London & Quadrant H T (201908371)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 201908371

London & Quadrant H T

9 December 2020

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 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 tenant has complained that:
1. The landlord took too long to investigate their reports of damp.
2. The landlord has not completed all the repairs that resulted from the reports of damp.

Background and summary of events

The tenant complained to the Housing Ombudsman in September 2019 that the damp in the property meant they had to keep the windows open, including in winter, and that there was a constant smell. They explained the surveyors had visited but that the problem persisted.
The landlord has provided the repair records. These show damp inspections, repairs to plasterwork and walls, mould wash, air brick installation, and repairs to guttering 2015-2018. Therefore it is not in dispute that there has been an ongoing series of repairs in response to reported damp. The Housing Ombudsman Service asks that tenants raise complaints within 6 months of an issue occurring, so that any investigation by the landlord can be effective. Therefore this repairs history is important context, but the assessment will focus on the reports and responses in 2019 and 2020, given the timing of the formal complaint.
The landlord responded at stage 1 of its complaint process in October 2019. It noted the installation of passive air vents in July 2019 following an earlier assessment. From the repairs records:
1. Air bricks were ordered in October 2018 and installed in July 2019
2. There are no other works (or requests from the tenant recorded in the logs) in 2019 relating to damp
At the time of the stage 1 response the landlord also ordered repairs to the guttering and arranged an independent damp survey of the property. It also apologised for the time taken to install the vents and the poor communication.
The damp survey and a damp proofing injection to the ground floor were completed in January 2020.
The tenant contacted the Housing Ombudsman Service in February 2020 to explain while some works had been completed, most had not. They did not specify which works they considered incomplete.
The landlord (both complaint and surveyor staff) visited the property in February and provided its final response to the complaint (including photographs from the visit) in March 2020. The landlord concluded that the damp issue had largely been resolved and so it closed the complaint. In particular:
1. Damp readings and photographs were taken of the communal floor/subfloor, walls to the living room entrance and bay window, and chimney breast but no damp was found during the visit
2. A gap at the bay window was small enough to be considered a gap to be filled when decorating, and typical for the age of the property
3. Ivy had been removed and the guttering repaired. The affected render to the exterior wall had been repaired. The affected internal wall as therefore expected to dry out and could then be decorated
4. The damp proofing course was completed to help the chimney breast. Once it had dried out it would be ‘hacked back’ and plastered.
5. As no damp was found in the chimney breast or its vent cover, the landlord would not excavate the flooring as requested as it expected any damp to dry out following the damp proofing injection.
Therefore from the final response the landlord’s position was that only the chimney plastering had not been completed. The landlord has provided repair records up to June 2020. These do not show any plastering or similar to the chimney breast however.
The tenant contacted the Housing Ombudsman Service in April to explain ‘rendering’ had not been started. The landlord’s repair records show that rendering to the exterior had been completed, so it is not clear if this complaint referred to those works of the plastering due to the chimney breast. At the time of this contact the first Covid lockdown was in place. As such the Housing Ombudsman Service advised the tenant of the information on the landlord’s website – that it was only completing emergency repairs, and the tenant should contact the landlord again when restrictions were changed.
The tenant contacted the Housing Ombudsman Service in September 2020 to state that no works had been completed. Lockdown restrictions were eased in June/July 2020. It is reasonable to assume at that time there would have been a significant backlog of repairs that the landlord had to manage and prioritise.

Assessment

There was a failure in the landlord’s earlier response to the reports of damp. This was acknowledged in the landlord’s stage 1 response. However given there was an accepted need for repairs due to damp (further confirmed by the later survey), it was unreasonable for the airbrick installation to take 9 months. The landlord has apologised for this delay but it has not offered and redress for the inconvenience caused.
The landlord responded to the September 2019 complaint by arranging the appropriate inspection and recommend works. The internal emails show these works were prioritised by the landlord. The final response explained how the specific issues that had been raised had been investigated and dealt with. The following correspondence from the tenant that continued to complain about incomplete works did not specify which works remained outstanding.
There was a further delay in completing the final repair job (chimney breast plastering) that resulted from the complaint investigation. There is insufficient evidence to say that the promised plastering to the chimney breast had been completed at the time the complaint was raised with the Housing Ombudsman Service for investigation.
There were however mitigating factors, given the impact of the Covid pandemic and the lockdown on the landlord’s ability to arrange repair visits.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 55 of the Housing Ombudsman Service there was:
1. Service failure in the landlord’s earlier response to the damp as it did not offer any redress for the 9 month repair delay
2. No maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the repairs that resulted from the formal complaint investigation

Orders and recommendations

As a result of the determination above the landlord has been order to, within 4 weeks:
1. Pay the tenant £150 to acknowledge the inconvenience caused by the delayed airbrick works
2. Contact the tenant to: confirm which specific works the tenant believes to be outstanding and to then provide a response to these; and provide an update on the chimney breast plastering work promised in the final response