Damp and mould: complain about your council or housing association
You can complain to your landlord about things like:
your landlord blaming you for problems without looking at the cause
staff not following repair or damp and mould policies
unfair treatment or discrimination
work not being done properly
long delays or bad service
Video: Complain about damp and mould
Video transcript
Your council or housing association should take damp and mould seriously.
You can complain if they:
do not fix damp and mould they are responsible for
damage your belongings during repairs
take too long to fix damp and mould
are rude or treat you badly
You can also complain if they do not follow their repairs policy. A repairs policy is a document that says how your landlord should deal with fixing things in your home.
Step 1: Complain to your landlord
Complain to your council or housing association first.
You can ask them to:
fix things in your home
pay you compensation
apologise
Ask your landlord for a copy of their complaints policy. It should tell you where to send your complaint.
Your landlord should let you know in 5 working days that they've received your complaint.
They then have another 10 working days to tell you their decision.
If you do not agree with their decision, you can ask someone more senior to look at your complaint again.
This is called going to stage 2 or escalating your complaint.
Step 2: Escalate your complaint
Check your landlord's complaints policy for information about how to do this.
Ask for help if you find the policy hard to understand.
After you make your stage 2 complaint, your landlord has:
5 working days to tell you they've received your stage 2 complaint
another 20 working days to give you their final decision
Step 3: Go to the Housing Ombudsman
All councils and housing associations sign up to the Housing Ombudsman scheme.
The Housing Ombudsman is independent. They look at complaints that have not been dealt with.
The Ombudsman can tell your landlord to:
fix things in your home
pay you compensation
do things differently in the future
apologise for how they treated you
The Ombudsman can only look at your complaint if either:
your landlord ignored your complaint
you disagree with your landlord's final decision
There can be up to 3 steps when you complain about a council.
You can usually only complain to the Housing Ombudsman when you have gone through steps 1 and 2 with the council.
Step1Complain to your landlord
Check your landlord's repairs policy and complaints policy.
The repairs policy should include:
what your landlord will do when you report problems to them
how quickly they deal with different kinds of repairs
The complaints policy should tell you things like:
how to complain
how quickly they'll deal with your complaint
what they'll do when they deal with it
Ask your landlord if there are any extra documents you might need. For example, some landlords have a separate damp and mould policy.
How to contact your landlord
Most social landlords tell you the best way to contact them on their website or in their complaints policy.
Your landlord might have a complaints form on their website.
But they must make it easy to complain in other ways too, like over the phone or by letter.
You can find your council complaints team on GOV.UK.
What to say when you complain
Be clear about what you are complaining about.
For example, if your landlord:
does not fix things properly
is taking too long to do repairs
did not look into problems properly
damaged your belongings when doing repair work
Find the part of your landlord's policy that deals with this if you can.
Example:
'Your repairs policy says you will investigate this type of problem within 5 working days.
It took 15 working days for someone to visit my property. It is now 6 weeks later and the problem is still not fixed.'
Also be clear about what you want to happen after you complain.
You could ask your landlord to:
apologise
do repair work again
pay you compensation
Keep records
For example:
what you told your landlord
when you told them
how they replied
any complaint or reference numbers
any missed appointments or call backs
Keep a note of who you speak to and what is said.
How long should it take?
Your landlord should write to you within 5 working days to tell you they have received your complaint.
After this, they have 10 more days to tell you their decision.
If your landlord takes too long to deal with your complaint, contact the Housing Ombudsman. They can check if the landlord is doing things properly.
Your landlord's decision
Your landlord should write to you in clear, plain language.
They should tell you:
their decision and reasons why
what they will do to fix the problem
how to take things further if you are not happy
Work with your landlord if you can
Your landlord might ask for things like more information or to see the problem again.
Try to work with them at all stages of a complaint.
This can make it quicker and easier to fix problems.
Step2Challenge the landlord's decision
You can challenge your landlord if you do not agree with their decision. This is stage 2 of making a complaint.
Their complaints policy should tell you how to do this.
You can go to stage 2 if, for example:
you're not happy with your landlord's decision
your landlord did not follow their complaints policy
Stage 2 gives the landlord another chance to put things right.
They should let you know within 5 working days that they have received your request to go to stage 2.
They then have another 20 working days to tell you their decision.
Weekends and bank holidays do not count as working days.
When there are no bank holidays,
5 working days = 1 week
20 working days = 4 weeks
Step3Complain to the Housing Ombudsman
You have to give your landlord chance to deal with your complaint before you go to the Housing Ombudsman.
You can complain to the Ombudsman if either:
you have been through stage 2 with your landlord and you are still not happy
your landlord has not followed their complaints policy
The Housing Ombudsman deals with complaints about things like repairs and damp and mould in social housing.
You can complain to them up to a year after you get the stage 2 decision from your landlord.
You can also complain to them if the landlord takes too long to deal with your complaint.
What can you complain to the Housing Ombudsman about?
They can look at:
how your landlord dealt with your complaint
what your landlord did about the original damp and mould problem
bad service, for example, if staff were rude to you or did not let you have a translator when you needed one
Check what the Housing Ombudsman can look at.
How to complain to the Housing Ombudsman
You can use the Housing Ombudsman online complaint form.
If you cannot use the form you can:
phone them on 0300 111 3000
email: info@housing-ombudsman.org.uk
What happens next?
The Housing Ombudsman decides if they can look into your complaint. If they decide not to investigate, they write to you and explain why.
They may ask you for more information.
They might try to solve problems quickly using their early resolution process.
Many cases are dealt with in 6 months. But it can be a lot longer.
The Housing Ombudsman decision
The Ombudsman writes to tell you their decision.
If they agree with your complaint, they could ask your landlord to:
apologise
pay you compensation
do work on your home
improve the way they do things
get an independent surveyor to look at your home
Need more advice?
Last updated: 30 October 2024
