Town and Country Housing (202427420)

Background

1. The resident lives in a flat and is a tenant of the landlord. The landlord leases the property from the local authority. The resident’s daughter has asthma.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the condition of the windows at the resident’s property.
3. We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

4. There was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the condition of the windows at the resident’s property.
5. There was no maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

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

Summary of reasons

6. The landlord provided the correct advice that it was the local authority’s responsibility to replace the windows at the property. However, in the landlord’s complaint responses, it said the windows were in an acceptable condition which was contrary to the evidence, which said the windows needed to be replaced. The landlord also delayed completing repairs and failed to communicate to the resident about how she could submit a personal injury claim.

7. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint and communicated where it needed extra time to provide its written responses. There was a delay of 1 working day in its stage 2 complaint response, which was not significant.

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.

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.

8. Our scheme states 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 condition of the windows from around June 2022. She raised a formal complaint on 29 May 2024. We have not seen any evidence she was prevented from raising a complaint sooner. For that reason we will investigate the complaint from June 2023, which is approximately 12 months prior to her complaint. Any reference to earlier events provides context but have not formed part of our decision.
9. In December 2022 the landlord’s surveyor said the windows at the resident’s property were draughty. Its contractor said there was nothing else it could do to repair them. The landlord asked the local authority to inspect the windows. This was because the local authority owned the building and is responsible for replacing the window frames.
10. In July 2023 the local authority agreed to replace the windows at the resident’s property. We are unable to comment on the actions of the local authority because our investigation is focused on the landlord, and the resident does not have a landlord tenant relationship with the local authority. We understand it closed the order to replace the windows without advising either the resident or the landlord. We have not seen any evidence why the local authority took this action.
11. The resident said due to the cold draught coming in through the windows she was having to heat the property during the summer months. She said this was impacting the humidity in the property. The landlord responded to the resident’s concerns appropriately by:
    1.   Carrying out a damp and mould inspection which it said identified no follow-on works.
    2.   Installing an alarm system which it said would allow the landlord to monitor the humidity within the property. The landlord said this raised no further issues.
12. Between October 2023 and December 2023, the landlord chased the local authority about when it was going to replace the windows. The local authority said the windows were due to be replaced in 2049. The landlord responded appropriately by asking the local authority to carry out another survey of the windows because its contractor had said they could not see how the windows could last that long.
13. The landlord’s contractor repaired the window hinges and the handles on 8 January 2024. This was an appropriate as this was a non-emergency repair which the landlord’s responsive repairs policy states it will complete within 28 days.
14. In January 2024, the landlord told the local authority that its contractor was concerned about the windows falling out due to negligence and age. It was right the landlord raised the contractor’s concerns to the local authority. It also arranged for the local environmental health team to carry out an inspection of the resident’s property which it did on 23 February 2024. Environmental health reported there was no evidence of damp and mould within the property, but it did state the windows were in disrepair.
15. The landlord also said the windows were in an acceptable condition and there was no evidence they were poorly fitted. We have not been provided with any evidence that supports these comments, which we understand would have caused distress to the resident. This is because the landlord, its contractors, and environmental health accepted since December 2022 that these windows were not in good condition. Whilst the landlord is not responsible for the replacement of the windows it was unfair for it to suggest they were in an acceptable condition.
16. The landlord arranged for the local environmental health team to carry out a further inspection of the damp and mould within the resident’s property in October 2024. This survey highlighted there were issues with condensation and a lack of ventilation within the property. It recommended the landlord should replace the 2 extractor fans within the property. The landlord completed these works on 27 January 2025. This was 103 days later. This should have been completed as a non-urgent repair within 28 days.
17. The landlord confirmed it had monitored the humidity levels within the property. The landlord said there was no evidence of any loss of heating at the property. The landlord appropriately by investigating the resident’s concerns and by signposting her to its financial support related to the cost of her increased energy bills.

18. The resident told us the conditions at the property affected her daughter’s health and wellbeing. It would be fairer, more reasonable and more effective for the resident to make a personal injury claim for any injury caused. 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.
19. The landlord failed to address the resident’s concerns about the impact she said the condition of the windows was having on her daughter’s health. The landlord should have advised the resident how she could make a personal injury claim if she considered the health of her daughter had been affected by any action or lack thereof by the landlord. We will order the landlord to inform the resident about how she can make such a claim either via its liability insurer (if it has one) or to the landlord internally. If the landlord assesses the claim internally, it should write to the resident confirming the reasons for its decision.
20. There was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the condition of the windows at the resident’s property. The landlord is to pay the resident £100 compensation. This is in line with our remedies guidance (published on our website), which sets out our approach to compensation. The remedies guidance gives examples of an award in this range where there has been a minor failure in the service provided by the landlord and its action to put things right did not fully reflect the detriment to the resident.
21. We will also order for the landlord to obtain legal advice in respect of the local authority carrying out a replacement of the windows at the resident’s property. This is an appropriate next step as informal attempts to get the local authority to repair the windows have not been successful. The landlord is to share this advice it has received with the Ombudsman. We will not share the details of the legal advice with the resident as it is confidential. However, the landlord should update the resident on the next steps after it has got legal advice.

22. The landlord’s stage 1 complaint response was sent 20 working days after it acknowledged the resident’s complaint. This was reasonable because the landlord had told the resident that it needed extra time before it could provide its stage 1 complaint response. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code), which sets out our expectations for landlords’ complaint handling. We expect a landlord to provide its stage 1 complaint response within 10 working days. Where the landlord may need further time to respond to a resident’s stage 1 complaint, this should not exceed a further 10 working days.
23. The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response 41 working days after the resident asked it to escalate her complaint. The landlord had told the resident it needed further time to respond to her stage 2 complaint. Whilst this delay was not excessive, its extension should not have exceeded 40 working days, in line with the Code. This delay of 1 working day did not impact the overall outcome of the complaint. For this reason, we make a finding of no maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling, and it is not required to do anything further in respect of this aspect of the resident’s complaint.

Learning

24. The landlord should ensure the tone and information within its complaint responses are clearly written, transparent, and in line with the overall evidence it holds. The landlord should also ensure it responds to complaints in line with the timescales set out in the Code.