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Silva Homes Limited (202205197)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202205197

Silva Homes Limited

13 November 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
    1. The resident’s reports of damp and mould within the property.
    2. The associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord.
  2. On 8 March 2022, the resident submitted a complaint to the landlord. She explained that condensation was constantly dripping off the ventilation pipe which was installed by the landlord’s contractor. She stated that it had caused huge amounts of black mould on the walls which she could not remove despite constant ventilation and repeated cleaning and treatments.
  3. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 22 April 2022. It explained that it arranged for a damp specialist contractor to inspect the resident’s property on 17 March 2022. The damp specialist contractor recommended several works, including overhauling the bathroom and kitchen extractor fans, inspecting the glazing, digging away the ground around the property to reduce the ground level, repointing the brickwork around windows, replacing units that were blown and replacing the ventilation system. The landlord stated that the inspection of the glazing would be completed on 22 April 2022 and the remaining works would be completed on 27 May 2022.
  1. On 22 April 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 stated she had been left to live in unsuitable conditions and stated that this was confirmed when she received the damp report, which showed that there were several works that needed to be completed to the property to bring it up to standard. The resident also sent an additional escalation email to the landlord on 25 April 2022.
  2. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 23 May 2022. It explained that it had booked appointments for 26 May and 27 May 2022 to carry out the works which were recommended by the damp specialist contractor. The landlord also stated that it had booked a mould wash for 1 June 2022. It offered the resident £800 compensation to recognise the time the resident spent without the use of a bedroom and to help towards the cost of redecoration and replacement furniture.
  3. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and submitted her complaint to the Ombudsman. She stated that her desired outcome was for the landlord to increase the level of compensation offered. In addition, the resident stated that she would like to be rehoused due to the damp and mould within the property.
  4. The landlord and resident have both confirmed that the works to resolve the damp and mould were completed in July 2022. In addition, in July 2022, the landlord offered the resident a revised compensation offer of £1500 to recognise the further delay in completing the works.
  5. On 18 September 2023, the landlord provided the resident with a further increased offer of compensation. The landlord offered the resident £4750. The offer included a rent reduction for the 5 years she experienced damp and mould, reimbursement for money spent on replacing furniture items, and a contribution towards increased energy costs. In addition, the offer was to recognise the distress and inconvenience experienced relating to the landlord’s delay in opening the resident’s complaint and resolving the damp and mould issues at the resident’s property.

Assessment and findings

The resident’s reports of damp and mould within the property.

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident raised concerns that damp and mould had been an issue at the property since March 2017. 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 March 2022. 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 more than 6 months prior to when the resident submitted her complaint in March 2022. This is because paragraph 42(c) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (available on our website), explains that this service will 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.

Policies and Procedures

  1. The landlord’s responsive repairs procedure explains that it will respond to an emergency repair within 24 hours, a routine repair within 20 working days and programmed works within 60 working days.
  2. The landlord’s responsive repairs procedure also states that the landlord would consider repairs related to damp, condensation, and mould as a routine repair.

Assessment

  1. The resident submitted a complaint to the landlord about damp and mould within the property in March 2022. However, the Ombudsman has noted from the landlord’s records for contextual reasons that there has been damp and mould issues at the resident’s property since 2017. The Ombudsman recognises that in July 2017 the landlord overhauled the kitchen and bathroom extractor fans, renewed the plaster to the window reveal and renewed the metal profile on the kitchen window. In addition, the landlord also carried out a mould wash and painted the affected areas in February 2019. However, the resident reported in March 2022 that there was still damp and mould present in the property.
  2. Following the resident’s complaint submission sent to the landlord in March 2022, the landlord arranged for an independent damp and mould specialist to inspect the resident’s property on 17 March 2022. The damp and mould specialist identified several works to be carried out to resolve the damp and mould at the property. The recommended works included the replacement of the bathroom and kitchen extractor fans, lowering the external ground levels, repairing the failed mortar joints around windows, replacement of blown window planes and servicing ventilation system.
  3. The Ombudsman recognises that the landlord took reasonable steps to inspect the damp and mould at the resident’s property, as it arranged for a damp and mould specialist to inspect the resident’s property within a reasonable period after she complained about damp and mould in March 2022. However, it is evident that there were delays in the landlord completing the agreed works.
  1. The landlord stated in its stage 2 complaint response that it would complete the recommended works on 26 and 27 May 2022. It also stated that it would carry out a mould wash at the resident’s property on 1 June 2022. However, the works to resolve the damp and mould at the property were not completed until 8 July 2022.
  2. The landlord acknowledged during its own internal complaints process that damp and mould had been an issue at the resident’s property for a long period of time. The landlord apologised to the resident in its stage 2 complaint response for the delay and inconvenience. The landlord initially offered the resident £800 compensation to recognise the delay and inconvenience in resolving the damp and mould. The landlord then offered the resident an increased offer of £1500 on 12 July 2022.
  3. On 18 September 2023, the landlord wrote to the resident and offered a further increased compensation offer of £4750. The offer included a rent reduction for the 5 years she experienced damp and mould, reimbursement for money spent on replacing furniture items, and a contribution towards increased energy costs. In addition, the offer was to recognise the distress and inconvenience the resident experienced due to the landlord’s delay in opening the resident’s complaint and resolving the damp and mould issues at the resident’s property.
  4. 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 £4750 offered by the landlord is reasonable and more than the Ombudsman would have offered in this case. 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.
  5. 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 £4750 was only recently offered to the resident on 18 September 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. 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 £4750 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 within the property.

The associated complaint.

  1. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the code) sets out the Ombudsman’s expectations for landlords’ complaint handling practices. The code states that landlords should operate a 2 stage complaints process. A stage 1 response should be provided within 10 working days of the complaint. It also states that a stage 2 response should be provided within 20 working days. The landlord’s complaints policy references the same timescales as the code.
  2. The code also states that a landlord must accept a complaint unless there is a valid reason not to do so. In addition, it explains when a complaint is made, it must be acknowledged and logged at stage 1 of the landlord’s complaint procedure within 5 days of receipt. The landlord’s complaints policy states that it will acknowledge all complaints within 2 working days.
  3. The resident submitted a complaint to the landlord on 8 March 2022 about damp and mould within the property. The landlord initially failed to log the resident’s complaint. It logged the resident’s complaint after the resident sent an additional email to the landlord on 8 April 2022. The landlord sent an email to the resident on 8 April 2022 acknowledging that it had logged the resident’s complaint at stage 1 of its complaints process. The landlord logged the complaint late and not in line with the timescales referenced in the code and the landlord’s complaints policy.
  4. It took around 8 working days for the landlord to provide its stage 1 complaint response following its acknowledgement. Therefore, the landlord response was on time and compliant with the timescales referenced in the code and the landlord’s complaints policy.
  5. On 22 April 2022, the resident requested her complaint to be escalated to the next stage of the landlord’s complaints process. Following this, the landlord provided the resident with its stage 2 complaint response on 23 May 2023. The response was issued within 20 working days and therefore on time.
  6. The landlord acknowledged in its stage 2 complaint response that there was a delay in logging the resident’s complaint and apologised for the error. In addition, in September 2023, the landlord also offered the resident compensation to recognise the delay in logging her complaint. The compensation offered was for £4750 which was for the landlord’s handling of the damp and mould and the delay in logging the resident’s complaint as referenced above.
  7. The Ombudsman recognises that the landlord identified the errors with its complaint handling. However, the compensation offer of £4750 which included recognition of the landlord’s complaint handling error was only recently offered in September 2023. As above, it is the Ombudsman’s role to consider the landlord’s handling of complaints through its internal complaints process rather than offers made after the complaints process ended. Therefore, there has been a service failure in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint as it did not make a reasonable offer during the complaints process.

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 within the property.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was a service failure in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Orders

  1. If it has not already done so, the landlord to pay the resident £4750 compensation it has offered in correspondence dated 18 September 2023, for its handling of the damp and mould at the resident’s property and the associated complaint.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord to review this service’s spotlight report on damp and mould and create a separate damp and mould policy, if it does not already have one in place. This will help the landlord to better manage damp and mould repairs in its properties going forward.