Swan Housing Association Limited (202211196)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202211196

Swan Housing Association Limited

7 August 2023

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 reports of damp and mould and associated repairs.

Background

2. The resident holds an assured tenancy with the landlord in a one-bedroom second-floor flat. The tenancy commenced on 1 December 2021.
3. There is some indication in the evidence available that while the landlord is reasonable for repairs to the property itself, the local authority has responsibility for any repairs required to the roof and externals of the block. However, the exact arrangements are unclear.
4. On 26 January 2022 the resident reported mould in his bedroom to the landlord and said that water was coming in from outside. The landlord’s contractor (the contractor) attended the property the following day and noted that the council was erecting scaffolding to the whole of the block. The contractor advised the resident to call and make a new appointment if there was still an issue after the scaffold works were completed.
5. On 20 April 2022 the resident informed the landlord that there was still mould in the bedroom and outstanding repairs, including cracks in the walls around the living room and bedroom windows. He said that the scaffolding was removed on 6 April 2022 and that he was told that repairs could not be carried out until the scaffolding was removed. The landlord subsequently transferred the resident to its contractor to arrange an appointment for the outstanding works.
6. On 27 April 2022 the resident raised a complaint with the landlord. In summary, he said that he had noticed several repair issues when he moved into the property in December 2021. He was told by the contractor that they were no longer dealing with his repairs and that the council would fix them. He explained that the scaffolding should not affect the repairs being carried out and questioned why some repairs would take so long. As a resolution to his complaint, he wanted the landlord to acknowledge that he had been ‘treated awfully’ and for the repairs to be carried out promptly.
7. On 5 May 2022 the landlord responded to the complaint at stage 1 of its complaints process. In summary, the response said:
   1. It attended on 28 April 2022 where it identified that all the trickle vents were jammed which was causing mould. The vents were released, and draught tape was added to the gaps.
   2. It had scheduled an appointment for 24 May 2022 to inspect the damp and mould within the bedroom and across the walls and ceiling and it had recommended a mould wash.
   3. It had made an appointment with a specialist for 1 June 2022 for the gap showing across the bottom of his front door.
   4. It apologised for passing him around, not taking ownership of the repairs, and for any distress or inconvenience caused.
8. The resident escalated his complaint on 12 May 2022. In summary, he said that the mould was coming from inside the cracks and holes around his windows and disagreed that the trickle vents were a cause of the mould. He felt that he was being blamed for this and was upset that the landlord had not acknowledged that he had originally reported these issues in December 2021 and January 2022. He was also unhappy that the operative had suggested that the council would resolve his internal repairs when they visited his property in January 2022.
9. On 15 June 2022 the landlord issued its final response. In summary, its response said:
   1. It acknowledged it had not completed a survey of his window and the surrounding areas and that the repair that was carried out had not resolved the issue.
   2. It apologised that he felt it had insinuated that he was at fault.
   3. A full condition survey was required of his windows and the surrounding areas, and a surveyor would contact him to arrange this and identify what work was needed.
10. On 25 August 2022 the resident referred his complaint to this service. He said that, following cracks around his windows and ceiling, the property had developed mould and the landlord had not done anything to fix the issues. He explained that he had to wait over a month for a roofer to come out who failed to resolve the issue. Additionally, he said that the contractor had missed numerous appointments or that when they did attend, they had failed to undertake repairs. He said he felt ‘repeatedly dismissed and disrespected’. As a resolution, he wanted extensive repairs carried out to his property and an apology from the landlord.
11. In June 2023, following a survey of the resident’s property, the landlord filled in the cracks in the bathroom and in the hallway walls and ceilings. Additionally, it mould-washed and decorated the affected areas and painted the bedroom ceiling. The landlord also awarded £500 compensation to the resident.
12. Recently the resident informed this service that there is still damp and mould in his property and that the landlord has not dealt with the cause of this. He said that the landlord informed him that it would erect scaffolding and carry out the required work, but this was yet to happen.

Assessment and findings

13. When investigating a complaint, the Ombudsman applies its Dispute Resolution Principles. These are high level good practice guidance developed from the Ombudsman’s experience of resolving disputes, for use by everyone involved in the complaints process. There are only three principles driving effective dispute resolution:

a.  Be fair – treat people fairly and follow fair processes; 

b.  Put things right, and; 

c.  Learn from outcomes. 

14. The Ombudsman must first consider whether a failing on the part of the landlord occurred, and if so, whether this led to any adverse effect or detriment to the resident. If it is found that a failing did lead to an adverse effect, the investigation will then consider whether the landlord has taken enough action to ‘put things right’ and ‘learn from outcomes’.
15. The landlord’s maintenance repairs policy states that it will complete standard repairs within 15 working days, with the aim that repairs should be fixed during the operative’s first visit wherever possible.
16. The Ombudsman would reasonably expect that on receiving reports of mould, the landlord should respond, arrange an inspection and investigate to determine the causes of damp and mould and, if necessary, carry out remedial repairs within a reasonable timescale.
17. The Ombudsman notes that the resident stated that he first reported repair issues after moving into his property in December 2021. The landlord has provided this service with its repair logs during this period and there is no evidence to reconcile this, however, the landlord failed to address this as part of the resident’s complaint in its formal responses. This was a failure on the part of the landlord that would have caused frustration to the resident.
18. The landlord’s records showed that the first report of damp and mould was made on 26 January 2022. While the contractor attended the next day it did not investigate the issue. The contractor noted that there was scaffolding erected around the block of flats and advised the resident that he could make a new appointment if the problem persisted. This advice was inappropriate, and the landlord failed to act in line with its policy. The landlord should have investigated the issue at that time to try and identify the cause of the mould and carry out any repairs. This failure on the landlord’s part caused delays in getting matters resolved and would have caused stress and inconvenience to the resident.
19. Following the resident’s April 2022 formal complaint, the contractor attended the resident’s property the next day where they identified black mould around the windows and ceiling. It was found that the bedroom trickle vents were jammed and, therefore eased them so air could access the property. They also carried out various minor repairs to the windows. This was a reasonable response to the resident’s concerns and the landlord acted in line with its policy in this regard.
20. However, the appointment on 24 May 2022 as referred to in the landlord’s stage one response, to inspect the damp and mould and carry out a mould wash, did not happen. The contractor did attend the property on this date but had to rebook the appointment as they needed more time. The landlord’s records indicated that the mould wash was finally completed on 12 July 2022. This was an unreasonable and avoidable delay. This was also a missed opportunity to inspect the property and to try and locate the cause of the damp and mould. This would have caused further distress and inconvenience to the resident.
21. The landlord acknowledged in its final response that a survey of the windows and the surrounding areas would be required. The landlord records indicated it surveyed the windows shortly afterwards on 20 June 2022, where it identified additional repair works were needed. These repairs were completed on 11 July 2022. It is unclear why it took the landlord almost three months to complete the repairs to the windows. The Ombudsman has seen an internal email from the landlord that concluded that it should have asked a surveyor to attend much earlier. However, the landlord failed to adequately acknowledge or apologise for this failure in its final response.
22. Moreover, there was no evidence that the landlord had surveyed the property to identify the root cause of the damp and mould. Given the resident had first reported this issue in January 2022 where he had mentioned that water was coming from outside, this was unacceptable. The landlord failed to survey the property within a reasonable timescale and failed to acknowledge or apologise for the considerable delays in addressing the mould issue.
23. It was not until July 2022 that the landlord considered that there could be an issue with the roof of the property. The landlord subsequently carried out repairs to the roof at some stage after 1 September 2022. However, these repairs proved unsuccessful.
24. The landlord’s records indicated that following further reports from the resident of damp and mould it carried out a damp and mould survey of the property at the beginning of January 2023. The surveyor stated in an internal email that there was water ingress from the rear external wall and ceiling and that the responsibility to repair this would lay with the council who managed the block. The surveyor asked the contractor to contact the council to inspect and complete any remedial works to the roof before any internal repairs to the resident’s property were completed. Although the landlord’s records suggested that it had contacted the council, the Ombudsman has not seen evidence to reconcile this. In any case, given the considerable delays in resolving the matter, the landlord failed to show any level of urgency in this regard.
25. The Ombudsman has however seen evidence that the landlord contacted the council on 14 June 2023where they responded the following dayand informed the landlord that they had instructedtheircontractor to investigate the matter.
26. The landlord very recently tried to ‘put things’ right for the resident by carrying out an additional survey of his property, completing further repairs, decorating the affected areas, and offering compensation. However, the Ombudsman considers that this does not go far enough.
27. The Housing Ombudsman’s Spotlight report on damp and mould outlines that ‘landlords should recognise that issues can have an ongoing detrimental impact on the health and well-being of the resident and should therefore be responded to in a timely manner’. It continues that ‘landlords should consider appropriate timescales for their responses to reflect the urgency of the case and set these out clearly to manage resident’s expectations’. In this case, the resident has been left exposed to damp and mould in his property for a prolonged period because of the landlord’s inability to investigate the issue satisfactorily. Further, it is unclear if the root cause for the mould and damp has been identified and subsequently repaired.
28. The contractor attended to repairs broadly in line with the landlord’s policy timescales and while there was no evidence of missed appointments, the resident consistently informed the landlord that the repairs and damp and mould issues remained unresolved. This should have, therefore, prompted the landlord to carry out a survey of the property much sooner. While its records indicated that it surveyed the resident’s windows in June 2022, it took the landlord almost 12 months to carry out a damp and mould survey. The landlord should have taken robust action at an early stage to try and identify the cause of the damp and mould. In these circumstances, it would have been appropriate for the landlord to have engaged a qualified contractor that specialised in damp and mould to carry out a survey and make recommendations to resolve. Its failure to do so led to continued unsuccessful visits to the property. The Ombudsman considers this a significant failure.
29. Overall, the landlord’s handling of the damp and mould and associated repairs in the property was poor. There were a series of failures that had a detrimental impact on the resident and the Ombudsman considers that the landlord’s offer of £500 compensation is not proportionate to redress the significant failures identified in this report. Furthermore, due to the landlord’s delay in carrying out a survey of the property, the resident has lived with damp and mould for a prolonged period. The landlord did not consider the distress and inconvenience caused by this, or the potential health implications of mould.
30. This amounts to maladministration from the landlord. In line with this service’s remedies guidance awards of between £600 to £1,000 compensation should be made where the Ombudsman has found failure which significantly impacted the resident. In view of this, orders are made below for remedy.
31. The resident has recently informed this service that his front door is now warped, and a recommendation is made below, in respect of this.

Determination

32. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration regarding the landlord’s handling of reports of damp and mould and associated repairs.

Orders

33. The landlord must, within the next four weeks:
    1. Apologise to the resident in writing for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident £1,000 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of reports of damp and mould and associated repairs.
    3. The landlord must review the failings identified in this report, to determine what action has been/will be taken to prevent a recurrence of these. The landlord should write to the Ombudsman with the outcome of this review.
    4. Provide an action plan to the resident and this service on what it intends to do to resolve the damp and mould in his property, including timescales (and then adhere to these). The landlord should consider whether it is appropriate to engage an independent damp specialist to inspect the property and report on the causes of any ongoing damp and mould.
    5. The landlord to provide an update to the resident regarding timescales when repairs work to the roof will be completed. The Ombudsman acknowledges that the roof repairs may be outside of the landlord’s control, however, it should monitor progress and keep the resident updated.

Recommendations

34. It is recommended that the landlord inspect his property and carry out any outstanding repairs to his front door within the timescales set out in its repairs policy.
35. It is recommended the landlord read the Ombudsman’s Spotlight report on damp and mould that was published in October 2021.
36. It is recommended that the landlord adopt its own damp and mould policy.