A landlord has been told to pay compensation to a tenant after failing to fix a major damp issue, leaving a mother and her son unable to use their bathroom.
It was nearly one year after receiving complaints of mould and damp caused by a leak in the bathroom at one of its Durham properties that Believe Housing acknowledged the issue.
The tenant explained to Believe Housing that her son, who is autistic with sensory issues, would no longer use the bathroom due to fear of the ceiling collapsing. Nine months from this point, the works still had not been completed, prompting the landlord to visit the property.
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Even after the landlord’s visit, work still took another four months to complete, and for much of that time the tenants still could not make use of the bathroom.
Believe Housing said that the delays were due to the pandemic and offered the tenant compensation of just £100. But the housing ombudsman service said the justification “did not go far enough”, instructing the landlord to pay the tenant £1,500.
Richard Blakeway, of the housing ombudsman, said: “In this case there were considerable unexplained periods where the landlord did not demonstrate that it took any robust action in attempt to progress the repairs.
“Therefore, the landlord has not demonstrated that the delays on its part were wholly unavoidable, and it was unreasonable that the resident had to raise multiple complaints to prompt the landlord into taking the necessary action.
“The landlord did not only leave the resident’s bathroom in an unacceptable state of repair for approximately two years, but it excessively delayed in taking action to investigate the resident's reports of damp and mould, and it has not demonstrated that it gave adequate regard to the safety of the resident regarding its handling of asbestos.
“It would have been appropriate for the landlord to acknowledge in its final response the full impact the ongoing situation would likely have had on the resident and to have considered the individual circumstances of the resident and her family.
“Its failure to do so was particularly notable, given that it had had a call with the resident where she was clearly distressed by the ongoing situation and the impact it was having on her son who has autism and sensory needs.”
The ombudsman was able to force the extra compensation from the landlord on what is called a “maladministration finding”, meaning the landlord had failed to do something it should have, having done something it should not, or having delayed a process “unreasonably”.
Responding to the outcome, a spokesperson for Believe Housing said: “We’re sorry that our service fell short of expectations on this occasion and have apologised to the customer for not resolving the issue sooner, and for the stress it caused. Compensation has been paid.
“We’ve made a number of service improvements, based on this customer’s experience and the ombudsman’s findings, and continue to learn from this case.
“We recognise that this customer deserved better communication from us and are now more proactive when making appointments and providing regular updates.
“Working with an external consultant, we’ve reviewed how we handle complaints and are implementing service improvements and staff training in this area. A new triage process has enhanced our approach from the outset, helping us understand a customer’s specific issues and the resolution they want.
“And our new aftercare procedure includes follow-up calls to ensure we’ve completed agreed actions, that customers are satisfied with the outcome and to check if a problem has not returned.
“These improvements will help us deliver a more convenient service, minimising stress and not losing sight of the individual.
“Despite having evidence there was no asbestos in this customer’s home, we didn’t adequately reassure her of this and are truly sorry for the unnecessary distress this caused. We updated our asbestos policies and procedures in May 2022, as part of a cyclical review. A further review, completed in November 2022, incorporated learnings from this complaint so customers can feel confident we’ll keep them safe.”
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