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Metropolitan Housing Trust Limited (202005851)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202005851

Metropolitan Housing Trust Limited

29 June 2021


Our approach

Under our early resolution process, the Ombudsman works with the resident and landlord to explore the issues in dispute, identify the matters that remain outstanding and assist in reaching an agreed settlement.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of a leak at the resident’s property.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 55 (c) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress to the complainant which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.

How the complaint was resolved

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord.
  2. Following the landlord’s handling of leaks which occurred in May 2018 and February 2019, the resident raised a formal complaint.
  3. On 04 March 2020, the landlord responded at stage 1 of its complaint process. It accepted that it had delayed repairs to the roof for 1 year and 9 month and apologised. The landlord awarded £1100.00 compensation for failure of service, delays, missed appointments and time and trouble. The landlord referred the resident to its insurers for any damages to their health and personal belongings and offered to cover the insurance excess of £249.00 for any claim.
  4. In further correspondence between the landlord and the resident, the resident explained that they remained dissatisfied with the level of compensation. They also asked the landlord for an additional £585.00 reimbursement of bedroom tax as they claimed that the bedroom affected by the leak was unusable for the period of 39 weeks.
  5. The resident escalated their complaint on 01 September 2020.
  6. The landlord responded at the final stage of its complaints process on 08 January 2021. It explained that a temporary repair to the roof had been completed on 12 December 2020 and the leak had been stopped. However, it admitted that more significant repairs were required to the roof and it had included the works in the budget for the financial year 2021/2022. The landlord advised that the repairs would be completed during the period April 2021 to March 2022. The landlord apologised for its service, the complaint management, the delays in communication and reassured the resident that it had learned from their feedback. It offered compensation of £1500.00 in total.
  7. The resident brought formally the complaint to the Housing Ombudsman on 08 March 2021. The resident believed that the compensation offered by the landlord was not proportionate to the time it had taken for the landlord to resolve the leak and the impact this had on the resident. The resident explained that they were unable to use the bedroom which was affected by the leak. The resident agreed to participate in the mediation process and as a resolution for their complaint asked for the compensation to be increased to £5000.00 in total.
  8. This service forwarded the requested resolution to the landlord on 23 April 2021. The landlord responded on 10 May 2021 and explained that it considered £5000.00 compensation to be disproportionate in the circumstances. However, it agreed to increase the offer to a total of £2750.00.
  9. Following further correspondence between this Service, the resident and the landlord, on 14 June 2021 the landlord offered a total of £3530.00, of which £3000.00 was to be paid directly to the resident as  compensation and £530.00 to the resident’s rent account in recognition of their complaint about use of the bedroom at the property.
  10. This Service forwarded the offer to the resident and on 21 June 2021, the resident accepted the landlord’s offer of compensation as a resolution to their complaint.
  11. Paragraph 55 (c) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that:
    1. “At any time, the Ombudsman may determine the investigation of a complaint immediately if satisfied that the member has made an offer of redress following the Ombudsman’s intervention which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily. This will result in a finding of ‘resolved with intervention’.”
  12. I am therefore satisfied, following the intervention of this Service, that the landlord has now taken actions to remedy the matters raised which resolve the complaint satisfactorily.

Recommendation

  1. The landlord should arrange for the payment of £3000.00 compensation to be made to the resident within the next four weeks and provide confirmation of payment to this Service.
  2. The landlord to arrange for the payment of £530.00 reimbursement of bedroom tax to be paid to the resident’s rent account within four weeks, and to provide confirmation of payment to the Resident and this Service.
  3. The Ombudsman would like to thank the parties for participating in our mediation process. This case is now closed.