Sheffield City Council (202432792)
|
Decision |
|
|
Case ID |
202432792 |
|
Decision type |
Investigation |
|
Landlord |
Sheffield City Council |
|
Landlord type |
Local Authority |
|
Occupancy |
Secure Tenancy |
|
Date |
16 February 2026 |
Background
- The resident complained to the landlord about damp and mould in the property, which she said had been an issue since 2017. She said previous repairs had not resolved the problem and that it was affecting her son’s health. She asked the landlord to remedy the damp and mould and to provide compensation. She brought the complaint to us as she was not satisfied with the landlord’s response.
What the complaint is about
- The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of damp and mould.
- We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.
Our decision (determination)
- We found:
- Maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould.
- Service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.
We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.
Summary of reasons
Response to damp and mould
- The landlord took some steps to address the damp and mould, but it did not do so within a reasonable timeframe. It also did not respond to the resident’s concerns about damage to her flooring. Although the landlord took some positive action, the issues remain unresolved and it has not completed the repair. The remedies it offered were not proportionate to the significant delay and the inconvenience the resident experienced.
Complaint handling
- The landlord offered reasonable compensation for the delay in its complaint handling, but it did not explain what it had learned from the issue or how it would prevent similar delays in future.
We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.
Putting things right
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.
|
Order |
What the landlord must do |
Due date |
|
1 |
Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £800 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its maladministration in the handling of the resident’s report of damp and mould. This is inclusive of the £500 already offered to the resident by the landlord for its service failure in handling the repair and delays in complaint handling. This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date, and the landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment. |
No later than 16 March 2026 |
|
2 |
Completing the works The landlord must take all steps to ensure the work is completed promptly and in any event by the due date. If the landlord cannot complete the works in this time, it must explain to us, by the due date:
|
No later than 30 March 2026 |
|
3 |
Inspection order The landlord must contact the resident to arrange an inspection of her carpet, to investigate whether the damp and mould has contributed to it being damaged. It must take all reasonable steps to ensure the inspection is completed by the due date. If the landlord cannot gain access to complete the inspection, it must provide us with documentary evidence of its attempts to inspect the property no later than the due date. |
No later than 30 March 2026 |
|
4 |
Reviewing the case The landlord must complete a review of this case to determine what went wrong with its handling of the resident’s complaint, and its management of the damp and mould. It should:
|
No later than 13 April 2026 |
Our investigation
The complaint procedure
|
Date |
What happened |
|
18 June 2024 |
The resident complained to the landlord about damp and mould in her property. She said the issue had been ongoing since 2017 and had worsened despite some repairs being completed. She reported that the damp and mould were affecting her family’s health and causing damage to the property and a carpet. She asked the landlord to resolve the issue and to provide compensation. |
|
6 August 2024 |
In its complaint response, the landlord said that some minor repairs were scheduled and a contractor would contact the resident to arrange other works to address the issue. |
|
23 August 2024 |
The resident told the landlord she wanted to escalate the matter to stage 2 of the complaints process. |
|
6 November 2024 |
The resident tried to escalate her complaint again. She told the landlord her complaint was primarily about the amount of compensation she wanted for the years she was affected by the issue. |
|
26 November 2024 |
The resident raised the matter with the Ombudsman as she had not received a stage 2 response. |
|
4 September 2025 |
The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response. It apologised for the delay in repairing the damp and mould and providing a complaint response. It said previous repairs had been unsuccessful, so it would arrange for an inspection of the property and further repairs to be completed. It offered the resident £500 compensation for the inconvenience and delays. |
|
Referral to the Ombudsman |
The resident brought her complaint to us, as she remained unhappy with the amount of compensation offered by the landlord. |
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.
|
Complaint |
The landlord’s response to the resident’s report of damp and mould |
|
Finding |
Maladministration |
What we have not investigated
- Our scheme rules state we may not investigate complaints which were not referred to the landlord as a complaint within a reasonable time, which is normally 12 months. The resident has stated she was aware of the damp and mould from around 2017. She raised a formal complaint on 18 June 2024. However, there is no evidence she raised a complaint promptly and in any event within 12 months of when she first became aware of the issue. We have not seen evidence she was prevented from raising a complaint sooner. For that reason, this investigation will focus on the landlord’s response to damp and mould in the 12 months preceding the resident’s complaint.
- The Ombudsman is unable to assess the cause of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. The resident may be able to make a personal injury claim if she considers that the health of her family has been affected by the landlord’s actions or inaction. This is a legal process, and the resident may wish to seek legal advice if she wants to pursue this option. Because this issue is more effectively resolved and remedied through the courts it will not be considered in this report.
What we have investigated
- The resident’s complaints of June and August 2024 centred on ongoing damp and mould in her property. She said the issue had been present since 2017 and was worsening. She acknowledged that the landlord had taken some steps to address it, including painting over the mould, but said the issue repeatedly returned. She reported that it affected her family’s physical and mental health and had caused damage to tiles and carpet she had purchased. She wanted the landlord to carry out permanent repairs and pay compensation for the time she had been affected.
- In response to the complaints, the landlord acknowledged and apologised for not addressing the damp and mould sooner. It said previous repairs had been unsuccessful and that it would arrange a thorough inspection to identify the cause before completing any further work. In its final complaint response of September 2025, the landlord said it would contact the resident to arrange the inspection and offered her £250 for the inconvenience caused by the delay in resolving the issue.
- The evidence shows the landlord had taken several steps to investigate and address the damp and mould before and during the complaint process, but these actions did not resolve the issue. It was appropriate for the landlord to apologise, offer compensation and explain how it intended to identify and address the underlying cause.
- However, there are several issues which the landlord did not address in its complaint response. These include:
- The landlord did not explain the reason for the delay in progressing the repairs. Its records show that some delays occurred because the resident cancelled appointments between April 2024 and November 2024, which led the contractor to return the job to the landlord. However, there is no evidence that the landlord rearranged the repair or reassigned it to another contractor after that point. The records show that after the resident made the complaint, some minor works took place, but there is no evidence that it completed the more extensive works recommended in May 2023 or that it reallocated these to a new contractor.
- The landlord did not address the resident’s concerns about damage to her belongings caused by damp and mould, including damage to a carpet she had paid for. Its compensation policy says it should inspect any reported damage to assess how it can be remedied. There is no evidence that it carried out such an inspection and the issue remains unresolved.
- The landlord’s records are unclear about when the resident first reported the most recent instance of damp and mould. However, they show that it raised repairs relating to the issue in May 2023. The previous recorded repairs were in January 2022, which falls outside the scope of this investigation.
- The repairs raised in May 2023 remain incomplete. Although not all delays were the landlord’s responsibility and there is evidence it took some steps to address the issue, it should have taken more urgent action to complete the repairs in line with the timescales in its repair and damp and mould policies once the previous contractor withdrew from the repair.
- There is evidence to show that the landlord has now completed the inspection in December 2025 as it said it would do in its final complaint response. Its records confirm it has identified a list of required works and has updated the resident. It is positive that the landlord has taken steps to progress the matter since its final response. However, the records also show it has experienced difficulties accessing the property, as the resident has cancelled several appointments. The landlord has not explained what action it now intends to take to ensure it completes the works and there is no evidence to show that the recent inspection addressed the resident’s complaint that her carpet was damaged from the issue.
- Although the landlord made efforts to resolve the resident’s complaint and address the damp and mould, the remedies it proposed did not align with the Ombudsman’s dispute resolution principles; be fair, put things right, and learn from outcomes. As the damp and mould remain unresolved, the compensation offered does not reflect the inconvenience caused by the significant delay in completing the repairs. The landlord did not explain the reasons for the delay in its complaint responses and did not address all aspects of the resident’s complaint, leaving the matter unresolved.
|
Complaint |
Complaint handling |
|
Finding |
Service failure |
- The landlord has a 2 stage complaint process. It aims to acknowledge complaints within 5 working days. It says a resident should then receive a formal response to stage 1 complaints in 10 working days and stage 2 complaints within 20 working days of acknowledgement unless an extension is required. The landlord’s policy complies with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
- The landlord acknowledged the resident’s stage 1 complaint 29 days later than it should have but provided a response 3 days after which was within its published timescales.
- The resident escalated her complaint in November 2024, but the landlord did not acknowledge this until 256 days after it should have, and only following the intervention of the Ombudsman after the resident raised the matter with us. The landlord provided its final complaint response 3 days after acknowledgement.
- The landlord acknowledged the delay in providing its responses to the resident. It apologised and offered her £250 for the inconvenience. It was right for the landlord to recognise that it had not responded to the resident’s complaint within the timescales set out in its polices and the code. However, it did not explain why the delay occurred, nor did it explain how it would seek to learn from its poor complaint handling to avoid such delays in the future.
Learning
Knowledge information management (record keeping) and communication
- The landlord’s overall communication with the resident was inconsistent, particularly during the complaint handling process. Its record keeping did not specifically detail when the resident raised concerns about the damp and mould in the property, nor what actions it took to reallocate the repair to a new contractor when the previous contractor withdrew from the work.
- As it seeks to improve its service the landlord should consider the Ombudsman’s Spotlight reports on Attitudes, Respect and Rights, and Knowledge and Information Management for further guidance on how to effectively communicate with residents in the future and the importance of good record keeping in providing a high-quality service to residents.