Southern Housing (202415515)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202415515

Southern Housing

2 October 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 repairs at the property.
2. We have also looked at the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

Background

3. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlords. She lives at the property, a 4-bed house, with her husband and children. The resident said her children have vulnerabilities. The property has a large sloping garden.
4. The resident moved into the property via a mutual exchange (ME) in 2023. A ME is when residents in social housing obtain consent from their landlord to swap homes with other social housing residents.
5. The resident complained to the landlord on 20 March 2024. She said there was damp and mould at her property and the garden was not safe to use.
6. On 28 May 2024, the landlord responded at stage 1 of its complaints process. It upheld the resident’s complaint and offered her £100 compensation.
7. The resident escalated her complaint on 5 June 2024. She said the repairs had not been resolved. On 9 August 2024, the landlord responded at stage 2 of its complaints process. It upheld her complaint and increased the offer of compensation to £575.
8. The resident remained unhappy and brought her complaint to us. She said the landlord was due to replace her bathroom with a wet room in October 2025 and this should resolve the damp and mould. To resolve the complaint, she said she would like to be able to use her garden and the damp and mould to be resolved at the property.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

9. The resident said the situation had a detrimental impact on her and her family’s health and wellbeing. The courts are the most effective place for disputes about personal injury and illness. This is because independent medical experts can give evidence. While we can consider the overall impact of the situation on the resident, 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.
10. The resident raised further complaints with the landlord on similar issues after the stage 2 response for this complaint. Whilst these issues are linked, they are after her original complaint. In the interest of fairness, the scope of this investigation will be for the issues raised on 20 March 2024 and the stage 2 response from the landlord on 9 August 2024.Any reference to events outside of these dates are for context only. If the resident is dissatisfied with the landlord’s responses to the other complaints, she can ask us to investigate.

The landlord’s handling of repairs at the property

11. On 11 May 2023, the landlord inspected the property with the resident, prior to the ME. It said there was a small amount of mould on an internal wall but no other issues with the building or garden.
12. The resident moved to the property via ME on 3 July 2023. She told the landlord on 4 and 11 August 2023 the garden was not safe and the boundary fence at the bottom of the garden, which led to a large pond, had collapsed.
13. On 4 September 2023, the landlord attended the property. It said it could not repair the boundary fence as there was no safe access through the garden.
14. The resident reported damp and mould to the landlord in the property on 25 September 2023. The landlord has not provided evidence of its immediate response to this report of damp.
15. On 24 October 2023, the landlord told the resident not to use the garden as it was unsafe. It said it would assess the repairs to make the garden accessible and safe. The resident chased the garden repairs with the landlord on 8 January 2024.
16. The landlord started roof repairs on 5 March 2024. On 20 March 2024, the resident complained to the landlord and said there was mould at the property. She said it told her the garden fences had been repaired, and the garden was secure before she agreed to the ME.
17. The landlord arranged an appointment for 1 May 2024 to survey the property and garden.
18. The landlord replied at stage 1 of its complaints process on 28 May 2024. It upheld the complaint and offered her £100 for time and trouble. It said:
    1. It inspected the property and garden in line with its procedure prior to the ME.
    2. It completed repairs despite the resident agreeing to “responsibility to the property in its current state, including existing damage and outstanding repairs.”
    3. It would assess the cost of the garden works.
19. The landlord’s ME policy says:
    1. A property inspection is completed before a ME is agreed.
    2. It will complete any major repairs or safety issues it is responsible for and aware of before an exchange takes place.
    3. A resident accepts the condition of the property they are moving in to.
    4. In exceptional circumstances the landlord may carry out urgent repairs due to health and safety risks.
20. The resident’s tenancy agreement says it is her responsibility to keep the garden tidy and to cut any lawn and hedges. It says if the resident does not, the landlord could clear the garden and recharge the resident.
21. The landlord’s repairs policy says it will offer an appointment as soon as possible for non-emergency repairs. The policy also says it is responsible for boundary fences and damp and mould repairs. The landlord’s damp and mould policy says it will attend within 28 days for minor or 10 days for significant damp and mould.
22. The landlord’s compensation policy says it can make discretionary payments, and it will assess on a case-by-case basis.
23. The landlord’s response at stage 1 shows that although the resident accepted the condition of the property through ME, the landlord responded to the damp and mould and garden repairs. This was reasonable and in line with its policy as the repairs posed a health and safety risk to the resident.
24. The resident escalated her complaint on 5 June 2024. She said there was still damp and mould in the property and she could not use her garden. The resident said the repair issues were due to the landlord’s failure to fully inspect the property before the ME took place.
25. On 25 June 2024, the resident said the landlord did not attend an appointment for garden works. In July 2024, the landlord completed a fence repair in the resident’s garden. On 29 July 2024, the landlord inspected the repair and said it was unhappy with its standard of work and the rubbish left in the garden.
26. The landlord responded at stage 2 of its complaints process on 9 August 2024. It upheld her complaint and said:
    1. There were failures during its ME process. A thorough garden inspection should have taken place despite the garden being overgrown.
    2. It would review its ME inspection process following the resident’s complaint.
    3. New windows and doors, rendering and damp and mould repairs had been raised for the property. As well as a new patio area in the garden and repairs to the garden and fence.
    4. The repairs raised at the property should resolve the damp and mould.
    5. The rubbish from the previous garden works would be removed.
    6. It was unable to relandscape the garden due to cost. It had tried to create a safe patio area, however, materials had been left in the area, and the resident was unable to use it.
    7. It offered £525 compensation broken down as £15 for repeat visits, £60 for repair failure and £450 for inconvenience, time and trouble.
27. The landlord’s response at stage 2 shows it accepted responsibility for the damp and mould and garden repairs and its failings in dealing with the issues at the property. The offer of compensation and a review of its ME policy were both reasonable actions by the landlord. It planned works to resolve the damp and mould. The landlord said at stage 2 it would not relandscape the garden to make it safe due to cost.
28. In summary, the landlord completed a non-technical inspection on the property and garden before the ME took place. It agreed to act on the damp and garden repairs raised by the resident which was in line with its policy as there were health and safety risks. Its actions were delayed but it recognised this in its complaint responses and tried to put things right for the resident. This was reasonable of the landlord.
29. The resident and landlord inspected the garden before agreeing to the ME and the ME policy says the resident takes on the repairs. The landlord said at stage 2 it had not carried out an adequate inspection of the garden. It had told her 10 months earlier not to use the garden because it was unsafe. At stage 2 the landlord said it could not complete the garden landscaping due to cost. This was unreasonable of the landlord.
30. When a failure is identified our role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. We consider whether its offer of redress was in line with our dispute resolution principles: be fair, put things right, and learn from outcomes. As well as our own guidance on remedies. The landlord’s recognition of its failings and offer of compensation was reasonable.
31. The resident has been unable to use her garden for around 2 years. The landlord tried to create a patio area but the materials it left in the garden meant the resident was unable to use it. The landlord told her it would not be able to relandscape the full garden to make it usable for her and her family. It is unreasonable for the resident to not have use of her garden for this length of time when the landlord said it should have thoroughly inspected the garden. This leads to a determination of maladministration by the landlord. We have made an order for £400 compensation. This is in line with our remedies guidance when the landlord’s redress is not proportionate to our investigation findings.

The landlord’s complaint handling

32. The resident raised her complaint on 20 March 2024. The landlord responded on 28 May 2024 at stage 1 of its complaints process. This was a delay of around 36 working days compared to the policy time of 10 working days. It apologised but did not offer compensation for the delayed response.
33. On 5 June 2024, the resident escalated her complaint. The landlord responded on 9 August 2024 at stage 2 of its complaints process. This was a delay of around 27 working days compared to the policy time of 20 working days. The landlord recognised the complaint handling failures in its response and offered the resident £50 compensation.
34. The landlord’s recognition of the delay in responding at both stages and its offer of compensation to put things right leads to a determination of reasonable redress. This means the landlord’s action for the failing put things right for the resident.

Determination

35. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs at the property.
36. In accordance with paragraph 53.b. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, we consider the landlord made satisfactory redress to the resident for its complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

37. Within 4 weeks of this report the landlord must:
    1. Apologise for the failures outlined in this report.
    2. Pay the resident £925 for its handling of the repairs. The landlord may deduct the £525 compensation if already paid to the resident.
    3. Inspect the resident’s garden to assess its safety and create an action plan.
38. Within 6 weeks the landlord must provide the inspection report and action plan with timescales to the resident. The landlord must explain how it will provide a safe space in the garden for the resident to use in the interim period before any works begin.
39. The compensation balance must be paid directly to the resident and not offset against a rent or service charge account.
40. The landlord must provide evidence of compliance with the above orders to us.

Recommendations

41. To pay the resident the £50 offered for its complaint handling if not already paid to her.
42. The finding of reasonable redress for complaint handling has been based on the landlord making the above payment to the resident.