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Clarion Housing Association Limited (202437909)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202437909

Clarion Housing Association Limited

24 June 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:
    1. Handling of reports of a bed bug infestation.
    2. Complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is a leaseholder. The property is a 1-bedroom flat on the fourth floor of a building. The landlord is a housing association.
  2. In June 2023 the resident complained about bed bugs within the building. The landlord issued its stage 1 response in August 2023 and said it was first made aware of bed bugs in 2020. At that time, it arranged for inspections to assess the block and carried out treatment until December 2021. After contact in June 2023, it arranged a further assessment and treatment. It found no evidence of an active bed bug infestation and installed insect monitors.
  3. On 19 August 2024, the resident raised a further complaint about bed bugs and said the infestation was due to the building. The landlord issued a stage 1 response on 7 October 2024. It apologised for the delay in responding and said:
    1. It had arranged pest control visits in July and August 2024.
    2. It had approved monitoring for all flats and listed 4 visits between September and November 2024. It explained this would identify areas in the building that had bed bugs so it could conduct targeted treatment.
    3. It agreed to carry out spray treatment to the resident’s property.
    4. It acknowledged some email responses from its contact centre could have been confusing due to standard emails being sent. It raised the concern internally for correct guidance and offered an apology for confusion caused.
    5. It provided the details of a dedicated contact for future concerns.
    6. It offered £150 compensation to recognise the inconvenience caused. It said this was made up of £50 for its delayed complaint response and £100 for inconvenience suffered due to the bed bug infestation.
  4. The resident escalated her complaint on 31 October 2024. She said the situation had not been resolved and that the infestation was structural. She asked the landlord to conduct heat treatment and said her living conditions were intolerable, unhealthy and degrading. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 6 December 2024, it said:
    1. It had asked its contractor for details of options and quotes for treatment. It would then liaise with residents once a decision had been made.
    2. It was unable to confirm if other properties were impacted by bed bugs and said this was due to data protection.
    3. It acknowledged that it had not previously taken a holistic approach to treat the block in its entirety. It found there was no service failure.
    4. It offered discretionary compensation and increased its compensation offer to £300. It said this was made up of £150 it offered at stage 1, £100 for the further inconvenience caused by bed bugs and £50 for its delayed stage 2 response.
  5. The resident remained unhappy with the landlord’s handling of the bed bug infestation and referred her complaint to this Service for further consideration.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident has said the bed bug issue had been ongoing for years and was reported to the landlord in 2020. While she did raise complaints in November 2020 and June 2023, she did not exhaust the landlord’s internal complaint process at that time.
  2. In such circumstances, the Ombudsman would usually expect the resident to have raised the issue as a formal complaint within a reasonable time, usually 12 months of matters arising and have exhausted the landlord’s complaints process. Issues that were not raised as a complaint within a reasonable time, and did not exhaust the landlord’s internal complaints process, have not been considered within this report.
  3. In the interest of fairness, the scope of this investigation is limited to the issues raised during the resident’s formal complaint from August 2024 and the landlord’s stage 2 response from December 2024. The investigation will be limited to events from 12 months prior to the resident’s complaint from August 2024. Events from before August 2023, may be referred to within this report for background purposes only.

Handling of reports of a bed bug infestation

  1. The lease says the landlord is responsible for the common parts of the building and its structure, amongst other things.
  2. The landlord’s Pest and Wildlife policy says the responsibility for preventing, reducing and eradicating pests is shared between it, its residents, and the local council. It says it will:
    1. Regularly inspect estates with known pest control problems and enter in to a pest control contract for regular treatments for high risk blocks/estates.
    2. Eradicate any infestations and pests in communal areas.
    3. Not usually take any responsibility for bed bugs (and other pest) infestations in a resident’s home.
  3. As mentioned previously, the landlord was aware of a bed bug issue within the building in 2020 and in June 2023. The evidence shows the resident made another report of bed bugs in May 2024. At that time, it was reasonable for the landlord to have arranged for its pest control contractor (the contractor), who was best suited to deal with a possible infestation, to attend.
  4. The contractor completed spray treatment to the resident’s property on 17 June 2024 and found “light evidence of bed bugs”. The treatment was repeated on 2 July 2024 and no further action was recommended. In the circumstances, it was reasonable for the landlord to have followed its contractor’s advice, as the specialist.
  5. A further report of bed bugs was made later in July 2024, the landlord appropriately instructed its contractor to attend. When its contractor attended in August 2024 it noted bed bugs within the carpet and said “appears bed bugs are in the fabric of the building”. The contractor made some recommendations which included a monitoring programme to establish the extent of the infestation in the building, for it to enter all properties on third and fourth floors and points for consideration if it found a large infestation. The landlord appropriately informed the resident of its planned approach on 13 September 2024.
  6. The evidence shows that after the end of the monitoring and treatment period, in November 2024, the landlord and its contractor were in discussions about other treatments to address the issue. It was reasonable for the landlord to have considered other treatments in the circumstances.
  7. On 5 December 2024 the contractor told the landlord of properties within the building that had issues with bed bugs and recommended further monthly monitoring for 12 months. It said this would allow it to decide the treatment required (heat or spray). Within the landlord’s stage 2 response, it told the resident it was awaiting quotes for treatment options and would update residents when it had a decided approach. The landlord’s approach was reasonable at that time.
  8. It is unclear what happened since the landlord’s stage 2 response and what its decided approach was. However, in June 2025, the resident told this Service that the last time she witnessed bed bugs was in January 2025 and said she had been contacted about heat treatment for her property. The landlord has told this Service that it would carry out further treatment to communal areas as it recognised the issue had been reoccurring. It is unclear how this has progressed.
  9. Within the resident’s complaint she told the landlord that its emails were causing her confusion. It is understood that the resident’s emails were sent to its contact centre and at times generic emails were sent in response. The landlord appropriately apologised for this within its stage 1 response. It explained it had issued internal guidance and it provided the resident with details of a dedicated contact. The landlord’s response was appropriate and demonstrates insight into how it could communicate better with the resident.
  10. Overall, the landlord’s handling of reports of bed bugs from August 2023 to December 2024 (the stage 2 response) was appropriate in the circumstances. Following reports of bed bugs in June 2024, it acted quickly with treatment and investigated concerns about an infestation. When its contractor told it of a possible infestation, it conducted regular monitoring of areas and considered further treatment to resolve the issue.
  11. When the resident told it of the impact of her living conditions due to bed bugs, the landlord acted reasonably in offering discretionary compensation payments totalling £200 for any inconvenience caused. While the landlord’s actions were in accordance with its obligations, its offer of discretionary compensation shows insight into the impact the situation would have had on the resident while it investigated matters.
  12. There was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of reports of bed bugs.

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord operates a 2 stage complaints process. Its complaints policy says a stage 1 complaint will be acknowledged within 5 working days and a full response provided within 10 working days of acknowledgement. A stage 2 response will be responded to within 20 working days and it explains it can extend this timeframe by a further 20 working days.
  2. The resident raised her complaint about the landlord’s handling of bed bugs on 19 August 2024. The landlord appropriately acknowledged this on 21 August 2024. However, it did not issue its stage 1 response until 7 October 2024. This timeframe of around 2 months significantly exceeded the stage 1 timeframe and was not appropriate.
  3. The resident escalated her complaint on 31 October 2024. The landlord acknowledged this on 8 November 2024 and said it would provide a response by 28 November and if needed it would extend this to 26 December 2024. The landlord provided its response on 6 December 2024.
  4. Within the landlord’s complaint responses it recognised its complaint handling delays. It offered £50 at stage 1 and a further £50 at stage 2. The landlord’s overall compensation offer of £100 falls within the service failure banding of this Service’s remedies guidance. When considering this, the landlord has offered reasonable redress in relation to its complaint handling and the compensation amount satisfactorily resolves this aspect of the complaint.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of reports of bed bugs.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 53b of the Scheme, the landlord offered reasonable redress for its complaint handling.

Recommendations

  1. The Ombudsman recommends the landlord pay the resident £300 it previously offered, if it has not paid this already. This amount includes £100 it offered for its complaint handling.
  2. The Ombudsman recommends the landlord explains in writing to the resident, and this Service, the approach it will adopt for further treatment at the building (including the resident’s property). Its response should include the details of the support it will provide the resident, if any.