Bromsgrove District Housing Trust Limited (202127870)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202127870

Bromsgrove District Housing Trust Limited

27 February 2023

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:
   1. handling of reports of historic damp and mould issues in the resident’s bathroom;
   2. handling of the resident’s request to be compensated for the cost of replacing their bathroom;
   3. communication regarding who is responsible for future repairs to the bathroom.

Jurisdiction

2. What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. This is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
3. Under paragraph 42 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion:
   1. were not brought to the Ombudsman’s attention normally more than 12 months after they exhausted the member’s complaints procedure;
   2. were not brought to the attention of the member as a formal complaint within a reasonable period which would normally be within 6 months of the matter arising.
4. The bathroom was renovated at the resident’s own cost in 2017 and the damp and mould issues occurred prior to this. Therefore, the time limits above are relevant. There is no evidence of a complaint being progressed to this Service regarding those issues prior to this complaint.
5. After carefully considering all the evidence, in accordance with paragraphs 42(b) and (c) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the following aspects of the complaint are therefore outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction:
   1. handling of reports of historic damp and mould issues in the resident’s bathroom;
   2. handling of the resident’s request to be compensated for the cost of replacing their bathroom.

Background and summary of events

Background

6. The resident is an assured tenant and the property is a two–bedroom house. The tenancy began in August 2011. The resident has mobility issues which the landlord is aware of.
7. The landlord has provided a copy of its repairs and maintenance policy which says that the resident is responsible for any repairs relating to any alteration or upgrade to fixtures and fittings completed by the resident.
8. The landlord has also provided a copy of the tenancy agreement which states that the resident must get permission in writing from the landlord if they want to replace bathroom fittings.

Summary of events

9. The resident reported issues with damp and mould between 2012 to 2016 in her bathroom. In 2015, the landlord inspected the resident’s bathroom and determined that it only needed to do a few small repairs and did not need to replace the bathroom, which it says it previously replaced in 2002.
10. During 2017, the resident had her bathroom re–fitted at her own expense. The landlord has said that no written permission was sought for the replacement. This information is only for context and, as mentioned above, is outside of the scope of this investigation.
11. In July 2021, the resident had a leak in her bathroom and contacted the landlord to report the repair. When the engineer attended, he informed the resident that, as she had replaced the bathroom, then she was responsible for the repairs.
12. The resident raised a formal complaint on 6 July 2021 with her landlord regarding historic reports of damp and mould, the fact that she believed that the landlord had previously told her she was responsible for any bathroom renovation, and the confusion about whose responsibility it was to now repair the bathroom.
13. The landlord issued its stage one complaint response on 15 July 2021. The response included the following:
    1. That at the time of the visit in 2015, the next replacement date for the bathroom was 2032, as the bathroom had been replaced in 2002 and, given that there was still 17 years left, replacement would not have been ordered at that time.
    2. The information given at the time was fundamentally correct; however, it could have been more in depth and so could have been misleading.
    3. Any improvement work carried out by its customers is generally maintained going forward by the customer for the duration of that asset’s life so in a bathroom’s case this would 30 years.
    4. Given the information could have been misleading and the leak may be coming from old waste pipework, the landlord said it would replace the waste pipework at its own expense. It added that this would not relieve the resident of their obligation should other items within her bathroom need repairing or replacing (i.e., the shower unit or taps, etc.).
14. The resident escalated her complaint to stage two on 26 July 2021. In her letter, the resident said that there were inconsistencies with who was responsible for the repairs.
15. The landlord provided its stage two response on 11 August 2021. The response said that the resident’s complaint related to the misunderstanding as to who was responsible for the replacement of the bathroom in her home. This also extended to the future repairs liability where the bathroom is replaced by a tenant. The landlord did not uphold complaint and agreed with the outcome at stage one.
16. The stage two response mentioned that the landlord was near to updating its Repairs and Maintenance Handbook which sets out the responsibilities for the landlord and tenant. The landlord expected to send this to the resident later in the year.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s communication regarding who is responsible for future repairs to the bathroom

17. The landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy does say that the resident is responsible for any repairs relating to any alteration or upgrade to fixtures and fittings made by the resident. Therefore, the landlord has acted in line with its policy by telling the resident that she was responsible for the repairs for the bathroom she had fitted in 2017.
18. Nevertheless, the landlord said it would complete some repairs at its own expense on this occasion – these repairs appear to have been completed around July 2021. Given that the landlord recognised that there may have been a historic miscommunication on this matter and the leak may not have been from a fitting that was part of the refurbishment, it was reasonable that it used its discretion to remedy the leak on this occasion.
19. The landlord subsequently clarified that future repairs with regards to the bathroom would be the resident’s responsibility. This decision was again in line with the landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy.
20. The landlord has also said that the resident completed the bathroom renovation without seeking written permission from it. The tenancy agreement does state that the resident must get permission in writing from the landlord if they want to replace bathroom fittings. Given that the landlord was not made aware of the bathroom refurbishment in advance, it appears that it did not have an opportunity to consider, or explain, the future repairing responsibilities to the resident.
21. It is unclear from the evidence seen by this Service whether the landlord has considered its decision on future repair responsibilities in line with section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act and how it will determine in future whether a repair is related to items it is obliged to repair or whether it is a fitting that the resident installed – a recommendation is therefore made below in this regard.

Determination (decision)

22. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in regards to the landlord’s communication about future repairs to the bathroom.

Reasons

23. The landlord explained to the resident what its position was in regard to any further repairs to the bathroom and this decision was in line with the repairs obligations set out in its relevant policy. The landlord also used its discretion to complete the repair to resolve the bathroom leak that the resident reported in July 2021.

Recommendations

24. It is recommended that the landlord writes to the resident to clarify its position:
    1. in regards to what repairs it is responsible for, taking into account any obligations it has under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act;
    2. as to how it will assess in future whether a bathroom repair is its responsibility or that of the resident.
25. It is recommended that the landlord sends the resident an updated copy of its Repairs and Maintenance Handbook, if it has not done so already.
26. The landlord should advise this Service of its intentions in regard to the above recommendations within four weeks of the date of this report.