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Cheshire West and Chester Council (202407050)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202407050

Cheshire West and Chester Council 

13 January 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 for damp and mould.
  2. The Ombudsman has also investigated the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is the tenant of the landlord which is a local authority. It is aware that she has a physical health vulnerability, and she informed it of the household’s vulnerabilities on 24 May 2024. The resident occupies a 3 bedroomed house (the property). The property is managed by an agent who carries out repairs and handles complaints on behalf of the landlord. The landlord is responsible for the actions of its agent where the agent is acting on behalf of the landlord. Therefore, both the agent and the landlord will be referred to as ‘the landlord’ in this report unless a distinction needs to be drawn between them.  
  2. The resident reported to the landlord on 5 December 2023 that she had an ongoing problem with damp and mould in the property. It carried out a damp survey on 19 December 2023. On 2 January 2024 the landlord told the resident that its contractors would contact her to make appointments for the repairs it had identified which were:
    1. To treat mould with fungicidal wash and fungicidal paint and replace thermal boards to the window reveal in the bathroom
    2. Install vents in the 3 bedrooms and hack off loose plaster to top of the window and dub out and skim in 1 bedroom.
    3. In the downstairs bedroom, to hack off plaster 1 meter high to the window wall and the dividing wall, complete full damp proof course, and install a vent.
    4. In the kitchen, to replace the rear door/window combination, treat mould with fungicidal wash and fungicidal paint. Renew skirting beside the door.
    5. Replace front and rear guttering, relay slabs at the back of the property and install drains to get water away from the property.
  3. On 8 March 2024 the resident made a stage 1 complaint to the landlord. She was unhappy that she had not been updated about the damp and mould work and had needed to chase appointments. The resident said that she was then allocated an appointment which had not been agreed with her. She was also unhappy that she would have to carry out redecoration herself and wanted compensation for this. On 11 March 2024 the resident said she was unhappy that jobs which had been booked for May 2024 had now been postponed until July 2024.
  4. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 24 April 2024. It confirmed that the works identified in its damp survey on 19 December 2023 were scheduled to start on 8 July 2024. The landlord acknowledged that the delayed start was because of its error in allocating the work. It maintained that internal decoration was the resident’s responsibility as set out in her tenancy agreement.
  5. On 25 April 2024 the resident called the landlord to escalate her complaint. She remained unhappy that the works were scheduled to begin on 8 July 2024, and it had not offered any compensation for redecoration.
  6. The landlord provided its final complaint response to the resident on 29 May 2024. It apologised for its delay in booking the repairs but maintained that it could not do the work any sooner due to its workload. The landlord said it would offer her a priority appointment if appointments became available. It offered the resident £200 compensation which it noted she had accepted.
  7. On 30 September 2024 the resident told us that the landlord had completed some repairs, but others remained outstanding. She said that mould had returned which had damaged her possessions. On 12 December 2024 the resident told us that, to resolve her complaint, she wanted the landlord to complete the repairs and offer her compensation for redecoration and for her damaged possessions.
  8. On 17 December 2024 the landlord confirmed that it was due to attend in the week commencing 16 December 2024 to complete the guttering repairs. It was also scheduled to complete work in the downstairs bedroom on 24 December 2024. On 13 January 2025, the resident told us that the landlord made a further appointment for 12 February 2025 for roofing work.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of repairs for damp and mould

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy states that it will carry out routine repairs – those which do not pose an immediate hazard to the resident or the property – within 20 working days. The policy also states, “We also do not carry out redecoration internally following internal repairs.”
  2. The landlord should have completed the repairs identified from its damp survey on 19 December 2023 by 18 January 2024 to comply with its repairs policy above. The landlord failed to complete any repairs within this timeframe and there were significant delays in the repairs.
    1. The landlord carried out a mould wash and painted the bathroom on 15 April 2024.
    2. The landlord did not inspect the roof until 2 May 2024.
    3. In July 2024, the landlord replaced the kitchen rear door and window, did a mould wash and painted. It installed vents, thermal boarding and did plastering. The landlord carried out an asbestos test in the kitchen and scheduled the follow-on plastering for 15 November 2024.
    4. In August 2024 the landlord renewed skirting boards and refitted a radiator. However, the radiator was not left functional.
    5. On 4 September 2024 the landlord re-laid slabs and installed soak-away drains.
    6. In October 2024, the landlord started roof repairs, which were not all complete in December 2024.
    7. The landlord was due to complete work in the downstairs bedroom on 24 December 2024, which it identified on an inspection on 26 March 2024. This appointment was made after not being able to gain access on 12 November 2024.
  3. The above list shows that the landlord did the damp and mould repairs between 3 and 11 months later than the 20 working-day timeframe set out in its policy. It delayed excessively in performing the repairs. It is accepted that one appointment was delayed due to access difficulties, but the landlord has not given an adequate explanation for the other delays. While the landlord acknowledged, in its complaint responses, that it had initially delayed booking the repairs in error, it was unreasonable that it then took another 7 months to address some repairs.
  4. It is unclear if the landlord was aware of the extent of the resident’s household’s vulnerabilities at the outset. However, it was aware of these from at least 24 May 2024, when it discussed the resident’s final stage complaint with her on the telephone. There was no evidence that the landlord carried out a risk assessment with a view to prioritising any repairs in response to knowledge of the resident’s vulnerabilities, which included a breathing difficulty which may have been impacted by the damp and mould. It failed to pay due regard to the vulnerabilities in the household.
  5. The landlord maintained its position that it did not do internal decoration after internal repairs. This was in accordance with its repairs policy, however its position was unreasonable and not in line with the Ombudsman’s established approach or industry best practice. The landlord is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the property. Although residents are generally responsible for redecorating their individual property, when its repairs, or failure to repair, have led to damage to the resident’s decorations, the Ombudsman would expect it to make good the affected areas. It is unreasonable for the resident to be negatively affected by the landlord fulfilling its contractual obligations.
  6. The landlord will therefore be ordered to complete any outstanding repairs and make good and decorate the areas affected by its repairs. It must also carry out a further damp inspection to ensure that the work has resolved the issues. If the damp remains unresolved, the landlord should investigate further and set out any further repairs which may be required to fully resolve it.
  7. The Ombudsman has seen evidence that the landlord paid the £200 compensation it offered in its final complaint response to the resident on 4 June 2024. It is positive that the landlord acknowledged its failures and attempted to put things right for the resident. However, this offer was not proportionate to the extent of the distress and inconvenience the resident would have experienced as a result of the landlord’s failures. This is considering that there were further delays after the final complaint response, and the significant length of the delays.
  8. The Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, which is available on our website, provides for awards of compensation between £600 and £1,000 where there has been maladministration by the landlord which caused distress and or/inconvenience to the resident. Awards in this range are made when the landlord’s failings have had a significant or prolonged impact on the resident. In accordance with this, the landlord will be ordered to pay £600 compensation to the resident. This is in addition to the £200 it already paid her on 4 June 2024, bringing the total compensation to £800 for this aspect of the complaint.

The landlord’s handling of the complaint

  1. The landlord’s complaints policy states that its agent handles complaints. It has a 2 stage complaints procedure where it should respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days and final stage complaints within 20 working days. These timeframes mirror those set out in the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code), which all landlords who are members of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme are required to comply with.
  2. The resident made her stage 1 complaint on 8 March 2024 and the landlord did not respond to this until 24 April 2024. This was after 32 working days which was a failure to follow its own policy and the Code. There was no evidence of the landlord notifying the resident of any delay in responding or agreeing an extension to the complaint.
  3. We note that the landlord carried out an inspection of the resident’s property on 26 March 2024. However, this should not have delayed its complaint response. The Code states that “A complaint response must be sent to the resident when the answer to the complaint is known, not when the outstanding actions required to address the issue are completed.” The landlord could have referred to the inspection in its complaint response and agreed to provide a further update after this as part of its resolution to the complaint.
  4. The landlord apologised, in its stage 1 complaint response, for its delay in responding. However, it did not explain why it had delayed, nor did it demonstrate any learning to prevent future delays. This was unreasonable and was a failure to follow the Ombudsman’s dispute resolution principles, which include ‘putting it right’ and ‘learning from outcomes’.
  5. The landlord issued its final complaint response to the resident after 23 working days. This was again longer than the timeframe in its policy and the Code – by 3 working days in this case. However, this was not a significant delay. Its final complaint response again apologised for its response at stage 1 but again it failed to offer an explanation or demonstrate any learning. Overall, the landlord’s handling of the complaint amounts to service failure.
  6. To recognise the inconvenience to the resident caused by its failures, the landlord must pay her compensation of £100. This is in accordance with our remedies guidance which provides for awards of compensation between £50 and £100 when there has been a failure which the landlord did not fully put right, but which may not have significantly affected the overall outcome for the resident.
  7. The Ombudsman is concerned that both stages of the complaints process are handled by the landlord’s agent. It should consider handling final stage complaints directly. The landlord is ultimately responsible for fulfilling its obligations to the resident under the tenancy agreement. Therefore, delegating its complaints handling procedure entirely to its agent may result in a lack of oversight of residents’ concerns and could give residents the impression that the landlord itself is not taking ownership of their issues. The Ombudsman recommends that the landlord should review its policy with a view to ensuring it retains adequate oversight of residents’ complaints by taking ownership of all stage 2 complaints.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was:
    1. Maladministration by the landlord in its handling of repairs for damp and mould.
    2. Service failure by the landlord in its handling of the associated complaint.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks, the landlord must provide evidence to the Ombudsman that it has complied with the following orders:
    1. Pay the resident compensation of £700. This is in addition to the £200 it has already paid. This award comprises £600 for distress and inconvenience caused by its failures in the handling of damp and mould repairs and £100 for its complaint handling failure.
    2. The landlord must write to the resident to apologise for the failings identified by this investigation. This apology must come from a senior member of staff at director level or above and must comply with our guidance for apologies in our remedies guidance.
    3. The landlord must complete the outstanding repairs to remedy the damp and mould issues. These repairs must include work to decorate and make good the areas affected by its repair work.
    4. The landlord must carry out a new damp inspection to verify the repairs have resolved the damp and mould. If any further repair work arises from the damp inspection, it must write to the resident to provide a clear schedule of when these repairs will be done. If further avoidable delays occur, then it should consider paying further compensation to recognise her inconvenience.
    5. The landlord must contact the resident to seek evidence of her report of damage to her belongings from damp and mould. If appropriate, it should provide details of its liability insurer or asses the claim itself internally and explain its position to the resident regarding liability for her damaged possessions.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord should review its repairs policy regarding decorative repairs resulting from its internal repairs. It should look at bringing this policy in line with the Ombudsman’s expectation that landlords should make good any damage to decorations resulting from repairs they are responsible for.
  2. The landlord should review its complaints policy with a view to ensuring it has adequate oversight of complaints. It should consider amending its policy to handle final stage complaints directly rather than delegating these to its agent.