Waltham Forest Council (202413799)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202413799

Waltham Forest Council

25 February 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of water ingress and leaks into her property, and associated damp and mould.
The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. The landlord is a local council. The property is a 2–bed, 2 storey top floor flat in a block. The resident lives with her child who has health issues.
The resident first reported water ingress into her flat from the front door on 12 October 2021.
On 8 December 2021 the landlord’s neighbourhood team noted a large gap underneath the resident’s front door and a wet sheet on the floor, attempting to soak up the water ingress. It asked its colleagues to contact the resident to resolve the issue, as the resident said her child was sick and it was impacting the child’s health. It is unclear what works were undertaken, as the landlord has only provided repair logs from February 2022.
On 23 February 2022 the resident reported further water ingress through her front door. The landlord’s contractor attended on 30 June 2022 to instal a new aluminium storm guard and weather bar to the resident’s front door.
On 24 October 2022 the resident reported further water ingress through her front door. She stated that it was causing flooding into her flat when it rained, and that it was an ongoing problem. She said there was damp and mould on her entrance hall wall due to the water ingress. On 2 November 2022, a contractor attended and noted the door was beyond repair and needed replacing. The landlord approved a variation order for this work on the same day and the door was replaced on 26 November 2022.
On 25 November 2022 the landlord raised a works order for a crack on the external wall next to the resident’s front door. The crack was causing further water ingress into the resident’s property and causing damp and mould. It also raised an order to “make good” the internal wall damaged by water penetration. On 20 February 2023, the landlord’s contractor attended and painted the internal wall in the hallway and applied stain block to the area. It also applied a “thin line of mastic” to the external wall crack.
On 24 May 2023 the landlord recalled the job to the external wall as it noted that the repair on 20 February 2023 was neither “substantial”, nor “satisfactory”. The work to the external wall was scheduled to be completed on 18 July 2023. Also, on 24 May 2023 the resident reported the damp and mould in her property was getting worse. She said the damp and mould had come through the paint, her walls were wet and brown with mould and the skirting had come off the wall. She chased the works to the internal and external wall 3 times from 19 June 2023 to 18 July 2023.
The landlord attended the resident’s property on 5 September 2023 and noted that the gully outside the property was causing the leaks and needed repairing. The landlord’s contractor attended on 25 September 2023 and conducted a closed-circuit television (CCTV) survey to the drains and gullies. It noted gully work was needed which was completed on 17 January 2024, along with high pressure jet works.
The landlord’s contractor inspected the resident’s property again on 6 October 2023 and checked all the balconies in the block for any trace of leaks. It concluded that the damp patch near the resident’s front door was caused by a crack in the outside wall.
The landlord raised an order to complete further mould treatment and painting to the resident’s hallway wall on 18 December 2023. On the same date, it noted that there was a fault with the drainage metal top, which needed to be replaced.
On 18 January 2024, the resident reported that paint work was peeling off and internal paint works were not completed as the external wall was still wet. She also reported a broken drain outside her property. The landlord’s drainage contractor attended on 19 January 2024 and noted that the gully grid was broken, the resident was getting damp inside her flat, and recommended pointing around the gully. The landlord’s contractor carried out further mould treatment works to the internal wall on 30 January 2024. The resident chased the drainage works 3 times between 8 February 2024 and 7 March 2024.
On 9 March 2024, the resident submitted a stage 1 complaint. She said the following:
1. Rain had been pouring in through her front door since moving into the property in 2021. This had caused damp and a water leak on her internal wall.
2. The front door was replaced, and the walls were painted in 2022, but she had reported her walls turning brown again in July 2023. The leak had resurfaced, and the walls had swollen. The walls were still wet, and the source of the leak had not been identified or rectified.
3. She had 5 contractor visits but there had been no change, and the paint was peeling off as her walls were wet.
4. She was very anxious, stressed and frustrated and wanted the repairs to be completed as soon as possible. Also, compensation for the length of time she was waiting for the landlord to fix the repair.
On 18 March 2024, the landlord raised another job to paint the damaged internal wall.
The landlord responded to the resident’s stage 1 complaint on 25 March 2024. It said:
1. It had carried out various works to the door between 15 June 2022 and November 2022.
2. On 25 November 2022 the focus of the work “seemed to shift to investigating” cracks to the external communal wall, causing damp inside the resident’s hallway, by her front door.
3. It had completed works to her door on 7 February 2023 and works to the external wall were completed on 20 March 2023.
4. Its contractors were prompt in attending to the initial reports of disrepair to her front door in 2022. Afterwards, the focus of locating the underlying source of the water ingress shifted to possible communal sources and the wider block. It had been a process of elimination.
5. The drainage works were completed in September 2023, and the leak was traced to an adjoining flat. The leak was affecting several flats and had now been resolved.
6. The remedial works carried out to the resident’s property were not of a satisfactory standard. The repairs to the external communal wall took an unreasonable amount of time as it was raised in November 2022 and only completed in late February 2023.
7. It would ask its damp and mould task force to take action to correct the damage in the resident’s property.
8. It apologised to the resident and offered £100 compensation for delays, distress, inconvenience, and time and trouble.
The resident reported a leak in her boiler cupboard on 25 March 2024. The landlord raised works for this on 15 April 2024, after the resident chased it on at least 3 occasions.
The resident submitted a stage 2 complaint on 22 April 2024. She said the following:
1. The landlord’s surveyor visited on 3 April 2024 and agreed that some repairs had not been completed. The walls were still damp, and the contractors had not resolved the leak.
2. The water damage to her property had been ongoing since she moved into the flat in 2021. The damp was getting worse.
3. Her internal walls had been painted without the main issue of water ingress being resolved. The front door had been replaced but she still had issues.
4. She had raised a new job on 25 March 2024 to report a boiler leak and the pipes in the boiler room were leaking again as the contractor “did not check properly.”
5. The guttering job had been cancelled twice, on the day of the appointment and the resident had taken time off work for these appointments.
The leak to the boiler was repaired on 29 April 2024.
On 1 May 2024, the landlord recalled the job for the front door. It noted that a new door had been fitted but there was water ingress from the rain and the door had swollen and was not shutting properly.
The landlord responded to the resident’s stage 2 complaint on 11 June 2024. It said the following:
1. It inspected the property on 3 April 2024. Following the inspection, it asked its contractor to lag all pipework in the boiler cupboard. It also noted a leak on the boiler condensing pipe and asked its contractor to repair this. The works had been carried out and completed.
2. The landlord’s damp and mould surveyor spoke to the resident about her front door issues and raised a job on 17 May 2024 to address the swelling to the door. It would set a date and contact the resident to schedule an appointment.
3. On 24 April 2024 the landlord’s contractor noted that a sealant specialist would be required to repair the downpipe and associated works.
4. There was no evidence of exterior damage which might be contributing to the interior damp and mould.
5. The surveyor had carried out a thorough investigation, and the damp and mould issues had been corrected and completed. The damp and mould issues were due to condensation from the boiler pipes and were not a result of the exterior wall. The exterior wall had been repaired on 18 July 2023.
6. It apologised for the 2 cancelled appointments to address the guttering.
7. It offered the resident £100 compensation in addition to the £100 offered at stage 1.
The resident approached this Service on 4 July 2024. She said that water ingress persists through her front door, and that her internal hallway walls were damp and had mould on them. The paint was peeling off the walls and they were very wet. This caused her anxiety, frustration and stress. As an outcome to her complaint, the resident wanted the repairs to be carried out as soon as possible, and compensation for the length of time taken for repairs to be completed.

After the internal complaints procedure

On 3 July 2024 the resident reported water marks and wetness to a bedroom wall, causing damp and mould. She submitted a new Stage 1 complaint to the landlord.
The landlord inspected the resident’s property on 12 July 2024. It also inspected the communal roof and found no issues with the roof. It concluded that the resident’s damp and mould in the bedroom was due to a “cold bridging issue” which required a damp specialist.
The following repairs were completed between August 2024 and September 2024:
1. Jet washing and drainage.
2. Repair works to the front door.
3. Damage to the upstands in the communal balcony was repaired, along with repairs to cracks to the external wall around the door.
The resident reported further issues with the communal drains, her front door and her bedroom from September 2024 to October 2024. On 23 January 2025 she told us that water ingress continues into her front door.

Assessment and findings

Scope of Investigation

The resident said the handling of this matter by the landlord has led to a deterioration in the health of her household. Whilst we appreciate the resident’s concerns, the Ombudsman cannot draw conclusions on 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.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of water ingress and leaks into her property, and associated damp and mould

The landlord’s repairs policy states that it complies with Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. It is responsible for the structure of the building, as well as walls, floors and ceilings, heating, window frames and external doors, water pipes and drainage, and damp and mould prevention and treatment.
It has a tiered appointment system for repairs:
1. Emergency repairs will be attended to within 24 hours (faults or disrepair which constitute a safety hazard or make the property uninhabitable, such as fire, flood or gas escape).
2. Urgent repairs will be attended to within 5 calendar days (leaking pipes, partial loss of water).
3. Routine repairs will be attended to within 3 and 45 calendar days as follows:
  1. 3 days for repairs to mechanical and electrical services, heating and hot water.
  2. 21 days to ‘address any minor barriers to the normal habitability of the dwelling’ or works requiring specialist materials or subcontractors.
  3. 45 days for works costing more than the allocated budgets that cannot be delivered within 21 days, due to their nature or complexity. This includes any works that are unplanned capital works and not day to day repairs, including damp works or roofing.
4. The landlord’s compensation policy states that it offers both financial and non-financial redress to remedy a complaint. It offers up to £1000 for distress and inconvenience where the distress was prolonged. It offers between £100 and £300 for time and trouble in pursuing a complaint. It also considers the vulnerability of the household, when making offers of compensation.
As the landlord has only provided repair records from February 2022, we are unable to assess what works the landlord carried out to remedy the situation before this date. Good record keeping is a prerequisite to providing a good housing management service. It would be difficult for the landlord to monitor what works were completed and any outstanding works, without a record of these. This is a failing on the part of the landlord and caused the resident distress and inconvenience and time and trouble in pursuing the issue.
It was not appropriate that the landlord’s contractor attended the resident’s property on 8 March 2022, when the resident reported further water ingress through her front door on 23 February 2022. The repairs policy sets out that it will attend within 5 days for significant water ingress. The water ingress was damaging the inside of her property and could have caused significant slip hazards.
It was reasonable that, following the contractor’s visit on 8 March 2022, the landlord would need to approve a variation order to install a new storm guard and weather bar to the resident’s front door. However, the storm guard and weather bar were not installed until 30 June 2022. This was 114 days later, and significantly outside its own repair timescales of 45 days. This was an unreasonable delay which caused the resident distress and inconvenience and significantly impacted the enjoyment of her home. Further, during this delay, the inside of her property continued to be impacted with damp and mould surfacing in her hallway.
The resident reported further water ingress through her front door and associated internal damp and mould on 24 October 2022. The front door was replaced on 26 November 2022. It was appropriate that the landlord replaced the front door within its repair timescales.
However, the resident reported further issues with the front door on 5 April 2024. The landlord did not repair the door until 9 September 2024. This was 157 days later which was an unreasonable delay and significantly outside of the landlord’s repair timescales of 45 days for extensive works. This caused the resident distress and inconvenience, time and trouble in pursuing the issue, and impacted on the enjoyment of her home.
Further, the resident told us on 23 January 2025 that the water ingress continues through her front door. She has supplied this Service with photographs of the water ingress, and although these are not date stamped, the Ombudsman has no reason to doubt this.
The Housing, Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) classes damp and mould as a category 1 hazard. This Service’s spotlight report on damp and mould, published in October 2021, states that landlords should adopt a zero-tolerance approach to damp and mould interventions. It further states that landlords should ensure that their responses to reports of damp and mould should reflect the urgency of the issues.
On 25 November 2022, the landlord raised a works order to repair the crack on the external wall, next to the front door, which was causing further water ingress into the resident’s property and causing damp and mould. It also raised an order to “make good” the internal wall damaged by water penetration. It was appropriate that it did so, but there were significant and protracted delays with the works.
The landlord’s contractor did not attend to the internal paint and mould wash until 20 February 2023. The resident had reported damp and mould on 24 October 2022. This was 119 days later which was an inappropriate delay and significantly outside of the landlord’s repair timescales of 45 days. Although, this Service understands that the door would need to be replaced before carrying out internal damp works, the internal mould works should have been carried out in a timelier manner. Further, there is no evidence that the landlord considered mitigating the damp and mould damage. This caused the resident distress and inconvenience, time and trouble in pursuing the repair, and continued to impact on the enjoyment of her home.
The landlord’s contractor did not carry out a full and final repair to the front wall and communal balcony until 16 September 2024. Although this Service understands budgetary constraints, and the need to request financial authorisation for extensive works, this is an inappropriate delay of 20 months. The delay was well beyond the landlord’s own 45-day timeline for extensive repairs. This caused the resident additional distress and inconvenience and continued to impact on the enjoyment of her home.
It was further inappropriate, that, in its stage 2 complaint response of 11 June 2024, the landlord told the resident that there was no evidence of exterior damage which might be contributing to the interior damp and mould and that the exterior wall had been repaired on 18 July 2023. This points to poor record keeping. The landlord’s repair logs note a crack in the external wall on 6 October 2023, and a full and final repair to the front wall was not completed until September 2024. This caused the resident additional distress and frustration.
On 24 May 2023 the resident reported that the damp and mould in her home was getting worse, and the damp had come through the paint, the walls were wet and mouldy, and the skirting board had come off the wall. The landlord’s repairs policy says that it will carry out damp works within 45 days. It did not attend until 18 July 2023. This was 55 calendar days and an inappropriate delay. The landlord should have attended within its published timescales or kept the resident updated of any delays.
The landlord’s contractor attended various times between September 2023 and January 2024 and the mould and damp issues continued, despite paint and mould works. The evidence shows that the repairs did not resolve the issues, despite several visits and attempts by the landlord. This caused the resident distress and inconvenience, time and trouble, and impacted on the enjoyment of her home.
The resident reported a broken drain outside her property on 18 January 2024. The landlord’s contractor attended the next day, which was reasonable, and noted that the gully grid was broken and needed pointing works. The resident chased this follow-on repair 3 times. There is no evidence that this was completed. This was inappropriate and caused the resident time and trouble in pursuing the issue, as well as impacting on the enjoyment of her home.
The resident reported a leak to her boiler on 25 March 2024. This was not repaired until 29 April 2024, after the resident chased the landlord on at least 2 occasions. This was 35 days later, and an inappropriate delay and outside of the landlord’s 5-day repair timescale. This caused the resident distress and inconvenience and time and trouble in pursuing the issue, as well as impacting on the enjoyment of her home.
The landlord’s compensation policy allows for awards of £1,000 where residents experience prolonged distress and inconvenience, and between £100 and £300 for time and trouble in pursuing a complaint. It was not appropriate that the landlord offered the resident £200 in total for distress and inconvenience and time and trouble. There were prolonged and unreasonable delays to works and this caused the resident significant distress and inconvenience, and time and trouble in pursuing these.
Further, the landlord was aware of the resident’s household vulnerabilities and did not consider this in its compensation award to the resident. The damp and mould had a significant impact on the resident’s household. The resident told the landlord of her household health issues, which were affected by the damp and mould and the landlord did not take this into consideration. This was not resident focussed and caused the resident additional distress.
Although the landlord did carry out extensive investigations and repairs to remedy the leaks and damp and mould issue, these were not always attended in a timely manner. Further, the resident reports that water ingress into her property continues, causing damp and mould and impacting on the enjoyment of her home. As such, a finding of severe maladministration is made, along with orders for redress.
This Service will not be making any orders regarding policy changes, as the landlord has an updated repairs and damp and mould policy.

The landlord’s complaint handling

The landlord’s complaints policy says that it will respond to stage 1 complaints within 20 working days and stage 2 complaints within 25 working days.
The resident made a stage 2 complaint on 22 April 2024 and the landlord did not respond until 11 June 2024. This was 34 working days later, and an inappropriate delay, outside of the landlord’s own timescales. Further, it did not acknowledge or apologise for the delay. This caused the resident distress and frustration and time and trouble in pursuing the issue. It also contributed to the substantive issue being unresolved. As such, a finding of service failure is made, along with orders for redress.
We will not be making any orders for a policy review, as the landlord has since updated its complaints policy, in line with this Service’s complaint handling code (the Code).

Determination

In accordance with Paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was severe maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of water ingress and leaks into her property, and associated damp and mould.
In accordance with Paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

Within four weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
1. Apologise in writing to the resident for the failings identified in this report. The apology needs to be from a member of its senior leadership team.
2. Arrange for a suitably qualified person to carry out a damp and mould survey, assess the front door, external areas and damp and mould inside the resident’s home and provide a timeline for repairs.
3. Pay the resident £1000 for time, trouble, distress and inconvenience in pursuing the leak and associated damp and mould issues. This is in addition to the £200 already offered (if not already paid). The compensation to be paid directly into the resident’s bank account, and not to be offset against any rent arrears (if applicable).
4. Pay the resident £50 for the time and trouble and inconvenience caused by the delays in its complaint handling. This is to be paid into the resident’s bank account.
Within 8 weeks of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
1. Provide relevant staff with training and awareness to ensure that all reported repairs are logged at the time of reporting, monitored and completed within the landlord’s published timescales.
The landlord should provide this Service with evidence of compliance with all the above orders.