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Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council (202417205)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202417205

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council

10 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 in a bedroom.

Background

  1. The resident has a secure tenancy. The landlord is a local authority. The property is a 3 bedroomed house.
  2. The resident reported that there was damp and mould in her son’s bedroom on 9 January 2024. On 24 January 2024, she also advised that her son had breathing difficulties and was sleeping on the sofa as he was unable to use his room.
  3. The landlord completed an inspection of the damp and mould on 19 February 2024. It found that there was damp and mould on the walls, ceiling and floor in the bedroom.
  4. Between March and April 2024, the landlord made at least 6 visits to the property to address the damp and mould. It identified that the walls were wet and said that it would install an air vent and thermal boards inside the bedroom and replaster. It also cleared the gutters and attended to conduct a fungal wash.
  5. The resident raised a complaint on 14 May 2024. She said the landlord had failed to resolve the damp and mould despite it completing a number of visits. She said her son could not use his bedroom and asked it to provide the dates it would complete the outstanding work.
  6. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 12 June 2024. It said that:
    1. It did not complete the fungal wash on 1 March 2024 as the walls were wet.
    2. It cleared the gutters and hopper head at the front of the property on 19 April 2024.
    3. It completed an inspection of the external rendering on 3 June 2024. It had started work on 12 June 2024 to seal the cracks.
    4. It would complete the internal work, including the installation of thermal boards and replastering, on 1 July 2024.
    5. It apologised for the delays in completing the repairs. It offered £100 in compensation for the stress, inconvenience, and loss of the bedroom.
  7. On 20 June 2024, the resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 and provided the reasons for dissatisfaction on 2 July 2024. She said that there were inaccuracies in the dates the landlord had referenced. She did not feel its response fully acknowledged the delays she felt were avoidable and its communication remained poor. She did not accept its offer of compensation and said the bedroom was unusable for 26 weeks. She requested a total of £1,750 in compensation to cover damage to her personal items and redecoration.
  8. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 16 July 2024. It partially upheld the resident’s complaint and said:
    1. It cleared the gutters on 19 April 2024, and it could not find another job raised for 24 April 2024.
    2. It apologised for scheduling internal work for 3 June 2024. It said that it could not complete this work due to outstanding external repairs at the time.
    3. It had completed the repairs to the rendering, but it could not paint it at this time. It said that this was due to funding issues.
    4. It apologised for a text message that it sent to the resident for an appointment on 25 June 2024. It said that it should have told the resident to ignore this message.
    5. It reoffered £100 in compensation and advised the resident that she needed to claim for damaged items through its corporate compensation department.
  9. The resident asked the Ombudsman to investigate her complaint on the 30 July 2024.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. In her communication with the landlord, the resident referenced how this situation had impacted her son’s health. It is beyond our remit to draw conclusions on the cause of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. This is more appropriate to be dealt with through the courts as a personal injury claim. Nonetheless, we have considered the general distress and inconvenience the situation may have caused the resident and her family. 
  2. The resident also asked the landlord to award compensation for her damaged belongings. We cannot determine liability for damaged belongings or order the landlord to pay compensation for damages. These matters are best suited to an insurance claim or the courts. However, we have assessed how the landlord responded to the concerns raised.

Handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould

  1. The landlord’s tenant handbook does not specifically outline its response timeframes for damp and mould. It does however state that it will respond to emergency repairs within 24 hours, urgent repairs within 3 working days, and non-urgent repairs within 25 working days. It defines rotten timber flooring and leaking roofs as urgent, the replacement of air bricks as non-urgent, and damp proof course work and plastering as non-urgent planned repairs.
  2. In line with the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (the HHSRS), the landlord has an obligation to address hazards and risks within its properties, including the presence of damp and mould. When assessing reports of damp and mould, we expect to see evidence that the landlord completed a damp assessment, using professional tools, to establish the underlying cause of the issues, and the location of defects that could contribute to damp and mould. It should assess all possible causes of damp, including leaks, rising damp, penetrating damp, and condensation. This is to have a clear understanding of the problem to provide a resolution within a reasonable timescale.
  3. The Ombudsman’s Spotlight report on Damp and Mould (2021) also highlights the need for timely responses. The report sets out that landlords should recognise that damp and mould can have an ongoing detrimental impact on the health and wellbeing of residents. They should consider appropriate timescales for their responses to reflect the urgency of the case. They should set these out clearly to the resident so their expectations can be managed.
  4. The resident reported damp and mould in the property on 9 January 2024. She made a further report on 24 January 2024 and said that the issue was affecting her son’s health and preventing him from using his bedroom. The landlord did not inspect the property until 19 February 2024, which was nearly 6 weeks after the resident raised the issue. Given the resident’s report about her son’s health and loss of bedroom, it is not clear why the landlord decided that this was not an urgent repair. Its response was unreasonable and outside of its timescale even for non-urgent repairs.
  5. The landlord inspected the property on 19 February 2024; however, we have not seen a copy of its assessment. It scheduled a fungal wash for 1 March 2024 but, at this appointment, it found that the walls were damp, and it did not complete this treatment. It can be reasonable for a landlord to take reactive measures to remove mould spores due to the potential risk to a tenant’s health, but it should also seek to understand the underlying cause.
  6. As part of this investigation, we asked the landlord to provide records related to the resident’s reports of damp and mould. The landlord provided some, but these were incomplete. It did not provide any assessment that detailed its inspection on 19 February 2024. As a result, we have no evidence that it sought to establish the cause of damp and mould at this stage.
  7. The following appointments took place in March 2024:
    1. On 7 March 2024, the landlord completed a further assessment of the damp and mould. It found that the walls were wet, and damp and mould was on the walls, ceiling, and floor in the bedroom.
    2. The landlord attended on 8 March 2024 and noted that water may be penetrating through the external wall when it rained.
    3. On 13 March 2024, the landlord completed a further assessment. It noted that it needed to install thermal boards on the external walls.
  8. It can take a landlord more than one visit to resolve issues such as damp and mould as it can be difficult to find, and resolve, the cause. However, at this point, more than 2 months after the issue was reported, there is no evidence that the landlord had diagnosed the cause or provided a clear plan to the resident detailing how it would resolve the issue. There was an inappropriate delay in the landlord identifying the probable causes of damp and mould. This likely caused distress and inconvenience to the resident who had already told the landlord that the problem was affecting the household living conditions.
  9. The landlord scheduled more jobs in April 2024 but none of these progressed the repair. During this period:
    1. The landlord arranged to install an air vent in the bedroom on 2 April 2024. It did not complete this job as it needed scaffolding, 2 workers and 4 hours to complete.
    2. The landlord attended to clear out the gutters on 19 April 2024. It marked the job as complete, but its records are not clear on what work it did. On the same day, the resident contacted the landlord and said it had not cleared the gutters. In her later complaint, the resident said it had cleared the gutters on 24 April 2024.
    3. On 23 April 2024, the landlord attended to carry out a fungal wash. It did not complete this job as the walls were too wet.
  10. By the end of April 2024, the repairs had not progressed. The landlord booked in work to install an air vent but did not plan the appropriate resources it needed. It also arranged a fungal wash. While it may have been appropriate for it to remove the visible mould, there is no evidence that it had fully diagnosed the cause of the damp and mould at this stage. The walls remained wet and, as a result, it could not complete the fungal wash. This led to further delays, inconvenience, and distress for the resident.
  11. The landlord did not take any further action to progress the repair until 3 June 2024. It attended to install thermal boards, but it could not complete this job as external work was still outstanding. Following this visit, on the same day, the landlord inspected the external wall. It found that there were visible cracks, and it needed to replace sections of the rendering. It began this work on 12 June 2024.
  12. It is unclear why the landlord scheduled the installation of the thermal boards at this stage. It had already identified in March 2024 that water may be penetrating through the external wall, but it did not fully inspect this until 3 June 2024. It did not appropriately plan the repairs, and this led to further delays and inconvenience for the resident.
  13. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 12 June 2024. It apologised for the delays and provided the resident with the dates it would complete the outstanding external and internal works. It also offered £100 compensation for the stress and inconvenience caused by the loss of the bedroom.
  14. The landlord completed most of the internal and external works by 12 July 2024. However, the installation of the air vent remains outstanding. In its stage 2 response, the landlord appropriately apologised for its delays and poor communication and advised the resident to request compensation for damaged items through its corporate compensation department.
  15. However, the landlord did not increase its offer of compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused for being without a bedroom. The redress offered did not fully reflect the impact on the resident or provide assurances that it had fully recognised its failings. The Ombudsman recommends compensation of £50-£100 where there were failings of a short duration that had a minimal impact. This was not sufficient given the circumstances of this case.
  16. In summary, the landlord did not diagnose the cause of the damp and mould and complete the repairs within a reasonable timeframe. This was despite it being aware of possible penetrating damp as early as March 2024. It took over 6 months for it to complete most of the repairs, and it has still not installed the air vent. The landlord has informed this Service that it will install the air vent on 18 September 2025, but this is more than 18 months after the resident first reported damp and mould. The delays and poor management of the repairs would have caused the resident distress and inconvenience. For these reasons, we have made a finding of maladministration.
  17. The Ombudsman awards £600 compensation for these failings that resulted in distress, inconvenience and temporary loss of a bedroom for the resident. This is in addition to the £100 offered through its complaints process. The additional amount is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for circumstances where a landlord has made some attempt to put things right but failed to address the detriment to the resident and the offer was not proportionate to the failings identified.

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 in a bedroom.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks, we order the landlord to:
    1. Write to the resident to apologise for the failures identified in this determination and provide a copy to this Service.
    2. Pay £600 compensation directly to the resident for the distress and inconvenience caused by its failures in handling the damp and mould. This is in addition to the £100 offered through its complaint process. It must also provide this Service with evidence of payment.
    3. Install the air vent, as agreed, by 18 September 2025. It must provide this Service with written confirmation that it has completed this repair. If it is unable to complete the repair by this date, it must update the resident and this Service, providing clear reasons for this and an updated timescale.

Recommendations

  1. We recommend the landlord completes a review into its handling of the repairs in this case. It should include consideration of the failings identified in this report, and how it can reduce the risk of similar failings happening again.