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Great Places Housing Association (202122850)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202122850

Great Places Housing Association

9 August 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 resident complains about the landlord’s response to her reports of damage caused to her property following a leak, and the level of compensation/redress offered for this.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord.
  2. The resident reported a leak at her property in early November 2021. She made a stage one complaint soon after in relation to the damage to the interior caused by the leak (no copy of this complaint has been provided to the Ombudsman).
  3. The landlord provided a stage one complaint response on 19 November 2021, in which it apologised for the damage caused. It also apologised for an ornament that had been broken by its contractors that attended to repair the leak, and offered the resident £30 compensation for this. It said that it would arrange to attend the property to complete an inspection for follow on works to the ceiling and decorations. It had also requested an appointment to be booked in to complete a professional clean of the carpet, as a gesture of goodwill.
  4. The resident escalated the complaint in mid-December 2021 as she was unhappy with the outcome offered by the landlord, and wanted the carpet to be replaced and hallway redecorated (although again the Ombudsman has not been provided with a copy of the resident’s complaint).
  5. The landlord attended the property on 23 December 2022 and subsequently noted actions to resolve the complaint with the resident, as follows: £30 compensation for the damaged ornament; replacement carpet to hallway stairs, and; plastering.
  6. The landlord provided a stage two complaint response on 1 February 2022. In this it acknowledged that ‘…if the repair [to the leak] had been completed to a satisfactory level on the first instance this would not of caused the damage it had.’ It sincerely apologised for the damage and the inconvenience caused.
  7. Referring to the 23 December 2021 inspection, the landlord noted that it had offered to replace the carpet, but as an exact match was unavailable, it had then agreed with the resident that it would fund the cleaning of it, if the resident could obtain a quote for this. The landlord offered the same resolution regarding the decorations, as it had sent its own decorators but the resident was dissatisfied with the planned works and declined to have these carried out. Plastering works had also been completed. The landlord also offered the resident a goodwill gesture of £30 on top of the £30 compensation given as part of its stage one response. The landlord sincerely apologised for the damage caused to the property, and the inconvenience caused.
  8. The resident referred her complaint to this Service as she remained dissatisfied with the level of compensation offered by the landlord due to stress, inconvenience and damages to the decoration and carpets. The resident feels an increase to £500 in compensation is necessary in resolving the issue.

Assessment and findings

  1. The resident has explained to the Ombudsman that she is dissatisfied with the outcome of the complaint as she feels that the remedy/amount of compensation offered does not reflect the distress and inconvenience caused.
  2. When investigating a complaint, the Ombudsman applies its Dispute Resolution Principles, which include; treat people fairly and follow fair processes, and; put things right. The Ombudsman must first consider whether a failing on the part of the landlord occurred, and if so, whether this led to any adverse affect or detriment to the resident. If it is found that a failing did lead to an adverse affect, the investigation will then consider whether the landlord has taken enough action to ‘put things right.’ 
  3. In this case, the landlord has accepted it was at fault for damage to the resident’s home and belongings, and therefore this investigation looks at whether it took reasonable action to ‘put things right’.
  4. The landlord’s Customer Feedback Policy states that it aims to ensure that any remedy offered in response to a complaint reflects the extent of any and all service failures, and the level of detriment caused to the resident as a result. Remedies listed in its Customer Feedback Policy include acknowledging where things have gone wrong, apologising and providing a financial remedy.
  5. In line with this policy, the landlord attempted to provide remedies that reflected the detriment caused, by acknowledging failings, apologising, providing financial compensation for the damaged ornament, and offered action to ‘put right’ the damage to the carpets and decoration, visiting to assess this. It offered to replace the carpets as the resident had requested, and when this wasn’t possible offered to pay for a professional clean on provision of a quote. It attended to carry out decorating works, and when the resident was dissatisfied with the planned works, offered to pay for the resident’s own contractor on provision of a quote. Overall, the landlord provided a reasonable response to the resident’s concerns about damage caused, and the offers to address the damage were all proportionate in the circumstances and represent reasonable redress.
  6. The resident has explained to this Service that she did not provide a quote for the carpets and decoration, as the landlord told her during a visit to her property that she would need to have her contractors attend to carry out the works, and then telephone the landlord when these were completed so that it could attend and pay the contractors. The landlord would then post inspect the works and the resident would have to sign something to say she would never complain again. The resident has said that she was unhappy with this proposed approach, and the Ombudsman would not consider this approach reasonable.
  7. There is no record of this conversation in the evidence available, and it was not clear from the landlord’s stage two response exactly how it’s offer to cover costs would go ahead. Therefore, as part of this investigation the Ombudsman has asked the landlord to clarify how its offer to reimburse these costs would work. The landlord has confirmed that once the resident provides the quotes from VAT registered contractors, (and presumably the landlord agrees that these are reasonable), it would pay this amount to the resident prior to the works taking place. The resident would arrange for these works to be carried out, and once these were completed, the landlord would attend to post inspect the works. The Ombudsman is satisfied that this represents a reasonable course of action.
  8. In terms of the inconvenience and upset caused to the resident, the landlord offered a £30 ‘goodwill gesture’. This amount does not fully recognise the adverse affect that the resident experienced. With reference to the Ombudsman’s own compensation guidance, £30 was insufficient to ‘put right’ the distress that the damage caused, and the inconvenience the resident has experienced because of this, taking into account the need to obtain quotes and arrange for the works to be carried out. As such, this adverse affect remains outstanding, and so an order for compensation is made below.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in regards to the complaint about the response to reports of damage caused to the property following a leak and the level of compensation/redress offered for this.

Orders

  1. Within one month of the date of this report, the landlord must pay the resident £150 as a remedy to distress and inconvenience (if the £30 goodwill gesture has already been paid, this can be deducted).