Nottingham City Homes (202113877)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202113877

Nottingham City Homes

10 March 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 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:

1. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould;
2. The landlord’s handling of repairs needed to a footpath.

Jurisdiction

2.     What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. This is governed by the Scheme. When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.

3.     The resident has told this Service she is unhappy about an uneven footpath in her garden. This was a new issue that was raised following the exhaustion of the landlord’s complaints procedure in August 2021.

4.     The Ombudsman is not able to comment on specific issues which have not been considered through the landlord’s complaints process in the first instance. This is because we need to be sure that the landlord has had an adequate opportunity to investigate and resolve the issues internally before we intervene.

5.     This is in accordance with paragraph 39(a) of the Scheme, which states that the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which are made prior to having exhausted a landlord’s complaints procedure.

Background and summary of events

Background

 

6.     The resident is a tenant of the landlord and has an assured tenancy.

7.     The landlord’s complaints policy allows it to offer discretionary compensation to a resident who has incurred a financial loss or inconvenience due to a service failure.

8.     The landlord’s repairs service standards say that it will keep its appointments.

Summary of events

9.     A surveyor visited the resident’s property on 2 March 2021.

10. A surveyor completed a report on 2 June 2021. They said there were issues of damp and mould in the bathroom and bedroom, and the plaster and skirting needed to be renewed in the bedroom. The surveyor also said a new vent/fan needed to be installed in the bathroom.

11. The resident made a complaint to the landlord on 17 June 2021. She said two visits had been carried out, and she had been told there was rising damp. The resident said a contractor had attended after an order had been raised for rendering, but this could not be completed due to the damp. She made the point that she has two children with disabilities, and she was worried that the damp was affecting them. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint the same day.

12. The landlord issued its stage one complaint response on 21 June 2021. It said:

1. The surveyor who had attended the resident’s property on 2 March 2021 was unclear in his notes as to what works were required to resolve the damp issues. This resulted in a delay in remedial actions being taken by the landlord.
2. This had since been corrected and the necessary works had been raised – for a new extractor fan to be installed in the bathroom, and skirting boards and plaster in the bedroom to be removed and made good.
3. It thanked the resident for bringing the matter to its attention.

13. The resident contacted the landlord on 29 July 2021 to say that its contractor had not attended an appointment the previous day for plastering, and that she had waited in all day but no one had attended or contacted her.

14. On 11 August 2021, the resident reminded the landlord that its contractor had not turned up to the recent plastering appointment. She said that when the joiner had attended to put in the skirting board, this could not be done. She also said there was another appointment booked in for that day, and again, the contractor had not turned up and she was not told about this. The resident made the point that she has two disabled children and it was the school holidays, and she had appointments she needed to keep. The resident wanted to escalate her complaint to stage two of the landlord’s complaint process.

15. On 26 August 2021, the landlord issued its stage two complaint response. It said:

1. The resident remained dissatisfied due to: the length of time to address the damp and repair issues in her home; the planning and organising of the work to remedy the damp issues; and the lack of ventilation in her bathroom.
2. After a number of phone calls with the resident and the landlord’s staff, it agreed the length of time taken to identify the remedial work required was unacceptable.
3. Its contractors had failed on a number of occasions to attend appointments that had been made to address the damp issues. Also, if the resident had not informed its contractor that the plastering appointment had not been attended, then a joiner would have attended to renew the skirting board and would not have been able to complete the work. The landlord thanked the resident for her patience.
4. It confirmed that a new bathroom radiator had been fitted, and the plastering work had been booked in for 15 September 2021. Also, the new skirting board would be fitted on 22 September 2021.
5. Regarding the bathroom ventilation, it had agreed for a fan to be installed and would arrange for someone to contact the resident and agree an appointment for this work.
6. It apologised for the poor level of service the resident had received, and offered her £100 compensation for the length of time it had taken to make arrangements and complete the repairs.

16. Also on 26 August 2021, the landlord sent an internal email asking for arrangements to be made for the extractor fan to be installed.

17. The resident brought her complaint to this Service. She said that her son had not been able to use his bedroom since the beginning of the year, due to the damp.

18. Further information provided from the landlord to this Service confirmed that the plaster repairs had been completed on 15 September 2021, and the fan had been installed on 5 November 2021. However, the resident later told this Service that whilst the plasterer had attended on 15 September 2021, the repairs could not take place because the contractor said the issue was coming from the outside and so they had left. She explained that the landlord was due to remove some earth that was against her son’s external wall and then render the outside, but she had not been given an update on this.

Assessment and findings

19. The landlord informed this Service that the resident had advised it that solicitors had been instructed by the resident. Formal court action on any of the issues under investigation would entail that the Ombudsman would be required to discontinue its investigation on those issues, however, as there is no evidence that the resident has commenced court proceedings, this investigation has continued.

20. The first survey took place on 2 March 2021. This Service has not been provided with a copy of the surveyor’s notes or report. Though the landlord says the surveyor’s notes were unclear on the next steps that were needed.

21. If the landlord thought the surveyor’s findings of 2 March 2021 were unclear, this ought to have been questioned and clarified at the time the report was received. Instead, the landlord only took action after a survey report was completed on 2 June 2021. This demonstrated a missed opportunity to enact a resolution on the property condition issues that were eventually identified.

22. The landlord advised the resident in its stage one complaint response of 21 June 2021 that jobs had been raised – both to install a new extractor fan, and for the skirting boards and plaster in a bedroom to be removed and made good. However, it seems the landlord did not raise works order for the installation of the extractor fan as it had said, as it only requested this on 26 August 2021. This caused a further unnecessary delay, when this ought to have been put right when the stage one complaint response was sent.

23. Although the landlord did raise a works order for the plastering and skirting boards to be removed and made good, the landlord’s contractor then did not turn up to two appointments and did not inform the resident of this. This was despite the landlord’s repairs service standards stating that its contractors would keep appointments.

24. The landlord recognised that the resident had waited an unacceptable length of time for the repairs to take place, and that she had been inconvenienced by the failed appointments. However, the Ombudsman considers that the landlord’s compensation offer of £100 does not adequately reflect the inconvenience caused to the resident by the delays.

25. Despite the survey taking place on 2 March 2021, it took a further six months before a visit took place to address the plasterwork repairs. The extractor fan was not installed for over eight months. These were unnecessary delays that could have been avoided had the landlord taken prompt action after the initial survey had been completed. In addition, as acknowledged by the landlord, its failed appointments also resulted in further delays in the overall resolution of this case.

26. The resident was understandably concerned about the mould in her property, particularly as the majority of this was located in her disabled son’s bedroom, which prevented him from using the room until the repairs took place. Taking into account the impact reported by the resident and her family caused by the landlord’s handling of the matter, appropriate compensation in the Ombudsman’s opinion, would be £400. This is in line with this Service’s guidance on remedies which says that an award of £250 to £700 should be paid where there has been service failure over a considerable period to address repairs.

27. It seems matters have now progressed, and the landlord’s contractor has apparently identified that the damp and mould issues are being caused by earth outside the property. In order to provide the resident with reassurance, it is recommended that the landlord write to the resident to provide an update on her case, including any timescales for required works.

Determination (decision)

28. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould.

29. In accordance with paragraph 39 (a) of the Scheme, the complaint about the landlord’s handling of repairs needed to a footpath is outside the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Reasons

30. A survey took place on 2 March 2021 after the resident had reported damp and mould in her property. The landlord did not take any action at this time, as the surveyor’s findings were unclear. A survey report dated 2 June 2021 made it clear what action was needed. Despite this, the landlord delayed those repairs. Its contractors also missed two appointments. In all the circumstances of the case, the landlord’s actions have resulted in unacceptable delays in providing the resident with a full resolution on the property condition issues she has reported. Whilst it was appropriate that the landlord identified these failures and offered compensation, the amount offered did not reflect the inconvenience and distress experienced by the household.

Orders

31. The landlord to pay the resident total compensation of £400 (less the £100 previously offered if this has already been paid).

32. The landlord to take steps to ensure that surveyors provide reports following any inspection, with records retained for future reference.

33. The landlord should comply with these orders within four weeks of receiving the Ombudsman’s determination.

Recommendations

34. The landlord to update the resident on progress on the case since the completion of the complaints process, with timescales provided for any further works required.