Derby Homes Limited (202125471)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202125471

Derby Homes Limited

21 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 level of redress offered by the landlord in relation to a fly infestation in his property.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant. On Friday 8 October 2021 he reported a fly and maggot infestation in his home, which had occurred as a result of a deceased body in the neighbouring  property (discovered a week previously). On either the 12 or 15 October 2021 (it is not entirely clear from the records) the landlord carried out a smoke treatment in the resident’s property to address the infestation, and a week later cleaned the neighbouring property, and then carried out further smoke treatment to both properties.
3. The resident made a formal complaint about the landlord’s handling of the matter. In a discussion with the landlord about the complaint on 10 December 2021 the resident explained that he believed that it had been the landlord’s responsibility to rectify the infestation rather than his, and that he required £1,500 in compensation to cover costs such as fly spray, taxis, cleaning, and meals.
4. The landlord provided its stage one response on 14 December 2021, explaining that it had been made aware by police of the removal of a body from the neighbouring property on 1 October 2021, and was made aware of the resident’s fly infestation on 8 October 2021 (although this was picked up on Monday 11 October 2021). The landlord noted that the resident’s tenancy agreement stated that infestations were a tenant’s responsibility to address, however in light of the circumstances it had carried out a treatment soon after.
5. The landlord said that it had not been able to access the neighbouring property at that time as the police were still carrying out investigations. Once the keys were returned by the police on 20 October 2021 it carried out a full clean the following day, and then treated both properties again with fly treatment on the 27 October 2021. The landlord concluded that there had been no failing on its part, but offered £150 as good will gesture to cover the cost of fly sprays and taxis taken while the fly treatment went ahead.
6. On 23 December 2021 the resident asked to escalate the complaint. He was dissatisfied with the goodwill gesture offered by the landlord, as he did not think it remedied the distress he had been through or reimbursed him the expense he had incurred as a result if the infestation.
7. In its 26 January 2021 stage two response the landlord reiterated the actions it had taken to address the infestation, and that these had been reasonable, although did recognise it could have done more in terms of discussing the resident’s options for being away from his home for the four to six hours while the treatments were carried out. The landlord increased the goodwill gesture to £322 to take into account the resident’s cleaning costs.

Assessment and findings

8. The landlord’s Compensation Policy states it may provide compensation if it had not acted reasonably. Compensation would only be paid if it had been negligent, neglectful, and where financial disadvantage could be proved.
9. In his complaint to the Ombudsman the resident has set out his dissatisfaction with the £322 offered by the landlord. He said that the fly infestation occurred over a period of 32 days, he had to use multiple fly sprays which made no difference, and had to pay for additional cleaning and taxis to travel away from the property while pest control treatments were carried out. The resident has explained that he suffered greatly during this period, not being able to use the kitchen or sleep at night for fear of the flies landing on him.
10. The Ombudsman understands that this was a deeply upsetting experience for the resident and was sorry to learn of the trauma and distress that the situation caused. However, there is no indication of a failing on the part of the landlord in its handling of the matter. There is no evidence to show that the infestation was due to any action or inaction on the part of the landlord, and following the resident’s report on Friday 8 October 2021 it acted swiftly and appropriately by arranging for fly treatment to be carried out to try and address the issue.
11. The landlord has explained that it was unable to access the neighbouring property initially due to the ongoing police investigation, and the evidence available supports this, showing that on 20 October 2021 the police released the keys to the landlord. As such, the delay in cleaning and treating the neighbouring property (and so fully resolving the infestation) was not due to a failing on the part of the landlord. Once it was able to access the neighbouring property, the landlord again acted swiftly to clean and treat.
12. In light of this, and in line with its compensation policy, it was reasonable that the landlord declined to pay the resident the £1,500 costs he was claiming. Despite finding no failing in its handling of the fly infestation, the landlord offered a goodwill gesture of £322 to cover some of the costs claimed, demonstrating that it was willing to take action to try and resolve the resident’s complaint.
13. The Ombudsman does not question the distress the resident experienced and that he incurred costs, but there is no evidence to show that this was due to the action/inaction of the landlord.

Determination

14. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration regarding the level of redress offered by the landlord in relation to a fly infestation in the property.