CWAG

This Housing Ombudsman Service Spotlight Report is part of the Spotlight Report series. It focusses on complaints relating to heating, hot water and energy related issues which regularly make up a significant element of the Ombudsman’s case load. The report identifies unnecessary delays in resolving issues along with management of contractors as key issues of concern.

This Housing Ombudsman Service Spotlight Report brings together the findings from an extensive review of casework relating to damp and mould and responses from a call for evidence.

The report highlights a general sense of frustration among residents who felt that landlords don’t take their repair reports or complaints seriously. There are clear impacts for the residents affected with distress and inconvenience reported together with concerns about health and well-being.

The report also recognises the challenges for landlords in tackling damp and mould issues – including overcrowding, poverty, the age and design of homes. However, landlords should avoid inferring blame on residents due to ‘lifestyle’ when it is often not solely their issue or within their control. Landlords should take responsibility for resolving problems:

“instead of seeing how the lifestyle needs to be adapted to suit the property – how can the property be adapted to suit the lifestyle.” Insight from the Call for Evidence

Addressing damp and mould needs to be a higher priority for landlords, with a change in culture from reactive to proactive essential to improve the experience of residents. In support of this the report makes 26 recommendations for landlords including:

• greater use of intelligence and data to prevent issues developing and escalating
• adopting a clear, comprehensive and consolidated policy for dealing with damp and mould cases
• reviewing communications with residents to improve tone
• improving access to complaints to resolve issues, including alongside disrepair claims, and learn from them.

The report also proposes landlords do not close their complaints procedure prematurely if a resident commences with the pre-action protocol as the Ombudsman does not consider the use of the protocol to constitute legal proceedings. This will maximise the opportunities to resolve disputes potentially sooner through the complaints process and in a less adversarial way.