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Your Housing Group Limited (202226197)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202226197

Your Housing Limited

27 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

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of leaks, damp and mould at the property.
  2. The Ombudsman has also investigated the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident holds an assured shorthold tenancy at the property, a 2-bedroom house. The tenancy commenced in November 2022. She lives at the property with her daughter, who was 5 at the time of the complaint. The landlord has no recorded vulnerabilities for the resident but she has informed this Service that she suffers from anxiety and depression.
  2. The resident told the landlord about damp and leaks in the property before moving in, initially refusing the property on this basis. She continued to report issues with damp, mould and leaks in December 2022 and January 2023. The landlord attended to inspect, however no works were completed.
  3. The resident complained to the landlord on 13 January 2023. She said the roof leak continued to cause issues and the brickwork was allowing rain into the property. She wanted the repairs to be completed urgently. The landlord responded at stage 1 on 7 February 2023. It confirmed scaffolding had been erected and works were due to be completed on 7 February 2023. It said it would complete any required internal works by 31 March 2023. The landlord apologised for any inconvenience caused and offered £150 compensation, comprising £100 for the inconvenience caused and £50 for the delay in responding to the complaint.
  4. The resident was unhappy with the landlord’s response and asked to escalate the complaint on 24 July 2023. The landlord responded at stage 2 on 10 October 2023 and apologised for failing to acknowledge the stage 2 request earlier. It confirmed some of the external works remained outstanding and they should be completed by the middle of November. It committed to reinspecting the internal works following this. In recognition of its failures, the landlord offered an additional £400 compensation, comprising £200 for the inconvenience caused, £100 for the delayed complaint response and £100 for the delayed repairs.
  5. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and escalated the matter to this Service in November 2023. In doing so she said the repairs had not been effective to date and there was still damp and mould in the property. She said this was impacting her daughter’s health and she wanted the repairs completed as quickly as possible.

Events after the landlord’s final response.

  1. The landlord reinspected the property in January 2024. The resident sought support from her MP in April 2024 and a solicitor in July 2024. The landlord reinspected the property in July 2024.
  2. The landlord issued a second stage 2 response on 23 July 2024. It confirmed it had recalled its roofing contractor after the resident said the works completed in December 2023 had not resolved the issue. It also outlined the additional works it had completed as a result, such as resealing windows and providing the resident with a dehumidifier. It noted it had not yet completed a repair to the kitchen waste pipe nor had it checked the loft insulation and said these works would be done in September 2024. It confirmed the inspection completed in July 2024 showed no major damp issues and offered some advice about managing humidity in the property. It offered an additional £750 compensation, comprising £100 for the inconvenience caused, £200 for the delayed complaint resolution, £100 for the time and trouble incurred, £150 for the delayed repairs and £200 for the lack of communication. It then increased this offer to £900 but did not breakdown what the additional £150 was for. This meant the total compensation offered to resolve the complaint was £1,450.
  3. A surveyor completed a disrepair inspection at the property on 8 August 2024 noting signs of damp. The surveyor noted the property met the standard to be considered fit for human habitation. The resident did not pursue the claim to the point of issuing legal proceedings.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. Throughout the complaint and in communication with this Service, the resident said this situation had a detrimental impact on her health and wellbeing and that of her daughter. The courts are the most effective place for disputes about personal injury and illness. This is largely because independent medical experts are appointed to give evidence. They have a duty to the court to provide unbiased insights on the diagnosis, prognosis, and cause of any illness or injury. When disputes arise over the cause of an injury, oral testimony can be examined in court. While the Ombudsman cannot consider the effect on health, consideration has been given to any general distress and inconvenience which the resident experienced because of any service failure by the landlord.
  2. This Service may only investigate complaints that the landlord has had the opportunity to investigate through its internal complaints procedure. In communication with this Service, the resident has said the landlord decanted her for 2 months to complete further works at the property in October 2024. The landlord’s handling of these more recent repairs, including its decision to decant the resident, have not been considered by the landlord as part of its internal complaints procedure. For this reason, this has not been assessed as part of this investigation.
  3. The resident has told this Service that, as of the date of this report, there are ongoing repairs issues at the property, including some related to damp, mould and leaks. As above, this Service may only investigate complaints that the landlord has had the opportunity to investigate. For this reason, this investigation has considered the landlord’s handling of the matters raised in the resident’s initial complaint of January 2023 and referred to in the landlord’s final response of 10 October 2023. Other issues may be mentioned in the report to provide context. We have also made a recommendation for the landlord to clarify if the resident would like to make a new complaint about the landlord’s handling of any of the more recent issues.

The resident’s reports of leaks, damp and mould at the property.

  1. The local authority wrote to the resident on 8 November 2022 noting her refusal of the property on the basis of the presence of damp. It said the landlord had reinspected the property and considered it met its lettable standard. The local authority offered the property to the resident again and explained it would be discharging its duty to rehouse her should she refuse the property. The resident accepted the property and moved in later that month. The landlord has not provided its lettable standard to this Service. However it would be reasonable to conclude that this would include ensuring properties were free from damp, mould and leaks.
  2. The resident reported issues with damp, mould and leaks to the landlord immediately upon moving into the property. Upon inspection in December 2022 the landlord agreed there was an issue with dampness through the walls and 2 suspected roof leaks. In her initial complaint, the resident reiterated that she had initially refused the property on the basis that she could see it was affected by damp. She was disappointed that the landlord had not resolved the issues before she moved in. In failing to complete the required repairs as part of its void process and failing to take the resident’s concerns seriously before she moved in, the landlord missed the opportunity to resolve the issues while the property was empty. Had it done so, it could have minimised the disruption caused to the resident. The landlord did not acknowledge this within its complaint responses and this was a failure. We have ordered the landlord to pay the resident £200 compensation concerning this in line with this Service’s remedies guidance for failures which had a significant impact on the resident.
  3. We have also recommended that the landlord consider the failures of this case against its voids process as a whole and identify any improvements that can be made to prevent similar situations occurring in future.
  4. The landlord’s repairs policy notes it aims to complete all repairs within 28 days. Where this isn’t possible (as may be the case with major roof works) it will agree a timescale with the resident and provide regular updates on this. The resident reported issues with leaks and damp in December 2022 and, despite inspecting the property twice, the landlord did not complete any works until February 2023. There is no evidence of the landlord agreeing this timescale for the works to be complete with the resident and this was inappropriate.
  5. The landlord completed some roofing works in February 2023. However on 9 February 2023 the resident told the landlord that the contractor had not completed all of the works. She said she could still see broken tiles on the roof and the chimney was still leaking. The landlord recalled its roofing contractor based on reports of ongoing leaks in February 2023, May 2023 and October 2023. In its stage 2 response of 10 October 2023 it acknowledged the external works were outstanding and it committed to completing the roofing work by the middle of November 2023. However it appears from the evidence that this work was not completed until January 2024. It was inappropriate that it took the landlord a further 11 months after the initial repair to complete further repair works to the roof. Again, there is no evidence of the landlord agreeing a timescale for these works with the resident. On the contrary, the onus appears to have been on the resident to contact the landlord each time the roof leaked.
  6. Although the landlord did acknowledge and apologise for the delays in completing the roof repairs in its stage 2 response of 10 October 2023, it did not go far enough to put things right. It repeatedly failed to complete the repairs by the deadline it set itself and offered a total of £400 compensation, comprising £300 for the inconvenience caused and £100 for the delayed repairs. Its compensation policy notes that it can make discretionary offers of compensation up to £500 (or over £500 with approval from a Head of Service). Considering the resident had been reporting roof leaks and damp for 10 months at the time of the stage 2 response and the landlord had yet to find a lasting solution, an offer of £500 would have been proportionate to the distress and inconvenience likely incurred by the resident during this time. We have made orders below for an additional £100 compensation to reflect this.
  7. Following on from its stage 2 response in October 2023, the resident continued to report issues with damp, mould and leaks. The landlord received a letter from the resident’s daughter’s school on 4 December 2023. It said the resident had informed them of her housing issues. They said the resident’s daughter had missed school on a number of occasions due to illness which was believed to be caused by the ongoing dampness in the property. The landlord reinspected the property in January 2024 and said that scaffolding was required to do a full check of the roof and chimney which appeared to still be leaking. The landlord also identified that:
    1. All the window gaskets needed replacing as the windows were “allowing the weather in” and making the property cold.
    2. The loft insulation should be checked as there was potential cold bridging causing areas of dampness.
    3. The resident should be provided with a dehumidifier to help manage the mould.
    4. The property could benefit from a mould wash to the affected areas.
  8. This was the first time anything other than the roof repairs had been suggested to improve the resident’s living conditions. Although it is positive that the landlord took these steps, it is unreasonable that it failed to do so at an earlier stage. Especially as it was evidently struggling to fully resolve the roof and chimney leak. This Service published a spotlight report on damp and mould in October 2021 with a list of recommendations for landlords to consider as best practise for managing reports of damp and mould. One of these recommendations encouraged landlords to take steps to mitigate the impact of damp and mould on residents where structural interventions were not feasible. In this case, the landlord failed to take steps to mitigate the impact on the resident until January 2024 and this was a failure. The landlord also did not acknowledge this within its complaint response which was unreasonable. We have therefore ordered the landlord to pay an additional £100 in recognition of this failure.
  9. The landlord’s complaint policy notes it will remain in regular contact with residents if any actions remain outstanding after the complaint is responded to. There is no evidence of the landlord following up with the resident on the outstanding actions following its stage 2 response. There is, however, evidence of the landlord discussing the case internally on a regular basis. These internal emails suggest the landlord was struggling to source contractors who could complete the roofing work in a timely manner. Given the resident’s concern for her daughter’s health, it was unreasonable that the landlord failed to tell the resident about the issues it was having, or at least provide an updated timescale for the completion of the works. Had it done so, it could have explored other options for supporting the family, such as providing a temporary decant or offering further interim mould washes. The landlord did offer compensation for its poor communication around these issues. However we have ordered the landlord to apologise to the resident specifically for failing to consider her potential vulnerability when scheduling the works.
  10. It is positive that the landlord recognised it had failed to find a full and lasting solution to the issues with damp and mould at the property and therefore compensated the resident. However, the landlord repeatedly failed to follow through on the commitments it made in its complaint responses. The resident was also clear that throughout this process all she wanted was for the repairs to be completed urgently. The landlord’s compensation policy notes it may offer an apology or additional services as remedies for complaints. It was inappropriate that the landlord failed to explore what other services it may have been able to offer the resident, such as prioritising the repairs, additional redecoration or a temporary decant, to resolve this complaint.
  11. As outlined above, this investigation has not assessed the period of time following the landlord’s final response. However, it is relevant to note that the resident has told this Service that there are ongoing issues with damp and mould at the property as of the date of this report. She said the works completed to date have not resolved the issue.
  12. There is no evidence of the resident reporting these issues directly to the landlord. However, the resident sought support to resolve the complaint from her MP in April 2024 and a solicitor in July 2024. The landlord was therefore put on notice of the issues again in April 2024. The landlord took the decision to issue a second stage 2 response in July 2024 in recognition of the ongoing delays. This response included a subsequent offer of compensation of £750, making a total of £1,150 offered for repairs failures through all three complaint responses. This is within the range of awards the Ombudsman would recommend for long-term failings that have had a severe and significant impact on the resident. However, the offer was not made until some 17 months after the time of the resident’s complaint. Furthermore, the repair issues were still not fully resolved at the time of issuing this response. Therefore, the landlord failed to effectively put things right, and missed the opportunity to learn lessons from the outcome at the time of its original investigation. Given this, we have therefore found there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the residents reports of leaks, damp and mould at the property.
  13. The resident is encouraged to continue to engage with the landlord to resolve the repairs issues. We have ordered the landlord to complete an up to date property inspection and confirm a plan of action to the resident following this. We have also ordered that the landlord pay the resident an additional £400 compensation, as outlined above, in recognition of the distress and inconvenience likely incurred by the resident as a result of:
    1. Its failure to resolve the issues prior to the resident moving in
    2. Its repeated failure to meet the deadlines it set itself to repair the roof.
    3. Its failure to mitigate the impact of the damp and mould on the resident in the interim.

Complaint handling.

  1. The Ombudsman expects landlords to use complaints as a source of learning to drive service improvements. There is no evidence of the landlord learning from the failures identified in its complaint responses. On the contrary, it continued to make the same mistakes by failing to deliver the service it was promising. Had the landlord identified any learning or improvements to its service through its stage 1 response in February 2023 then it is reasonable to conclude the situation could have been resolved more quickly. The disruption caused to the resident could have been minimised. This was a failure and we have ordered the landlord to apologise to the resident.
  2. In its complaint responses, the landlord acknowledged the delays in issuing its responses as well as its failure to escalate the complaint to stage 2 when the resident requested this. It offered a total of £150 compensation in recognition of this. This amount is within the range of awards made by this Service for this type of service failure and is considered proportionate to the failure identified.
  3. However, the landlord did not resolve the complaint through its stage 1 or 2 responses and the resident escalated the matter to this Service. This Service made a request to the landlord for evidence related to this matter in June 2024. The landlord then issued a second stage 2 response on 23 July 2024. It is unclear from the evidence what prompted this. However, it may be reasonable to conclude that the contact from this Service encouraged the landlord to review its handling of the complaint.
  4. Although it is positive that the landlord reviewed the complaint and offered further compensation, it is a failure that the landlord did not take the opportunity to resolve the complaint fully through its initial management of the complaint. The Complaint Handling Code (the Code) is clear that landlords must only operate a 2-stage process. In offering a second stage 2 response, the landlord failed to act in accordance with the Code. The landlord offered an additional £150 compensation for the delay in resolving the complaint in this second stage 2 response. This is within the range of awards this Service would award for complaint handling delays. Therefore we have not made any further orders for compensation. However due to the additional distress and inconvenience the resident likely incurred as a result of its failures to operate in line with the Code, this investigation has found service failure in the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of leaks, damp and mould at the property.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Provide a written apology to the resident for the failures outlined in this report.
    2. Inspect the property and within 2 weeks of the inspection confirm in writing to the resident and this Service the outcome of the inspection. This written outcome should include a timeline by which any repairs will be completed.
    3. Pay the resident the £1,450 offered through its complaint responses to date, if not already paid.
    4. Pay the resident an additional £400 for the additional distress and inconvenience likely incurred by the resident as a result of its failures in handling the leaks, damp and mould.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord should:
    1. consider how it can better utilise the void period to prevent similar issues like this occurring in the future.
    2. Contact the resident to confirm if she wants to open a new complaint about the ongoing issues at the property.