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Network Homes Limited (202112603)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202112603

Network Homes Limited

4 February 2022


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 is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s repair reports after moving into her property following a mutual exchange.

Background and summary of events

Legislation, policies and procedures

  1. The landlord’s allocations and lettings policy states that it will support the assignment of its properties by its tenants to new residents by inspecting the property exchanged and ensuring that this is certified for gas and electricity. While it also says that alterations and improvements made by the outgoing tenant become the responsibility of the incoming resident who takes the property as seen, this is subject to the “usual repairs” being carried out by the landlord under the terms of the tenancy agreement.
  2. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 implies repairing obligations on the landlord into the resident’s tenancy agreement including that it keep the structure and exterior of the property in repair, and the installations there for the supply of water, gas, electricity and sanitation in repair and proper working order.
  3. The landlord’s repairs policy confirms that it is responsible for bath, window fastener, electrical socket, and external door repairs. The resident is responsible for tenant-installed smoke and CO2 detectors, door locks and keys, bath plugs and panels, garden maintenance, fence panels and their own fences, rubbish clearance, and letter boxes.
  4. The landlord’s repairs policy confirms that emergency repairs will be attended to within four hours, where there is an immediate danger, major damage, the property is not secure, or there are hot water failures in the winter i.e. from 1 September to 30 April. It expected to complete all non-emergency routine repairs within 15 working days.
  5. The landlord’s compensation policy confirms that it can offer financial remedies from £5 per week compensation for delays where there has been an impact on the resident. Additionally, it can pay compensation at the same rate for residents’ distress and inconvenience, and it is permitted to consider possible injury to their health.

Background

  1. The resident is a tenant of the landlord, residing in a house.

Summary of events

  1. On 1 March 2021, the resident reported the following concerns to the landlord after moving into the property following a mutual exchange agreed on 18 February 2021:
    1. An electrical socket in the kitchen was not working.
    2. The bath did not hold water for longer than ten minutes, despite the resident replacing the bath plug. Additionally, there was no water pressure coming from the bath, which meant that she could not use the hair washer mixer.
    3. There was no evidence that any gas or electrical checks were done before she moved in, and the safety audit scheduled for 1 March 2021 had been cancelled.
    4. Her windows were mostly “loose”, an upstairs window did not open, and the external letter box flap was damaged and allowed a draught to enter her property.
    5. A rear right-hand side garden fence panel had been “severely damaged and [was] dangerous” for her two young children. Additionally, she wanted to know which fences were her responsibility, and for a response to the above issues within 48 hours due to her pregnancy and the presence of her children living in the property.
  2. On 10 March 2021, the resident requested a response to her email on 1 March 2021. The landlord responded on the same day to confirm that its repairs team was checking the inspection report for her property, as following a mutual exchange only emergency work could be carried out unless specified. It also confirmed that fence panels were residents’ responsibility and, as the damaged fence panel was “likely” to be the resident’s neighbour’s, it asked her to discuss the matter with them.
  3. On 23 March 2021, the resident requested a response to her earlier emails on 1 and 10 March 2021, which was becoming “extremely urgent, especially the bath problems” as she was not able to bathe her children, including a new-born. The landlord responded on the same day to explain that she should now have an appointment for it to address the electrical socket in her kitchen, which she should call it to chase if not. It confirmed that the bath plug and hair washer mixer pressure were her responsibility to resolve. The landlord further confirmed that, with the exception of the repair to the electrical socket in the kitchen, the remaining repairs were not considered to be emergency repairs, and therefore these would not be carried out in the first six months of moving into a property via mutual exchange.
  4. On 1 April 2021, the resident referred her above concerns, as well as about the danger to her children of a bramble bush in the garden, to her local MP, who subsequently referred her concerns to the landlord on 6 April 2021, about which the resident had also contacted its chief executive on 4 April 2021. It then responded to the MP on 16 April 2021, and its response is summarised below:
    1. It stated that her property’s gas and electrical paperwork was sent through on 18 February 2021 following its neighbourhood officer’s visit to finalise the move, after which no checks for these were raised until 1 April 2021. However, the landlord confirmed that a gas test was subsequently completed at the property on 15 April 2021, and that the gas certificate should be received by the resident via post in the next two weeks, with the electrical test there having been booked to be completed on 16 April 2021.
    2. It added that its surveyor’s previous mutual exchange inspection of the property had not checked all of the electrical sockets there on the day, but that the resident had not made any observations or queries about these either, and so while she might not necessarily have checked these, this was not reported as expected within two days of her moving in. However, the landlord apologised for this, and it explained that any faults or repairs to these would be raised promptly and without delay after its above electrical test.
    3. It further confirmed that bath plugs were the resident’s responsibility, however as it recognised the resident had tried to replace this without success, its plumber would attend on 19 April 2021 to check for any leaks preventing water from retaining in the bathtub. If the issues were related to an “ill-fitting plug”, she would nevertheless need to resolve this herself. Furthermore, the resident’s property’s hot water system was gravity-fed and located upstairs, which meant that the water pressure would be lower in the bathroom than in the kitchen. As the property did not have a shower, she could obtain permission to install one herself.
    4. In respect to the resident’s concerns over her windows, it explained that although its surveyor’s inspection would normally check that they were working correctly, it had not been able to do this as it had to revise it working practices following the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, the landlord confirmed that it had asked the resident if the windows were working correctly, and there were no notes suggesting anything had been reported. It had raised a request to attend her property on 22 April 2021 to address the issues with her windows.
    5. Although it stated that the damaged fence was the resident’s neighbour’s responsibility to maintain, it agreed to attend her property to make the fence safe. However, the landlord said that she was responsible for the maintenance of her garden, including the bramble bush.
    6. In respect to the requested repair of her letter box, although the landlord outlined that she was responsible for this and that the repair was noted by its surveyor’s inspection, it agreed to carry out the repair on 22 April 2021.
    7. It recognised that its communication with the resident was “unacceptable”, and that it did “not meet its expected timescales” due to internal miscommunication causing repair delays on its part, for which it apologised to her.
  5. On 1 April 2021, the landlord’s records confirmed that it had raised an urgent request a test of the electrics in the resident’s property. This was recorded by it as having been completed on 2 April 2021.
  6. On 15 April 2021, the landlord’s records confirmed that it had raised repairs to replace the letter box, inspect the bathtub for a leak, and secure the windows in the resident’s property. The target completion date for these repairs was 14 July 2021. These were recorded by the landlord as having been completed on 19 April 2021, when it fitted a new plug hole in the bath, renewed the letter box, renewed a window handle, and tightened the upstairs window handles.
  7. On 18 April 2021, the resident submitted her stage one complaint to the landlord. She had received the landlord’s above letter to her MP, and she reported that its gas engineer had stated that no gas checks had been completed at her property before she had moved in, and that its electrician had found that the last electrical check there had been carried out in 2016. The resident also disputed the landlord’s assessment that she had been asked to confirm if the property’s windows were working correctly during its surveyor’s inspection, for which she had not been present. She believed this may have been the previous tenant, with the exchange having taken place on 20 February 2021.
  8. In respect to the bramble bush in the resident’s rear garden, she felt that the landlord had failed to identify that this had been poorly maintained. She felt that it should have resolved the issue before the exchange of properties, which presented a safety concern for her young family. The resident added that the damage to and draught from her letter box was not a new issue and that she had been advised that this was the landlord’s responsibility, as well as that it had not responded to her reports about the above issues when she had originally made them in March 2021, for which she had to contact its chief executive and her MP.
  9. On 4 May 2021, the landlord issued its stage one complaint response to the resident. It stated that gas and electrical checks were normally requested and took place during the first week following mutual exchanges, with the certificates for these provided to the incoming resident at the time of the inspections. Although the landlord apologised to the resident that this had not been clarified to her earlier, and it reiterated that its communication with her had fallen below its standards at times, acknowledging that the inspections had been delayed. It nevertheless explained that these had now been carried out, that she had been provided with the certificates, and its records showed that it had complied with its obligations to carry out annual gas servicing and five-yearly electrical testing.
  10. The landlord also confirmed that it was reliant on the outgoing tenant to declare any issues with the property, which was due to the Covid-19 working practices in place at this time. It further confirmed that the window repairs there were now complete, despite it not normally carrying out non-emergency work following a mutual exchange. The landlord added that the property and garden were accepted as seen by the resident, and furthermore that the tenancy agreement for the property confirmed that residents are responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the garden. It recognised that the inspection report asked the previous tenant to clear the garden, however it considered this to be an agreement between them and the resident.
  11. The landlord concluded that, while there had been some learning around communication, and an initial delay in the resident’s property’s gas and electrical checks, these had now been completed and she had been advised in line with its policies and procedures. It additionally stated that it had carried out non-emergency or urgent repairs to the property that were outside of its area of responsibility.
  12. On 11 May 2021, the resident submitted her final stage complaint to the landlord, which is summarised as follows:
    1. She reported that, while her property’s gas and electrical checks had been completed, the smoke alarms there did not work during a subsequent kitchen fire that the fire brigade had to attend, which she had only found by going back into the kitchen and was completely unacceptable, especially for her young children. The fire brigade was described by the resident as having therefore fitted and tested two of their own new smoke alarms, and advising her to pursue this with the landlord as a fault on its part.
    2. Her windows and letter box had also been fixed. However, the resident was unhappy that the previous tenant had not declared these or other repairs, nor cleared the garden of rubbish. She was additionally unhappy that the landlord had failed to follow up on the inspection report regarding the garden being clear of rubbish before she moved in to the property, particularly in light of her young children’s safety.
    3. Despite it having committed to making arrangements to make the fence safe on 16 April 2021, it had not made these arrangements. Furthermore, the landlord was yet to provide the resident with confirmation of which fences she was responsible for.
    4. She reiterated that she was not willing to pay full rent to it because of the issues that she had reported at the property, and she wanted compensation for having to use her parents’ house to bathe her children for eight weeks.
  13. On 9 June 2021, the landlord issued its final stage complaint response to the resident, which is summarised as follows:
    1. With regard to her property’s smoke alarms not working, it said that it was sorry to hear that this had happened, but that it was residents’ responsibility to check these and report to it if they were not, with its contractors being asked to check the smoke alarms on each visit to its properties. The landlord stated that its contractors had noted that the resident’s property’s smoke alarms were in date and working on the last two occasions that they had attended there in September 2020 and April 2021. Although it expressed concern that she had not been alerted by her kitchen smoke alarm, and so it had arranged for a contractor to inspect this on 10 June 2021 to find out the cause of the malfunction.
    2. In response to the resident’s unhappiness at the previous tenant having failed to report the repairs or clear the garden of rubbish, it reiterated that its role in a mutual exchange was to administer the process, with the property and associated garden being accepted “as seen”. Furthermore, the landlord explained that the deed of assignment transferring the property to her confirmed that the resident was responsible for the condition of the garden, any rubbish left by the previous tenant, and any damage caused by the other tenant.
    3. It felt that the issue of the bath not holding water was due to the incorrect plug having been fitted, although it recognised that the resident disagreed with this assertion, but it declined to compensate her for this. The landlord added that it was not responsible for and so it would not carry out repairs to her property’s dirty and blackened new electrical sockets, to change the locks as there could be duplicate keys from the previous tenant, and to the front door that was stiff to open and close, but that she had the right to change the locks herself. It also stated that it had carried out the other repairs to the property that the resident had reported to it that it would not normally have done.
    4. It apologised for its delay in acting on her concerns regarding the safety of the rear garden fence, and offered her £80 compensation, which would be credited to her rent account to reduce the arrears. The landlord confirmed that it had written to the resident’s neighbour on 4 June 2021, as the damaged fence was their responsibility, and that it would update her every week on its progress. It also confirmed that the left-hand garden fence was the one that the resident was responsible for.
  14. The resident subsequently referred her complaint to this Service, as she did not feel that the landlord had addressed all of her outstanding repairs, nor had it offered adequate compensation its poor standard of service and the associated impact on her and her family’s health and wellbeing. To resolve her complaint, she wanted the landlord to complete all of the repairs and to award her increased compensation, including for her and her young children’s stress and the fact that she had to contact her local MP and its chief executive for it to begin responding to and communicating with her about this.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The Ombudsman accepts that Covid-19 has had a major impact on the services a landlord is able to provide, and therefore that some normal services will have been significantly and unavoidably disrupted during the pandemic and going forwards.  In considering complaints related to Covid-19 the Ombudsman will consider the impact of the pandemic on the decisions and actions that a landlord has had to undertake during the period and take this into account when investigating complaints from residents. 
  2. The resident has previously raised concerns over the effect of the delayed completion of the repairs on her and her family’s health and wellbeing. The Ombudsman does not dispute her comments regarding their health, but we are unable to draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing or to award damages for these. This is because we do not have the authority or expertise to do so in the way that a court, tribunal or insurer might. However, we have considered the general distress and inconvenience which the situation has caused her, as well as the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about her family’s health, for which it has been recommended below to provide her with details as to how to submit a claim to it.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s repair reports after moving into the property following a mutual exchange

  1. The landlord has explained to the resident that following a mutual exchange, it would not be obliged to carry out any non-emergency repairs within the first six months of a resident moving in. This is because it describes its role in a mutual exchange as being to administer the move, and that the condition of the property, including the garden, is accepted “as seen” by the incoming resident.
  2. However, the position taken by the landlord in relation to this is only partly supported by its above allocations and lettings policy, which states that the incoming resident is responsible for the outgoing tenant’s alterations and improvements and takes the property as seen. The policy goes on to say that this is subject to the landlord certifying the property’s gas and electricity, and carrying out the “usual repairs” under the tenancy agreement.
  3. In respect to the resident’s request for the repair of the electrical socket in her kitchen and for the electrical testing of her property on 1 March 2021, the landlord had confirmed to her on 23 March 2021, that the former was considered an emergency repair. As a result, it was obliged to attend the kitchen socket within four hours, in line with its above repairs policy. However, this repair and the testing were not attended to until the landlord arranged an “urgent” electrical inspection of the resident’s property on 2 April 2021.
  4. This was significantly in excess of the landlord’s repairs policy’s expected four–hour response time, and so a failing has been identified in its delay of almost five weeks in completing this repair, as well as for not inspecting the electrics until almost six weeks after approving the resident’s mutual exchange on 18 February 2021. The latter was contrary to its above requirement to certify the property’s electricity as part of the exchange under its allocations and lettings policy, as was the fact that it did not inspect the gas supply there until eight weeks after this on 15 April 2021, which was inappropriate.
  5. Although the landlord had apologised for this on 1 April and 4 May 2021, it had not offered the resident any compensation for either these delays or any distress and inconvenience that she might have experienced for the period that it had not addressed the kitchen socket repair or electrical and gas inspections. This is despite the fact that its above compensation policy permitted it to recognise both its delays and her distress and inconvenience.
  6. Accordingly, the below order has been made for the landlord to pay the resident £95 compensation for its above delays of approximately 19 weeks in total in carrying out suitable repairs to address the faulty electrical socket in her kitchen and her property’s outstanding electrical and gas inspections. It has also been ordered below to pay her a further £95 compensation in recognition of any distress and inconvenience that she may have experienced from its failures to do so. These figures are in line with the landlord’s compensation policy, which confirms payment awards of £5 per week each for both its delays and its residents’ distress and inconvenience.
  7. In response the resident’s initial repair request on 1 March 2021, and to her follow-up request for a response to this on 10 March 2021, the landlord had confirmed on the latter date that it would only be carrying out emergency repairs in her property, as she had moved in following a mutual exchange. It further confirmed in its communication with the resident on 23 March 2021 that, with the exception of the electrical sockets there, these would not be carried out in the first six months of moving into a property via mutual exchange.
  8. Despite this, the landlord has evidenced that it had carried out a number of repairs to the resident’s property within six months of her mutual exchange for this, which was appropriate. It had completed the necessary repairs to fit a new bath plug hole there, and to carry out suitable repairs to her window handles and letter box, on 19 April 2021. The letter box repair was a reasonable action for the landlord to take as although its above repairs policy made the resident responsible for this, she continued to request its assistance with this from 1 March 2021 onwards, with the fact that she was responsible for the repair meaning that it was not inappropriate that it took longer than the 15 working days specified in the policy to complete this.
  9. Moreover, the landlord’s repairs policy also made it responsible for external door repairs, and the resident responsible for her property’s tenant-installed smoke and CO2 detectors, door locks and keys, so that it was not unreasonable that it referred the property’s front door lock, keys and stiffness back to her to address on 9 June 2021. With regard to her reports to it from 11 May 2021 that the property’s smoke detectors did not work, this was very concerning but it was appropriate for it to explain to her on 9 June 2021 that her above responsibility meant that it needed to be notified if these were not working. The landlord also demonstrated that it had previously carried out appropriate checks of the detectors in September 2020 and April 2021, and it agreed to investigate their malfunction suitably via a further contractor’s inspection on 10 June 2021.
  10. Nevertheless, the fact that the landlord took from 1 March to 19 April 2021 to repair the resident’s window handles that it was responsible for under its repairs policy was unreasonable. This is because the policy required it to do so within 15 working days, and its above repair took 18 working days longer than this, for which it also failed to consider applying its compensation policy to recognise either this delay or any resulting distress and inconvenience caused to the resident by this.
  11. In respect to the resident’s concerns expressed to the landlord from 1 March 2021 over her bath not holding water, there appears to have been a dispute over whether the bath plug was the cause of this issue. However, to address the issue, the landlord’s records confirmed that the plug hole was replaced by it on 19 April 2021, in line with its responsibility under its repairs policy to maintain the bath in the property.
  12. Although the action to carry out the bath repair was reasonable, the landlord failed to recognise either its delay in doing so or distress and inconvenience arising from the detriment experienced by the resident and her young family as a result of the issue which lasted for seven weeks from 1 March to 19 April 2021, and so a failing has been identified for this on its part. This is particularly because she had explained to it that this meant that she had been unable to bathe her children, it was aware that there was no shower in her property, and the failure of this hot water installation took place in winter according to its repairs policy, i.e. between 1 September to 30 April. This meant that this could have been an emergency repair requiring a four-hour response from the landlord.
  13. Accordingly, the landlord has been further ordered below to pay the resident £40 total compensation for its four-week delay in repairing her property’s window handles, and for her resulting distress and inconvenience, and this has been calculated at the rate of £5 per week. It has also been ordered below to pay her £70 total compensation for its seven-week delay in repairing her bath’s plug hole, and for her resulting distress and inconvenience, which has been calculated at the same rate. This is in line with the landlord’s compensation policy, and this Service’s remedies guidance.
  14. The resident had also raised concerns with the landlord from 1 March 2021 over the water pressure in her bathroom, which the landlord addressed on 23 March and 16 April 2021 by explaining that there would be reduced pressure in the bathroom due the gravity-fed water heating system in the property being located upstairs. Although this was a fair response from the landlord as the lack of pressure may have been due to the nature of the water installation rather than a repair to this that it was responsible for, it has been recommended below to consider an inspection of this issue. This is in order to understand if there are any repairs required to the water heating system which could be adversely affecting the water pressure in the resident’s bathroom.
  15. As a result of the resident moving into her property via a mutual exchange, the property’s garden was accepted by her “as seen”, in accordance with the landlord’s allocations and lettings policy. The repairs policy also confirms that garden maintenance and rubbish clearance was the resident’s responsibility. Therefore, although it is recognised that the resident had expressed concerns from 11 May 2021 over rubbish being left in the garden, and from 1 April 2021 over a bramble bush there becoming overgrown, the landlord’s explanations on 9 June and 16 April 2021, respectively, that it was not responsible for carrying out maintenance for these items was fair, and in accordance with its policies.
  16. However, in view of the resident’s concerns over the safety of the safety of her garden for her young children in light of the above issues and the condition of one of the rear fence panels there from 1 March 2021, which was the responsibility of neighbours, the landlord delayed making the fence safe as it had agreed to on 16 April 2021. This also would have added to the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident as a result of this.
  17. This was acknowledged by the landlord in its final stage complaint response to the resident on 9 June 2021, where it apologised to her and offered her £80 compensation for its delayed response to the condition of fence in her garden, for which it also confirmed that it had written to her neighbour about on 4 June 2021 and agreed to give her weekly updates. This compensation award, which it credited to her rent account, was proportionate to recognise the detriment, distress and inconvenience experienced by her as a result of this delay under its compensation policy, as this recommended that it recognise this approximately 10-week delay and any resulting distress and inconvenience at the rate of £5 per week.
  18. It is nevertheless of concern that there is no evidence that the repair to the rear fence panel in the resident’s garden that the landlord agreed to carry out itself has been completed yet. It has therefore been ordered below to provide this Service with evidence that it has done so or, if it has not, to contact the resident and/or her neighbour to arrange for it to repair the fence panel.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s repair reports after moving into her property following a mutual exchange.

Reasons

  1. The landlord offered the resident compensation and wrote to her neighbour following its delayed response to her concerns regarding the rear garden fence in the property, although it is unclear whether it then repaired this as it had previously agreed to. Moreover, it did not offer her compensation for the delayed gas and electrical safety checks at her property, kitchen electrical socket repairs there, window handle repairs at her property, being unable to bathe her children whilst awaiting bath plug hole repairs, or her resulting distress and inconvenience.
  2. As a result, the £80 compensation offered by the landlord in its final stage complaint response on 9 June 2021, was not proportionate to recognise the detriment experienced by the resident from its delays and her resulting distress and inconvenience.

Orders and recommendations

  1. The Ombudsman orders the landlord to:
    1. Pay the resident further compensation totalling £300 within four weeks, compromising of:
      1. £95 for its approximately 19 weeks’ total delays in completing the repair to the electrical socket in the resident’s kitchen and carrying out gas and electrical inspections at her property.
      2. £95 for the resident’s resulting distress and inconvenience from its failures to repair her faulty kitchen electrical socket and complete gas and electrical inspections at her property.
      3. £40 for its four-week delay in repairing the resident’s window handles and her resulting distress and inconvenience.
      4. £70 for its seven-week delay and the resident’s distress and inconvenience as a result of being unable to bathe her children while waiting for it to carry out repairs to address the bath plug hole at her property.
    2. Provide this Service with evidence that it has repaired the resident’s rear garden fence panel or, if it has not yet done so, contact her and/or her neighbour to arrange for it to complete this repair itself within the next four weeks.
  2. It is recommended that the landlord:
    1. Consider an inspection of the resident’s hot water system, to understand if there are any repairs required to the system which could be adversely affecting the water pressure in her bathroom.
    2. Contact the resident to provide her with details as to how to submit a claim to it for damages to her family’s health.
    3. Review its staff’s training needs in relation to their application of its policies and procedures with regard to repairs following mutual exchanges, complaints and compensation, to seek to prevent a recurrence of its above failures in the resident’s case. This should include consideration of this Service’s guidance on remedies, at https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/corporate-information/policies/dispute-resolution/policy-on-remedies/, and the completion of our free online dispute resolution training for landlords, if this has not been done recently, at https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/landlords/e-learning/.
  3. The landlord shall contact this Service within four weeks to confirm that it has complied with the above orders and whether it will follow the above recommendations.