Landlords can now complete the Complaint Handling Code Annual Submissions form. More information is available online.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council (202116417)

Back to Top

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202116417

Hammersmith and Fulham Council

4 October 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 handling of:
    1. The repairs required following reports of a leak from the guttering and roof.
    2. The associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord.
  2. The resident initially reported that her guttering was overflowing and causing damage to her bay window in May 2021. The records indicate that the resident continued to pursue the repairs throughout July 2021 as scaffolding had been put in place but no work had been carried out.
  3. The resident raised a complaint during August 2021 as the scaffolding had been in place for three months but no work had been carried out. She added that she had repeatedly chased the repairs but had not been provided with any updates. She explained that the scaffolding was affecting her use of her garden and her grandchild had been injured by one of the poles. She later added that she remained dissatisfied with the length of time it was taking to complete the works. She noted damage to the external brickwork and said that the water ingress was causing damage to a bedroom ceiling and internal walls.
  4. The landlord initially apologised for the delay and poor communication between May 2021 and August 2021. It explained that it had received confirmation (with pictures) from its former contractor who confirmed that the works to clean, re-fix and seal the guttering were completed on 8 August 2021. Following the resident’s reports in September 2021 that none of the required work had been carried out, the landlord arranged for a post-inspection. Roofing works were carried out on 17 November 2021 to replace a missing slate, repoint missing mortar, seal the valley of the roof, clear the guttering and install eave support trays. An inspection of the internal damage was completed on 26 November 2021 but the plaster was still damp and the resident reported that the roof was still leaking. On 6 December 2021 it was identified that further scaffolding was required to investigate the ongoing issues.
  5. In response to the resident’s complaint, the landlord apologised for the ongoing delay and poor communication. It explained that it made a business decision to change its contracted repairs company in October 2021 and residents had been advised that there could be a delay to works as a result. Outstanding repairs were due to be completed by the former contractor, however, the works to the resident’s property were not completed as agreed and the landlord had passed these to its new contractors. They established that the former contractors had provided incorrect information in relation to the works needed and the landlord apologised to the resident for the level of service previously provided. It confirmed that the internal works required would be completed once the external issues were rectified and offered £300 compensation in recognition of the delays and poor service provided.
  6. The resident referred her complaint to this Service in March 2022 as she remained dissatisfied with the delay in completing repairs to the external parts of the property and said that the issues were ongoing. She wanted the landlord to resolve the issues as these were affecting the internal parts of the property.
  7. The landlord’s records show that scaffolding was erected on 31 March 2022. Operatives attended on 5 April 2022 and established that further scaffolding was required. Between June and July 2022, some rendering and external plastering was completed. Further works to the roof and guttering were raised on 23 August 2022 and work to strip the valleys of the roof, replace rotten timber, place new felt and replace the guttering and downpipe were completed on 6 September 2022. The landlord has advised that further work to the external brickwork is required before the internal damage can be remedied. It has agreed to pay for the paint of the resident’s choice and complete the internal decoration work required.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation.

  1. The resident has advised that her grandchild was injured by the scaffolding in her garden. It is beyond the remit of this Service to investigate complaints about health and injury. The resident therefore may wish to seek independent advice on making a personal injury claim if she considers that her family’s health has been affected by any action or lack thereof by the landlord. Whilst we cannot consider the effect on health, consideration has been given to any general distress and inconvenience which the resident experienced as a result of any errors by the landlord.

The landlord’s handling of repairs required following reports of a leak from the guttering and roof.

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy confirms that the landlord is responsible for repairs required to roofs and guttering. Routine repairs should usually be completed within 20 working days. Planned repairs are likely to take longer. Some repairs may take longer where investigative work or scaffolding is required. Factors such as periods of bad weather may also impact the timescales for repairs to roofs or guttering. The landlord would be expected to keep the resident regularly updated on the progress of such works and provide an expected completion date.
  2. In this case, it is not disputed that the length of time taken to resolve the leak from the resident’s guttering and internal remedial works was significant. The landlord acted appropriately by acknowledging the initial delay in completing works to the guttering between May and November 2021 and apologising that it had been told by its former contractors that the work had been completed on 8 August 2021. It explained that it had made a business decision to change the company responsible for completing its repairs in October 2021 and its former contractor had not provided correct information regarding the repairs at the resident’s property or revisited the property on request when the resident had raised concerns that the work had not been done.
  3. Landlords are entitled to rely on records provided by contractors, however, the landlord would also be responsible for actions taken by its contractors. As such, whilst the provision of incorrect information was somewhat outside of the landlord’s control, it took reasonable steps to attempt to put things right by apologising to the resident, raising new work orders and offering compensation for the inconvenience caused. The landlord’s offer of £300 is considered proportionate in view of the delays in completing repairs between May and November 2021.
  4. It should be noted that it can take more than one attempt to resolve issues such as leaks as it can be difficult to identify the cause of issue from the outset and in some case different repairs may need to be attempted before the matter is resolved. This would not necessarily constitute a service failure by the landlord and the landlord was entitled to rely on the opinions of its qualified staff and contractors when deciding what work to undertake. However, on 6 December 2021 it was identified that the roofing works completed on 17 November 2021 had not resolved the issues. Following this, there was a significant delay in erecting scaffolding until 31 March 2022. There was some delay during this time as a result of poor weather which was outside of the landlord’s control, however, this did not account for the entirety of the delay at this stage. On 5 April 2022 it was identified that the scaffolding in place needed extending as it was not sufficient for the works required which further added to the timescales involved. The evidence shows that the resident had to pursue updates from the landlord on a regular basis and no clear explanation for the delay was provided which was likely to have caused additional inconvenience.
  5. Whilst some works to the rendering and plasterwork of the external parts of the property were completed in June and July 2021, there was a lack of progress in August 2022. The landlord appears to have raised work orders and completed repairs to the roofing following this. It is, however, of concern that the works had not progressed until prompted by the Ombudsman requesting an update on the status of the works on 22 August 2022. It is reasonable that the internal works could not proceed until the external works had been completed successfully. However, there were significant unexplained delays and a lack of progress which was likely to have caused additional inconvenience to the resident. This suggests that the landlord had not learnt from the complaint and service failures in 2021, and that repair and communication delays were continuing despite the new contractor.
  6. Where there are admitted failings by a landlord, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this the Ombudsman considers whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes. The landlord acted fairly in acknowledging the delays and poor communication and apologising to the resident. It put things right by initially offering £300 compensation in view of the inconvenience caused and repair delays between May 2021 and November 2021. However, following this, there were additional delays and communication issues. As such, the landlord’s offer is not considered proportionate in view of the additional failings identified.
  7. The landlord has advised that it would be looking to review the compensation offered once works had been completed. However it is the Ombudsman’s view that interim compensation should be provided in view of the additional delays. It could have been offered based on any anticipated completion date, with further compensation offered if there were further delays. The Ombudsman’s remedies guidance states that amounts in the range of £250-£700 are proportionate in recognition of significant service failure or maladministration but where there may be no permanent impact on the resident. Examples include a complainant repeatedly having to chase responses and seek correction of mistakes, necessitating unreasonable level of involvement by that complainant or failure over a considerable period of time to act in accordance with policy – for example to address repairs.

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

  1. The landlord’s complaints policy states that it has a two-stage complaints process. At stage one, the landlord should respond within 15 working days. if the resident remains dissatisfied with its response, they can escalate their complaint to stage two. At stage two, the landlord should respond within 20 working days. If, at any stage, there is likely to be a delay, the landlord would be expected to contact the resident, explain the reason for the delay and provide a new expected timescale for response.
  2. The resident initially raised a complaint on 15 August 2021. The landlord issued its stage one complaint response on 7 September 2021. This was approximately one working day outside of its timescales and unlikely to have caused significant inconvenience to the resident.
  3. The resident asked for her complaint to be escalated on 8 September 2021, she was advised that a response would be issued by 6 October 2021. She continued to pursue a response with the landlord and approached this Service for assistance on 18 October 2021. The landlord was asked to provide a response by 15 November 2021, this did not happen and it was asked again on 25 November 2021 to respond within five working days. The landlord provided its stage two complaint response on 6 December 2021 which was significantly outside of its policy timescales with 43 working days. Whilst the landlord has apologised for the delay which was appropriate, it is the Ombudsman’s view that compensation is warranted for the delay at this stage in view of the time and trouble the resident had spent pursuing the matter and the inconvenience caused. 

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of its handling of repairs required following reports of a leak from the guttering and roof.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in respect of its handling of the associated complaint.

Orders

  1.  The Ombudsman orders that the following actions are completed within 4 weeks:
    1. The landlord is to pay the resident £500, comprised of:
      1. An additional £400 in recognition of the inconvenience caused by the further 9 month repair timescale from November 2021 to August 2022. This is in addition the landlord’s previous offer of £300 for the 6 month timescale in 2021.
      2. £100 in recognition of the inconvenience caused by the landlord’s complaint handling.
    2. The landlord is to complete any further repairs required to the external parts of the property within four weeks, or to provide an action plan with completion dates and an explanation why the repairs cannot be completed within 4 weeks. Written confirmation should be sent to the resident and Ombudsman.

 Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord completes the internal works as agreed when appropriate.
  2. The landlord should consider carrying out a post-inspection of the works once the internal damage is rectified to ensure that there are no outstanding repairs or damage.