Sanctuary Housing Association (202117572)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202117572

Sanctuary Housing Association

7 June 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 the landlord’s response to damage to the resident’s possessions, including a carpet, caused by the sprinkler system.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The property is a flat within a building comprised of similar properties.
  2. The landlord’s records show that the fire brigade contacted its out-of-hours service at 00:49 hours on 23 December 2020, on behalf of the resident. The landlord was informed that the fire-alarm system and sprinklers for the building had been set off, due to a chip-pan fire in the resident’s home. The records show that the landlord sent out its contractor to reset the sprinkler system, as the fire brigade could not locate where to do so. The landlord’s incident report show that its contractor reset the sprinkler panel within two hours.
  3. The resident raised a complaint to the landlord on 24 February 2021 regarding the damages to her furniture and upholstery. She stated that the fire brigade could not locate the sprinkler system to stop the water, which caused considerable damage to her belongings. The landlord issued a stage one complaint response on 23 March 2021; it stated that it had sent its contractors to reset the sprinkler system within its published timescales for emergency repairs and had therefore not failed in service. The landlord informed the resident that, as the sprinklers were activated due to a chip-pan fire in the resident’s flat, it would not be responsible for replacing the damaged items. It advised the resident to claim for the damages through her home insurance.
  4. The resident raised a stage two complaint to the landlord on 23 March 2021. She stated that she did not have home insurance and remained unhappy that it had taken over an hour and a half for the sprinklers to be shut off. In its final response to the complaint, dated 23 April 2021, the landlord maintained its position regarding compensation. It stated it had shown the fire brigade where the newly fitted sprinkler system was located, and that the fire service may not have arranged for that information to be passed on to the operational team who attended to the incident.
  5. In the resident’s complaint to this Service, she stated that she remained dissatisfied that the landlord had failed to compensate her for the damages to her carpet and upholstery.

Assessment and findings

Policies and procedures

  1. The landlord’s repair policy states it should attend to emergency repairs within 24 hours, routine repairs within 20 working days and appointed repairs within 28 days. It defines emergency repairs as, any repairs necessary to remove a serious threat to the health and safety of the service user, members of their household, visitors, or the structure and fabric of their home.
  2. The landlord’s compensation policy states that there are certain circumstances when it would not consider offering compensation in a complaint. Including when a claim could be made on home contents or building insurance and the resident has either chosen not to make such a claim, is unhappy with the outcome of a claim or has no insurance.
  3. The landlord’s fire safety management policy states that it is responsible to have in place appropriate arrangements for the inspection, maintenance and servicing of its fire alarm systems, any device linked to the fire alarm panel, control and isolating equipment and fire escape routes.

The landlord’s response to damage to the resident’s possessions

  1. The landlord’s response to the emergency call-out from the fire brigade on the resident’s behalf, was appropriate. According to the landlord’s internal report, it marked the repair as an urgent priority emergency; this was appropriate, as it was proportionate to the scale of the issue. According to the evidence, the landlord received the call at 00:35am on 23 December 2021, and its emergency contractor reset the sprinkler panel in the resident’s home, by 2: 17am. This was reasonable, as it sent out its emergency contractor within its emergency repair timescales as stated in its repair policy.
  2. The resident stated that her carpet was damaged due to the fact that the fire brigade could not locate the sprinkler system within the building. It is acknowledged that there may have been less damage if the sprinkler system had been shut down sooner. However, the Ombudsman is unable to determine the extent of the damage directly attributed to the delay in shutting off the sprinkler system, as some damage to the resident’s belongings may have occurred even if the sprinkler had been shut off sooner.
  3. In its final response, the landlord stated it could not compensate for the damages to the resident’s furniture, including a carpet, as the sprinkler system was activated due to a chip-pan fire in the resident’s property. The landlord would only be expected to compensate for damage to the resident’s possessions, including the carpet, if it was directly responsible for causing the damage. The resident stated that the sprinklers were activated due to smoke in her flat and not fire. The internal reports from the landlord’s fire service manager indicates that the sprinklers are only activated upon a fire or very hot smoke. There is insufficient evidence to show that the landlord was responsible for causing the fire, or that the sprinkler system was faulty. Therefore, its response to the resident was reasonable. It was appropriate for the landlord to advise the resident to claim for the damage to her belongings through home contents insurance, in accordance with its compensation policy.
  4. In the resident’s complaint she questioned why the fire brigade did not know where to locate the reset panel for the sprinkler system. She said the fire brigade had informed her that they did not receive all the relevant paperwork for the sprinkler system from the landlord. In its final response, the landlord explained that the sprinkler system had recently been installed. It stated it had shown the fire brigade where the sprinkler panels were located during a previous visit to the property. This visit has not been disputed by the fire brigade. It was appropriate for the landlord to show the fire brigade where the reset panel was located, in accordance with its fire safety policy. However, it is recommended that the landlord provides all relevant paperwork to the fire service, if it has not done so already, to assist them with locating the sprinkler in the future if necessary.
  5. Whilst the Ombudsman understands that the situation has been distressing for the resident, especially having occurred so close to Christmas. The landlord has acted in line with its relevant policies and appropriately responded to the resident’s complaint. Therefore, there is no evidence of service failure by the landlord.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in its response to damage to the resident’s possessions, including a carpet, caused by the sprinkler system.

 

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord provide all relevant documents involving the operation of the sprinkler system, to the fire brigade, if it has not done so already.