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Lambeth Council (202325955)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202325955

Lambeth Council

8 July 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. Damp and mould repairs.
    2. The associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident has been a secure tenant of the landlord since mid-2022 when he took over the tenancy from his parents through a deed of assignment. He occupies the 3-bedroom property with his young family.
  2. In early November 2022, the resident reported damp in several rooms, including around the bathroom window. A surveyor inspected the property, following which repairs were raised on 17 January 2023 with instructions to prioritise the bathroom window and mould washes because the resident’s wife was pregnant, and he had children.
  3. In late January 2023, the resident made a complaint about damp in the property affecting his family’s health, but the landlord dealt with this informally. Subsequently, the landlord’s contractor carried out works between February and April 2023. The contractor reported that damp and mould was present in the bedrooms, and recommended an investigation into the cause before it completed the rest of the repairs. It also requested scaffolding be erected to re-render around the bathroom window.
  4. In early May 2023, the resident asked to escalate his complaint because the damp problem was ongoing in the absence of the works restarting. The landlord responded on 19 June 2023, apologising that the investigation its contractor recommended had not been actioned. It advised the repairs team would investigate and respond, and it would keep the case open until the repairs were completed.
  5. The resident complained on 29 September 2023 that replastering had not been completed, and that appointments with the landlord’s contractor had not been kept. He also reported that there had been no radiators in the children’s bedrooms since March 2023, and the weather was getting worse.
  6. In the landlord’s stage 1 response dated 10 November 2023, it acknowledged delays in completing some repairs and apologised that its contractor had failed to turn up to 2 appointments. The landlord offered £210 in compensation and confirmed that an appointment had been agreed on 10 November 2023, which was for a surveyor to inspect the property.
  7. The resident escalated his complaint in late November 2023 because he was still experiencing damp, which he said was worse in the bathroom, due to the unresolved problem with the rendering. He said the compensation did not account for the costs he had incurred from taking unpaid leave and in drying the property.
  8. In the landlord’s stage 2 response of 21 December 2023, it said the damp problem was difficult to resolve and, because of this, it had chosen to include the property on its pilot of a damp and mould extraction system. It said it was unable to give a reasonable explanation for the length of time taken to complete the agreed repairs and for its contractor missing appointments. The landlord advised that the majority of the outstanding works, including the window, were due to be completed in early 2024. It said that it would consider the resident’s request to have the compensation increased once it knew the outcome of the pilot.
  9. Between February and April 2024, the landlord carried out mould washes, installed a damp extraction unit, reinstated the radiators, and erected scaffolding. At the time of issuing this report it had not completed works on the rendering around the bathroom window.
  10. The resident referred his complaint to this Service because he was unhappy that the work to resolve the cause of the damp had still not been completed. He said his family’s health has been affected and he had incurred financial loss. To resolve his complaint, the resident is seeking for the landlord to complete repairs and pay compensation.

 

 

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident advised that damp had been a problem in the property for around 4 years. However, prior to his report of damp in November 2022, the repair records show damp was reported in November 2020 and there is no evidence of further reports between the dates. Thus, there is no indication that damp was an ongoing issue and because of that, this investigation centres on the landlord’s actions following his report of damp in late 2022.  There are also time limits on issues which the Ombudsman will investigate, which means the historic issues are not within our remit to investigate now. Our position is in accordance with paragraph 42(c) of the Scheme which states that the Ombudsman will not consider matters that were not brought to the attention of the landlord within a reasonable timeframe.
  2. The resident expressed concerns regarding the impact damp and mould caused to his family’s health. However, the Ombudsman is not able to make a determination about any links between the landlord’s actions and the resident’s health concerns. We will consider the overall distress and inconvenience that the issues in this case have caused. A determination relating to damages caused to the resident’s health is more appropriate for the courts, and the resident may want to seek appropriate advice if he wishes to consider that option.

Damp and mould repairs

  1. When the resident reported damp in his property on 4 November 2022, he said it was affecting multiple rooms, including his bathroom. According to the landlord’s stage 1 response, dated 10 November 2023, a surveyor inspected the property on 15 November 2022. Although the surveyor’s findings have not been provided, the repair log shows that on 19 January 2023 an instruction was raised for several repairs relating to the damp. This included rendering around the bathroom window and mould washes to affected rooms. Other non-routine work, such as the installation of thermal boards in the bedrooms, were also raised. It was appropriate, given the extent of the problem, to appoint a surveyor to inspect the property and it was in-line with the landlord’s Damp Charter, which it adopted in 2022.
  2. The resident complained on 25 January 2023 about the time it was taking to address the damp problem, specifically the window which he said needed to be repaired urgently. On the same day, the landlord responded as an “early resolution complaint” because it said he had made a prior enquiry which had not been responded to. However, nothing in the records provided explains what was happening in the intervening 2 months, neither does the landlord’s complaint responses. There is also no evidence that the resident was kept updated, which the landlord’s Damp Charter said should happen, so the landlord failed to meet its service standards.
  3. According to the repair log, the landlord aimed to complete the repairs within 90 days, which is the timescale its repairs policy says it allocates for planned repairs. However, the instruction requested that the window repair and mould washes be prioritised because there were vulnerable occupants. Prioritising straightforward repairs that could improve a resident’s living environment is an approach the Ombudsman recommended in the 2021 Spotlight report on damp and mould. Whilst it is not clear that the window repair fell into this category, mould washes are often a simple measure, and may offer protection against the risk that mould can pose.
  4. It is apparent that the thermal boarding and mould washes were carried out between February and April 2023, although it is not clear from the repair log on what date these happened. On 24 March 2023 the contractor failed to attend an appointment, and it had to be rescheduled for 24 April 2023. By this point, the landlord’s 90-day timescale had already been surpassed by 78 days. There were then further delays because the landlord’s contractor reported that it was unable to complete the replastering because damp was present in the bedrooms, which it said required investigating. It also requested scaffolding to affect the window repair. There is no evidence that the landlord took action, and instead the work was recorded as completed when the contractor had reported there were outstanding repairs.
  5. On 10 May 2023, the resident asked to escalate his complaint because he said nothing had been actioned, other than the thermal boarding. He said the radiators in the bedrooms had been removed in March and damp was continuing to be a problem. The resident also reported that his children had been diagnosed with asthma and he was out of pocket after having had to take unpaid leave for appointments.
  6. While the landlord did respond to the resident’s complaint on 19 June 2023, it did not issue a formal stage 1 response or reply within the 20-working day timescale its complaints policy required it to. It said the matter would be investigated by the repairs team and that the resident would receive a further response. No evidence of a further response or that it took any action to investigate the ongoing damp has been provided to this Service. This was clearly unreasonable, both in terms the landlord’s complaints policy and the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code), which as a member of the Scheme it is required to follow. The resident had also reported that his children’s health was possibly being affected, and in the circumstances the landlord was expected to fulfil its obligations under the housing health and safety rating system, introduced by The Housing Act 2004, to assess the risk of the damp.
  7. The resident complained again about the delays on 29 September 2023. In the stage 1 response, the landlord acknowledged there had been delays in completing the repairs and that the contractors failed to turn up to 2 appointments. It apologised for the delays and confirmed that appointments would be made for outstanding repairs. The landlord’s actions at stage 1 were largely appropriate, according to both its complaints policy and the Code. The landlord also offered compensation of £210 for “time and trouble”, which is at the higher end of the amount its compensation policy states it will pay for cases where someone has been inconvenienced from service failure.
  8. Following the stage 1 response, a surveyor inspected the property on 10 November 2023. They reported that the moisture levels in the property were “constantly high” even with a dehumidifier running, and requested the property have a damp extraction system installed. The resident was informed of the surveyor’s decision, but asked to escalate his complaint on 21 November 2023 because the cause of the damp was still unresolved. He was also unhappy with the amount of compensation offered because he said it was not proportionate to the costs he had incurred.
  9. In the stage 2 response dated 21 December 2023 the landlord said the surveyor described the damp as “challenging” to resolve. However, it apologised that there had been unacceptable delays and that contractors had missed appointments. It was appropriate for the landlord to take accountability for its own and its contractor’s service failures. When there are clear and undisputed failings by a landlord, as is the case here, it is the Ombudsman’s role to consider if and what action it has taken to put things right. For its actions to be deemed appropriate, the landlord is expected to have followed its own policies and procedures and the Code.
  10. As well as apologising, the landlord committed to complete the outstanding works in the new year. According to the repair’s records, most of these were completed by March 2024. However, at the time of issuing this report, the window repair is outstanding. Overall, it has taken the landlord a year longer than its planned repair timescale and there is no indication when it will be completed. The landlord said it would revisit the resident’s request for compensation to be increased when it knew the outcome of the pilot. Its position is not in-line with the spirit of its complaints process, or the Code, which seeks to offer a resolution to a complaint. It would have been appropriate for the landlord to offer compensation for the impact of its failings up to its stage 2 response. If further failings occurred after the complaint process ended, the landlord could consider providing compensation for the impact of those. It would also be appropriate, in view of the fact the resident said he incurred costs, such as additional energy usage, for the landlord to advise him on how he can claim for this.
  11. The landlord has taken some appropriate action to put things right with its apology, compensation, and completion of some of the outstanding works. However, it failed to take learning from the complaint or revise its compensation offer. Therefore, the Ombudsman makes a finding of service failure and orders the landlord to pay the resident compensation above its original offer and in–line with this Service’s Remedies Guidance.
  12. In November 2023, this Service published information on our website regarding 3 cases where significant failings had been identified against the landlord, including in its handling of damp and mould reports. As a result of the orders and recommendations, the landlord revised its repairs policy and included a range of initiatives to tackle damp and mould, including rapid responses. The Ombudsman has therefore not made further recommendations around these aspects of service in this report but expects the landlord to take all relevant learning points from this case into account when reviewing its responses to reports of damp and mould issues.

Associated complaint

  1. Since October 2022, the landlord has operated a 2-stage complaints process, the first of which is handled by a housing complaints team and the second by a separate complaints team. However, it is apparent that the landlord handled the resident’s complaint initially under its old policy, which had up to 4-stages. The first stage was an early resolution one, handled by the team complained about, for cases it felt could be resolved “immediately and informally.” It appears to have relied on the fact the resident had also made an enquiry about the status of his repairs prior to raising a formal complaint.
  2. Had the landlord followed its 2-stage process, its second response dated 19 June 2023 should have provided details of this Service and how to complain, according to the policy. It is more likely than not that the resident would have complained to this Service sooner than he did, based on the fact he escalated his complaint to the landlord again three months later. The Ombudsman makes a finding of service failure and orders the landlord to put this right with an apology and compensation.
  3. The Ombudsman carried out an investigation into the landlord’s complaints handling, the result of which were published in January 2024. The investigation found that the landlord was not escalating complaints when a resident had first made an enquiry, as is the case here. Our report highlighted that the Code is clear that the landlord should handle any expression of dissatisfaction under its complaints process. The Ombudsman recommended that the landlord update its complaints policy and process to bring it into line with the Code, which is now a statutory requirement. As such, this report makes no specific recommendations to improve its processes, but the landlord is asked to consider if there is any learning to be taken from its handling of this case that can be used in its ongoing work to improve its complaints process.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of:
    1. Damp and mould repairs.
    2. The associated complaint.

Orders

  1. The landlord is to:
    1. Apologise to the resident for the failure to escalate his complaint and the delay this caused.
    2. Pay the resident £400 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of the damp and mould repairs and associated complaint, which is inclusive of its original offer of £210.
    3. Write to the resident outlining an action plan for the window repair and any other outstanding repairs relating to the damp in the resident’s property, including timescales.
    4. Provide details of how the resident can make a claim for costs he says he has incurred.
  2. The landlord is to provide this Service with evidence of compliance with the above orders within 6 weeks of this report.