A2Dominion Housing Group Limited (202324568)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202324568

A2Dominion Housing Group Limited

20 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 handling of concerns about inadequate wall insulation.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. Her tenancy at the property began in 2011. The property is a 2-bedroom ground floor flat in a new build block.
3. The resident made a complaint to the landlord on 29 November 2021. She said the landlord had identified a latent defect, where a bedroom wall had insufficient insulation. She said the landlord had begun work to address this 3 years ago but paused it due to her having a family situation. She said she had been contacting the landlord about when the works would resume.
4. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 9 December 2021. It said that it had referred the matter to a specialist contractor which had arranged to survey the property on 5 October 2021. It provided the resident with contact details for a member of staff who would be overseeing the works and offered her £75 compensation for the delay in resolving the issue.
5. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 29 June 2023. It said that:
   1. It had instructed a consultant to further investigate the defect. The consultant had recommended an intrusive inspection of the insulation levels within the cavity wall.
   2. It was experiencing difficulty in finding a specialist contractor able to carry out the works required.
   3. The original developer of the building had gone into liquidation. Due to this, it was unable to pursue it as a potential latent defect.
   4. Once it had engaged a specialist contractor, it would be able to provide the resident with a timeline of when the inspection could commence. It could then determine the works required to remedy the issue.
   5. It offered the resident compensation of:
      1. £150 for its lack of communication and updates on the matter.
      2. £240 for the delays in its complaint responses.
      3. £200 for her having to “repeatedly raise the issue with us over the last 2 years”.

Events since the landlord’s stage 2 complaint response

6. The resident referred her complaint to us on 18 October 2023. She expressed continued dissatisfaction that the landlord had still not started work to the bedroom wall.
7. The landlord’s consultant inspected the property externally on 6 October 2023, it recommended that the landlord:
   1. Remove, insulate, and infill a redundant window.
   2. Reduce the ground levels at the external wall to provide 150mm clearance from the damp proof course.
   3. Clean and clear the flat roof above the property and consider refurbishing this, including renewing the insulation.
8. On or around 15 October 2023, the consultant emailed the landlord. It said that it had inspected the construction of the landlord’s other block on the development and identified numerous issues. These included concerns about the “the fire resistance around the window apertures”. It said, “the assessment of potential remedial works would require some advice from a fire engineer” and “form a substantial and significant works project”. The consultant said that as the resident’s block was of a similar design and constructed at the same time it believed the same issues would be present there.
9. On 16 June 2025, the resident told us the work had still not been carried out. She has reported issues with damp and cold temperatures in the bedroom, meaning she has found it too cold to sleep in it in winter.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

10. The resident has said that she has been pursuing this matter since 2017. In her complaint, she said that the landlord had started work to insulate the wall “3 years ago”. At the time of her complaint, the landlord’s complaints policy said that it would not consider a complaint which “has not been raised within a reasonable time frame”. Our ‘complaint handling code’ (the Code) at that time suggested that 6 months was a reasonable timeframe.
11. The only evidence we have been provided with prior to the resident’s complaint is the landlord’s contractor’s inspection report from 4 October 2021. We will therefore start our investigation from that point.
12. The repair issues detailed in paragraphs 7 and 8 of this report were identified after the landlord’s stage 2 complaint response. Due to this they cannot reasonably be considered part of this complaint. The landlords records indicate that it has been significantly delayed in completing these works due to difficulties in finding a contractor willing and able to undertake them.
13. However, the resident has said she is unsure of the current status and scope of these works. It is also unclear whether the nature of these works has impacted upon the landlord’s decision not to complete the internal wall insulation. We have made an order below in an attempt to assist the resident and gain clarity on this.

Wall insulation

14. The Decent Homes Standard requires properties to provide a “reasonable degree of thermal comfort”. It says this includes having “effective insulation”. The Housing Health and Safety Rating System Operating Guidance lists “inadequate insulation…including the presence of cold bridges” as a factor in excess cold. The landlord therefore has a responsibility to take reasonable steps to insulate the property.
15. In its stage 1 complaint response, the landlord said its specialist contractor had booked to inspect the property on 5 October 2021. However, the contractor’s report indicates that it actually attended on 4 October 2021.
16. The contractor recorded that the resident had told them the landlord had previously started work to install internal wall insulation in the property. They said, “due to family issues the installation wasn’t fully completed leaving the end wall in the bedroom uninsulated”. They said this was creating a “large thermal bridge” on this wall. The contractor said the end wall was “not suitable for conventional cavity fill”. They recommended that the landlord arrange to complete the internal wall insulation.
17. The contractor’s report is dated 2 November 2021. This was almost 4 weeks prior to the resident making her complaint. We have not seen any evidence that the landlord contacted the resident to advise her of the outcome of the inspection, or its proposed next steps. Had it done so, she may not have felt the need to log a complaint.
18. Even in its stage 1 complaint response, the landlord only told the resident that the contractor’s inspection “should have already been carried out now”. It said that the contractor’s report would “be reviewed, and a decision made”. However, by this point, the landlord had received the report over a month ago. It had a reasonable amount of time to review it and provide a decision as part of its stage 1 complaint response. Instead, its response failed to progress the matter or tell the resident anything she did not already know.
19. It is concerning that the landlord has failed to provide us with any records between its stage 1 (9 December 2021) and stage 2 (29 June 2023) complaint responses. This has limited our ability to assess events during that period. The failings to create and record information accurately results in landlords not taking appropriate and timely action, missing opportunities to identify that actions were wrong or inadequate, and contributing to inadequate communication and redress.
20. In its stage 2 complaint response, the landlord acknowledged that “the works have not been completed”. The landlord has not provided any explanation for why it did not follow its specialist contractor’s recommendation and install internal wall insulation to the bedroom end wall. Considering it had previously arranged to install this and would have done so but for the resident’s family situation, it would have been appropriate to complete the works.
21. The landlord said in its stage 2 response that it had instructed a consultant to carry out further investigation of the defect. The reasons for this are unclear from the records provided to us. However, it is apparent the ‘defect’ issues with the building were not confined to the wall insulation. The consultant had carried out an initial visit and requested further works to determine the level of insulation in the cavity wall. The landlord said that it was struggling to find a specialist contractor to carry out this work.
22. The landlord’s consultant returned to the property on 6 October 2023. They were unable to gain access but carried out an external inspection. They provided a report to the landlord 3 days later. In this report, the consultant said that “we understand that internal wall insulation works which were ongoing at the time of our previous visit have been completed”. However, the resident has informed us that internal wall insulation has still not been installed to the bedroom end wall. The landlord had therefore failed to communicate this fact to the consultant when arranging the inspection.
23. In its stage 1 complaint response, the landlord offered the resident £75 compensation for the “length of time this has taken to resolve”. At stage 2, it increased this offer by a further £350 in recognition of its lack of communication and the resident’s time and trouble in repeatedly raising the issue.
24. This total of £425 compensation is in keeping with our remedies guidance for instances of maladministration. However, as the landlord has still failed to resolve the issue, it would not be appropriate for us to make a finding of reasonable redress. Our outcomes guidance is clear that the substantive issue must have been resolved before we can say that the landlord has adequately addressed the issue.
25. The landlord has failed to complete work to install internal wall insulation to the bedroom wall. This was despite it having previously agreed to do so and its specialist contractor recommending it complete these works following its inspection. The landlord has not provided an explanation for this decision or evidenced that it appropriately communicated it to the resident. Due to this we make a finding of maladministration.

Determination

26. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of concerns about inadequate wall insulation.

Orders

27. Within 4 weeks of the date of this determination, we order the landlord to:
    1. Pay the resident compensation of £600 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the maladministration in its handling of concerns about inadequate wall insulation. The landlord may deduct any sum already paid as part of its stage 1 and 2 complaint responses from this amount (excluding the £240 for delays in its complaint handling, which is dealt with separately below).
    2. Write to the resident:
       1. Apologising for its maladministration identified by this investigation.
       2. Explaining why it did not follow its specialist contractor’s recommendation to install internal wall insulation to the bedroom end wall in 2021.
       3. Providing its current position on installing internal wall insulation to the bedroom end wall.
       4. Detailing the current proposed scope of any works to the fabric of the block and the status of these works, including expected start and finish dates.
28. The landlord should provide evidence of its compliance with these orders to us.

Recommendations

29. We recommend that, if it has not done so already, the landlord pays the resident the £240 compensation offered in its stage 2 complaint response for delays in its complaints handling.