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Communal lighting, damp and mould, and pest infestation (May 2025)

Summary

The Ombudsman wrote to us in November 2023, asking us to address complaints regarding leaks, damp and mould, pest including a number of repairs. The resident told the Ombudsman that she had no capacity due to her mental health.

We responded with our stage 1 response, not upholding the complaint as we found no records of these issues being raised with us. We tried to contact the resident on multiple occasions but was unable to get hold of the resident. We left a voicemail and an email for the resident to get in touch. The resident then emailed making further reports of repairs.

We did a follow up response in Febuary 2024, however the Ombudsman advised us in July 2024 that we needed to send a final response. In our stage 2 response, we partially upheld the complaint, as our approach to investigating the repairs, and complaint handling was not consistent with our policy.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found that:

1. the initial 3 month delay into works was reasonable as the resident refused the initial contractor, and that we had sought help from other agencies
2. whilst our initial investigation was positive, we did not follow up to see if the damp and mould has come back
3. there was a 2.5 month delay in remedying the repairs in relation to the kitchen socket
4. there was no evidence of our response to the resident’s concerns about her windows letting rain in, the strength of the wall, the wooden baton, kitchen fan, the cupboard handles, and shelves
5. there were some challenging interactions with the resident for example that she declined to provide access and emailing the complaints inbox to report repairs. However, we had a duty to read and respond to all emails

Pests

1. We should have directed the resident directly to the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, whom we have a pest control service SLA
2. That we should have been aware of pest control issue as we addressed it in our stage 1 response
3. When the resident did not respond to our question on whether she had approached the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, we should have followed this up

Complaint handling

1. Our award of £100 for complaints handling was in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies

Outcome

• communal lighting issue was outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction as it did not exhaust our complaints process
• maladministration in our handling of the resident’s reports of leaks, damp and mould, and associated repairs
• service failure in our handling of the resident’s reports of a pest infestation
• reasonable redress in our complaint handling

Orders

• write an apology to the resident
• pay £600 in compensation
• visit the resident’s home to check for outstanding repairs and provide the resident a clear plan of agreed works

Provide the resident with an email contacts list for relevant services