Sanctuary Housing Association (202006043)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202006043

Sanctuary Housing Association

28 May 2021


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 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 handling of repairs required to her property’s hot water and heating system, shower and flooring.

Background and summary of events

  1. The resident has raised several different complaints with her landlord which have some overlap in the time they were being processed. The complaint being investigated relates to the repairs to the property only. There are separate complaints being processed or have been closed with the landlord relating to ; the resident’s decant and decant payments, the resident’s transfer application and a complaint regarding staff conduct.
  2. The resident has an assured tenancy with the landlord which was entered into on 3 September 2018. The resident resides at the property with her daughter who is disabled and has severe health needs.
  3. The resident complained at stage one of the landlord’s complaints procedure on 16 July 2020. The resident wrote to the landlord on 25 August 2020 noting that she had made a complaint and that her boiler had broken down three times since being refitted.
  4. On 8 September 2020, the landlord wrote to the resident and apologised for the delay in responding to their complaint. It noted that the resident had been contacted by other departments relating to the repairs. It asked for further clarification on her complaint.
  5. On 17 September 2020, the landlord wrote to the resident and noted that a surveyor would carry out an inspection on 22 September 2020. This inspection  took place on 24 September 2020 and the landlord wrote to the resident following it on 25 September 2020. The landlord confirmed that the surveyor needed to obtain a quotation from a repairs contractor for the works required to the property. The landlord also noted that there was a leak from the heating system which was being dealt with by its gas team. The landlord advised it would provide its complaint response within ten working days.
  6. On 7 October 2020, the landlord provided its front line resolution response to the resident (stage one complaint response). The landlord noted that there were numerous repairs for the heating system that had affected the property. The landlord noted that an order had been raised to its repairs contractor to install radiators on 12 October 2020. The landlord noted that in light of the delays to complete repairs, it was offering the resident £300 as a goodwill gesture.
  7. On the 8 October 2020, the resident responded and requested that the complaint be escalated to the next stage of the complaints process.
  8. On 12 October 2020, the new radiators were fitted at the property.
  9. On 16 October 2020, the landlord wrote to the resident to confirm that the complaint was being dealt with at the investigation stage (final stage) of its complaints procedure. It noted that it would complete the investigation within 20 working days and send a response by 12 November 2020.

Final Response from Landlord

  1. On 12 November 2020, the landlord provided its investigation stage final complaint response (stage two). The landlord noted that complaint was logged on 16 July 2020. The landlord noted that it attempted to call the resident on 27 July 2020, but that it only provided a written complaint acknowledgment on 8 September 2020, which was not within the ten working days requirement under its complaints policy.
  2. The landlord went through the history of previous issues which began with a leak in the property’s shower in September 2019 which resulted in the resident being decanted. The landlord noted that, on 20 February 2020, the resident contacted its customer service and reported water not draining away and its operative attended on the next day as an emergency appointment. In March and April 2020, owners of a gym below the resident’s property reported water leaking to their property below. The landlord’s operatives checked resident’s wet room on 16 April 2020 and could not identify any leaks.

Boiler Issues

  1. The landlord noted that, on 17 April 2020, the resident reported that she had no heating and hot water in the property. Later that evening, the landlord’s gas engineer attended property, restored the boiler and no further works were required. On 30 April 2020, the resident contacted the landlord again and reported that the hot water not staying on long enough. On 6 May 2020, the resident spoke to landlord and, as a result, the landlord established with its gas team that parts were required to resolve the issue with the hot water. The landlord arranged for the resident and her daughter to be decanted to alternative accommodation between 7 and 11 May 2020 until the necessary parts were fitted on 12 May 2020.
  2. On 5 July 2020, the resident reported no heating and hot water from her boiler again. This was attended to that evening as an emergency repair. On 11 September 2020, the resident reported lukewarm water from her shower and that it then went cold. This was attended to by an emergency operative that evening who confirmed that it was due to an issue in the heating system. The repair contractor was asked to carry out a power flush. As a result, the resident and her daughter were decanted again from 12 to 16 September 2020 to a hotel. On 16 September 2020, the landlord’s surveyor attended and was unable to get a key to the property. The landlord’s operations manager then suggested that, rather than complete a power flush, a quotation be obtained to replace the underfloor heating with radiators.
  3. On 23 September 2020, the landlord’s maintenance surveyor attended the property to assess the resident’s concerns regarding damp and mould. The surveyor determined that there was not a damp issue, but that the ongoing leak had caused damage to flooring in the hallway. The landlord would arrange for a quotation for new vinyl flooring and to unblock drainage to the shower. The final complaint response letter noted that there had been an issue in gaining access to the property on 9 and 10 November 2020. The landlord noted that most of the works had been completed and two hours were required to complete the works, which it had arranged to be finished on 17 November 2020 with the resident’s decant extended until then.
  4. The landlord’s final complaint response reoffered £300 compensation in recognition of the serious inconvenience the resident experienced. This was as a result of the number of times she needed to be decanted to allow repairs to be completed, and the numerous occasions she had to contact the landlord to chase up when works were going to be carried out to address the outstanding issues in her property.
  5. The landlord offered a further payment of £100 compensation in recognition of the time and trouble caused by the ongoing issues the resident experienced with her boiler, hot water and wet room floor and the delay in her being contacted following the complaint being recorded at the first front line resolution stage of its complaints procedure.
  6. The landlord also offered as a goodwill gesture a loss of facilities payment of £84 in appreciation of the inconvenience the resident and her daughter experienced during the period she did not have sufficient hot water from her boiler. This was calculated based on 15% of the daily rent charge of £27.85 between 17 April 2020 when the resident first reported the issue up to 7 May 2020 when she was decanted.

Events after the landlord’s final response

  1. On 18 November 2020, the landlord wrote to the resident and provided four possible heating and hot water repair appointment dates. The resident responded on the same day confirming that she could not attend any of the dates due to her daughter’s operation.
  2. On 19 November 2020, the landlord wrote to the resident stating that it was disappointed that the resident could not provide access on the four suggested dates. The landlord noted that it was committed to reinstating the resident’s heating and hot water and that the visit would take approximately two hours to connect to the pipework.
  3. The landlord queried whether a friend, relative or the resident’s key worker could give access on the four suggested dates. The landlord also noted that, as the resident’s daughter’s operation was due to place on the 23 November 2020, perhaps she could give access on 20 November 2020, and it offered to pay for a taxi to get her to and from her home. The landlord also noted that there was a key safe and internal locks on the door and queried whether the resident would permit the repairs contractor to access the property with a housing manager to complete the work.
  4. On 20 November 2020, the landlord wrote to the resident again and gave five suggested dates for repairs to be completed by the contractor and requested that the resident confirm that access could be provided on one of these.
  5. On 7 December 2020, the resident wrote to the landlord asking about the status of the above repairs. On 15 December 2020, the landlord wrote to the resident and asked for her availability for that week and the following week to provide access to the property in order for it to complete the repairs.
  6. On 16 December 2020, the resident wrote to the landlord and noted that she could not provide access as her grandfather had passed away. She noted that she would arrange for access in the first week of January 2021, as long as an employee of the landlord remained at the property while the work was being carried out.
  7. On 17 December 2020, the landlord wrote to resident and noted that its repairs contractors (who visited the property on 4 December 2020) had availability the following week (on 21 and 22 December 2020) to address flooring in the home and run off in the shower room. The appointment was scheduled between 8:00AM on Monday 21 December 2020 and working all day, then Tuesday 22 December 2020, working across the day and finishing at 6:00PM.
  8. The landlord acknowledged that the resident was staying with friends and family at the time and requested that she provide access to the repairs contractors on Monday 21 December 2020. They would need access to the property during that Monday to lay vinyl, and during that Monday the resident would not be able to be inside the property due to these works.
  9. The landlord noted that it would not be able to provide a member of staff to stay inside the property all day and explained that this is not something that it is able to do for any repair works at any of its residents’ properties. It advised that the resident could be able to be in the property on Tuesday 22 December 2020, as long as she adhered to social distancing, for example by staying in a different room.
  10. The resident responded on 17 December 2020 and confirmed that she would not be available the following week and that she was not happy for external contractors to be in her property unattended.
  11. On 29 December 2020, the resident wrote to the landlord requesting proposed repair dates
  12. On 30 December 2020, the landlord wrote to resident and requested her availability for weeks commencing 11 and 18 January 2021.
  13. It is evident that, in 2021, there was significant communication between the landlord and the resident to try to arrange the outstanding repairs and continuing issues with the landlord being able to be provided with access to the property by the resident.
  14. Following recent enquiries from this Service, the landlord has advised that the outstanding repairs are (a) investigate the source of leak and remedial works (b) lay flooring in hallway and wet room, (c) minor repairs and redecoration of skirting, architrave and hallway area and (d) overhaul hallway door. In order to facilitate for these repairs to be completed, the landlord requested that the resident’s dog live away from the property for the duration of the repairs which will take approximately two weeks. The landlord offered to send the resident’s dog to a kennel and, as the resident did not want this, the landlord agreed to pay a dog walking company to look after the dog while the repairs were completed. This will cost £560 which the landlord agreed to pay to the company. The works are due to take place on Tuesday 2 June 2021.

Assessment and findings

Compensation offer

  1. The landlord’s compensation offer was made up of £300 in recognition of the serious inconvenience the resident experienced. The landlord’s compensation guidance states that payments for inconvenience can be up to £400 maximum and are made in recognition of a service failure. The scale of £151-£400 acknowledges a high impact to the resident and a high effort for them to resolve the matter.
  2. This was an appropriate level of compensation, in particular noting that the resident raised the stage one complaint on 16 July 2020 and did not receive written confirmation on the processing of it until 8 September 2020. It was appropriate for the landlord to acknowledge that there was a service failure in its complaint handling and to take measures to make things right in accordance with the provisions of its compensation guidance.
  3. The landlord offered £100 compensation in recognition of the time and trouble caused by the on-going issues the resident experienced with her boiler, hot water and wet room floor, and the delay in her being contacted following her complaint being recorded at the first front line resolution stage of its complaints procedure.
  4. The landlord’s compensation guidance provides at section 4 that this type of payment can be provided where there has been service failure that has impacted the tenant. This can include “failure to follow [its] policy and procedure leading to a delay or inaction” (4.1.1). The guidance notes that the compensation will be offered taking into consideration the impact of the service failure and the effort the resident made to resolve it. The scale provides that £51-£150 will be provided for high effort/low impact or low effort/high impact.
  5. The goodwill gesture of a loss of facilities payment of £84 was made by the landlord due to the inconvenience that the resident caused during the period by not having sufficient hot water from the boiler. This was made up of 15% of the daily rent charge of £27.85 between 17 April 2020 when the resident first reported the issue up to 7 May 2020. This works out as £4.17 a day. The landlord’s compensation guidance provides for non-financial gestures of goodwill such as arranging works over and above repair responsibilities. It was reasonable for the landlord to use its discretion to provide monetary compensation. The landlord’s repairs compensation guidance also provides for £3 per day for a total loss of hot water and this was in excess of that guide amount.

Access to the property

  1. The resident’s tenancy agreement sets out at 3.1(r) “that the tenant agrees to permit the landlord and its agents, employees or contractors acting on the landlord’s behalf, upon giving at least 24 hours’ notice in writing to enter the Property at all reasonable times… (i) to inspect and repair the Property”.
  2. It is evident that the resident had difficulty providing access to the landlord at various time due to various reasons, such as her daughter attending at hospital appointments and a family bereavement. However, it is clear from the correspondence that the landlord tried to accommodate the resident’s requirements where it could. When a repair would only take two hours, for example, it offered on 19 November 2020 for a housing manager to be able to access the property with its repairs contractor to complete the work.
  3. In addition, on an occasion where the resident wanted to be in the property during the repairs on 22 December 2020, it offered on 17 December 2020 to accommodate this as long as social distancing requirements were adhered to. The resident asserted that a member of the landlord’s staff should be present when repairs were taking place. There is no requirement for the landlord to provide this and this Service can see how this might not be feasible, given that repairs can take several days and this would take up too many resources for the landlord.
  4. On review of the evidence, the landlord tried to accommodate the resident when she had difficulty providing access. The landlord queried on 19 November 2020 whether friends or relatives could assist, whether a key could be left in a secure key safe and provided four to five different dates on several occasions that the resident could choose from which suited her needs, including on 18 and 20 November 2020. It is evident that, following the landlord’s final complaint response, the resident’s inability to provide access to the landlord to complete the repairs contributed to the delay in the repairs being completed. The landlord has recently advised that it is paying £560 to a dog walking company to mind the resident’s dog while the final repairs are completed on 2 June 2021.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 55(b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has offered redress to the resident prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.

Reasons

  1. The landlord acknowledged its mistakes and took steps to rectify them in providing the resident with compensation in accordance with its compensation guidance. The landlord apologised to the resident and tried to arrange for the outstanding repairs to be completed in order to remedy the issues in the property. The landlord has tried to work with the resident to find solutions despite the fact that the resident could not provide access to its contractors on several occasions.