Peabody Trust (202208403)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202208403

Catalyst Housing Limited

29 April 2023

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 concerns how the landlord handled the resident’s reports of damp and mould at the property.

Background

2. The resident was an assured tenant of the landlord, which is a housing association, between September 2018 and August 2022. The property is a flat in a communal building.
3. The resident has had an ongoing issue with damp and mould in the property since at least 2019. The landlord’s records state it inspected the property on 2 December 2019 where a broken downpipe causing damp patches on the external wall was identified and repaired.
4. The resident wrote to the landlord on 3 July 2022 and requested to raise a complaint into how it had handled the damp and mould. She described the elements of the complaint as:
   1. She had lived with damp and mould in the property since 2019. She had received advice that the damp proof course layer for the property was installed too low and, in some places, it was below ground level.
   2. She reported the issues for several months until an inspection occurred in December 2019. The inspector advised the resident to keep the vents open in the property which resulted in her heating bills increasing.
   3. The work done in 2019 did not resolve the issue, which had resulted in mould spores causing damage to the furniture and her clothing. The resident also stated that she had to replace the flooring in the property at her own expense.
   4. She contacted Environmental Health in May 2022 and arranged an inspection by a mould and condensation removal specialist on 26 June 2022. The specialist informed her that they were “shocked” at the condition of the property and that the extractor fans were not fit for purpose,
   5. As a resolution to the complaint, the resident requested that the landlord resolve the issues and compensate her for having to live with the damp and mould in the property.
5. In its complaint responses, the landlord:
   1. Explained that due to the time that had elapsed, it would not investigate issues that had occurred in 2019.
   2. Noted that it had no record of any reports from the resident relating to damp and mould in the property from December 2019 until May 2022.
   3. Stated that following the resident’s report, it had arranged an inspection of the property. Its surveyor had recommended that the extractor fans should be replaced and also that its contractor undertake a further inspection of the damp proof course to determine if it breached the appropriate measurements.
   4. Declined the resident’s request for compensation on the grounds that it had responded appropriately when informed by the resident of her concerns relating to damp and mould, and that it had received no reports from the resident between December 2019 and May 2022. The landlord also advised the resident to contact her home contents insurer in regard to the damage to her personal items.
6. Prior to the recommended work going ahead, the resident gave notice to vacate the property and handed over the keys to the property on 22 August 2022. The landlord has stated that the work was completed in the property during the void period. In referring the case to this Service, the resident described the outstanding issues of the complaint as she was dissatisfied with how the landlord responded to the issue since it was first reported in 2019 and its decision not to offer compensation.

Assessment and findings

Relevant policies and procedures

7. Section 3 of the tenancy agreement sets out the tenant’s responsibilities. In regard to insurance, this section states that “you are responsible for insuring your home and contents against deliberate, malicious, criminal or accidental damage. We will not accept any responsibility for costs incurred as a result of damage caused in this way by you, people living in or visiting your home”.
8. Section 7 of the tenancy agreement sets out the landlord’s responsibilities. This states that the landlord agrees to “keep the structure and outside of your home in good repair”.
9. Section 4.3 of the landlord’s repairs policy categorises the landlord’s repair types as “Emergency” (attend within four hours and make safe within 24 hours) and “Routine” (attend within ten working days). The landlord defines an emergency repair as a repair that presents a risk to “the wellbeing of customers, the structural stability and integrity of properties and/or the health and safety of people using the affected area”. All other repairs are considered routine. The policy also notes that some routine repairs are not possible to be resolved within ten working days and in these cases, it will keep the tenant updated on the progress of the work.
10. The landlord’s website provides information to its tenants on how it responds to reports of damp, mould and condensation in its properties. This states that the landlord has a specialist team in place for damp and mould and has a separate reporting process from its repairs service for its tenants to use. The website also provides videos and information on how tenants can control condensation to lessen the chance of damp and mould occurring in a property.
11. Section 4.11 of the landlord’s complaints policy sets out the circumstances where the landlord will not investigate an issue through its complaint process. This includes “insurance claims and appeals including damage to personal belongings and property” and “if the issue giving rise to the complaint happened, or was first found, over six months ago”.

Scope of Investigation

12. When raising a complaint with the landlord, the resident described the effect on her health the damp and mould in the property had caused. The Ombudsman does not doubt the resident’s comments. However, it is beyond the remit of this Service to make a determination on whether there was a direct link between the landlord’s actions and the resident’s health. Whilst we cannot consider the effect on health, consideration has been given to any general distress and inconvenience which the resident experienced as a result of any errors by the landlord.

How the landlord handled the resident’s reports of damp and mould at the property

13. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 places a statutory obligation on the landlord to keep the structure and exterior of the property in repair. The landlord also has a responsibility under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), introduced by The Housing Act 2004, to assess hazards and risks within its rented properties. Damp and mould growth are a potential hazard and therefore the landlord is required to consider whether any damp and mould problems in its properties amount to a hazard and require remedying.
14. Therefore, once the landlord had been informed by the resident of the presence of damp and mould, it was obligated to inspect the property and raise any necessary repair work to resolve the issue in a timely manner in line with its published policies and procedures and its obligations set out in the tenancy agreement.
15. Overall, the landlord acted appropriately to the reports it received in May 2022. The landlord received an email from the office of the resident’s MP sent on her behalf on 18 May 2022 describing the issues she had experienced. In response to the email, the landlord raised a work order on 19 May 2022 to carry out a survey of the property. This survey was undertaken on 6 July 2022 and found “no visible signs of mould at the time of the visit. Recommend joint visit with [contractor] for second opinion”. The inspection did recommend work to replace the extractor fans, in line with the advice given by the resident’s contractor. The landlord offered the resident an appointment date of 1 August 2022 for the joint inspection to go ahead. However, the inspection did not happen as the resident declined this date and subsequently handed in her notice to vacate the property.
16. The type of work recommended by the inspection would not meet the definition of an emergency repair as set out in the landlord’s repair policy. It was therefore reasonable that the work was not completed before the resident vacated the property in August 2022.
17. The resident has disputed the landlord’s decision not to award compensation to reimburse her for the damage caused to her possessions by mould. The landlord explained that this decision was reached because it acted in good time when the matter was reported in May 2022. Therefore, it could not be held liable for any damage to the resident’s personal items and any reimbursement would be an insurance matter.
18. The landlord has provided repair and contact logs from the property from 8 August 2019 up to 25 October 2022.These records show that an issue with damp and mould was reported by the resident on 2 December 2019 and work orders were raised by the landlord on 10 December 2019. There is no evidence of any further contact from the resident relating to issues with damp and mould in the property until the email sent to the landlord on 18 May 2022 by the resident’s MP.
19. There is no evidence to suggest that the landlord was at fault for the damp and mould, or that it could have taken any action to stop the issue sooner and prevent damage to the resident’s possessions. The landlord arranged for a surveyor to inspect the property when it first received the MP’s email. The surveyor recommended a further inspection with the landlord’s contractor and also agreed with the resident’s contactor’s opinion that the extractor fans required replacement. Residents are advised to take out their own contents insurance to cover any damage to their personal possessions due to unforeseen events. This is because the landlord is not responsible for the cost of repairing or replacing residents’ personal possessions in this type of situation. This position is also in line with the tenancy agreement signed by the resident detailed above.
20. For the landlord to accept liability for the damage to the resident’s personal items and offer compensation within its complaint process there would need to be evidence which showed that the landlord had not responded to the issue within a timely manner or in line with its published polices, or that it had ignored previous reports made to it about damp and mould. The evidence presented in this case does not support this position.
21. The resident also stated her dissatisfaction with how the landlord originally handled her reports of damp and mould in 2019 and disputed its decision to decline to investigate this as part of the complaint.
22. The landlord made this decision based on its complaint policy detailed above. The landlord’s position is also in line with the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (which is available on our website). Paragraph 42(c) of the Scheme states that we will not consider complaints that were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period, which would normally be within six months of the matters arising. Therefore, the landlord was under no obligation to investigate issues that had occurred over two years prior to the complaint raised by the resident.

Determination

23. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of how it handled the resident’s reports of damp and mould at the property.