28 calendar days.
  3. The landlord’s damp and mould policy says it will inspect reports of damp and mould within 20 working days.
  4. The resident reported damp and mould on 8 February 2023 and 3 April 2023. In response to the report on 8 February 2023, the landlord should have arranged an inspection within 20 working days in line with its policy, by 8 March 2023. It completed a damp and mould inspection on 11 April 2023, 43 working days later. This was an inappropriate response to the resident’s initial report of damp and mould.
  5. Following the damp and mould inspection on 11 April 2023, the landlord appropriately checked and carried out repairs to the loft insulation as the inspection report recommended.
  6. The resident reported damp and mould again on 15 November 2023. In line with its policy, it should have inspected the property by 13 December 2023, within 20 working days. It did not inspect the property until 12 January 2024, which was 39 working days later.
  7. In its stage 1 complaint response, the landlord did not acknowledge its delay in carrying out the inspection after the first report in February 2023. However, it did acknowledge its delay following the further report of damp and mould in November 2023. It offered the resident £17 compensation for the inspection occurring outside of its repairs timescales. It was inappropriate that the landlord did not acknowledge its delayed attendance following both reports. The compensation it offered was not in line with its complaints resolution policy. This said it should offer £20 for a failure to adhere to a service level agreement. It should have offered a total of £40, £20 for each failure to inspect within the specified timescale.
  8. After its damp and mould inspection on 12 January 2024, its records show the landlord raised follow on works on 15 January 2024. These were to carry out a 3 stage damp and mould treatment to the bathroom ceiling, inspect loft insulation, investigate a potential leak from the chimney stack, and cover the gaps in external insulation which was creating a cold spot in the bedroom.
  9. In its stage 2 response, the landlord said it also recommended thermal boarding following the inspection, but the resident refused these works. The resident said the landlord did not mention thermal boarding to her until its stage 2 complaint response in November 2024.
  10. The damp and mould inspection report dated 12 January 2024 says the landlord suggested the internal vaulted sections may need to be insulated if the loft space was too narrow, but the resident turned this down because she had decorated. This shows the landlord had not decided whether thermal boarding was required, and it wanted to inspect the loft insulation before it made this recommendation.
  11. The evidence does not support the landlord’s statement in its stage 2 response that it made a decision to install thermal boarding during the inspection on 12 January 2024. The landlord did not include installation of thermal boarding in the follow on works it raised on 15 January 2024.
  12. On 23 February 2024 and 1 March 2024 the resident contacted the landlord to ask for an update on the repairs recommended at the damp and mould inspection.
  13. The landlord contacted the resident on 4 March 2024 and 18 March 2024 to ask her which of the recommended works remained outstanding. It listed the follow on works raised on 15 January 2024 and asked her to let it know which had been completed. The fact the landlord did not know which of the recommended works had been carried out indicates poor record keeping. It is likely the failure to keep accurate records contributed to the delay in carrying out the works.
  14. The landlord’s records show it carried out the damp and mould treatment in the bathroom on 15 February 2024, within 34 days of the inspection. This was in excess of the 28 day timescale set out in its repairs policy.
  15. The landlord completed repairs to the chimney stack and roof on 28 March 2024. This was 76 days after the inspection, in excess of the 28 day timescale set out in its repairs policy.
  16. The resident has told us that the landlord did not fill the gaps in the external insulation until 2 and 4 September 2025. This was 601 days after the works were recommended on 12 January 2024. We are aware it needed to contact National Grid in order to safely loosen the cables prior to installing the external insulation. However, the delay completing the recommended work was excessive, and meant the landlord exceeded the 28 calendar day timescale for completing the repair as set out in its repairs policy.
  17. It was appropriate the landlord offered compensation for distress and inconvenience caused by the delayed repairs in its stage 1 and stage 2 responses. The landlord offered a total of £250 (£150 at stage 1 and £100 at stage 2) for distress and inconvenience, which was in line with our remedies guidance for awards when there has been a failure which adversely affected the resident.
  18. However, the landlord failed to apply section 6.4 of its complaint resolution procedure to compensate the resident for key living areas which were affected. Section 6.4 of its policy says the landlord should consider making a payment of 5% of rent for each key room affected after the first 48 hours after the service failure. This applied when key living areas were affected but remained usable. The resident told the landlord her son’s bedroom and the bathroom were particularly affected by the damp and mould she reported. It was therefore inappropriate the landlord did not compensate the resident in line with this section of its policy.
  19. In addition to the reports of damp and mould, on 15 November 2023, the resident also reported her storage heaters were not working. In her stage 1 complaint, the resident said the problems with heating were contributing to the damp and mould at the property.
  20. The landlord attended on 16 November 2023, within 24 hours of the report. This was an appropriate initial response to the resident’s report of a heating failure.
  21. The landlord attended again on 29 November and 1 December 2023, after the resident reported another partial heating failure because 2 of the storage heaters were still not working. The landlord asked the resident’s electricity supplier to arrange to inspect the meter, as it was not switching on the off peak supply at the appropriate time. This was appropriate action to attempt to address the heating problems it identified.
  22. After further investigation on 7 December 2023, and 16 January 2024, the landlord decided to replace one of the storage heaters. This was ordered on 24 January 2024, and fitted in February 2024.
  23. The resident told us the landlord provided electric space heaters whilst heating repairs were ongoing. This information was not in the landlord’s records. This was appropriate action by the landlord to mitigate the loss of heating during winter months.
  24. The landlord did not order a replacement storage heater until after it attended on 16 January 2024, but we recognise it can take several attempts to resolve a reported problem. The landlord responded appropriately by attending within 24 hours of the first report, arranging temporary heaters, and replacing one of the storage heaters when it became clear this was necessary.
  25. While its handling of the heating problems was appropriate, the landlord failed to address this aspect of the resident’s complaint in either the stage 1 or stage 2 response. This was inappropriate and contrary to section 5.6 of the 2022 Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code), which required landlords to address all points raised in a resident’s complaint.
  26. Overall, there was maladministration in relation to the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould and related repairs. There was a failure to respond promptly to the resident’s reports of damp and mould, and a failure to follow up on the works to the internal and external insulation recommended in January 2024. This led to a long delay in completing the external insulation works and the resident had to contact the landlord on several occasions to progress the repairs. The landlord’s record keeping was poor, which is likely to have contributed to the delays and failure to follow up on the recommended repairs.
  27. The impact of the delay in addressing the damp and mould and associated repairs was significant. The resident was concerned about the effect of the damp and mould on her young son who has asthma. One of the main rooms affected was his bedroom, which had the gaps in insulation on the external wall. The resident raised this concern with the landlord repeatedly. There is no evidence the landlord responded to the resident’s concern or appropriately prioritised the works in light of this concern.
  28. The landlord went some way to putting things right in its stage 2 complaint response by apologising. However, it did not properly apply its complaints resolution policy to compensate the resident adequately for the effect of the delay on key living areas within the property, and did not address the resident’s complaint regarding its handling of her reported heating problems.
  29. We have ordered the landlord to apologise for the failings we identified. We have also ordered the landlord to arrange for its surveyor to assess the property to determine whether any further works are required to resolve damp and mould problems at the property.
  30. We have ordered the landlord to increase compensation to £40 in relation to the initial delay carrying out damp and mould inspections in February 2023 and November 2023, in line with its complaints resolution procedure.
  31. We have also ordered the landlord to pay the resident a percentage of weekly rent for the effect of its delay on key living areas at the property. This is in line with its complaints resolution procedure. The resident reported her son’s bedroom and bathroom were significantly affected by the damp and mould problems at the property. Its policy says a bedroom and bathroom should be compensated at a rate of 5% of weekly rent per affected room. This should be paid from 48 hours after the landlord’s service failure. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident 10% of the weekly rent of £134, a payment of £13.40 per week. The payment should be made from the 11 February 2024. This is 28 days plus 48 hours after the landlord identified the gaps in the external insulation should be filled on 12 January 2024. The payment should be made until the gaps in the external insulation were filled on 4 September 2025, a period of 81 weeks. This is a total of £1,085.40 for the effect on key living areas.
  32. The resident said she incurred increased costs, to run plug in electric heaters during this period. She also purchased and ran a dehumidifier. It would be appropriate for the landlord to offer compensation for these additional costs in light of its delay completing the repairs. An order is set out below for the landlord to request information from the resident about her increased costs and make an offer of compensation.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint

  1. A landlord’s complaint handling should aim to resolve issues quickly, effectively, and fairly. Our Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out what good complaint handling looks like, and we expect all landlords to follow this.
  2. The Code says the landlord must provide its stage 1 response within 10 working days. The resident complained on 15 December 2023 which meant the landlord’s response was due on 3 January 2024. The landlord wrote to the resident on 5 January 2024 to say it would need more time to respond. It said it expected to conclude the investigation by 19 January 2024.
  3. The 2022 Code allowed the landlord to extend the time for responding, provided it gave a clear timescale and set out its reasons to the resident. However, after notifying the resident of the extended deadline the landlord failed to meet it, and did not respond until 20 March 2024. This was a further 43 working days after the extended deadline of 19 January 2024.
  4. The Code says the landlord must provide a stage 2 response within 20 working days of the escalation request. The resident asked the landlord to escalate her complaint on 19 April 2024. This meant the stage 2 response was due on 20 May 2024.
  5. The resident contacted the landlord on 4 occasions between 19 April 2024 and 15 October 2024 to ask for a response to her stage 2 escalation request.
  6. On 12 June 2024, the landlord told the resident it needed more time to address her complaint and requested an extension. It was appropriate to update the resident and tell her when it expected to respond, but the landlord should have done so within 20 working days of the escalation request.
  7. On 15 October 2024, the landlord wrote to the resident to request a further extension. It said it expected to respond by 29 October 2024. The landlord did not provide its stage 2 response until 19 November 2024. This was 130 working days in excess of the 20 working day deadline.
  8. In its stage 2 response, the landlord apologised and offered £150 compensation in recognition of the delays at stage 1 and 2.
  9. In cases where the landlord has admitted failings and offered compensation, our role is to consider whether the redress the landlord offered was adequate to put things right and resolve the landlord’s complaint handling failings satisfactorily.
  10. In line with our guidance on remedies, we consider the £150 compensation the landlord offered the resident was reasonable. It recognised the inconvenience it caused because of its service failures. We found reasonable redress in relation to the landlord’s complaint handling. We also recommended the landlord pay the resident the £150 compensation it previously offered, if it has not already done so.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould and the associated repairs.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 53(b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord offered redress to the complainant, which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, satisfactorily resolves the failings identified in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this determination, the landlord must:
    1. Apologise to the resident for the failings outlined in this report. The apology should be drafted in line with our apologies guidance. It must also send us a copy.
    2. Pay the resident compensation of £1,375.40 for the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould and the associated repairs. This is made up of:
      1. £250 for distress and inconvenience.
      2. £40 for the delayed damp and mould inspections following reports by the resident in February 2023 and December 2023.
      3. £1,085.40 for the effect of its service failure on key living areas at the property.

The landlord can deduct from this amount any compensation paid at stage 1 or stage 2. The compensation we ordered must be paid to the resident and not to a rent or service charge account.

  1. Conduct a damp and mould inspection at the property to identify any further works required. It must provide the resident and this Service with evidence the inspection has taken place, and a work schedule for any further works required.
  2. Contact the resident to request details of additional heating or electricity costs and expenses she incurred as a result of the damp and mould problems. It must offer the resident compensation for these costs. It must provide us with proof it requested this information, its consideration of the information, and any payments.
  3. The landlord must provide evidence it complied with the above orders within 4 weeks of this determination.

Recommendation

  1. The finding of reasonable redress in relation to the landlord’s complaint handling is made on the basis the landlord pays the resident the £150 compensation it offered for complaint handling in the stage 2 complaint response. It should pay the resident £150 compensation, if it has not already done so.