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Sanctuary Housing Association (202440611)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202440611

Sanctuary Housing Association

30 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 the resident’s reports of damp and mould.

Background

  1. The resident’s assured tenancy began in 2021. The property is a 2 bedroom first floor flat where she lives with her children.
  2. The resident made a pre-action protocol for housing condition claim, which was settled in court in September 2024. The agreed works, including damp and mould repairs, were completed, inspected, and signed off in November 2024.
  3. The resident complained about further damp and mould issues on 23 November 2024. She chased this until January 2025, when the landlord established that the issues, and the areas of the property they affected, were separate from, and additional to, those settled by the court.
  4. The landlord’s stage 1 response, on 14 January 2025, explained how it had established this and stated the actions it had taken since her complaint. It apologised for its complaint handling delays, for which it offered £150 compensation. The resident escalated her complaint the same day. She said that its compensation did not resolve the ongoing damp and mould.
  5. During February 2025, the landlord completed a damp and mould inspection. It sought quotations for the works it had identified, and told the resident it had extended the time to send her its stage 2 response.
  6. The landlord’s stage 2 response, on 14 March 2025, made clear that it had not considered the matters that had been settled at court. It apologised for its poor communications and complaint handling. It said that it was awaiting quotations for the damp and mould works, which it would monitor through to completion. It offered £75 compensation for its complaint handling delays, and £350 for its repairs handling. It said that this compensation considered the future impact of its intended works up to the end of May 2025.
  7. In May 2025 the landlord arranged the works with the resident for July 2025. In July 2025 it apologised that the works had not been completed by the end of May 2025. It offered further compensation. It has since told us that the works are complete.
  8. The resident asked the Ombudsman to investigate the matters above. She said that the damp and mould issues were ongoing and that she had further complained to the landlord about this and related issues. She said that she had provided it photographs of the poor standard of the recent works, but that it had not responded. She said that, since her complaint concluded, the landlord had made 2 further offers of compensation, the first of which she had accepted. She explained that she had declined the second offer as she wanted it to take accountability, and that “this gesture would indicate they know something is wrong”.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The matters settled by the court, and the associated works completed in November 2024, are outside our jurisdiction. This investigation therefore begins from the resident’s complaint on 23 November 2024.
  2. The landlord’s more recent works were completed in July 2025. The resident said that she has further complained about the standard of those works and ongoing issues. No evidence has been seen of the resident’s more recent complaint, or that the landlord has responded via its formal complaints procedure. Because of that, those matters have not been considered in this investigation.
  3. The resident can ask the Ombudsman to investigate her more recent complaint once she has received the landlord’s complaint responses. A recommendation has been made below to the landlord about this.

The landlord’s handling of damp and mould reports

  1. Following the resident’s complaint, on 23 November 2024, she chased updates of her damp and mould reports with little response. As the landlord later accepted, its communications were poor up until it sent its stage 1 response on 14 January 2025.
  2. Following this, the landlord told the resident that it had twice failed to gain access for the inspection it had raised in December 2024, which she disputed. The evidence shows that it completed its inspection on 25 February 2025.
  3. The landlord’s stage 2 response, in March 2025, apologised for the continued poor communications that had contributed to its ‘no access’ inspections. It stated its learning to prevent this in the future. It explained that it was seeking quotations for damp proofing works, which it would monitor to completion. It expressed its aim to do so by the end of May 2025. It acknowledged the disruption and inconvenience the works would cause.
  4. The landlord’s stage 2 response also accepted and apologised for the poor communications and delays at both stages of its complaint process. Its total offer of £225 compensation was fair and in line with our guidance for its complaint handling failures, which would have added to the resident’s time, trouble, and distress.
  5. The resident’s complaint had highlighted the impact of the “persistent issue of wet walls” and the impact on her living conditions. The landlord offered £350 compensation for her “time, trouble, and inconvenience” and the “impact for further damp proofing repairs”. This was again fair and in line with our guidance for its accepted failings up to the conclusion of her complaint. While the works were not carried out until July 2025, the landlord had informed the resident, in May 2025, that this would be the case.
  6. Overall, albeit belatedly, the landlord completed the damp proofing works. It accepted and apologised for its poor communications, and its repairs and complaint handling delays. It explained its efforts to improve its future service. It offered compensation in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53.b of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has offered redress to the resident prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, satisfactorily resolves the complaint.

Recommendation

  1. The landlord should pay the resident any part of its total £575 award that it has not already paid.
  2. The landlord should consider proactively contacting the resident to confirm its understanding of her new complaint about the standard and effectiveness of its July 2025 works, which it should then handle in line with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.