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Islington Council (202215638)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202215638

Islington Council

28 February 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 resident’s reports of a leak in her bathroom causing damp and mould issues.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord.
  2. The resident reported a leak in her bathroom from an extractor fan to the landlord in October 2023. It sent operatives to investigate the issue, but it remained unresolved.
  3. The resident complained to the landlord on 7 February 2024. She was dissatisfied with its handling of the repairs and requested help with being rehoused.
  4. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 21 February 2024, detailing the actions it had taken to resolve both the leak and her request for rehousing. It offered her £349.96 in compensation.
  5. The resident requested the escalation of her complaint to stage 2 on 23 February 2024. She stated that the landlord had not said what steps it would be taking to resolve the issues, the level of compensation was not sufficient, and she wanted a resolution.
  6. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 21 March 2024. It provided responses to the actions it had taken following the stage 1 response and the residents request for rehousing assistance. It upheld the complaint and increased its offer of compensation to £484.
  7. In bringing her complaint to the Ombudsman the resident said she had no resolution to the leak by the landlord and the mould continued to be an unresolved issue.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. In the evidence provided, the resident raised issues with damp and mould in her property in 2022. There is no indication that those reports were related to the leak from the extractor fan she later reported. There is also no proof that any complaint made at that time completed the landlord’s complaints process. She also made more recent reports of damp issues within the property. There is no evidence the damp issue formed part of her original complaint or escalation request in February 2024.
  2. Paragraph 42.a. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that we may not consider complaints about matters that have not exhausted the landlord’s complaints process. This investigation has considered events directly related to the leak from the fan. If the resident is unhappy with the landlord’s handling of any later issues, she can make a new complaint to the landlord.

Leaks

  1. Section 20.1 of the landlord’s repairs policy states it is responsible for repairing water leaks and water penetration issues affecting the resident’s property.
  2. The landlord’s repairs policy states that for urgent repairs it will attend within 24 hours and for routine repairs will attend within 20 working days.
  3. The extractor fan was fitted in the property in January 2023. The landlord’s repairs records show it raised repairs on 18 October 2023, to inspect an electric fan and puddle on a floor in the resident’s property. Its operative attended the next day and checked the extractor fan in the bathroom. They noted water slowly leaking from the ventilation pipe, stating it was probably from the roof and requested a roofing team. The landlord raised a repair in relation to that on 20 October 2023 with the appointment taking place on 24 November 2023. The date of the appointment was 26 working days later despite being raised under a routine repair requiring attendance within 20 working days. There was no explanation given for the delay in the appointment taking place.
  4. On 24 November 2023, the landlord’s contractor attended the resident’s property. The operative noted that the resident had stated the leaks occurred even when it did not rain. They could not see a vent coming out the roof. They also could not get access to the loft as the neighbour above was not home. They requested a plumber to check it was not a plumbing issue. They noted there was an outlet blocked at the other side of the wall where the vent was in the bathroom, which they unblocked.
  5. There is no evidence the resident made any further repair requests and no further evidence of the actions taken by the landlord until 17 January 2024. It enquired internally if there were any outstanding repairs for the resident’s property as she had said via email that she had reported the bathroom leaks which had not been resolved. It is noted there was no repair request before this time by the resident.
  6. On 1 February 2024 the landlord noted that, following the report of the leak coming from the extractor fan, the roofer had requested for a plumber to reattend. It attempted to contact the resident to arrange for a plumber’s visit, was unable to make contact, but would attempt to contact her again.
  7. At this stage, the issues were unresolved by the landlord since the resident’s report in October 2023 and had exceeded the timescales of its repairs policy. There was no evidence it had been keeping her updated with the progress of the repairs and it had not yet established the causes of any leak.
  8. The resident chased the landlord for the repairs again on 3 February 2024. She said that puddles of water gathered in the bathroom daily. She also always heard bathroom activity all night from that region above. She was concerned as she did not know what those fluids contained. She said it no longer felt safe for her or her child and in the interim could she be moved to an alternative location.
  9. The landlord has confirmed to us that it raised this email as a complaint on 7 February 2024. This was a positive action by the landlord as it recognised she was expressing dissatisfaction with the actions it had taken.
  10. On 7 February 2024, the resident emailed the landlord and said she had called the repairs service that day and previously a few days prior, but no one seemed to know anything. She had random people attend her property, but they did not do anything. She said if the issue could not be resolved, it should provide her with temporary accommodation. On the same day, the landlord arranged for a plumber to attend the resident’s property on 21 February 2024. She continued to chase it for more information on the works and temporary rehousing.
  11. The landlord’s stage 1 response of 21 February 2024 confirmed that a plumber would attend on the same day. The plumber would aim to identify and rectify the source of the leak and would raise necessary remedial works required. It apologised and stated that it would conduct an inspection on a joint visit with the leaks team to have it rectified. It would contact her with respect to her rehousing request. It offered her £349.96 in compensation. This consisted of £50 for inconvenience, £50 for distress and £249.96 for the length of time taken to complete the repair between 11 August 2023 and 28 February 2024.
  12. The landlord’s response provided details of the visits it had made to the resident’s property and some of the actions it had taken. However, it failed to explain to her why the leak she reported had been outstanding for the time it had or why it had failed to establish the cause of the leak despite multiple visits from its operatives.
  13. The landlord has confirmed to the Ombudsman that it calculated the compensation offer for the length of time to resolve the repair based on the guidelines of its compensation policy which provides an annual figure for delays to repairs. The guidance states it will pay between £500 to £2500 per annum for delays based on the severity of the problem. Its calculation is based on an annual award of £500 applied to the period the resident was affected.
  14. The landlord stated the compensation was from August 2023 and provided details of repairs it conducted from August 2023. However, it has stated those repairs seemed to be related to another complaint it was dealing with from the resident. Based on the evidence provided the first report of the leak was in October 2023.
  15. The landlord’s records show its plumber did attend the resident’s property on 21 February 2024. Its operative notes however said there was an ongoing issue with the extractor fan and had informed another operative who was now dealing with the issue. There was no clear outcome or follow on works established. This prolonged the time taken for the repair to be resolved.
  16. The resident escalated her complaint on 23 February 2024. She said the stage 1 response had not provided the steps the landlord would take to tackle the issue. There had been team leaders involved in the past, but she still faced the issues months later. The distress and inconvenience exceeded the offer by the landlord. She wanted a direct resolution. She also wanted additional supplementary points to attain top priority when bidding for a suitable new home. Alternatively, she wanted a selection of new accommodation offers.
  17. On 13 March 2024, the resident contacted the landlord as the leak remained unsolved and the bathroom was now smelling of damp. She also informed it she had not received the compensation. She said there was now water behind shared pipe boards.
  18. On the same day, the landlord’s records show it enquired internally about the resident’s repair and established that it was still trying to understand the nature of the issue. It noted a team leader and a chargehand attended and inspected the property on 29 February 2024. It was waiting on their report to follow that up. We have, however, not been provided evidence of an inspection taking place on 29 February 2024 or any report being provided. It later noted being chased by the resident again for an appointment on 20 March 2024.
  19. In its stage 2 response of 21 March 2024, the landlord said it was unclear if a team leader attended her property to identify the repairs as suggested. It would contact her within 10 working days to arrange a suitable date and time. It apologised for the length of time it had taken to resolve the issues. It stated that it was unable to allocate her housing points through the complaint process. It had referred her to the Housing Options Team. It explained that she must provide evidence to support additional points for rehousing. It offered her increased compensation of £484.00 consisting of £75 for inconvenience, £75 for distress and £338.28 for the length of time taken to complete the repair between August 2023 and April 2024 as that was when it expected to complete her repairs.
  20. Although the landlord acknowledged in its stage 2 response it had not completed the steps it said it would take in the stage 1 response, it provided no explanation to the resident for this failing. Instead, it appeared to be unaware of the reasons for not doing so. It also made no reference to her reports of damp occurring and if that would be part of the investigations it would be undertaking.
  21. It was however appropriate that the landlord provided an additional award of compensation for not resolving the issue. Its response regarding the resident’s request for rehousing was appropriate. There is no evidence a move from the property was required due to the leak. Its repairs team would not be able to make a decision regarding her housing application and appropriately referred her to the Housing Options department.
  22. Following the stage 2 response, the landlord records show on 22 March 2024 it did request for the resident to be contacted by the Housing Options team. This confirmed that it fulfilled the commitment it made in the stage 2 response.
  23. The landlord’s operative attended the resident’s property on 25 March 2024. The operative identified a leak in the stack where the fan was in the bathroom and water leaking from underneath the fan. They did not believe it was condensation as there was too much water. They attempted further investigations but believed a board that needed to be removed may have contained asbestos and required testing before any works continued. The leak was not repaired at the end of April 2024 as it had expected in its stage 2 response.
  24. In an update to the Ombudsman in November 2024, the resident said the landlord had taken away part of a panel around March/April 2024 to check for asbestos, but she did not receive an update until October 2024 when it contacted her to arrange an appointment. She was not advised whether there was asbestos nor if the appointment was for further exploratory work, or for the actual repairs to be completed. She was having to clean the areas affected by mould weekly because it kept coming back.
  25. The landlord has not provided evidence to the Ombudsman that it has resolved the leak. In an update in January 2025, it provided evidence a works order had been booked for 27 December 2024. The order was to either replace or repair the fan. It attended but was not able to get access to the property. It also stated it was undertaking works to treat the damp and mould, indicating the issue had continued since the stage 2 response was issued.
  26. The landlord failed to establish the cause of, or resolve, the leak from the fan within the timescales of its repairs policy and the time taken went significantly beyond those timescales. During this time, it has not evidenced it was keeping the resident informed of the steps it was taking. By its own admission in its complaint responses, it was unsure commitments made to her were fulfilled.
  27. Overall, the landlord did recognise its failures in its complaint responses, upheld the complaint, provided her the next steps it would be taking and offered compensation for its delays in resolving the leak totalling £484. For the failings identified, the level of compensation offered by the landlord falls within the range the Ombudsman would order for such failures and would have been considered adequate. However, it never properly identified the actual cause of the leaks to the resident nor clarified how it intended to resolve it. This failure has been a major impediment to the issue being resolved and would be necessary for a resolution.
  28. The landlord was unable to resolve the leak at the end of April 2024 as projected in its stage 2 response, and it is still unresolved. This Service concludes that it has failed to properly undertake its responsibilities to the resident in this case. We have ordered increased compensation taking into account the continued unresolved repair.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in respect of its handling of the resident’s reports of a leak in her bathroom causing damp and mould issues.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to provide this Service with evidence of compliance with the following orders:
    1. Pay the resident the total sum of £800, including the £484 it offered in its stage 2 response, if it has not already done so, for the failings identified in this case
    2. Provide the resident with a report on the current status of the leak and damp and mould issues in her property. This report must include details of any findings and any required works including a timetable for any works to be completed. If required, it must conduct a full damp and mould survey of the property by a suitably qualified operative to identify any causes of damp and mould.