Sovereign Living Limited (202111761)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202111761

Sovereign Living Limited

22 May 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 amount the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of a leak entering his property, and the subsequent amount of compensation offered.
  2. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaints handling.

Background

  1. The resident has been an assured shorthold tenant at the property of the landlord since 11 November 2020. The landlord is a registered provider of social housing. The property is a flat within a block of flats.
  2. On 29 June 2021, a leak began to enter the resident’s bedroom, which he reported to the landlord on 7 July 2021. The resident made further reports on 12, 20 and 23 July 2021. The landlord attended the resident’s property to address the leak following each report, and subsequently carried out investigations as to the cause of the leak in the neighbouring properties within the block (some of which were not owned by the landlord). On 3 August 2021, the resident confirmed that the leak hadn’t reoccurred.
  3. On 20 August 2021, the resident raised a formal complaint regarding the landlord’s response to the leak and the level of compensation the landlord had indicated it would offer following completion of remedial works. The resident requested a reduction of rent of 40% due to the time and trouble he had taken in chasing up repairs, and for the damage caused to his possessions. He additionally expressed concern that the landlord had required him to dismantle his furniture, which he considered to be its responsibility in the circumstance, and that the remedial works were likely to take a further two months.
  4. The landlord provided its stage one response on 24 September 2021. It offered compensation of £25 per week for the loss of the use of the resident’s bedroom for the period of 29 June 2021 (when the leak began) to 31 October 2021 (when the works were due to be completed). This amounted to £450. It also offered £100 for the delays to the works to resolve the leak.
  5. The resident subsequently requested an escalation of the complaint and on 27 September 2021, the landlord advised the resident should contact this service if he wished to escalate his complaint. It further advised that this communication was to be considered its final response.
  6. After intervention from this service, the landlord provided a full stage two response on 30 November 2021 in which it reiterated its offer of £550. Following its stage two response, the redecoration works were not completed until 29 January 2022.

Assessment and findings

Policies and procedures

  1. The resident’s tenancy agreement notes that the landlord is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the structure of the property, which includes the walls and ceilings, and the water pipes. The resident is also responsible for obtaining contents insurance in the event that damage is caused to his possessions due to events outside of its control. The landlord’s home contents insurance webpage clarifies that this includes the decorations and the carpets in the property. The tenancy agreement also notes that the resident is required to keep the property clear and accessible for any repair work that is deemed necessary.
  2. The landlord operates a responsive repairs policy. The policy notes that the landlord considers a leak to be an emergency repair if it is severe and leaking into electrical installations. An emergency appointment is to be attended within 24 hours. Non-emergency repairs will be attended to within 28 calendar days. The landlord’s COVID-19 support webpage advises that its services may be affect by the COVID-19 pandemic and that it will provide an updated timeframe when it is unable to keep to its standard timeframes.
  3. The landlord also operates a compensation policy. The policy notes that compensation may be offered where there has been a loss of amenity. Where there is a loss of the use of a bedroom, compensation of £25 per week may be offered. Compensation may also be offered in cases where the resident has experienced significant distress or inconvenience. Compensation is not offered, however, where there has been damage to a resident’s personal possessions. This is to be dealt with through the resident’s home contents insurance.
  4. The landlord operates a two stage complaints policy. The landlord will aim to provide a stage one response within 10 working days, and a stage two response within 20 working days of an escalation.

Leak

  1. As noted above, the landlord is responsible for the structure of the building and all pipework within the building. Following reports of a leak into a resident’s property, the Ombudsman would expect the landlord to carry out a reasonable investigation into the source of the leak within a timely manner and carry out any repair works which may arise.
  2. It is evident that the landlord attended the resident’s property following his initial report on 7 July 2021, however, based on the evidence provided to this service, it is unclear on what date.
  3. Following the further report on 12 July 2021, the landlord appropriately attended within 24 hours as the resident had expressed concerns about the leak coming into contact with the light fitting. This was in line with the landlord’s repairs policy. It additionally appropriately inspected the resident’s neighbour’s property for the source of the leak.
  4. The landlord again attended within 24 hours following the resident’s further report on 20 July 2021 and carried out additional inspections of the neighbouring properties following the reports on 23 and 27 July 2021.
  5. The Ombudsman understands that the repeated reoccurrence of the leak would have been frustrating for the resident. Based on the evidence received by this service, however, the landlord’s actions were reasonable and timely and it kept the resident reasonably informed about its subsequent investigations.

Compensation

  1. A landlord should consider the payment of compensation in cases where it has failed to carry out its obligations in a satisfactory or timely manner. The compensation should also reflect the likely inconvenience or distress caused by its service failure to the resident.
  2. As noted above, the landlord’s repairs policy notes it will carry out non-urgent works within 28 calendar days. While there was no evidence of a failure by the landlord in its immediate response to the leak, there was an interval of 65 calendar days between the resident confirming the leak had stopped on 3 August 2021 and the landlord reinstating the bedroom light on 7 October 2021 (at which point it considered the room to be habitable). While the landlord’s COVID-19 support webpage explains that services may be delivered outside of its usual timeframe, this was a significant delay and it is not evident that the landlord provided an explanation for this delay.
  3. This service publishes remedies guidance, available to view at https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Remedies-Guidance.pdf. The guidance notes that awards of compensation between £250 and £700 are appropriate where there has been “failure over a considerable period of time to act in accordance with policy – for example to address repairs”.
  4. In its stage two complaint response, the landlord offered compensation of £450 to the resident based on £25 a week for the loss of use of the room for 18 weeks between 29 June 2021 and 31 October 2021. It also offered a further £100 for his time and inconvenience. While the resident has sought a significantly higher level of compensation, this was a reasonable offer from the landlord, which was in accordance with its compensation policy, as well as this service’s remedies guidance.
  5. Following the bedroom being made habitable, the landlord carried out an inspection on 5 November 2021 to determine what redecoration works were required. It did not complete these works, however, until 29 January 2022. In the intervening time, the resident contacted the landlord to chase this work on at least three occasions, and this service has not received evidence to suggest any timeframes were provided to him. Given that the leak was stopped on 3 August 2021, it took an additional 179 calendar days to complete the redecoration works. This level of delay without adequate communication to the resident amounts to maladministration for which further compensation is appropriate.
  6. The Ombudsman notes that as part of its offer of compensation made in its formal response, the landlord has offered to replace the residents carpeting. Given that under the tenancy agreement, the floor coverings are the responsibility of the resident and something they would be expected to claim through their insurance, this offer was above and beyond the landlord’s responsibility. With this considered, further compensation of £150 is appropriate to recognise the inconvenience caused by the landlord’s delay in completing redecoration works.
  7. The Ombudsman also notes that the resident requested additional compensation for the damage to his bedding. Such a claim should be made through a resident’s home contents insurer, and it was reasonable for the landlord to inform him of this during their email exchange between 16 and 20 August 2021.
  8. As noted above, the tenancy agreement states that the resident was responsible for ensuring that sufficient space was cleared to provide access to the landlord to carry out repairs. It was therefore reasonable that the landlord advised the resident that it was not responsible for disassembling the resident’s furniture for it to have space to carry out the repairs.
  9. In summary, while the landlord initially made a reasonable offer of redress in its stage two response to reflect the delay and distress and inconvenience caused to the resident at that point, its subsequent failure to complete the redecoration works within a reasonable timeframe amounted to maladministration. Therefore, further compensation of £150 is appropriate to recognise this delay and the additional distress and inconvenience caused to the resident.

Complaints handling

  1. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) states that complaint responses should make it clear the stage at which a complaint is being addressed and provide details of how to escalate the matter in the event of the resident’s continued dissatisfaction.
  2. Following the resident’s request for his complaint to be escalated, the landlord’s final response was initially provided across three emails dated 24, 27, 28 September 2021. These emails did not specifically make it clear they were intended to be the landlord’s final response, nor did they initially include information about how to escalate the complaint to this service.
  3. While the landlord subsequently provided a more formal stage two response following intervention from this service, its initial lack of clarity led the resident to have to clarify the response on several occasions. While frustrating, this ultimately did not change the landlord’s position, and did not constitute service failure on this occasion. A recommendation has, however, been made below that the landlord review the complaint handling code and this service’s complaints handling training.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of the complaint regarding its response to the resident’s reports of a leak entering his property, and the subsequent amount of compensation offered.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of the complaints regarding its complaints handling.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. The Ombudsman orders the landlord to pay compensation of £700 for the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident by its delays to complete the repairs and subsequent redecoration works to his bedroom.
  2. This replaces the landlord’s previous offer of £550. This amount must be paid within four weeks of the date of this determination.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord to assess its complaint handling against the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code at https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/landlords-info/complaint-handling-code/. The landlord to take steps to ensure that its complaints handling staff are aware of the details of its complaints policy. This should also include completion of our free online dispute resolution training for landlords at https://www.housingombudsman.org.uk/landlords/e-learning/ if this has not been done recently.