Torus62 Limited (202232046)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202232046

Torus62 Limited

4 October 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 in the property, and;
   2. damage to the resident’s personal belongings.

Background

2. The resident has lived in the property as a secure tenant since October 2019. The property is a 2-bedroomed house.
3. The resident reported damp and mould in her property in February 2022. The landlord arranged for a surveyor to inspect the property and then raised works to fix the damp and mould. The work was not carried out. Following further reports from the resident, the landlord rearranged the work, which was then carried out in November 2022.
4. In January 2023, the resident complained that the delay in fixing the damp and mould had damaged her furnishings and caused her stress. She said that she wanted compensation to replace the damaged furniture. She told the landlord that the damp had affected hers and her son’s health.
5. In its response on 20 January 2023, the landlord offered £100 for the delay in fixing the damp and mould. The resident was dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and escalated her complaint on 1 February 2023. She said the damage to her furnishings was caused by the landlord’s negligence and its unwillingness to honour the tenancy agreement.
6. In its final response on 20 February 2023, the landlord increased the offer of compensation to £250 and offered to have the furnishings professionally cleaned. The resident remained dissatisfied and escalated her complaint to this service on 14 March 2023. She said she had made many phone calls to chase the work. She said that the landlord told her it had cancelled the work because it could not get access to her property. She said she had no correspondence advising when the work would start, and the landlord made no attempt to contact her.
7. On 31 May, the landlord offered the resident £500 for the delays and inconvenience caused and £500 for distress. It offered to replace the resident’s sofa.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

8. The resident complained that the landlord did not reimburse her for damage to her personal belongings caused by damp and mould. After carefully considering all the evidence, in accordance with paragraph 42(g) of the Scheme, this service cannot consider the complaint for damages. This is because the Scheme says that this service will not investigate complaints which “concern matters where the Ombudsman considers it quicker, fairer, more reasonable or more effective to seek a remedy through the courts, other tribunal or procedure.” This means it is not within this service’s authority or expertise to award damages in the way an insurance procedure or court might.
9. This service can assess whether the landlord has followed proper procedures and behaved reasonably, considering all the circumstances of the case.

The resident’s reports of damp and mould in the property

10. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act (1985) the landlord is responsible for keeping in repair the structure and exterior of the property. This means the landlord has a general obligation to repair and maintain the property. This obligation is clearly set out in the occupancy agreement between the landlord and resident, which says the landlord will keep in repair the structure and exterior of the property.
11. The landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy says residents will be offered appointments for all repairs. When the repair is not an emergency, these will be either by arrangement or will be programme repairs. Those made by arrangement will be where the repair can wait without causing major inconvenience. The repair will be scheduled to suit the resident’s availability and the landlord will aim to complete these within 20 calendar days. Programme repairs are non-urgent and can be complex in nature, such as structural repairs. The landlord says these require a higher degree of planning, and it will aim to complete work within 60 days of reporting.
12. The policy also says when a repair is reported, residents will receive an acknowledgement with an appointment or target date for completion. Where possible, the resident will receive a call or text prior to the appointment to confirm access arrangements.
13. When the resident raised a problem with damp and mould in her living room on 16 February 2022, the landlord took the reasonable step of arranging a survey. The survey took place on 18 March 2022, and identified work that needed doing to resolve the problem. The landlord then raised a job to have the work carried out.
14. Records provided by the landlord show a difference of opinion over what happened next. The landlord says it tried 3 times to carry out work at the property but there was no access. The resident disputes the visits were made. She said she worked from home, and no-one called at her property. The resident said that she called the landlord many times to chase the repairs. The landlord’s contact notes provided to this service show no phone calls from the resident between March and August 2022. It is not possible for this service to determine whether the visits and phone calls were made or not. However, the landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy says the resident will receive a call or text prior to an appointment to confirm access arrangements. The landlord has not provided this service with evidence that it communicated with the resident prior to the appointment to confirm access arrangements. This was a service failure by the landlord as it did not follow its repairs and maintenance policy.
15. Records provided by the landlord show that it cancelled the work to fix the damp and mould in August 2022. The landlord said it cancelled the work because of the unsuccessful attempts to contact the resident. There is no evidence that the landlord contacted the resident to let her know that the work had been cancelled. As the issue reported by the resident was damp and mould and there was a young child in the property, this service would have expected the landlord to contact the resident about the outstanding works. The failure to do this was maladministration.
16. Work to fix the damp and mould in the living room was carried out in November 2022. This was 8 months after the resident first reported a problem and was outside the timescales set out in the landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy. This service finds that the failure to fix the damp and mould in a timely manner and in line with the landlord’s obligations was maladministration.
17. In its final response the landlord acknowledged the delay and offered sincere apologies for the stress and inconvenience caused. It offered £250 and said it would arrange for the sofa to be professionally cleaned. It also said there had been learning from the complaint about how cancelled jobs were dealt with. However, this service has noted that the landlord did not give specific details on what it would do differently in future.
18. There is no evidence that parts of the home were unusable, but there was damp and mould that were potentially harmful to health. Because of this, the landlord should have resolved the problem earlier. It should have made efforts to contact the resident. This service has found that the landlord’s offer in its final response was not appropriate given the length of the delay, the potential for harm, and its poor communication with the resident.
19. This service has noted that following the complaint being referred to the Ombudsman, the landlord increased its offer of compensation to £1,000. It also offered to replace the damaged sofa. This service finds that this was reasonable in the circumstances, but the landlord should have addressed its failings earlier in the complaints process.
20. The increased offer of compensation following completion of the internal complaints process was not compliant with the Complaint Handling Code (the Code). Therefore, a recommendation for the landlord has been made as revisiting a complaint post stage 2 lacks clarity.

Determination

21. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of the resident’s reports of damp and mould in the property. This is because the landlord failed to carry out repairs in a timely manner in line with its repairs and maintenance policy. Specifically, the landlord failed to let the resident know about appointments and failed to let her know when it cancelled the work.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

22. The landlord is ordered to write to the resident to apologise for the failures identified in this report, acknowledging its failures and the way the resident was treated.
23. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident a total of £1,000 in compensation and pay for a replacement sofa as it offered on 31 May 2023.
24. The landlord is ordered to review its communication processes to ensure residents are kept informed of the progress with repairs.
25. The landlord is ordered to confirm to this service that the above orders have been complied with within 4 weeks of this report.

Recommendation

26. It is noted the landlord’s self-assessment against the Code is due for renewal. Therefore, as part of this process the landlord is recommended to pay particular attention to its approach to compensation and the number of stages it has in its complaint procedure.
27. The landlord is recommended to share with the resident and this service the learning it has undertaken to prevent a recurrence in a similar situation in the future.