The Guinness Partnership Limited (202341459)

Background

1. The resident is a tenant of the landlord, and she has vulnerabilities including PTSD and asthma. The resident has an advocate representing her in this complaint. For ease of reference, the resident and her advocate will both be referred to as “the resident” in this report. In July 2022, the resident reported issues with damp and mould in the hallway and on the stairs. All the repairs have been completed apart from the carpet installation.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about:
   1. Damp and mould at the resident’s property.
   2. Events after the end of the complaints process including concerns about the poor condition of the property after the damp and mould works, the roof, asbestos lagged pipes in the loft, loft insulation, the resident’s request to move and her request for a safeguarding review.
   3. The landlord’s handling of the complaint

Our decision (determination)

3. There was a service failure in the landlord’s response to damp and mould and the resident’s property.
4. The issues the resident raised after the end of the complaints process are outside of our jurisdiction.
5. There was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Summary of reasons

6. The landlord responded reasonably to the reports of damp and mould at the resident’s property and carried out the recommended repairs. However, it did not install the carpet on the stairs and in the hallway, which it previously agreed to do.
7. The resident has raised issues which have occurred since her complaint exhausted the landlord’s complaints procedure including concerns about the poor condition of the property after the damp and mould works, concerns about the roof, asbestos lagged pipes in the loft, loft insulation, her request to move and her request for a safeguarding review. We have no power to investigate complaints which the landlord has not had the chance to put right first and there is no evidence that the resident has raised a complaint about these issues. Therefore, we have not investigated these matters. The resident can raise a separate complaint to the landlord about the recent issues if she wants to.
8. The landlord’s complaint responses were sent within the timeframes set out in its policy and the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (The Code), which sets out our expectations for landlord’s complaint handling. Its complaint handling was reasonable in the circumstances.

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.

Recommendations

Our recommendations are not binding, and a landlord may decide not to follow them.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

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.

9. In July 2022, the resident reported damp and mould in the hallway and on the stairs. Later that month, the landlord’s contractor attended to replace the hallway flooring. This was in line with the landlord’s repairs policy, which requires a response to standard repairs within 20 days. According to the landlord’s notes, the resident declined the works because she also wanted soundproofing. In October 2022, the contractor inspected the stairs and advised that a further inspection by the landlord’s surveyor was needed. The landlord arranged surveyor appointments for November and December 2022, but the resident cancelled both due to illness. Additional appointments in January and February 2023 were also cancelled by the resident. We acknowledge the reasons for the resident cancelling appointments, but this part of the delay was outside the landlord’s control.
10. As part of the resident’s complaint, she also raised concerns that the damp and mould impacted her health due to her having asthma and PTSD. We acknowledge this has been a very difficult time for the resident. However, it would be fairer, more reasonable, and more effective for the resident to make a personal injury claim for any injury caused through the courts or the landlord’s liability insurance. The courts are best placed to deal with this type of dispute as they will have the benefit of independent medical advice to decide on the cause of any injury and how long it will last. We’ve not investigated this further. We can decide if a landlord should pay compensation for distress and inconvenience.
11. In June 2023, the landlord’s surveyor carried out a damp and mould survey of the hallway and stairs. The surveyor recommended works to the hallway, including removing the landing floorboards, treating mould, renewing the floorboards, and checking the hallway radiator for leaks. The surveyor confirmed that no works were required to the stairs but noted they were covered with MDF material and had no carpet. Following the survey, the landlord raised a work order for the recommended works. The resident then informed the landlord that dust and chemicals from the works would affect her health, and the landlord agreed to provide temporary accommodation during the works. The resident stated that the landlord had previously declined this request on 2 occasions. However, we have seen no evidence of this. Temporary accommodation is generally offered only when a property is unsafe to occupy due to a repair issue. The repairs needed would not in themselves generally mean that it was not safe to occupy the property. Therefore, the landlord would not have been aware that the resident required decanting (a temporary move) until she raised concerns about the impact of dust and chemicals on her health.
12. There was a delay in the landlord completing the recommended works to the hallway due to the resident disagreeing with the surveyor’s findings that no works were required to the stairs. The landlord acknowledged in its stage 2 complaint response that there was some misunderstanding with the required works for the stairs, and it agreed to hire an independent damp and mould surveyor to carry out an inspection due to the resident disagreeing with the landlord’s surveyor’s recommendations. It was reasonable for the landlord to agree to hire another surveyor to provide confirmation of the works required to the staircase and the hallway. However, we recognise this would have been an additional cost to the landlord.
13. The landlord also explained as a gesture of goodwill it would purchase and install carpets for the resident’s hallway and stairs. As the landlord was not responsible for providing floor coverings or carpets in these areas of the resident’s property, we would consider the amount the landlord was due to spend on the carpet costs as compensation for distress and inconvenience. The copy of the works schedule indicates the cost of the hallway carpet was approximately £110. However, there is no indication of the cost of the carpet to the stairs.
14. The damp and mould surveyor carried out the inspection in November 2023 and issued a scope of works. The landlord also updated the scope of works in January 2024. The recommended works for the hallway included renewing the floorboard, mould treatment, and redecoration, renewing the carpet to the domestic areas, and renewing the door. No works were recommended to the stairs apart from an overhaul of the window. Additional works were also recommended to the 2 bedrooms, living room and bathroom. The landlord completed the works in March 2024. However, the post inspection notes did not reference the installation of carpets in the hallway and on the stairs as agreed and in its stage 2 complaint. The resident has also provided a photograph of the stairs, although we cannot confirm when the photograph was taken, it also shows there was no carpet fitted on the stairs.
15. The landlord failed to install the carpet on the stairs and in the hallway as agreed in its stage 2 complaint response, which was unreasonable. Therefore, we order the landlord to install the carpet on the stairs and in the hallway. The resident is unhappy about the scope of the works recommended to address the reported damp and mould on the stairs. However, the landlord hired an external surveyor to address the resident’s concerns and carried out the recommended repairs. The landlord was entitled to rely on the expert opinion of the external qualified surveyor which it hired, concerning the works required to the stairs. This was reasonable and we have not seen evidence to show that the landlord should have taken a different approach. Therefore, we will not be asking the landlord to carry out any further repairs to the stairs. However, as referenced above we will be requesting it to install the carpet on the stairs and in the hallway as previously agreed.

16. The landlord’s complaint process has 2 stages. The timeframes in the landlord’s complaints policy are the same as the timescales referenced in the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code). The Code states a stage 1 response must be sent within 10 working days from the complaint being logged, and a stage 2 response within 20 working days. The landlord’s responses were sent within these timeframes. Its complaint handling was reasonable in the circumstances, and there was no maladministration in this matter.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

17. The landlord’s records were detailed enough for us to investigate the landlord’s overall handling of the complaint.

Communication

18. The landlord’s overall communication was adequate following the resident’s report of damp and mould at the property.