London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (202216208)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202216208

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

31 March 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 the resident’s reports of pests being in her property.
2. The Ombudsman will consider the associated complaint handling.

Background

3. The resident has been a secure tenant of a first floor 1-bedroom flat since 2014.
4. Between November 2018 and April 2019, the resident reported there were pests in the loft. The landlord’s pest control service attended and treated the issue.
5. The resident reported there were pests in her loft again between February and April 2022. Pest control attended and found evidence mice were in the loft.
6. On 22 April 2022 the resident complained to the landlord about how it had handled her reports of pests being in her property.
7. The landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 28 April 2022. It said it had put treatment down for mice.
8. The resident complained to the landlord again on 18 August 2022. She said pests were still in the loft. It did not respond so she contacted us on 24 October 2022.
9. The landlord told the resident on 10 January 2023 it would send her its stage 2 response by 2 February 2023. No complaint response was sent to the resident.
10. We accepted the complaint for investigation on 24 April 2024.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

11. The landlord’s records show the resident reported there were pests in her property in 2018 and 2019. The Ombudsman encourages residents to raise complaints with their landlord in a timely manner. This is so the landlord has a reasonable opportunity to consider the issues while they are still ‘live’, and while the evidence is available to reach an informed conclusion on the events which occurred. As the substantive issues become historical it is increasingly difficult for either the landlord, or an independent body such as the Ombudsman, to conduct an effective review of the actions taken to address those issues.
12. In this case the landlord’s records from before 2022 are limited. The evidence provided refers to earlier reports of pests from 2018 and 2019 and they are included in this report to give context.
13. This assessment will make a determination on the matters raised from February 2022 through to when we accepted this complaint in April 2024 and will also include any relevant subsequent events.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of pests being in her property.

14. The landlord’s records show the resident’s property was treated by its pest control service for squirrels being in the loft in November 2018. Between February and April 2019 pest droppings were found by pest control. It is unclear what action was taken, or if repairs were carried out to stop pests gaining access. The evidence shows the resident installed flooring in the loft at some point before 2022, so she could use it for storage.
15. It is not recorded when the resident next reported pests in her property, but the landlord’s pest control service attended on 9 February 2022. They found evidence of mice in the loft, and left bait.
16. The landlord’s pest control policy does not give a timescale for when its pest control service should attend after pests have been reported. The policy states pest control will visit 3 times to treat mice, and on 5 consecutive days to trap squirrels. The policy says it is at the discretion of the landlord’s housing officer to arrange any necessary proofing or repairs for successful pest treatment.
17. The pest control service recorded they found further evidence of mice in the resident’s loft in March and April 2022. The resident complained to the landlord on 22 April 2022. She said there were still pests in her loft, including squirrels.
18. The landlord sent a response at stage 1 of its complaints process to the resident on 28 April 2022. It said its pest control service found evidence of mice in her loft, not squirrels. It said they put treatment down for mice. It added if she believed there were squirrels in the loft, the flooring would have to be removed so the area could be treated. It said she had installed loft flooring without gaining permission, so she would be responsible for removing it.
19. Analysis of the stage 1 complaint response shows the landlord had taken some action to treat mice in the resident’s loft. However, the response did not recognise the pests had been an ongoing issue at the property, and it had yet to find the cause of the matter. Instead, the landlord focussed on the flooring in the loft, which the resident had installed without permission. The landlord did not provide the resident with a clear plan on how it would treat and solve the pest issue going forward. The landlord’s failure to address the resident’s complaint about how it would treat the ongoing pest issue was inappropriate. 
20. It is not clear if the loft flooring was removed, but in July and August 2022 the landlord’s pest control found a dead mouse and caught a squirrel in a trap in the loft.
21. The resident sent a further complaint email to the landlord on 18 August 2022. She said there were still mice and squirrels in the loft. She said the pests were causing noises throughout the day and night and it affected her sleep. The landlord did not reply.
22. The landlord’s pest control service laid traps in the resident’s loft and garden in September 2022. They caught another squirrel on 14 September 2022.
23. The resident emailed the landlord on 19 September and 9 October 2022. She said it had not checked how the pests were accessing the loft.
24. The landlord did not reply, so the resident contacted the Ombudsman on 24 October 2022. 
25. The landlord’s pest control service continued to attend the property. The landlord did not survey the property to find how the pests were accessing the loft. Further traps and a camera were installed in the loft in November 2022. On 3 January 2023 pest control recorded if found mice droppings in the loft.
26. The landlord emailed the resident on 10 January 2023. It told her it would respond to her complaint by 2 February 2023. It said it would contact her about surveying the property to identify the pests’ access points. The resident replied on 19 January 2023. She said pest control had told her previously they had found an entry point. She did not say when that was, and the landlord has no record of it.
27. Pest control attended the property on 27 January 2023. They found a dead mouse and mouse droppings in the loft. They laid traps in March 2023, but they did not record if any pests were caught.
28. On 4 April 2023 the resident contacted us again. She said the landlord had not replied to her complaint. She also emailed the landlord on 10 April 2023. She said there were still pests in the loft. The landlord did not reply to her.
29. The landlord’s surveyor inspected the property on 26 May 2023. They recorded the loft insulation needed to be lifted, and entry holes filled. The landlord’s records say it completed the repairs on 2 August 2023. The resident did not contact the landlord again regarding the pests.
30. During this investigation the resident told us the repairs did not stop pests accessing her loft, and it remains and issue. The resident said she did not contact the landlord again as it had failed to resolve the matter since she first reported it in 2018.
31. In summary, the resident reported pests being in her loft to the landlord on several occasions since 2018. The landlord’s pest control policy gives timescales for pest treatment, but the success of that depends on it stopping the pests gaining access. Pest control attended the property and administered treatment, but that did not stop the problem.
32. The resident complained in April 2022, but the landlord still did not seek to find out how the pests entered the loft. The landlord ignored the resident’s further complaints, and it took it until May 2023 for it to survey the loft, 4 months after it said it would. The landlord’s failure to address the cause of the pests gaining access to the loft was unreasonable.
33. Despite the landlord recording it repaired the holes in the loft in August 2023, the resident has told us pests continued to gain access. Although she did not contact the landlord to raise the matter again, this was understandable considering she had contacted it on numerous occasions since she tried to escalate her complaint in August 2022, and the landlord did not reply.
34. The landlord’s failure to fully investigate the resident’s reports of pests in the loft, and the length of time it took to seek to stop them gaining entry leads to a determination of maladministration. An order for compensation to reflect the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident is made below.

Complaint handling

35. The landlord operates a 2-stage complaints process. In 2022 its policy stated it should reply to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days, and stage 2 complaints within 30 working days. This was not in accordance with paragraph 5.13 of the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handing Code (the Code) 2022 which says landlords should respond to stage 2 complaints within 20 working days of it being escalated.
36. The resident complained to the landlord on 22 April 2022.
37. The landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 28 April 2022. That was within its complaint policy timescales.
38. The resident sent a further complaint to the landlord on 18 August 2022. The landlord did not reply.
39. The resident contacted us on 24 October 2022 as the landlord had not responded to her complaint.
40. On 10 January 2023 the landlord told the resident it would send its stage 2 response by 2 February 2023. The resident contacted us again on 4 April 2023 as the landlord had not sent her a stage 2 response.
41. We asked the landlord on 7 April 2023 to reply to the resident’s complaint. It did not do so. On 21 May 2023 we notified the landlord there had been a complaint handling failure and it was ordered to reply to the resident by 26 May 2023. The landlord did not respond.  
42. The Housing Ombudsman Scheme states we will consider complaints that are ‘duly made’. This includes where we have decided a complaint has exhausted a landlord’s internal complaints process. We accepted the resident’s complaint for investigation on 24 April 2024 as the landlord had not provided the resident with a stage 2 response. 
43. In summary, the landlord failed to follow its complaint policy and the Code   following its stage 1 response in the complaint timeline. Despite requests made by the resident and us, the landlord did not send a stage 2 complaint response. By not issuing a response to the resident, the landlord denied her full access and a conclusion to its complaints process. The subsequent delays resulted in a prolonged wait and inability to have resolution to her complaint and access to our service. This led to unnecessary and avoidable distress and inconvenience and has undermined the resident’s confidence in the landlord’s complaint process.
44. These significant failures in the landlord’s complaint handling lead to a determination of severe maladministration. An order for compensation to reflect the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident is made below.
45. On 8 February 2024, the Ombudsman issued the statutory Complaint Handling Code. This Code sets out the requirements landlords must meet when handling complaints in both policy and practice. The statutory Code applies from 1 April 2024. The Ombudsman has a duty to monitor compliance with the Code. We will assess landlords using our Compliance Framework and propose action the landlord should take action where there is evidence that the requirements set out in the Code are not being met. In this investigation, we found failures in complaint handling. We therefore referring this case to the Duty to Monitor team who will review the landlord’s self-assessment.

Determination

46. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s reports of pests in her property.
47. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was severe maladministration by the landlord in its complaint handling.

Orders

48. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Have a senior executive apologise to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay £750 compensation directly to the resident. This must be paid directly to the resident and not be offset against a rent or service charge account.
       1. £450 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of pests in her property.
       2. £300 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s complaint handling failures.
    3. Arrange to survey the property, and if required produce a schedule of works to repair the entry points where pests are gaining access to the property. The schedule should be shared with the resident.