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Southwark Council (202420688)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202420688

Southwark Council

11 July 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. Reports of sewage smells inside and outside the property.
    2. The associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident has a leasehold with the landlord, which began on 27 July 2006. The landlord is a local authority. The resident lives in a 3-bedroom maisonette. The resident has no known vulnerabilities.
  2. On 26 January 2023, the resident complained to the landlord about a sewage smell, the key points were as follows:
    1. A sewage pipe seemed to be blocked or reaching a level that brought a sewage smell onto his terrace, and into his flat if he opened a window.
    2. The smell had been happening for 18 months, during which time he also noticed sewage being drained several times from a flat below.
  3. The landlord acknowledged the complaint on 30 January 2023 and issued a stage 1 complaint response on 15 February 2023, the key points were as follows:
    1. It apologised for its late response.
    2. It found no blockage or smell during a visit in October 2022 and cleared the stack in November 2022.
    3. The resident should report any further issue to its contact centre.
  4. The resident was dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and asked to escalate the complaint to stage 2 on 29 January 2024, the key points were as follows:
    1. The problem remained with the sewage smell coming and going several times a day and was worse in the summer.
    2. He had covered the pipe with a plastic bag to reduce the impact of the smell.
  5. The landlord acknowledged the escalation request on 29 January 2024 and issued a stage 2 response on 20 June 2024, the key points were as follows:
    1. It apologised for its complaint handling delays.
    2. It raised a job on 15 June 2022 due to bad smells coming from a sewage stack, which it attended on 6 July 2022. It cancelled the job on 13 August 2022 to re-raise this for a specialist contractor.
    3. It raised a job on 19 October 2022, which a specialist contractor attended on 20 October 2022 but found no blockages or bad smells, so no follow up works were required.
    4. It raised a job for a blocked sewage stack on 4 November 2022, which it completed on 7 November 2022.
    5. It contacted the specialist contractor on 4 June 2024, which reiterated that it had previously found no blockages or smell nor that the job mentioned any water.
    6. It offered £50 compensation for the time and trouble caused by the delay in responding to the complaint.
    7. The resident could contact us if he remained unhappy.
  6. The resident referred his complaint to us on 27 August 2024. The complaint became one that we could consider on 12 March 2025.

Post Internal Complaints Process

  1. On 12 March 2025, the landlord told us that, after further investigation and finding no blocks, leaks or sewage, it identified that another resident’s animals were causing the smell. It said the neighbour was in a care facility, and that it had cleaned the property and affected areas.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. This assessment will consider events from 15 June 2022, which is when the resident first raised the sewage smell issue, until the stage 2 response issued on 20 June 2024. Reference to historical and more recent events is to provide context only.
  2. In general, we would not propose a remedy of compensation to reimburse a resident for their time off work or loss of wages while repairs are carried out or for corresponding with a landlord. Although this will inevitably cause some inconvenience to residents, their occupancy agreement will require them to give access for repairs to be carried out as needed, and it would not be fair or reasonable for the Ombudsman to order a landlord to pay a resident reimbursement for loss of earnings for routine appointments.
  3. The resident says this complaint has impacted his mental health. We cannot conclude the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. This is outside our jurisdiction, but consideration has been given to the general distress and inconvenience that may have been caused to the resident.

Policies and procedures

  1. The lease says the landlord is responsible to make good any defect affecting the structure and exterior of the flat and of the building, including drains.
  2. The landlord’s repairs policy says it will attend non-urgent repairs within 20 working days.
  3. The landlord has a 2-stage complaints process. When the resident initially complained at stage 1, it would issue an acknowledgement within 3 working days and respond within a further 15 working days. A new complaints process came into effect in October 2023, before the resident escalated his complaint. At stage 2, the landlord would issue an acknowledgement within 3 working days and respond within a further 20 working days.

Landlord’s handling of reports of sewage smells

  1. The resident initially reported sewage smells on 15 June 2022. The landlord attended 15 working days later, on 6 July 2022, which was within the timeframe specified in its repairs policy for non-urgent repairs. The landlord noted that the job required a specialist contractor.
  2. On 13 August 2022, approximately 5 weeks after visiting, the landlord cancelled the original job so it could re-raise this for a specialist contractor. However, it then took no further action. This is a failing, which led the resident to complain on 17 October 2022.
  3. The landlord’s records indicate that it only re-raised the job on 19 October 2022, which was more than 2 months after it decided it should do this. Its delay in arranging for a specialist contractor to visit was not reasonable. A landlord needs to ensure it raises repair requests at the earliest opportunity to ensure that it then completes repairs within its published timescales.
  4. The contractor attended on 20 October 2022 and reported that it found no sewage smell or blockage. Therefore, no further work was required. It was reasonable for the landlord to rely on its contractor’s assessment. However, it is a failing that it did not tell the resident the outcome of this visit.
  5. The resident next complained about a sewage smell on 26 January 2023, which was more than 3 months after the contractor’s visit. On 16 February 2023, he asked for a copy of the contractor’s inspection report and said the smell had continued to come and go for 18 months, which made it impossible to sit on his terrace. He said the smell sometimes went into the house and came from the sinks when the water was running. The resident raised this issue again on 12 June 2023 and, again, requested a copy of the inspection report. The landlord had 3 opportunities to reinvestigate the cause of the smell when the resident raised this in the months following the contractor visit but it took no action on each occasion, which was not appropriate. These are failings, which likely caused the resident distress and inconvenience and prompted him to contact his MP.
  6. The landlord’s lack of action in response to the sewage smell that the resident reported showed a lack of empathy for the resident, who was living with a smell that was affecting the enjoyment of his home.
  7. The resident’s MP contacted the landlord on 26 September 2023. When the landlord responded on 28 September 2023, it said it had not smelled any sewage related odour or seen any blocked drains or back surges during frequent walks round the estate. It also told the resident on 28 November 2023 that it had not smelled anything when walking up to his property 5 days’ prior. The landlord has not provided any evidence regarding these visits, which indicates an issue with its record keeping.
  8. When the resident escalated his complaint on 29 January 2024, he said the sewage smell remained. However, it was not until more than 5 months later, on 3 June 2024, that the landlord discussed this with him. The length of time taken to contact the resident to discuss this was not reasonable. The landlord then asked the specialist contractor for a report from the initial visit but took no action to reinvestigate the issue. Given that the landlord had previously investigated and its qualified contractors had found no issue, it was reasonable for the landlord to ask for the report in order to decide its next steps. However, that it then did nothing and did not explain its position to the resident was inappropriate and likely caused the resident further distress.
  9. The landlord says it has since identified the cause of the intermittent smell that the resident reported. However, its failure to identify the cause sooner, despite the resident repeatedly raising this over many months, represents maladministration, for which we have made an order for remedy.

Complaint handling

  1. The resident initially logged a formal complaint with the landlord on 17 October 2022 but received no response. This is a failing, which prompted the resident to complain again on 26 January 2023 and likely caused him inconvenience.
  2. In accordance with its complaints policy at the time, the landlord should have acknowledged the complaint within 3 working days and issued a stage 1 response within 15 working days.
  3. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s second complaint on 30 January 2023 and issued a stage 1 response on 15 February 2023. Therefore, it acted within the timeframes specified in its complaints policy.
  4. When the resident replied on 16 February 2023, he said he would escalate the complaint. It was reasonable for the landlord to then await the resident’s escalation.
  5. The resident next contacted the landlord on 12 June 2023, 22 December 2023 and 25 January 2024. On 26 January 2024, the landlord asked whether the resident wanted to escalate his complaint to stage 2 of its process. It is a failing that it did not ask this in response to his previous contacts. Had it done so, the resident might have escalated his complaint sooner.
  6. The resident requested escalation of his complaint on 29 January 2024.
  7. In accordance with its new complaints policy, the landlord should have acknowledged the complaint within 3 working days and issued a stage 2 response within a further 20 working days.
  8. The landlord acknowledged the escalation request on 29 January 2024, which was within the timeframe specified in its complaints policy. However, it was not until 20 June 2024 that it issued a stage 2 response. The landlord apologised and offered £50 compensation for the delay. Its response was 80 working days outside the timeframe specified in its complaints policy, which was not appropriate. This is a failing that likely caused the resident further distress and inconvenience. The significant delay also prevented him from bringing his complaint for us to investigate sooner. The landlord’s complaint handling failings represent maladministration, for which we have made an order for remedy.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration regarding the landlord’s handling of reports of sewage smells.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration regarding the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this determination, the landlord must:
    1. Contact the resident to establish whether the sewage smell remains and, if so, provide a timebound action plan detailing the measures it intends to take to resolve this.
    2. Provide a written apology for the distress caused by the failings identified.
    3. Pay compensation totalling £450, comprised as follows:
      1. £300 for the distress caused by its failings regarding its handling of reports of sewage smells.
      2. The £50 offered for the delay in issuing its stage 2 response, if it has not already done so.
      3. A further £100 for the distress caused by its failure to issue its stage 2 response sooner.
  2. The landlord is to confirm compliance with these orders within the timeframe set out above.