Orbit Group Limited — case 202340432

Decision Case ID 202340432 Decision type Investigation Landlord Orbit Housing Association Limited Landlord type Housing Association Occupancy Assured Tenancy Date 10 February 2026 Background The resident lives in a 3 bedroom house with her family. She has a fixed term assured shorthold tenancy. The resident submitted a damp and mould report to the landlord on 6 October 2023. As she did not receive a response, she complained about the landlord’s handling of this. What the complaint is about The complaint is about the landlord’s: a.

Handling of the resident’s report of damp and mould. b. Complaint handling. Our decision (determination) There was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s report of damp and mould. The landlord has offered reasonable redress which satisfactorily resolves the failings in its complaint handling. We have made orders for the landlord to put things right. Summary of reasons We found that: a. The landlord delayed in handling the resident’s report of damp and mould due to overlooking the resident’s report which caused her to complain.

The landlord ultimately delayed by 16 weeks in completing the repair which caused the resident distress and inconvenience. b. The landlord addressed the failing in its complaint handling in a proportionate manner by offering reasonable redress to the resident. Putting things right Where we find service failure, maladministration or severe maladministration we can make orders for the landlord to put things right. We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction.

Orders Landlords must comply with our orders in the manner and timescales we specify. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with our orders by the due date set. Order What the landlord must do Due date 1 Apology order The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure: The apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic. It has due regard to our apologies guidance.

No later than 03 March 2026 2 Compensation Order The landlord must pay the resident additional compensation of £200 for her upset and inconvenience arising from its handling of her report of damp and mould and the repair delay. This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date. No later than 3 March 2026 Our investigation The complaint procedure Date What happened 6 October 2023 The resident submitted a damp and mould report form to the landlord and said that her son’s bedroom ceiling had mould around the edge and near the window.

She also noted a water patch on the wall and a bleach smell. The resident asked the landlord to check this issue as soon as possible as her son was asthmatic. The landlord sent an automated acknowledgement stating that it aimed to contact her within 28 days. 14 December 2023 The resident complained to the landlord, as she had not received a response to her damp and mould report. 19 December 2023 The landlord issued its stage 1 response and did not uphold the resident’s complaint as it did not find her damp and mould report.

The landlord said that it would arrange an inspection of the damp and mould. 4 January 2024 The resident escalated her complaint as she expected the landlord to discuss her concerns instead of not upholding them. She also provided a copy of her damp and mould report of 6 October 2023. 25 January 2024 The landlord issued its stage 2 response and explained that: It had upheld the resident’s complaint It apologised for the resident’s damp and mould report of 6 October 2023 not having been addressed previously due to this having been overlooked due to either a communication error or human error.

It would offer the resident compensation of £87.50 for its work delays, £200 for her upset and inconvenience, and £100 for its poor stage 1 response It had also arranged for an inspection on 29 January 2024 Referral to the Ombudsman The resident referred her complaint to us for investigation on 9 February 2024 because the damp and mould issue had still not been inspected by the landlord. She expressed her frustration at the ongoing delay and adverse impact on her family. What we found and why The circumstances of this complaint are well known by the parties involved, so it is not necessary to detail everything that’s happened or comment on all the information we’ve reviewed.

We’ve only included the key information that forms the basis of our decision of whether the landlord is responsible for maladministration. Complaint The landlord’s handling of the resident’s report of damp and mould Finding Maladministration Under the tenancy agreement, the landlord is responsible for maintaining and keeping in order internal walls, floors and ceilings. The landlord’s damp and mould compensation procedure confirms that it accepts responsibility for addressing damp and mould reports by residents.

The resident reported an issue with damp and mould in her property on 6 October 2023. The landlord’s damp and mould compensation procedure notes that an inspection should take place within 20 working days. The procedure also states that an inspection would be carried out within 5 working days, if the issue may have a health impact amongst other priority reasons. In this case, this should have assessed whether it needed to prioritise the inspection as the resident had mentioned a health impact on her asthmatic son.

It did not do this. The landlord’s damp, mould and condensation policy says it will complete repairs identified as necessary to resolve damp and mould in line with its responsive repairs policy. This policy categorises repairs into emergency, routine and non-responsive repair timescales. The damp and mould issue seem to most closely align with a routine repair, and as such, ought to have been completed within 28 working days. Adding 5 working days for an inspection (as noted above), the repairs ought to have been completed within 33 working days which would have been by 22 November 2023.

The landlord did not complete the damp and mould repair until 14 March 2024. It overlooked the resident’s damp and mould report of 6 October 2023 despite sending an automated acknowledgement to the resident about responding within 28 days. The resident made a complaint on 14 December 2023, as she had not received a response The landlord said in its stage 1 response on 19 December 2023, that it could not locate her damp and mould report but it would arrange for an inspection of the damp and mould.

As part of the resident’s escalation of her complaint on 4 January 2024 she provided copy of her original damp and mould report to the landlord. In its stage 2 response of 25 January 2024it apologised for overlooking her damp and mould report and stated it had arranged for an inspection on 29 January 2024. However, the inspection did not ultimately take place until around 25 February 2024.Its records do not explain this delay and there is no evidence it updated the resident du ring this period either.

This would have aggravated the impact on the resident. The repairs were ultimately completed on 14 March 2024. The root cause of the delay was due to arranging an inspection, as noted above. There was therefore maladministration by the landlord as it delayed by 16 weeks in completing the repair process, did not communicate with the resident about it and did not fully put things right. The landlord’s maladministration caused the resident distress and inconvenience. The landlord offered the resident a total of £387.

50 as compensation, of which £87.50 was for work delays and £200 was for the resident’s upset and inconvenience. We understand that the landlord has paid £387.50 to the resident. We consider that the amount of £200 relating to the resident’s upset and inconvenience falls short of what we would consider to be fair and reasonable for the circumstances of this case, as per our findings and our remedies guidance. We have accordingly made an apology order and a compensation order for an additional £200 to more proportionately address the overall adverse impact on her.

Complaint The handling of the complaint Finding Reasonable redress The landlord operates a 2-stage complaint process. It acknowledges complaints within 5 working days. It responds to stage 1 and 2 complaints within 10 and 20 working days respectively. This is compliant with our Complaint Handling Code (the Code). The landlord responded to the resident’s complaint at stage 1 in line with the timescales of its policy and the Code. However, its stage 1 response it did not address all points raised in the resident’s complaint.

The landlord did not address the main point of the resident’s complaint, as it could not find her damp and mould report form of 6 October 2023. The landlord issued its stage 2 response in line with the timescales of its policy and the Code. The landlord acknowledged that it had overlooked the resident’s damp and mould report previously. It apologised for this and explained that this was due to either a communication error or human error. It also offered the resident compensation of £100 for this failing.

We note the landlord has paid this amount and we consider this to be reasonable redress for its failings in complaint handling. We therefore find that the landlord has provided reasonable redress to the resident arising from the failings in its complaint handing. This addresses the impact on the resident overall from this case in a proportionate manner. As we have already seen evidence that it has paid the £100 it offered, we have not made a recommendation for it to pay this amount.

Learning In light of the introduction of Awaab’s Law the landlord should ensure its damp, mould and condensation policy contains suitable guidance for its staff to meet the key requirements of this legislation, as highlighted in the Ombudsman’s ‘Learning from severe maladministration’ report from October 2025. Knowledge information management (record keeping) The landlord has acknowledged its failings in overlooking the resident’s damp and mould report of 6 October 2023.To prevent similar issues in the future, the landlord should review its record keeping relating to reports of issues by residents, Record keeping should be accurate and accessible on an ongoing basis, so that reports of issues are noted and actioned in reasonable timescales.

Communication There is also scope of the landlord to review how it communicates with residents during repairs. Regular updates should be considered by the landlord, particularly if there are additional delays in the repairs process, as part of mitigating the impact on residents.