London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202324497)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202324497

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

9 December 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
1. The resident’s reports of damp and mould.
2. The associated complaint.

Background

The resident holds an assured tenancy at the property, a 2-bedroom ground floor flat. She lives at the property with her 2 children, aged 9 and 1 at the time of the complaint. The landlord has recorded vulnerabilities for the resident as physical and health needs. The resident told the landlord she suffers from asthma.
The resident reported issues with damp and mould at the property as early as June 2021. The landlord inspected on 2 June 2021 and found an issue with the pointing on the front external wall. It noted the extractor fans were working and repaired some of the window seals in August 2021. The resident made at least 3 further reports of issues with damp and mould before complaining to the landlord on 31 December 2022.
In her complaint, the resident said she was unhappy with the conditions she was living in and felt the damp and mould posed a risk to her health and the health of her children. She reminded the landlord of her health conditions and disability and asked to be moved as the property was no longer suitable.
The landlord responded at stage 1 on 3 January 2023 and apologised for the delays in resolving the damp and mould. It confirmed it had booked an inspection for 5 January 2023. The resident was unhappy with the landlord’s response as it did not offer a solution to her immediate concerns around the health and wellbeing of her family. She asked to escalate the complaint on 3 January 2023.
The landlord acknowledged the resident’s escalation request on 18 January 2023. It said it could not commit to a timescale for responding as it had a backlog of complaints. The landlord sent its stage 2 response to the resident on 16 August 2023. It apologised for the delay in sending the response. It confirmed that its contractors would be completing repairs to the external walls and extractor fans. It also confirmed it would be arranging a survey for thermal boarding. It offered £175 compensation for the delayed stage 2 response.
The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and escalated the complaint to this Service. She wanted to be rehoused and an increased offer of compensation.
It is relevant to note that the resident contacted the landlord again in January 2024. She said none of the repair work had been completed. She reiterated that she wanted to be rehoused and to receive an increased offer of compensation. The landlord issued a second stage 2 response letter on 29 February 2024 and said it needed to reinspect the property. It offered £580 compensation, comprising £560 for distress and inconvenience caused by its failure to recognise the impact caused to the resident due to her vulnerabilities and £20 for the time and trouble incurred getting the complaint resolved. The resident rejected this offer.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

The resident has informed this Service that the situation has had an impact on her health and wellbeing and that of her family. She specifically raised concerns about the damp and mould causing chest infections and about her baby, who had been born prematurely, and was therefore at higher risk for infections. The Ombudsman cannot draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. This would be more suitable to be dealt with as a personal injury claim through the courts and will not be assessed as part of this investigation. The resident may wish to seek independent legal advice concerning this. However, we have given general consideration to any distress and inconvenience incurred by the resident.
It is relevant to note that, in referring her complaint to this Service, the resident said the issues with damp and mould were ongoing. She also made a new complaint regarding the conduct of a member of the landlord’s staff since referring the matter to this Service. This Service is only able to investigate complaints where the landlord has had the opportunity to investigate. Therefore no assessment has been made of issues raised beyond those within the initial complaint and the landlord’s subsequent responses on 3 January 2023, 16 August 2023 and 29 February 2024.

The resident’s reports of damp and mould

The resident reported damp and mould to the landlord in June 2021. The landlord attended and identified damp patches in the hallway, bathroom and under the windows. It treated the mould and identified issues with the external brickwork and window seals. The evidence shows the resident reported issues with damp and mould to the landlord on at least 3 further occasions before making her complaint on 31 December 2022. In response to these reports and the complaint, the landlord:
1. Referred the matter to its healthy homes team. The landlord’s website explains this is an initiative, working in partnership with a specialist damp and mould contractor, to tackle the root cause of damp and mould in homes.
2. Repaired the window seals in August 2021.
3. Completed mould treatments on at least 2 occasions.
4. Investigated potential sources of damp, including inspecting the basement for rising damp on 14 March 2022.
5. Replaced the extractor fans in the property in January 2023.
6. Inspected to quote for thermal boarding and identified rising damp in the basement on 1 February 2023.
7. Provided information on the resident’s options for permanent rehousing in its second stage 2 response in February 2024.
The above steps were all reasonable in response to reports of damp and mould. However, in her complaint, the resident told the landlord the issue was recurring and asked the landlord to find a long-term solution to prevent this. The evidence we have seen demonstrates that the landlord failed to take any permanent steps to resolve the mould and this was unreasonable. There is also no evidence of the landlord ever considering action to resolve the rising damp in the basement, despite its records showing 2 reports of this from its contractors. On the contrary, there is no mention further of the potential rising damp anywhere in the landlord’s communication, either internally or with the resident.
This Service published a spotlight report on damp and mould in 2021 and set out a number of recommendations that landlords should consider in regards to managing complaints of damp and mould. These included:
1. Landlords should avoid taking actions that solely place the onus on the resident. They should evaluate what mitigations they can put in place to support residents in cases where structural interventions are not appropriate and satisfy themselves they are taking all reasonable steps.
2. Landlords should ensure that their responses to reports of damp and mould are timely and reflect the urgency of the issue.
3. Landlords should ensure that they clearly and regularly communicate with their residents regarding actions taken or otherwise to resolve reports of damp and mould. Landlords should review and update any associated processes and policies accordingly.
It is reasonable to conclude that the suspected rising damp in the basement may have been contributing to the damp and mould experienced by the resident. It was unreasonable that the landlord failed to follow this up and failed to share or explain its findings to the resident. The landlord is ordered to reinspect the property, including the basement, for rising damp and any other forms of water penetration and to share the outcome of this inspection with the resident. As part of this, it must confirm whether it will be installing thermal boarding and resolving the dampness in the basement and if not, why not. The landlord must confirm in writing what action it will be taking as a result of the inspection and a timescale by which the resident should expect the work to be completed.
With regards to mitigating the impact the mould was having on the resident, the landlord failed to consider the resident’s vulnerability. The resident repeatedly reminded the landlord about the impact the situation was having on her family’s health and wellbeing. The landlord has vulnerabilities recorded for the resident on its systems. However there is no evidence of it taking this into account in handling this matter. There is no evidence of the landlord adapting its approach or considering how it could prioritise the repairs based on the resident’s health concerns and potential vulnerability. On the contrary, it appears in this case that no urgency was applied to finding a lasting solution to the issue and this was unreasonable.
The landlord failed to acknowledge the impact the resident may have been experiencing until its second stage 2 response in February 2024. Even at this point, it simply made an offer of financial compensation which, although positive, does not demonstrate the landlord fully understood the impact the situation was having on the resident. The landlord is ordered to apologise for failing to address this in its handling of the matter.
The resident asked the landlord to provide a temporary solution to the situation on at least 5 occasions throughout the complaint. She suggested being rehoused temporarily or permanently and raised the health and safety concerns posed by the damp conditions. There is no evidence of the landlord considering these requests. The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) lists damp and mould as one of the hazards which is potentially prejudicial to health. There is no evidence the landlord considered if the mould was a category I or II hazard or whether the property was uninhabitable. In failing to take action to fully resolve the damp and mould, the landlord acted inappropriately.
It is noted that this Service has not seen evidence of the extent of the damp and mould and so we cannot comment on the severity of the issue. However, if the landlord considered the situation safe for the resident to remain in the property, it should have clearly communicated this to the resident and explained what other interim steps it could have taken, such as providing a dehumidifier. There is no evidence of this kind of conversation occurring.
Although the landlord did fully explain the permanent rehousing options available to the resident in its second stage 2 response of February 2024, it is unclear why it did not do this sooner. This was unreasonable. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £50 compensation in recognition of this delay. This is in line with this Service’s remedies guidance for failures that were not resolved in a timely manner.
In its second stage 2 response, 6 months after its final response to the complaint landlord revisited the question of compensation. It offered the resident £560 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its failure to recognise the impact caused by the resident’s vulnerabilities. While this is welcome it is evidence of the landlord’s failings in adequately assessing the level of redress required and this is addressed further below.
Considering the resident had been living with damp and mould since June 2021, it is unclear how the landlord deemed £560 proportionate to the impact the resident likely experienced. In line with this Service’s remedies guidance, offers over £1000 are proportionate when there were a series of significant failures which have had a seriously detrimental impact on the resident. For this reason, an order for additional compensation has been made below.
In the resident’s communication in January 2024, she also raised a query around reimbursement for increased energy usage caused by increased heating of the property and the use of a dehumidifier. The landlord failed to respond to this request in its second stage 2 response and this was unreasonable. The landlord’s compensation policy says it will consider reimbursing out-of-pocket expenses if the resident can provide evidence such as receipts or utility bills.
In conclusion, the landlord failed to take any steps to establish if the property was fit for human habitation and permanently resolve the issues with damp and mould over an unreasonable period of time. The landlord also failed to demonstrate that it had fully assessed or understood the additional impact the resident said the situation was having on her due to her vulnerabilities. It failed to appropriately put things right in a reasonable time. For these reasons, this Service have found maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the reports of damp and mould.
Taking into account the delays and that the landlord has been given a considerable time to put things right since 2021 (some 3 years) – the Ombudsman considers that £1,250 would be suitable to recognise the impact of this long-standing issue and the delay on the resident up to today. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s Guidance on Remedies, but factors in that we cannot say how the extent of the damp and mould affected the enjoyment and use of the home.

Complaint handling

The landlord’s complaints policy notes that it will respond to complaints in line with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code). The resident asked to escalate her complaint on 3 January 2023. The landlord acknowledged this on 18 January 2023 and explained it had a backlog of complaints and could not currently provide a timescale for a response. The landlord eventually sent its stage 2 response in August 2023, 8 months after the resident had raised her initial complaint. This was inappropriate and of particular concern, given there is no evidence of any interim communication with the resident or action taken during this time period.
In its stage 2 response, the landlord offered £175 compensation in recognition of its delays in responding to the complaint. The landlord’s compensation calculator explains awards in this range are for serious failures to act in accordance with the Code. This was proportionate for the delay in issuing the stage 2 response.
However, the landlord acted inappropriately in its handling of the resident’s later contact in January 2024. In this contact, the resident said she was still waiting for the landlord to complete the repairs it had outlined in the stage 2 response. In response to this, the landlord re-opened the stage 2 complaint and issued a second final response on 29 February 2024. There is no evidence of the landlord discussing taking this approach with the resident nor of it confirming if she would like to open a new complaint about the ongoing issues. The Code clearly states that a landlord’s internal complaints process should only consist of 2 stages. Therefore, by issuing the second stage 2 response, the landlord was not acting in accordance with the Code and this was inappropriate.
The landlord failed to consider the level of compensation required to resolve the complaint satisfactorily and only did so 6 months after the complaint had exhausted its internal complaints procedure.
It is positive that the landlord increased the offer of compensation in the second stage 2 response, however the landlord failed again to offer the resident a full and lasting solution to her complaint. It simply said it needed to survey the property again. This was inappropriate as it did not commit to a timescale or a definitive plan of action. The landlord repeated the same approach, asking to reinspect the property, in all 3 of its responses which does not demonstrate it was capable of learning from complaints. It was unreasonable that the landlord had 3 opportunities to resolve the issue and still failed to even commit to an action plan through its complaint process. The landlord did not acknowledge this in any of its responses and this was a failure. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident an additional £100 compensation. This is in line with the landlord’s compensation calculator which awards amounts up to £100 for complaint handling failures which likely had a high impact on the resident.
In conclusion, although the landlord made attempts to put things right by offering compensation for its delayed response, it acted inappropriately in re-opening the stage 2 complaint and issuing a second response. The landlord did not proactively monitor the commitments made in its complaint responses and this meant the resident had to chase for updates. This investigation has found maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the complaint and orders have been made below.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Orders

By 13 January 2025, the landlord must:
1. Provide a written apology to the resident for the failures outlined in this report.
2. Survey the property, including the basement, for rising damp and any other forms of water penetration. Within 2 weeks of the inspection, the landlord must produce a survey report. The report must confirm the outcome of the inspection to the resident and to this Service, including:
  1. Whether the property is affected by damp and the cause.
  2. Whether the property is fit for human habitation.
  3. What works are required to resolve the damp and mould.
  4. Whether it will be installing thermal boarding and if not, why not.
  5. What steps it will be taking to resolve the dampness in the basement and if none, the reasons for this.
  6. Any interim measures it can put in place prior to completing any required works, including its stance on whether it will consider temporarily rehousing the resident.
  7. All actions it will be taking as a result of the inspection and a timescale by which the resident should expect the work to be completed.
  8. Timed and date stamped photographs of all areas of damage.
3. Pay the resident the £1,425 made up as follows:
  1. £175 offered in its stage 2 response of 16 August 2023, if not already paid
  2. £1,250 for the likely distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of the damp and mould over an extended period. The landlord is entitled to deduct the £580 offered in its second stage 2 response if it paid this.
The landlord must use its best endeavours to ensure any works are started within 28 days of the date of the survey being completed. If it cannot start the works in this time, it must explain to the resident and this Service why and provide evidence. It must also set out when it will start any works.

Recommendations

The landlord should, in light of the outcome of the survey, consider whether there is scope to assist the resident with moving home. The landlord is not obliged to follow this recommendation.