Cornwall Housing fined over ‘severe’ failings in handling mould complaint

The Housing Ombudsman has found severe maladministration in how Cornwall Housing handled a residents’ complaint about damp and mould in her home, including not issuing a formal response and changing its mind on its approach.

After the Falmouth resident contacted Cornwall Housing – which is owned by Cornwall Council – about damaged furniture, it took the landlord over a month to get back to her, asking her to submit it as a formal complaint as it had no record of one being made.

The Ombudsman said this was not a reasonable position for the landlord to take and did not treat the resident fairly. Rather than put the onus on the resident to make further contact, it should have been more proactive in logging a complaint itself.

Following this, the resident issued her formal complaint and the landlord responded appropriately, informing her it would take a little longer to respond due to the pandemic.

However, Cornwall Housing ultimately did not provide a complaint response to the resident at any stage, despite referring to it again during correspondence a week later. There was no evidence it began any complaint investigation or considered the resident’s concerns over the condition of her property.

Instead, it focused on the claims the resident had submitted, or had tried to submit, for damaged belongings.

The Ombudsman ruled there was no reason the landlord could not have appropriately signposted the resident to its insurer regarding any potential claims, while also carrying out a separate complaint investigation into the wider issues she raised. This denied the resident the opportunity to have her concerns formally responded to, or appropriately processed through complaint procedures.

The landlord’s subsequent decision a couple of months later to point the resident towards an insurer rather than see it as a complaint did not treat the resident fairly and caused her distress and left her with the impression it was unwilling to consider or investigate the concerns she had raised over the state of her property.

In its learning from the case, Cornwall Housing said it has appointed dedicated complaints officers, carried out a review into its complaints policy, and is working closer with its resident scrutiny panel on the issue.

Cornwall Housing was ordered to pay the resident £1,000 in compensation and review areas the Ombudsman had ‘significant concerns’ around, including record keeping and its approach to damp and mould.

Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said: ‘In this case, the landlord did not treat the resident fairly through its failure to investigate and respond to her complaint.

‘It changed its position after originally accepting the complaint and did not provide the resident with an appropriate explanation as to why it did so. The decisions it took were inconsistent and contradictory.

‘It did not act in accordance with its own complaints policy and on top of this, we had to issue a Complaint Handling Failure Order after the landlord did not meet its obligations as a member of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.

‘While it is acknowledged that the landlord subsequently advised that it had experienced a significant increase in complaint cases and challenges with staffing, this does not adequately explain its inconsistent approach.

‘I welcome the landlord’s response on its learning from this case and the changes being made to improve its service. I would encourage other landlords to consider the learning the case offers for their own services.’

Image: Simon Godfrey