Southwark Council (202013712)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202013712

Southwark Council

7 June 2021

Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

1. The complaint concerns the landlord’s handling of repairs to the resident’s stairs.

Background and summary of events

Background

2. The resident is a tenant of the landlord.
3. The property is a two-bedroom maisonette.

Summary of events

4. The resident emailed the landlord on 10 July 2020 to log a stage one formal complaint because, on 9 July 2020, she had “dropped through” the stairs of the property. She said that the fire brigade attended the property to “cut [her] out of the stairs”, and that they also requested an ambulance as she “had injured [her] back”. The resident said that the landlord had attended the property at the fire brigade’s request and had carried out a temporary repair to her stairs, but that she was still frightened to walk up them and that her young child was shaken by seeing her fall.
5. The landlord wrote to the resident on 13 July 2020, to request further information on her complaint, and then again on 29 July 2020, to provide advice on how to submit a “compensation claim for injury” to it. It noted that it had asked its “contractor to look into the works urgently and arrange a follow on [appointment] if any outstanding works [were] due”, as well as requesting that she report any emergency repairs to it. In a later email, sent on the same day, the landlord included communication from its contractor confirming that “the steps [were] fixed and secure”, that they “tested them in front of the resident”, and that there were no further repair works to be carried out at the property, for which it therefore requested photographs of her outstanding concerns for it to review.
6. On 7 August 2020, the landlord issued a stage one complaint response in which it apologised for the resident’s concerns and advised that:
   1. It had “referred the information” for review to its technical officer.
   2. “Based on the contractors report and works completed, the stairs [were] safe.”
   3. Due to the resident’s “ongoing concerns” it would arrange a “post inspection by a technical officer”.
   4. The officer carrying out the post–work inspection would assess the matter, confirm the outcome to the resident, and arrange further works, if any were identified.
7. The resident wrote to the landlord on 8 September 2020, to advise the following:
   1. The landlord’s contractor had attended to carry out repairs on two occasions and had only repaired three steps when she had deemed that more needed to be done.
   2. A technical officer had inspected the property and had confirmed that no further repair works were needed; however, the resident disagreed with this.
   3. This incident had impacted her mental health, which had led to her and her family only occupying the ground level of the property due to concerns regarding the safety of the stairs.
   4. As a resolution, the resident requested for either the “whole stairs to be replaced” or repaired, or to be relocated to a “one level property”.
8. On 6 October 2020, the resident wrote to the landlord with further details regarding the above post–work inspection of the property’s stairs. In respect of this, she said that the technical officer who had attended the inspection “did [not] look in detail at the stairs” because all that they had done was “tapped [their] feet on the stairs and said they were fine”. Furthermore, the resident noted that one of the steps was unstable and lifted and bounced up and down when stepping on it.
9. The landlord issued the stage two final complaint response on 20 October 2020, comprised of the following:
   1. It acknowledged that the resident’s complaint concerned its handling of repairs to her stairs, her inability to use the top floor of the property due to safety concerns, and the fact that the lack of “human activity on the top floor [contributed] toward pest infestation”.
   2. It confirmed that it attended the property on 17 July 2020, to carry out the repairs to the resident’s stairs, and on 11 August 2020 to conduct the post–work inspection, as well as that it considered the resident’s photographs of the condition of the stairs that she provided to it on 6 September 2020.
   3. It confirmed that it attended the property on 2 October 2020, “to conduct treatment for low infestation of mice” and that a new appointment was arranged for 29 October 2020 “to conduct further treatment”.
   4. By taking the above into account, the landlord decided to not uphold the resident’s complaint because it did not identify any service failure, as its technical officer’s above post-work inspection and consideration of her photographs concluded that her stairs were at no risk of collapse.
10. The resident subsequently complained to this Service that she had told the landlord that her stairs had needed to be repaired since she had moved to the property just over a year earlier, and that its inaction had led to the “weak” stairs collapsing and to her being trapped, physically injured, mentally unwell and her family residing in a single overcrowded downstairs room. She therefore considered that its limited works to replace and add support to only three stairs had left these still weak and unsafe for everyday use, including because these remained “bouncy”, “very creaky” and “the tread comes away from the riser” for the “years old” stairs, for which she asked that the whole of the stairs be replaced.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s website’s repairs rights and responsibilities

11. In instances where the resident is a tenant of the landlord, it is responsible to carry out repair works to the “floors and ceilings” which includes stairs.

The landlord’s tenants’ handbook

12. The tenants’ handbook states that “a repair is categorised as an emergency if it poses a serious risk to health and safety, the structure of the property, or results in the property being insecure”, and that in such cases it would attend within 24 hours. Furthermore, the tenants’ handbook mentions that it would “try to attend within two hours of the repair being reported…to make the situation safe as we may have to come back another day to do the full repair”.
13. Non-emergency repairs are to be carried out within 20 working days.

The landlord’s handling of repairs to the resident’s stairs

14. It is noted that the resident has stated that she considers that the issue has impacted her physical and mental health and has caused anxiety. However, it is beyond the authority and expertise of this Service to make a determination on whether there was a direct link between the landlord’s handling of repairs to the resident’s stairs and to her medical conditions in the way that a court or insurer might, and so this aspect of her complaint is outside the scope of this investigation.
15. As detailed above at paragraph 11, the landlord’s website’s repairs rights and responsibilities state that it is responsible for the repair to the resident’s stairs. In her stage one complaint email to it of 10 July 2020, she mentioned that it had already attended her property and carried out temporary repairs to her stairs, after she dropped through the stairs on 9 July 2020. This was in line with the 24-hour response timeframe set in the landlord’s tenants’ handbook, detailed at paragraph 12 above, for emergency repairs.
16. The landlord then completed the repair works to the resident’s stairs on 17 July 2020, which was five working days from the date that the incident was reported to it above. Considering that it had already carried out works to make the stairs safe, this would have then become a non-urgent repair. The tenants’ handbook states that non-emergency repairs would be completed within 20 working days. Taking the above into consideration, the landlord therefore completed the repair works in line with the tenants’ handbook and well within its set response timescales.
17. Furthermore, it is noted that, in its response of 13 July 2020, the landlord also provided the resident with advice on how to submit an injury claim to it, which was reasonable and expected of it because she had advised it from 10 July 2020 that she had injured her back due to the repair issue to her stairs. Therefore, it could not have directly offered her damages for the injury in the way that a court or insurer might, and it was appropriate for it to advise her to submit an injury claim and allow a specialised department to determine if any amounts were due to be paid to her for this.
18. As the resident raised concerns regarding the safety of the stairs following the repair work that it had undertaken, the landlord agreed to carry out a post–work inspection. This was completed on 11 August 2020, which determined that the stairs were safe for use and no further repairs were needed. Although the resident remained dissatisfied with this, it was reasonable for the landlord to rely on the conclusions of its qualified staff and contractors, particularly because it then considered her photographs of her concerns about this of 6 September 2020. As such, it acted reasonably in this instance by taking her concerns seriously and conducting a post-work inspection and considering her photographs, to allay any fears that the incident may recur.  
19. During the post–work inspection, it was determined no further repairs were needed. The resident wrote to the landlord to express her dissatisfaction with this on 8 September and 6 October 2020. In respect of this, this Service appreciates the inconvenience and distress experienced by the resident. However, we can only assess and make a determination with regard to the landlord’s handling of her stair repairs, but we are not in a position to comment on the standard of the works carried out or whether further remedial works are needed, in the absence of any further repairs or expert evidence contradicting its above findings.
20. It is nevertheless of concern that the resident reports that the condition and age of her stairs require all of these to be replaced and that her family is currently residing in a single overcrowded downstairs room in the absence of this, due to their concerns about the strength and safety of the stairs for everyday use. The landlord has therefore been recommended below to try and resolve these concerns with her by arranging a further inspection of the condition of the stairs for the potential hazard of associated falls by its environmental health department and by providing her with the outcome of this, if it has not done so already.
21. To conclude, there was no maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the repairs to the resident’s stairs. This is because it carried out making safe works within 24 hours, provided advice on how to submit an injury claim, carried out the repair works within five working days from the day that it was informed of the incident, and then addressed and attempted to settle the resident’s concerns by carrying out a post–work inspection and considering her photographs.

Determination (decision)

22. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of its handling of repairs to the resident’s stairs.

Reasons

23. The landlord responded and carried out the necessary repairs in a reasonable timeframe. Furthermore, it addressed and attempted to settle the resident’s concerns by carrying out a post–work inspection and considering her photographs.

Recommendation

24. It is recommended that the landlord arranges a further inspection of the condition of the resident’s stairs for the potential hazard of associated falls by its environmental health department and provides her with the outcome of this, if it has not done so already.
25. The landlord should contact this Service within four weeks to confirm whether it will follow the above recommendation.
26. The Ombudsman accepts that, because of the present restrictions due to the corona virus pandemic, the timing of the above actions will depend on what is reasonable in the light of Government guidance regarding the health of the resident and of the landlord’s staff.