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Onward Homes Limited (202121493)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202121493

Onward Homes Limited

16 September 2022


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 damp and mould in her property.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord.
  2. On 5 November 2021, the resident reported to the landlord that she had mould in the property. She requested for the guttering and vents to be checked. An appointment was booked for 23 November 2021.
  3. On 23 November 2021, the landlord’s contractors missed the scheduled appointment due to being delayed on another repair.
  4. On 6 December 2021, the resident raised a complaint with the landlord. The resident stated that she was dissatisfied with how the landlord handled her reports of damp and mould in 2018. She stated that a contractor informed her that she would need increased insulation in the property. However, the landlord later informed her that the damp and mould was her ‘fault’ as she needed to ventilate the property more, to improve the living conditions. As a result, the resident requested compensation for belongings lost over time. This included curtains, clothing and the cost of dehumidifiers.
  5. The landlord completed repairs to the damp and mould on 31 December 2021.
  6. The landlord’s response to the resident’s complaint stated that it could not investigate any repairs dating back to 2017 and 2018, due to the records not being available from this time. However, it stated that, based on its investigation, it had not been contacted since 2017 regarding damp and mould in the property. It stated that the only evidence available, suggested that the outcome of the investigation in 2017 was that the humidity levels in the property were ‘high’. It was acknowledged that contractors had recently installed loft insulation in the property, but felt it was reasonable to assume that, if the resident continued to experience excessive damp and mould during the period 2017 to 2021, this would have been reported. In conclusion, the landlord offered the resident £150 compensation comprised of:
    1. £50 for the missed appointment on 23 November 2021.
    2. £100 for the length of time taken to resolve the recent reports damp and mould.
  7. The resident referred this matter to this Service on 19 January 2022. The resident stated she was dissatisfied with the compensation offer of £150, as she had spent more than £400 on dehumidifiers alone and also had to dispose of belongings such as clothing and furniture due to the mould. The resident stated that she was informed by contractors attending in 2017 that there was an insulation problem. The resident felt that if the landlord would have installed the insulation in 2017, she would not have had to clean the mould for four years. As a resolution to her complaint, the resident is seeking £500 compensation to cover the costs of the dehumidifiers, the disposal of her damaged possessions, and paint needed to repaint areas in the property affected by mould.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation.

  1. In the resident’s correspondence, she has referred to historical issues of damp and mould and a lack of insulation in the property dating back to 2017. The Ombudsman encourages residents to raise complaints with their landlords in a timely manner, so that the landlord has a reasonable opportunity to consider the issues whilst they are still ‘live’, and whilst 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.
  2. This is line with paragraph 39(e) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, which states that the Ombudsman will not consider complaints that were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period, which would normally be within six months of the matters arising. Therefore, whilst the historical incidents provide contextual background to the current complaint, this assessment focuses on events from June 2021 onward, which is six months prior to the formal complaint being made to the landlord.

Policies and procedures.

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy states that routine repairs should be attended to within twenty working days.
  2. The repairs handbook states that residents are responsible for treating damp and mould themselves unless the problem persists, in which case, it would become the landlord’s responsibility to repair.

Damp and mould.

  1. As stated above, this Service cannot investigate how the landlord handled the resident’s reports of damp and mould in 2017. However, we can look at how the landlord handled the recent 2021 reports of damp and mould and its response to the resident’s formal complaint about this.
  2. As per the landlord’s repairs policy, upon reporting a repair, it should attend the property within twenty working-days. The landlord did book an appointment for 23 November 2021, which was within its policy timeframe following the resident’s initial report on 5 November 2021. However, due to being delayed at a different repair job, the contractor could not attend. Whilst the delay was clearly inconvenient for the resident, it was unavoidable as it could not be anticipated that the previous appointment would overrun. In response to the cancellation of the appointment, the landlord contacted the resident to inform her of the new appointment, apologised for the delay and offered appropriate compensation in line with its complaint’s procedure. Therefore, the landlord responded to the delay reasonably and informed the resident of the next steps in the repair procedure, and clearly set expectations of the next steps. Subsequently, the landlord rebooked the appointment for 31 December 2021, which was outside of the landlord’s repair policy timeframes. The landlord acknowledged this delay, and awarded £100 compensation in view of this.
  3. As above, the landlord has offered an overall reasonable amount of £150 compensation, in light of the new reports of damp and mould. This compensation is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, which suggests awards of £50 to £250 for cases where the Ombudsman had found f service failure by the landlord resulting in some impact on the complainant. We recognise that there has been service failure which had an impact on the complainant but was of short duration and may not have significantly affected the overall outcome for the complainant. The resident experienced inconvenience due to the late cancellation and subsequent delay in the repair. However, this delay was short in nature and unavoidable. Therefore, the compensation amount of £150 was reasonable in view of all the circumstances.
  4. It is noted that the resident is requesting £500 compensation for the belongings lost since 2017, when she first reported the damp and mould. As explained above, the Ombudsman’s investigation is focused on the period from June 2021 and in particular from November 2021 onwards when the resident made a complaint to the landlord. Therefore we would not order the landlord to pay compensation for the cost of running dehumidifiers or damage to the resident’s possessions which occurred between 2017 and 2021.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 55 (b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint regarding the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould satisfactorily.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord pay the resident the £150 compensation offered at stage two of its internal complaints process, unless this has already been paid.