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London Borough of Lambeth (202418715)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202418715

Lambeth Council

2 May 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:
    1. A leak into the resident’s property from a neighbouring balcony.
    2. The associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is a leaseholder of the property, and the landlord is the freeholder. The resident has told us she rents the property out to a tenant.
  2. On 9 February 2024, the resident contacted the landlord for an update on the leak she reported which was entering her property from a neighbouring balcony. The resident stated the leak was heavy.
  3. On 7 March 2024, the resident submitted her complaint to the landlord. She stated there were delays in the landlord arranging an inspection for the leak. The resident explained the leak was coming from the external brickwork on the balcony above and was leaking into her bathroom, toilet, and hallway, which caused mould and condensation.
  4. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 21 June 2024. It apologised for the problems she was experiencing from the leak. The landlord stated that a work order was raised and completed on 16 April 2024 to resolve the leak from the brickwork. Therefore, it stated it was not upholding her complaint. It also apologised for the delay in responding to her complaint.
  5. On 26 June 2024, the resident contacted the landlord and requested her complaint to be escalated to the next stage of the landlord’s complaints process. She stated she did not agree with the landlord’s findings, as the leak had not been fixed. The resident explained that the landlord’s surveyor took photographs of the damage but did not carry out any repairs.
  6. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 31 July 2024. It apologised for the inconvenience caused by the delay in resolving the repair issue at the resident’s property. The landlord confirmed that the works to repair the leak were still outstanding. It stated it had raised a new work order for a contractor to attend and inspect the communal balcony, which was where the leak was coming from. The landlord explained the target completion date for the works was 5 December 2024.
  7. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and submitted her complaint to the Ombudsman. She stated that her desired outcome was for the landlord to fix the leak and to receive compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused.

Assessment and findings

Scope of Investigation.

  1. This report will consider the initial leak the resident reported to the landlord as part of her complaint in February 2024. It will not investigate the leak the resident told the Ombudsman about in April 2025. Approximately 8 months have passed since the repair was resolved in August 2024 and the resident informed us that the leak issue was still ongoing in April 2025. Therefore, the Ombudsman cannot conclude that the new leak issue is linked to the previous report in February 2024. In addition, the Ombudsman recognises the landlord should be given the chance to respond to the new report of the leak in line with its repairs policy. If the resident is unhappy with the landlord’s handling of the ongoing repairs, she can raise a new complaint about this to the landlord. 

A leak into the resident’s property from a neighbouring balcony.

  1. The resident’s lease agreement states that the landlord is responsible for repairing structural parts of the flat, drains, pipes, and gutters.
  2. The landlord’s repairs policy explains it will respond to an emergency repair within 1 working day, a routine repair within 28 working days and a planned repair within 90 working days.
  3. In February 2024, the resident contacted the landlord and reported a leak entering her property from a neighbouring balcony. Following the residents report, there was a delay in the landlord carrying out an inspection to identify the necessary works to resolve the leak. The delay by the landlord was unreasonable, and the Ombudsman would have expected the landlord to arrange an inspection appointment when the resident first reported the leak.
  4. Due to the landlord’s delay in responding to the leak, the resident submitted a complaint to the landlord on 7 March 2024. In addition, on the same day, the landlord contacted the resident and confirmed it had booked an appointment for 16 April 2024 to inspect the leak. The appointment date was over 2 months after the resident first reported the leak and was not compliant with the repair timescales referenced in the landlord’s repairs policy.
  5. During the inspection, photographs were taken of the neighbouring balcony, and it was identified that the leak was coming from the brickwork of a neighbouring balcony. It is positive that the landlord identified where the leak was coming from. However, following the inspection, it failed to carry out any repairs to the balcony to resolve the leak, which was unreasonable.
  6. The landlord also incorrectly stated in its stage 1 complaint response issued in June 2024, that all the necessary works had been completed. However, no repairs had been completed to the balcony.
  7. The Ombudsman expects landlords to maintain a robust record of repairs and inspection reports. This is because clear, accurate, and easily accessible records provide an audit trail and enhance landlords’ ability to identify and respond to problems when they arise. The landlord has failed to maintain adequate records in this instance by incorrectly stating the leak had been fixed.
  8. The landlord acknowledged in its stage 2 complaint response issued in July 2024 that it incorrectly previously stated that works to the neighbouring balcony were completed to resolve the leak. It also apologised for the delay in resolving the leak. It is positive that the landlord recognised its error and apologised for this. However, it would also have been reasonable for the landlord to offer the resident compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by the delay.
  9. The landlord also confirmed it had raised a new work order to repair the balcony, and it explained the target completion date was December 2024. The completion target date the landlord provided for the works was unreasonable. The leak was entering the resident’s bathroom, toilet and hallway and causing damp and mould. Therefore, the Ombudsman would have expected the landlord to have booked an earlier target completion date, particularly as the leak had been outstanding for several months.
  10. The landlord completed the necessary works to the neighbouring balcony sooner than its stated target completion date. The works were completed on 23 August 2024, and the landlord also provided us with photographs of the completed works to the neighbouring balcony.
  11. Following the completion of the repairs to the balcony, the landlord stated it received no further reports about the leak from the resident. However, in April 2025, the resident told us that the leak was still entering the property, but she stated she had not reported this again to the landlord due to her complaint being with the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman recognises the landlord was not made aware that the leak was still entering the resident’s property, therefore it has not been given the opportunity to investigate the issue. However, it is recommended the landlord completes an inspection to identify the cause of the new reported leak and carry out the necessary repairs to resolve the leak. The resident may be able to claim under the buildings insurance for the property to resolve any internal damage from the leak.
  12. Overall, the landlord took the appropriate steps by eventually completing the works to the neighbouring balcony. However, there was a considerable delay in the landlord completing the repairs and the landlord failed to offer the resident any compensation in its complaints responses to recognise the delay. Therefore, there has been maladministration by the landlord in its handling of a leak into the resident’s property from a neighbouring balcony. It would be appropriate for the landlord to offer the resident £250 compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by delays in carrying out the repairs to the neighbouring balcony.
  13. The compensation awarded is in line with the Ombudsman’s approach to compensation, which is set out in our remedies guidance (published on our website). The remedies guidance suggests awards of £100 to £600 where there has been a failure by the landlord, which adversely affected the resident, but there may be no permanent impact. In this case, there was no permanent impact as the repairs to the neighbouring balcony were eventually completed, although there was distress and inconvenience for the resident before the repairs were completed.

The associated complaint.

  1. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out the Ombudsman’s expectations for landlords’ complaint handling practices. The Code states that a stage 1 response should be provided within 10 working days of the complaint. It also explains that a stage 2 response should be provided within 20 working days from the request to escalate the complaint. The landlord’s complaints policy explains that it will respond to a stage 1 and stage 2 complaint within 15 working days. The landlord’s new complaints policy, effective from April 2024, includes the same timescales as referenced in the Code.
  2. The resident submitted her complaint to the landlord on 7 March 2024. Following this, the landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 21 June 2024. It took the landlord around 73 working days to provide its stage 1 complaint response. The response was considerably late and not compliant with the timescales referenced within the Code and the landlord’s complaints policy.
  3. On 26 June 2024, the resident contacted the landlord and requested her complaint to be escalated to the next stage of the landlord’s complaints process. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 31 July 2024. The response was on time and compliant with the timescales referenced in the Code for an acknowledgment and stage 2 complaint response.
  4. The landlord apologised for its complaint handling delays. However, it failed to offer any compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by the delay. Therefore, given the delay in the landlord providing its stage 1 complaint response, there has been maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint. It would be appropriate for the landlord to pay the resident £100 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused. The amount of compensation awarded is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance referenced above.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of a leak into the resident’s property from a neighbouring balcony.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Orders

  1. The landlord is ordered to:
    1. Pay the resident £100 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling errors.
    2. Pay the resident £250 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of a leak into the resident’s property from a neighbouring balcony.
  2. The landlord must comply with the above orders within 4 weeks of the date of this report, providing evidence to the Ombudsman that it has done so by the same date.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord completes an inspection to identify the cause of the new reported leak and carry out the necessary repairs to resolve the leak.