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London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202318061)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202318061

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

30 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 the resident’s reports of:
    1. Requests for repairs following water ingress into the property.
    2. Damp and mould.
    3. The ceiling collapsing.
    4. The associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant. The landlord is a housing association. She lives in a third floor flat with her 2 children.
  2. The resident reported a leak coming from the property above on 3 November 2022. She also reported damp and mould throughout the whole property on 25 November 2022.
  3. The landlord arranged a full inspection of the property on 7 January 2023. It recorded all issues within the property and listed the repairs required to resolve them.
  4. On 27 July 2023 the resident complained to the landlord. She said rainwater was coming through her ceiling causing damage to the walls, ceiling, and flooring in the bedroom and hallway. She said the roofing repair was still ongoing in the property above, and the neighbour had been decanted. She asked for a temporary repair to stop the rainwater going into her property.
  5. The landlord responded at stage 1 later the same day. It said it could not help with a temporary repair for the leak and there was nothing it could do until the repair appointment in 2 weeks’ time. It said it had contacted its disrepair team to see if it could do any further temporary fixes until the roofers attended. It also confirmed it would erect scaffolding on 6 August 2023 for the roof repair, and it apologised for any inconvenience.
  6. The resident said she was dissatisfied with the landlord’s decision on 6 August 2023. She reported the leak was still ongoing and the bedroom ceiling had collapsed on her overnight in the early hours of that morning, causing injury.
  7. The landlord provided its final response on 25 October 2023. It listed repair work it had completed in January, July and August 2023. It apologised that the roof repair work was still outstanding and confirmed conditions were too wet for the roof contractors to complete. It confirmed surveyors and supervisors were meeting to discuss when all outstanding repairs would take place. It advised the resident how she could claim for damage to belongings or personal injury. It also apologised for not managing enquiries effectively and for delays with responses. It offered £600 compensation (£300 for distress and £300 for inconvenience) and said it had considered her injuries as part of this.
  8. The resident wants the landlord to compensate her for her injuries and for the overall distress and inconvenience. She also wants it to rehouse her into a better suited property.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. In this case, the resident had reported repair issues with water leaking from the property above as early as 2020. However, there are no records to show a complaint was raised with the landlord until July 2023. Therefore, the Ombudsman’s investigation will focus on the landlord’s handling of reports of leaks from July 2022. We cannot consider the previous incidents in assessing the landlord’s handling of the present case as these have become historical and cannot reasonably be investigated at this time. The Ombudsman encourages residents to raise complaints with their landlords at the time the events happen. Any mention of past events in this report would be solely for contextual purposes.
  2. In addition, the Scheme says the Ombudsman may not consider complaints made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaints procedure. This would include any issues that arose following the landlord’s final response of 25 October 2023. Consequently, this investigation’s assessment is limited to events that occurred up to the final complaint response. The resident may wish to consider making a new complaint to the landlord if she is dissatisfied with its handling of any current matters.
  3. In the resident’s escalation request, and in communication with this Service, she said this situation had a detrimental impact on her health and wellbeing. The courts are the most effective place for disputes about personal injury and illness. This is largely because independent medical experts are appointed to give evidence. They have a duty to the court to provide unbiased insights on the diagnosis, prognosis, and cause of any illness or injury. When disputes arise over the cause of an injury, oral testimony can be examined in court. While the Ombudsman cannot consider the effect on health, consideration has been given to any general distress and inconvenience which the resident experienced because of any service failure by the landlord.

Requests for repairs following water ingress into the property

  1. The Ombudsman understands that the circumstances experienced by the resident and her family have caused significant distress and it is understandable that she is concerned about the ongoing impact of the issues. The purpose of the Ombudsman’s investigation is to determine whether the landlord’s actions in the circumstances were in line with its policies and procedures, as well as best practice.
  2. Under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the landlord must keep in repair the structure and exterior of the property, including the roof, gutter, drains and pipes. The landlord acknowledges this obligation in its repairs policy.
  3. In its repairs policy, the landlord also states it will complete routine repairs in an average of 25 calendar days. For emergency works, where there is an immediate danger to the resident, it will attend within 24 hours. For emergency works that occur out of hours, it will attend within four hours to ‘make safe’ and lower the immediate risk.
  4. When the resident reported a leak coming from the property above on 3 November 2022 the landlord attended the next day. This was in line with its repairs policy. It made safe the electrics, as water was coming through the smoke alarm and light fitting. It removed the faulty smoke alarm and raised follow-on works to replace the smoke alarm once the leak had been repaired.
  5. When a contractor attended the property on 7 January 2023 they reported to the landlord that the leak from above had stopped. They reported there were watermarks on the walls and residual moisture was present. They stated no repairs were required for the indication of moisture. However, they said the hallway floor was previously damaged by the leak and reported to the landlord it needed repairing.
  6. The landlord raised follow-on repair works on 29 March 2023 for the damaged flooring and plasterboards. The contractors attended to complete the repair on 25 July 2023. That was significantly outside of the landlord’s repair timescales and is not appropriate.
  7. When the contractors attended on 25 July 2023, they were unable to complete any work. They reported to the landlord the leaking roof was still ongoing, and water was still coming into the resident’s property. There is no evidence of any contact to inform the landlord the leak had reoccurred since the contractor told it the leak had stopped on 7 January 2023. It is therefore unclear when the leak reoccurred. We note the leak is rainwater leaking from the roof into the above flat and then into the resident’s property. A period of no rainfall could therefore give the impression the leak had stopped. However, evidence shows the landlord had decanted the upstairs neighbour in September 2022 due to the ongoing leaks, and it therefore had the opportunity to repair the roof since that time.
  8. The resident reported a further leak to the landlord on 27 July 2023. She reported rainwater was coming through her ceiling causing damage to the walls, ceiling, and flooring in the bedroom and hallway. She reported the rainwater was coming through the holes where the contractor had previously removed smoke alarms. She asked for a temporary repair to stop the rainwater going into her property.
  9. The landlord noted the roofing repair was already logged under the property above. It also told the resident that it would complete the roofing repair in 2 weeks and would erect scaffolding on 6 August 2023. It explained it could make safe the ceiling and electrics if needed, but it could not complete any other temporary repairs and could only put buckets down.
  10. The landlord erected scaffolding on 17 August 2023, but the roofing repairs did not start due to safety reasons, as the conditions were too wet.
  11. The landlord decanted the resident to a hotel on 2 October 2023, due to the ongoing leak and outstanding repairs. This should have happened much sooner considering the resident’s reports of how the leaks were affecting her.
  12. The landlord booked more follow-on works to take place on 3 October and then later 2 November 2023 but cancelled both appointments. It again recorded on 15 October 2023 that it was unable to book or complete follow-on work until it had completed work to the property above. The roofing repairs still remained outstanding.
  13. In its final complaint response of 25 October 2023, the landlord said surveyors and supervisors were meeting to discuss when it would complete all outstanding repairs. It apologised that the roof repair was still outstanding and that it did not manage enquiries effectively. It also offered £600 compensation (£300 for distress and £300 for inconvenience).
  14. The landlord told this Service that it had completed all repairs in the resident’s home since 19 December 2023. However, the resident told us in May 2025 she remained in the temporary accommodation. She has made it clear she does not want to return to the property and wants to be rehoused in an alternative permanent accommodation. As per paragraph 42.a of the Scheme, all issues that have occurred since the landlord issued its final response on 25 October 2023 cannot be considered in this investigation. Therefore, any issues relating to the temporary accommodation are outside the scope of this investigation.
  15. In summary, the landlord made safe the electrics within 24 hours, but did not complete any necessary follow-on works. This was due to significant delays repairing the leaking roof, that was the root cause of all issues. The time taken to complete all necessary repairs from the first report of 3 November 2022 until 19 December 2023 was not appropriate. However, there was a gap from 7 January to 25 July 2023 where the landlord was informed the leak had stopped. It therefore meant the landlord was aware of the leak between 3 November 2022 and 7 January 2023, and between 25 July 2023 and decanting the resident on 2 October 2023. This was a total of 4 and a half months.
  16. The landlord offered £600 compensation (£300 for distress and £300 for inconvenience), however it did not specify the proportion of this allocated for its handling of the repairs following water ingress into the property. Due to it highlighting failures in 3 areas within the response, we have considered it reasonable to proportion £300 of this towards this issue. At the point of the final complaint response, it had been over 11 months since the resident first reported the issues and it had not completed work to resolve the root cause of the matter.
  17. It is good practice for landlords to be explicit in their compensation awards, in terms of highlighting the specific amount of compensation it has awarded to each element of the complaint. The landlord should consider this learning in its future complaint responses.
  18. We are ordering the landlord to apologise to and pay the resident £500 compensation. This considers the failings mentioned above and includes the compensation the landlord already offered as detailed in its complaint response. This is within the bracket the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance would award for failures of this nature resulting in maladministration that adversely affected the resident.

Damp and mould

  1. The landlord also has a responsibility to ensure a property remains fit for human habitation under s.9A of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. Landlords need to make sure their homes are safe, warm, and free from hazards. When a resident reports a risk, the landlord should quickly inspect the property to check for hazards. Damp and mould growth are a potential hazard, and the landlord is required to consider whether any mould problems in its properties amount to a hazard that requires remedy.
  2. The Ombudsman’s Spotlight Report on Damp and Mould (published October 2021) provides recommendations for landlords, including that it should:
    1. Adopt a zero-tolerance approach to damp and mould interventions. Landlords should review its current strategy and consider whether its approach will achieve this.
    2. Ensure it can identify complex cases at an early stage and have a strategy for keeping residents informed and effective resolution.
    3. Ensure that it clearly and regularly communicates with its residents regarding actions taken or otherwise to resolve reports of damp and mould.
    4. Identify where an independent, mutually agreed and suitably qualified surveyor should be used, share the outcomes of all surveys and inspections with residents to help them understand the findings and be clear on next steps. Landlords should then act on accepted survey recommendations in a timely manner.
  3. According to the landlord’s damp and mould policy, it says that following a report of Damp and Mould, it would establish if an immediate repair was required (leak, health and safety risk) and act in accordance with its repairs policy. It would then arrange an assessment of the property within 20 working days to understand the scale of the problem. The assessment would identify the underlying cause of the damp and mould. It would then raise any remedial works identified to its contractors within 10 working days of the assessment. It clarifies that multiple fixes might be required, and it would be clear with residents on timescales and keep them informed.
  4. When the resident reported damp and mould on 25 November 2022, the landlord arranged for an assessment of the property that took place on 7 January 2023. That was 27 working days after the resident reported the issue and therefore outside the 20-working day timescale.
  5. The assessment report of 7 January 2023 identified that mould and mildew was visible. It identified there was mould present on multiple walls and ceilings within several rooms of the property. The assessor completed a mould wash of all surfaces. They also reported the underfloor heating was broken and had never worked since the resident moved into the property. They recorded it was the main source of heating, and the resident could not control the ambient temperature and had been using blow heaters. This issue could contribute to damp and mould. The assessor reported to the landlord that it needed to repair the heating.
  6. The landlord raised a job to repair the underfloor heating on 23 January 2023. However, the evidence indicates the landlord cancelled the job 7 days later with no action taken, which is not appropriate. However, the overall impact on the resident was low, as they were not without heating and did not report any reoccurrence of damp and mould.
  7. As the landlord decanted the resident on 2 October 2023, and she has not returned to the property, there has been no further impact since that date.
  8. In its final complaint response, the landlord confirmed the assessor cleaned and mould–washed all surfaces on 7 January 2023, and the resident raised no further issues regarding damp and mould since. However, it is unclear how much of the £600 compensation offered was apportioned to this matter. We consider it reasonable to proportion £100 of the compensation towards this issue.
  9. In summary, the landlord delayed arranging a damp and mould assessment following the resident’s initial report. It also failed to repair the heating system despite the damp and mould assessor advising it to do so. However, there is no evidence that the damp and mould reoccurred up to the resident being decanted.

The ceiling collapsing

  1. On 6 August 2023 the resident reported to the landlord that a bedroom ceiling had collapsed onto her overnight. A contractor attended the same day to make the electrics safe and locked off the bedroom door. This was appropriate. However, a follow-on appointment was needed to make the ceiling safe. There is no evidence the landlord completed a follow-on appointment. The resident has told this Service that the bedroom remained unusable, and she had to share a bed with her 2 teenage children. Thus, the landlord’s failure resulted in significant inconvenience to the family.
  2. The landlord did not complete any further work or repairs until it decanted the resident on 2 October 2023. That meant it left the resident and her children living in a property with rubble on the floor, only 1 bedroom available, and rainwater continuing to leak into the property. The landlord left the resident and her children living in those conditions for 8 weeks, which was not appropriate.
  3. In its final complaint response, the landlord explained that the resident should make any claim for damage to belongings or personal injury to her own home contents insurance. It also said if she did not have home contents insurance, she could make a claim to its insurance team if she felt it was legally at fault. It explained how to do that. That was appropriate advice. We note the resident has since made a personal injury claim through solicitors to the landlord’s insurance, which is ongoing.
  4. In summary, the landlord immediately made safe the electrics but did not make the ceiling safe and left the resident with an unusable bedroom for 8 weeks. We consider it reasonable to proportion £200 of the landlord’s offer to this issue to acknowledge the resident was left without the use of 1 bedroom for 8 weeks prior to the decant, along with the impact to her family living in these conditions. It did acknowledge the distress and inconvenience caused due to sustaining injuries. We find that this amount would not be sufficient redress in the circumstances.
  5. Therefore, we are ordering the landlord to apologise to and pay the resident £300 compensation. This considers the failings mentioned above and includes the compensation the landlord already offered as detailed in its complaint response. This is within the bracket the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance would award for failures of this nature resulting in service failure that adversely affected the resident.

The associated complaint

  1. Under the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) landlords must ensure they acknowledge a complaint within 5 working days. They must respond to the complaint within 10 working days of the acknowledgment at stage 1. They must also acknowledge an escalation request within 5 working days and provide a final response within 20 working days of the date of acknowledging the escalation request. The landlord’s complaints policy is compliant with the above requirements of the Code.
  2. When the resident first complained on 27 July 2023, the landlord provided its stage 1 response the same day, which was appropriate and in line with the Code and the landlord’s own policy.
  3. Following the resident’s escalation request of 6 August 2023 the landlord did not acknowledge this request. The resident requested to escalate again on 21 August 2023, and the landlord acknowledged it would be dealt with on 22 August 2023. This was not in line with the Code or the landlord’s own policy.
  4. Following the landlord’s acknowledgement of the escalation request, it should have provided it final response by 19 September 2023. However, it did not respond. We became involved and sent a request to the landlord on 25 October 2023 to provide a final response to the resident.
  5. The landlord then issued its final response on 25 October 2023, which was outside of timescales. It is impossible to say whether the landlord would have issued the response without the Ombudsman’s involvement. However, it is disappointing this Service needed to chase up the response on behalf of the resident.
  6. Landlords must have an effective complaint process to provide a good service to its residents. An effective complaint process means landlords can fix problems quickly, learn from its mistakes and build good relationships with residents. In this case, the landlord delayed acknowledging the escalation request and issuing the stage 2 response for which it offered no redress. The Ombudsman therefore finds service failure for the failures identified in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.
  7. Therefore, we are ordering the landlord to pay the resident £100 compensation for the time, trouble, and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling failures. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance recommendations of compensation in this bracket for such failings resulting in service failure that delayed getting matters resolved.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of repairs following water ingress into the property.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 53.b of the Scheme, there was reasonable redress in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould.
  3. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of the ceiling collapsing.
  4. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s associated complaint.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. The landlord must within 28 days of the date of this determination:
    1. Provide the resident with an apology for the failings outlined in this report.
    2. Share with the resident in writing its intended actions to either return her to the property or rehouse her in a suitable permanent accommodation.
    3. Pay the resident total compensation of £900 (less any amount the landlord has already paid), which is made up of:
      1. £500 (this includes the portion of the amount previously offered if not already paid) in recognition of the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience caused by its failures to appropriately handle repairs to the water ingress at the property.
      2. £300 (this includes the portion of the amount previously offered if not already paid) in recognition of the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience caused by its failures to appropriately handle repairs to the collapsed ceiling.
      3. £100 for the time, trouble, and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s complaint handling failures.
  2. All payments must be paid directly to the resident and not credited to the rent account unless otherwise agreed by the resident.

Recommendations

  1. We recommend the landlord pays the resident the compensation it had previously offered totalling £100 in recognition of the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience caused by its failures to appropriately handle repairs to the damp and mould (if it has not done so already). The finding of reasonable redress has been based on the landlord making this payment to the resident.