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Lambeth Council (202308511)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202308511

Lambeth Council

6 June 2024


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:
    1. The resident’s report of a dropped doorframe in a bedroom.
    2. The resident’s reports of damp and mould in the property.
    3. Repairs to the garden fence.

Background

  1. The resident lives in the property, owned by the landlord, under a secure tenancy. The property is a 3-bedroom flat and she lives there with her husband and their children.
  2. The landlord carried out a damp survey on 6 January 2021, which identified mould in the kitchen and around the windows in the bedrooms. Mould treatment and replacement of the bathroom and kitchen extractor fans was recommended, as well as an inspection of the windows and the main roof.
  3. The landlord has not provided any contact records after January 2021 until  28 February 2023, when the resident contacted the landlord to make a formal complaint as she was not happy with its attempt at early resolution, as work had not been completed.
  4. The landlord sent its stage 1 response on 23 March 2023. It said that it had raised new jobs for a mould wash, leaking bedroom window and the extractor fans and said it was chasing a subcontractor about repairs to the garden fence. It did not provide any explanation for why some repairs had not been carried out for more than 2 years.
  5. On 2 May 2023 the resident asked the landlord for the complaint to be escalated. The landlord sent its stage 2 response on 8 June, in which it said that it had carried out works to the bedroom windows and replaced the extractor fans on 30 May and had raised a new job for mould in the bathroom. It said it appreciated the amount of time it had taken to carry out repairs, but again did not provide an explanation for this delay.
  6. The resident contacted this Service on 8 June 2023 to ask us to investigate the complaint as she was unhappy that the landlord’s response was to cancel down old jobs and raise new ones. At this time she also said that there was a problem with a dropped doorframe in a bedroom.
  7. She contacted this Service on 29 January 2024 to say that repairs were still outstanding and mould kept reappearing in the bathroom despite her cleaning it with anti-mould chemicals. She also said the rear garden fence had collapsed and fallen into the shed, leaving the garden exposed to a footpath to the rear of the property.

Assessment and findings

Jurisdiction

  1. What the Ombudsman can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. This is governed by the Scheme. When a complaint is brought to this service, the Ombudsman must consider all the circumstances of the case, as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
  2. According to paragraph 42(a) of the Scheme, the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion are made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaints procedure.
  3. In her complaint to this Service, the resident raised a concern about a dropped doorframe in a bedroom. This Service has seen no evidence that this was raised with the landlord as part of her complaint, or that it has investigated this issue. For this reason, and in line with paragraph 42 (a) of the Scheme, her complaint about a dropped door frame falls outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. If she still wishes for this issue to be investigated, she would need to raise this with the landlord.

The resident’s reports of damp and mould

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy sets out its obligations, and states that it is responsible for repairs to the structure of the home including, roofs, drains and gutters as well as windows and window frames. It also says the landlord is responsible for any other repair work if there could be a threat to health and safety. The policy sets out the following priority categories for repairs:
    1. Priority 1 – must be undertaken within 24 hours of being reported.
    2. Priority 2 – must be undertaken within 2 working days of being reported.
    3. Priority 3 – must be undertaken within 5 working days of being reported.
    4. Priority 4 – must be undertaken within 30 working days of being reported.
    5. Priority 5 – those repairs to be undertaken as part of an agreed program within a specified timescale or within 90 working days.
  2. The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) sets out guidance for landlords on identifying hazards in a home. This explains that mould is a threat to physical and mental health, which can lead to breathing difficulties and asthma, among other things.
  3. The landlord has not provided its records from before the damp survey of 6 January 2021, so it is not clear what led to the survey taking place. However, the repairs log shows that the request for a damp survey was raised on 9 December 2020, with a priority of 5 and a target date of 14 April 2021. The survey was completed within 1 month, which was reasonable.
  4. Whilst the resident did not raise her complaint until February 2023 about the works in this survey not being completed, this Service has investigated these historical issues. It is not an excessive period prior to the complaint, and during that period jobs were raised and some were completed. Furthermore, it is a potentially serious issue and so it is fair and reasonable to investigate the issues dating back to the damp survey in January 2021.
  5. The survey found that there was mould in the kitchen behind the washing machine, dishwasher and cupboards but it was not damp at that time. The resident said that the bathroom had been covered in mould before new tiles were installed, but the bathroom was found to not be damp and only had a small amount of mould in the corner of the bathtub.
  6. There was mould found around the window reveals in all 3 bedrooms, which had been previously treated. One bedroom also had the window coming away from the wall and was draughty. The living room showed signs of a previous leak but was not damp at that time.
  7. The survey recommended mould treatment in the kitchen and replacement of the kitchen and bathroom extractor fans. It said the window reveals in the bedrooms should be washed down, but had found low humidity throughout so the windows themselves needed looking at as condensation was not a concern. It also said that due to the evidence of a previous leak in the living room an inspection of the main roof was advised.
  8. The landlord’s records show that it chased a copy of the damp report on 18 January 2021 and this was sent between departments on 21 January. Its repairs log shows that on 21 January it raised a job for mould washing and fan upgrades, however this was given a target date of 14 July 2021, which was 121 working days later and outside all of its priority categories. The job was cancelled without being completed, however the log does not say why.
  9. A mould wash was completed on 21 September 2022, more than 20 months after the survey was carried out, which was an unreasonable delay. A further job for a mould wash was raised on 18 December 2022 with a priority of 4 and a target date of 31 January 2023. This was not completed until 27 March, which again represented an unreasonable delay.
  10. On 28 February 2023 the resident contacted the landlord to raise a formal complaint, as she was unhappy that repairs that were identified in January 2021 had still not been completed. On 14 March a new job was raised for mould works and fan upgrades as per the damp survey report. This was given a priority of 4 and a target date of 25 April.
  11. The landlord sent its stage 1 response on 23 March 2023, in which it said that it had booked a mould wash for 27 March and would raise a new job for the leaking bedroom window. It said it had attended to the mouldy bathroom on 21 September 2022 but had raised a new job for this, as well as for the fan upgrades. It did not apologise for the delays or provide any explanation for this.
  12. The resident asked the landlord for the complaint to be escalated on 2 May 2023. Despite the fan upgrades being 2 years overdue, the target date was still not met, and the work was not completed until 30 May 2023, 26 months after it was first raised.
  13. The landlord sent its stage 2 response on 8 June 2023. It said that it had fitted trickle vents to a bedroom window as well as upgrading the extractor fans, and had a new job raised for mould in the bathroom. It said that it appreciated the amount of time taken for things to get fixed but still did not explain why there had been long delays.
  14. The resident told this Service on 29 January 2024 that there were still repairs outstanding, including mould in the bathroom. She said that they clean it with mould chemicals, but that it returns within days and mould is also evident behind the bath panel and tiles, as well as the toilet.
  15. The Ombudsman considers there to have been maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould in the property. Whilst it carried out a damp survey promptly, there were significant delays in it carrying out the recommended work. Since raising her complaint, the has resident reported worsening mould problems and the landlord has failed to demonstrate that it has fully investigated and rectified these. It has not acted in line with its obligations under the HHSRS or its own repairs policy.
  16. And, whilst the mould issues may not have been severe when the survey was carried out, the resident’s reports of worsening damp indicate that the landlord’s failure to carry out subsequent repairs has allowed the mould problem to worsen as it failed to inspect the windows and roof and identify the root cause of the damp.
  17. The Ombudsman’s remedies guidance provides for compensation from £100 for cases where “there was a failure which adversely affected the resident and the landlord failed to acknowledge its failings and/or made no attempt to put things right”. An order has been made for the landlord to pay the resident compensation of £1,000 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused to her by its failure to carry out repairs in a reasonable timeframe and get to the root cause of the mould.
  18. An order has also been made to arrange an independent damp and mould survey as given the time that has passed it would not be appropriate to rely on the report from January 2021. This survey should include a full inspection of the windows and roof. A copy of the report should be provided to the resident and this Service as well as a schedule of any required works.

Repairs to the fence

  1. The landlord’s repairs log shows that it was first reported that the rear garden fence had fallen down on 22 February 2022. It is not disputed that the landlord was responsible for the resolution of this issue as evidenced by its subsequent actions.
  2. A job was raised with a priority of 4 and a target date of 1 April. The repair notes say that on 30 March it was identified that 6 metres of new fencing was needed. The landlord chased its contractor 6 May and again on 19 July, who said that they were awaiting the fence panels. On 11 August the resident contacted the landlord as she was unhappy with the delay, and she was told the panels had only arrived the day before.
  3. The resident called the landlord on 17 August to chase as she was told the work would be done, but the notes do not say what she was told at this time. On 8 September the works could not go ahead due to the weather. There are no further notes attached to this repair record and this original job was closed without being completed, which was not appropriate.
  4. A new job was raised on 31 May 2023, again with a priority of 4 and a new target date of 10 July 2023. The notes for this job say that an operative visited and the work was not in its remit, with no evidence of anyone else attending to complete the work. The resident told this service on 29 January 2024 that the repairs had not been completed and the fence had collapsed completely and fallen into the garden shed. She said this left the garden exposed to a footpath behind the property.
  5. The Ombudsman considers there to have been maladministration by the landlord in its handling of repairs to the fence. Whilst this Service appreciates that new fence panels had to be ordered, it took 5 months for these to arrive, and the landlord could have been more proactive in chasing this. Once the panels did arrive, there is no evidence that the landlord made more than one attempt to carry out the work. After an appointment was cancelled due to the weather, there is no record of the landlord arranging any further appointments to carry out the repair until 8 months after the cancelled appointment.
  6. It is not clear why the contractor that attended in 2023 was unable to carry out the repair, however there is also no evidence that the landlord rearranged the appointment with an appropriate contractor, and it has not been confirmed that the fence has ever been repaired, more than 2 years after the issue was reported.
  7. An order has been made for the landlord to pay the resident compensation of £500 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident due to the collapsed fence leaving her garden exposed.
  8. An order has also been made for the repairs to be carried out, if they have not already been completed, and for the landlord to inspect the shed and carry out repairs if it has been damaged by the collapsed fence.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 42(a) of the Scheme, the resident’s complaint about the landlord’s handling of her report of a dropped doorframe is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in relation to its handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould in the property.
  3. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in relation to its handling of repairs to the garden fence.

Orders

  1. The landlord to pay the resident £1,500 of compensation, broken down as follows:
    1. £1,000 in relation to the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould.
    2. £500 in relation to the repairs to the fence.
  2. A senior manager at the landlord to provide the resident with a written apology.
  3. The landlord to provide evidence to this Service of compliance with the above orders within 28 days of this report.
  4. Within 8 weeks of this report:
    1. The landlord to carry out repairs to the rear garden fence and provide evidence to this Service that this has now been completed.
    2. The landlord to assess the garden shed and if there is any damage caused by the collapsed fence, it should carry out repairs and provide evidence to this Service that either repairs have been completed or none are required.
    3. The landlord to arrange an independent damp and mould survey, including an inspection of the windows and roof and provide a copy of the report to the resident and this Service, as well as a schedule of any required work.

 Recommendation

  1. The landlord to carry out a case review in order for it to understand how the repairs were overlooked so that it has robust systems in place to ensure repairs are carried out within the correct timeframes going forward. The landlord should consider implementing a process that does not allow it to cancel overdue jobs and re-raise the same work with a new reference and target date.