The Guinness Partnership Limited (202344110)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202344110

The Guinness Partnership Limited

1 October 2024


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 repairs and damp and mould in the resident’s property, and its handling of the associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord of a top floor flat.
  2. The resident contacted the landlord to report damp and mould and a leak from the loft in November 2023. The resident raised a complaint on 8 January 2024 about the landlord’s response to these issues. Within her complaint, the resident also raised that the landlord had not replaced an extractor fan or carried out plastering works which it had agreed to do following a previous complaint that she had made in June 2023. The resident said that her and her son have asthma, and the damp and mould in the property was affecting their health.
  3. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 22 January 2024. The landlord stated that it initially responded to the reports of a leak within 24 hours and identified that further investigation was required. The landlord said that the online system it uses to arrange follow-on works was down at the time of the visit, and so further works had not been arranged. The landlord upheld the complaint and found that it should have proactively reached out to its repairs team to report the follow-on works. The landlord apologised that its internal communication was poor and said that it had taken action to address this issue. It stated that it had arranged further repairs to address the damp and mould, which included roofers to attend to assess the leak, a new extractor fan in the bathroom and re-plastering in the kitchen. The landlord offered the resident £50 compensation for the time, trouble and inconvenience caused by the repairs delays between November 2023 and January 2024.
  4. The resident escalated her complaint on 23 January 2024 and stated that she did not accept the landlord’s compensation offer. The resident said that she had raised a previous complaint and had been offered compensation, but the repairs had still not been carried out.
  5. The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 28 February 2024. The landlord found that it had not completed repairs to the kitchen wall and extractor fan that it had agreed to do following a previous complaint by the resident. Regarding the leak and damp and mould that the resident reported in November 2023, the landlord stated that an inspection took place on 11 January 2024 which identified that the leak was coming from an extractor fan pipe located in the loft space. The landlord said that an appointment had been scheduled for 11 March 2024 to install a new roof vent, following which the bathroom extractor fan would be replaced. The landlord concluded that, at stage 1, it had failed to acknowledge that some of the concerns raised by the resident were issues that it had previously promised to rectify following a prior complaint and that there were delays in completing these outstanding repairs. The landlord apologised and offered the resident £225 compensation, inclusive of the £50 offered at stage 1. This was made up as follows:
    1. £150 for time, trouble and inconvenience,
    2. £50 for poor communication,
    3. £25 for delays escalating the stage 1 complaint.
  6. The resident referred her complaint to the Ombudsman in March 2024. On 10 June 2024 the resident informed the Ombudsman that repairs had taken place but that the length of time taken to complete the repairs should be investigated. The resident stated that mould was still present in the property, and that she had heard nothing from the landlord despite it telling her it would attend to clear the mould. As a resolution to the complaint, the resident said that the landlord should resolve the damp issue, carry out remedial works to remove the mould and increase the compensation.
  7. The landlord wrote to the resident on 28 August 2024 and stated that following the complaint being accepted for investigation by the Ombudsman, it had identified failures in how it handled her concerns. It said that there were unreasonable delays in identifying and resolving the cause of the water ingress and that it should have been more proactive in finding a resolution. The landlord offered the resident an additional £1,000 compensation, made up as follows:
    1. £800 for the impact and inconvenience caused,
    2. £200 for poor communication and failed promises.
  8. On 19 September 2024 the resident informed the Ombudsman that there was still damp and mould in the property, damage to the bathroom ceiling and a hole in the bedroom ceiling that had been caused by the leak. She stated that she wanted to move properties due to the damp and mould and that she was concerned about her and her son’s health.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident raised a previous complaint in 2023 about the landlord’s handing of repairs and damp and mould. The landlord provided a complaint response in August 2023. In its complaint response, the landlord said that it would carry out certain repairs including roofing works, installing a new extractor fan and re-plastering a kitchen wall. The resident made a new complaint in January 2024 and the landlord provided stage 1 and 2 complaint responses. The scope of this investigation will not cover the 2023 complaint. It is unclear whether this complaint progressed to stage 2 of the complaints process. In accordance with the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which are made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaints procedure. However, consideration will be given to the extractor fan and plastering repairs as these have been considered by the landlord within the most recent complaint responses.

The landlord’s handling of repairs and damp and mould.

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy states that it will respond to emergency repairs within 24 hours and routine repairs within 28 calendar days. The landlord’s damp and mould policy states that it will take responsibility for diagnosing and resolving damp and mould in a timely and effective way where they result from issues that require repair.
  2. In its 28 February 2024 stage 2 complaint response, the landlord stated that within its response to the resident’s previous complaint, it had advised the resident that the bathroom extractor fan would be replaced and the kitchen wall would be re-plastered once all roofing works were completed. It said that the roofing works were completed in October 2023, but that it had not completed the extractor fan renewal or re-plastering, as promised.
  3. The landlord said that a further appointment had been scheduled for 11 March 2024 for its roofer and electrician to attend. The evidence indicates that the extractor fan was replaced on 3 April 2024, and that the plastering had been completed on 23 January 2024
  4. It is clear that the landlord did not act in line with the 28-day timeframe for responding to routine repairs within its repairs policy, and it did not take the actions it said it would as part of its previous complaint response. It is unreasonable that these actions were only completed after the resident raised a new complaint. The landlord made attempts to put things right by identifying this failing, rectifying the issues and offering compensation to the resident. The amount of compensation offered has been discussed further below.
  5. In November 2023, the resident reported damp and mould and a further leak from the loft into the bedrooms. The evidence indicates that the landlord attended on 29 November 2023 however, there are no notes of this appointment. As outlined above, the landlord explained how this failing occurred and that learning has been taken as a result of this. Again, it is unreasonable that no further action was taken to address the leak until the resident raised a complaint on 8 January 2024. The cause of the leak was identified during an appointment on 14 February 2024 and it was determined that a roof vent needed to be installed above the current extractor fan in the bathroom. The evidence reflects that this was carried out on 11 March 2024, which appears to have resolved the issue.
  6. It is clear that the resident has reported damp and mould to the landlord on several occasions. The delays in the landlord responding to the resident’s November 2023 reports of a leak are likely to have exacerbated the damp and mould. While the landlord has now identified and repaired the cause of the leak and replaced the extractor fan, the resident has reported that there is still damp and mould in the property. It is unclear whether the resident has made any further reports to the landlord about the damp and mould following the last repairs appointment. However, from viewing the evidence provided, there is no indication that the landlord took action to remedy the mould following the works to repair the leak and install the extractor fan, which it ought to have done. This indicates a failing to resolve the issue in a timely manner.
  7. The resident informed the Ombudsman that damage to the bathroom and bedroom ceilings had not been repaired. The landlord did not comment on these repairs within its stage 2 complaint response. The evidence indicates that on 3 November 2023 the resident informed the landlord that parts of the bathroom ceiling were hanging down due to steam damage and ongoing damp and mould. In her January 2024 complaint, the resident again said that the ceiling was hanging down and also reported that an operative made a hole in the bedroom ceiling during an inspection of the leak.
  8. The landlord ought to have responded to these repairs issues within its stage 2 response. It is unclear whether any further inspections of these repairs have taken place following the stage 2 response. However, it appears that these issues remain outstanding and this therefore indicates a failure by the landlord to address all of the repairs issues. 
  9. Overall, the landlord acted appropriately by identifying its failings and offering redress. However, as some of the repairs remain outstanding and the damp and mould has not been resolved, a finding of service failure has been made.
  10. Where there are failings by a landlord, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether suitable remedies have been offered in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: be fair, put things right, and learn from outcomes.
  11. The landlord made efforts to put things right by offering the resident a total of £1,225 compensation. This amount is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance which recommends amounts of over £1,000 when there have been serious failings by the landlord. However, £1,000 of the overall amount was offered after the landlord’s final complaint response. While it is positive that the landlord reconsidered its position and made an additional offer of redress, it is not clear why the landlord did not make this offer when considering the complaint within its own complaint procedure, rather than some 6 months after its stage 2 reply.
  12. The Ombudsman does not consider the landlord’s offer as reasonable redress because the offer was made after the Ombudsman accepted the resident’s complaint for investigation. This is because our investigation is focused on the landlord’s handling of the complaint through its complaints process and whether it did enough to resolve the complaint through its complaints process. If the landlord failed to fully resolve the complaint through its complaints process, the Ombudsman will make a finding of service failure or maladministration depending upon the extent of the landlord’s failings and how these affected the resident.
  13. The Ombudsman has therefore found that there was service failure regarding how the landlord handled the associated complaint. However, we have not ordered additional compensation as the £1,250 already offered by the landlord is proportionate to put things right.
  14. The landlord has also demonstrated that it has improved how it deals with repairs and that the findings of the complaint had been shared with relevant managers for discussion. While this supports that the landlord has taken positive steps, the evidence indicates that the repairs remained outstanding which suggests that further learning may be necessary. An order has been made in this regard below.
  15. The landlord should ensure that the outstanding repairs are resolved, and an order has been made below in this regard. It is acknowledged that the resident wishes to move properties due to the damp and mould. A further order has been made below for the landlord to provide relevant advice and guidance to the resident on moving properties.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord regarding its handling of the repairs and damp and mould in the resident’s property, and its handling of the associated complaint.

Orders

  1. If it has not already done so, within 4 weeks, the landlord must pay the resident the £1,225 compensation already offered.
  2. Within 6 weeks, the landlord must carry out an inspection of the bedroom and bathroom ceilings and the damp and mould in the property, and complete any repairs required to resolve these issues. The landlord must inform the Ombudsman when the repairs have been completed.
  3. Within 4 weeks, the landlord must provide advice and guidance to the resident on her options for moving properties.
  4. Within 4 weeks, the landlord must review its handling of the repairs and establish why the ongoing delays have occurred. Consideration should be given to whether any additional learning can be implemented.
  5. The landlord should provide evidence of compliance with these orders to the Ombudsman within the timeframes stipulated.