London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202345660)
The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of and response to the resident’s: Reports of repairs. Reports of damp and mould. Reports of cat faeces in the garden. Complaint. The landlord operated a 2-stage complaint policy. Stage 1 complaints will be acknowledged within 5 working days. Stage 1 complaints will be responded to within 10 working days and stage 2 complaints within 20 working days. If at any stage more time is needed, this will be communicated to the resident. The resident complained on 10 October 2023 by letter. The landlord received the letter on 23 October 2023 and acknowledged the complaint on 26 October 2023. This was in line with policy. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 11 December 2023, which was 32 working days later. This was not appropriate, as it was not consistent with the landlord’s policy. The resident contacted this Service on 23 August 2024 as she had not received a response to her complaint escalation from 1 July 2024. There is no evidence that the resident escalated her complaint on 1 July 2024. What is known is that this Service instructed the landlord to provide its final response by 19 September 2024. The landlord provided its final complaint response on 18 September 2024. This was appropriate, as it was consistent with the Ombudsman’s expectation. Considering all the circumstances, it is the Ombudsman’s opinion that there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s complaint. This is because: the landlord failed to follow policy there was a lack of communication it did not identify any learning to prevent a recurrence of the issues it did not offer appropriate redress for the delay in the response