Two Rivers Housing (202127822)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202127822

Two Rivers Housing

15 December 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 the resident’s reports of damp and mould at the property and the replacement of a broken window.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord.
  2. On 14 December 2021, the resident submitted a complaint to the landlord. She explained that she had been waiting for the landlord to rectify the severe black mould at her property. She stated that she first reported the issue with the damp and mould in 2019, but there were delays due to the effect of COVID-19 on the landlord’s service. She stated the landlord’s surveyor visited her property in March 2021 but since the visit no repairs had been booked in or carried out.
  3. The landlord provided its stage one complaint response to the resident on 31 December 2021. It explained that its contractors attended the resident’s property on 23 December 2021 to clean and treat the mould. The landlord also stated that it had planned to replace the broken window, but this was not possible as the supplier was not able to provide the required materials. It explained that it had booked another appointment for 21 January 2022 for the window to be replaced. The landlord offered the resident £50 compensation for its delay in resolving the damp and mould issue at the resident’s property.
  4. On 16 February 2022, the resident contacted the landlord and requested her complaint to be escalated to the next stage of the landlord’s complaints process. The resident explained that a repair job had not been booked to complete repairs to the loft insulation which had been a contributing factor to the mould. She stated that it had taken the landlord a long time to resolve the damp and mould at the property.
  5. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 17 March 2022. It explained that it arranged for its specialist cleaning contractor, to attend on 1 March 2022, to review what works were required. The landlord also stated that it carried out works on 2 March 2022 at the resident’s property which included renewing the bathroom extractor fan, resealing the windows, and renewing the friction hinges on the windows. It also explained that it had planned to repair the loft insulation. However, it was unable to complete this as it was identified that the insulation had been installed incorrectly. To resolve the complaint, the landlord offered the resident compensation which included £192 reimbursement for the air tests which the resident paid to be carried out at the property, redecoration of the two bedrooms affected by damp and mould and £150 compensation to recognise the difficulties the resident experienced.
  6. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and submitted her complaint to the Ombudsman. She stated that her desired outcome was to receive an increased amount of compensation for the distress and disruption.
  7. Since the resident submitted her complaint to the landlord, she has moved to another property owned by the landlord. The resident confirmed with the Ombudsman that the move happened around July 2023.
  8. On 17 November 2023, the landlord carried out an additional review of the resident’s complaint and provided the resident with a further increased offer of compensation of £5625 for errors in its handling of the damp and mould at the resident’s property.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident raised concerns that damp and mould had been an issue at the property since 2019. The Ombudsman does not doubt the resident’s comments about the length of time the issue has been ongoing for. However, there is no evidence of a formal complaint being raised until December 2021. In view of the time periods involved in this case and considering the availability and reliability of evidence, this report will not consider any specific events approximately more than 6 months prior to when the resident submitted her complaint in December 2021. This is because paragraph 42(c) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (available on our website), explains that this service may not investigate complaints that were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period, normally within 6 months of the matters arising.
  2. The resident has mentioned as part of her complaint that the landlord’s contractor cleaning the mould affected areas at the property, impacted her daughter’s health and stated that her doctor had to treat her with an emergency course of steroids. This service does not doubt the resident’s comments about her child’s injuries. However, it is outside the Ombudsman’s role to determine whether there is a direct link between the landlord’s actions or inaction and any specific impact on the resident and her family’s health. It would be more appropriately suited for a court or liability insurer to investigate a personal injury claim. Courts can award damages in a different way to the Ombudsman and review medical evidence. However, it is generally accepted that damp and mould can pose a significant risk to health. This service can consider the general risk as well as any distress and inconvenience caused by any errors by the landlord and the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about her daughter’s injuries.

Policies and Procedures

  1. The landlord’s tenant handbook includes information about repairs. It explains that it will respond to an emergency repair within two hours of the repair being reported to make the situation safe and try and complete any additional works to resolve the repair within 24 hours. The handbook also states that the landlord will respond to an urgent repair within 5 working days and a routine repair 20 working days.
  2. The tenant handbook also states a routine repair can include repairs to plasterwork less than 1 square meter and repairs to the bathroom or kitchen extractor fan.
  3. The landlord has confirmed in correspondence sent to the Ombudsman in November 2023 that it is currently reviewing its damp and mould process and will be creating a damp and mould policy.

Assessment

  1. The resident submitted a complaint to the landlord about damp and mould within the property in December 2021. However, the Ombudsman has noted from the records, for contextual reasons, that there has been damp and mould issues at the resident’s property since 2019. The Ombudsman recognises that in March 2021, the landlord’s surveyor visited and inspected the damp and mould at the resident’s property. However, following the inspection, the landlord did not book in any works until after the resident submitted her complaint.
  1. Following the resident’s complaint submission sent to the landlord on 14 December 2021, the landlord arranged for its contractor to attend the resident’s property to clean and treat the mould on 23 December 2021. Therefore, the landlord responded promptly following the receipt of the resident’s complaint to attempt to treat the damp and mould.
  2. In addition, the landlord also arranged for the glass to be replaced for the broken window. The landlord has confirmed that the window was replaced on 22 January 2022. The landlord acknowledged in its stage one response that there was a delay in replacing the window and explained that this was due to the supplier not having the right materials available. It is acknowledged that window glass can take a while to be replaced as it requires measurement and, on some occasions, may need to be ordered depending on the speciality of the glass. Therefore, the Ombudsman believes the landlord responded reasonably in replacing the resident’s broken window.
  3. Although the landlord cleaned the mould, it affected areas at the resident’s property. Further works were still required to resolve the damp and mould issue at the property. The landlord arranged for a specialist cleaning contractor to inspect the resident’s property on 1 March 2022. In addition, the landlord also carried out works to renew the bathroom extractor fan, reseal the windows and replace the friction hinges on the windows. The landlord’s response time to carry out the additional works was late and not compliant with the repair timescales referenced in the tenant handbook.
  4. In February 2022, the resident carried out air tests inside her property. The Ombudsman recognises that the air tests were not carried out by a professional. However, the test results did indicate that there was a significant amount of mould found in the ambient air, and it was advised that the resident or her family should not stay in the affected rooms for long periods of time. In addition, the resident emailed the landlord on 16 February 2022 stating that herself and her young children were sleeping in the living room and had been for around 2 months. It is recognised that it must have been a very difficult and distressing time for the resident and her children not being able to use the bedrooms. The Ombudsman would have expected the landlord to take further action than it did at that point. It would have been appropriate to consider decanting (temporarily moving) the resident and her family to alternative accommodations whilst works were carried out to resolve the damp and mould. The landlord did acknowledge in its recent review of the complaint that it had failed to do this and explained it would have been appropriate for it to consider a decant at the time.
  1. The landlord had also agreed to repair the loft insulation in March 2022. However, this was not completed as it was identified by the landlord’s contractor that the existing loft insulation had not been installed in line with building regulations and building standards. In addition, the landlord also agreed in its stage 2 response that it would arrange for a thermal imaging survey to help identify the cause of the damp. The thermal imaging survey was completed in August 2022, but the contractor was only able to take external images as he was unable to access the property. Overall, it took around 3 months for the landlord to carry out the thermal imaging survey. The delay was unreasonable, particularly as the resident had informed the landlord that herself and her young children were sleeping in the living room due to the severity of the damp and mould in both of the bedrooms.
  2. The contractor recommended that a new survey should be rebooked for when he can gain access to the inside of the property. However, from the records provided, it is unclear whether this was rebooked. At the beginning of August 2022, the landlord contacted the resident and recommended that it carry out works to replace the ceiling and replaster the walls in the bedrooms. The landlord believed this would be the final remedial works required to resolve the damp and mould at the property. The landlord has stated that, the resident would not agree to these works. This service has spoken with the resident, and she confirmed that she did decline the works as she believed it would cause too much disruption. Whilst we are not questioning the resident’s reasons for declining the works, the Ombudsman acknowledges that this was outside of the landlord’s control, and it is recognised that it would have been unable to carry out any further action from this point.
  3. However, the overall length of time it took for the landlord to complete the other agreed works was unreasonable. As mentioned previously, the landlord’s surveyor inspected the resident’s property in March 2021. However, works were not carried out until December 2021, March 2022, and August 2022. It is recognised that some of the delay would have been due to COVID-19 restrictions which would have been outside the landlord’s control. However, after the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, the landlord still failed to complete the required works in a reasonable timescale, which eventually resulted in the resident and her young children being unable to use both bedrooms at the property.
  4. The resident contacted the landlord in April 2023 requesting if she could move property. Although the landlord had carried out works to help resolve the damp and mould and attempted to carry out further works at the property, the landlord agreed to permanently move the resident to another property as a gesture of goodwill. The resident moved to a different property around June/July 2023. Therefore, no works are outstanding in relation to the damp and mould.
  5. The landlord acknowledged during its own internal complaints process that there had been delays in resolving the damp and mould at the resident’s property. The landlord apologised to the resident in its stage 2 complaint response for the delay and inconvenience. The landlord initially offered the resident compensation in its stage 2 complaint response, which included £192 reimbursement for the air tests which the resident paid to be carried out at the property, redecoration of the two bedrooms and £150 compensation to recognise the difficulties the resident experienced.
  6. On 17 November 2023, the landlord wrote to the resident following an updated review of her complaint and offered a further increased compensation offer of £5625 relating to the damp and mould. The offer included a 50% rent reduction between March 2021 and March 2022 when the resident experienced damp and mould, reimbursement for the money the resident spent on air tests. In addition, the offer was to recognise the distress and inconvenience the resident experienced with delays and having to clean the property due to the damp and mould. It explained in its offer letter that approximately £1860 of the compensation would be paid to the resident’s rent arrears and then the remaining £3765 would be paid directly to the resident. The Ombudsman’s approach is that compensation should be paid directly to the resident and not towards arrears. Therefore, the landlord should pay the compensation of £5625 directly the to the resident. In addition, for contextual reasons, the landlord also offered not to recharge £409 to the resident for garden clearance which was carried out by the landlord when the resident moved property. However, this is a separate issue and not related to the damp and mould. Therefore, this arrangement has not been included in the Ombudsman’s assessment of the landlord’s compensation offer in respect of the damp and mould.
  7. The Ombudsman acknowledges that the landlord not completing the agreed works to resolve the damp and mould issue was unreasonable and would have caused the resident significant distress. However, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, the increased compensation offer of £5625 offered by the landlord is reasonable and more than the Ombudsman would have awarded in this case if the landlord had not already made an offer. The amount of compensation offered by the landlord is compliant with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance (published on our website), which sets out the Ombudsman’s approach to compensation. The remedies guidance suggests awards of £1000 or more where there has been a serious failure by the landlord which had a significant and potentially long-term impact on the resident.
  8. The Ombudsman recognises that the landlord identified that there was a failure in its handling of the damp and mould at the resident’s property and ultimately offered appropriate redress for this. However, the increased compensation of £5625 was only recently offered to the resident on 17 November 2023. It is the Ombudsman’s role to consider the landlord’s handling of complaints through its internal complaints process and in assessing this we consider the reasonableness of any offers made during the complaints process. Where a landlord makes a reasonable offer of compensation after the end of its complaints process, the Ombudsman may make a finding of service failure or maladministration by the landlord as the offer should have been made during the complaints process.
  9. In this case, the works to resolve the damp and mould at the property have been completed. However, considering the length of time it took the landlord to resolve the damp and mould at the property and the offer of £5625 compensation was made to the resident after the complaints process ended. There has been maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould at the property and the replacement of a broken window.

Determination (decision)

  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 damp and mould at the property and the replacement of a broken window.

Orders

  1. If it has not already done so, the landlord to pay the resident £5625 compensation it has offered in correspondence dated 17 November 2023, for its handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould at the property and the replacement of a broken window. In line with our service’s established approach, the compensation awarded by the Ombudsman should not be credited to the resident’s rent account or arrears and should instead be paid to her directly.
  2. The landlord should provide evidence of compliance with the above order within five weeks of the date of this report.