Nottingham City Homes Registered Provider Limited (202118061)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202118061

Nottingham City Homes

28 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 handling of the resident’s requests for repairs to a blocked toilet and front door.
2. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s record keeping in relation to this case.

Background and summary of events

Background

3. The resident lives in a two-bedroom property with her young daughter and has had a secure tenancy with her landlord since January 2015.
4. The resident reported that her toilet was blocked a number of times between July and November 2021.This Service has not been provided with the full records of the outcome of those reports.
5. Between 2019 and 2021, the resident reported that water was coming through her front door a number of times. This Service has not been provided with records of the outcome of those reports.

Summary of events

6. The landlord’s contractor investigated the resident’s blocked toilet on 30 July 2021, recommended to renew the flush pipe and requested a scan of the waste pipe to check for blockages.
7. On 6 September 2021, the resident made a formal complaint to her landlord, stating:
   1. She continued to have issues with her toilet becoming blocked, which started in June 2021. She was told that it needed to be replaced because it needed a “straight bend”, however when she followed this up, the landlord told her that her case had been closed.
   2. On one occasion, the landlord’s contractor attended at 1am to look at the toilet, which scared her as it was late. 
   3. The front door continued to let in water, which made the carpet wet, and although the landlord said that there was nothing wrong with the door, its contractor who visited before the pandemic had found the problem, which had not been acted upon.
   4. She wanted compensation for time and trouble she incurred reporting the issues with her toilet, a permanent fix to her toilet and front door and wanted compensation for replacing her carpets which were damaged by the water coming in through the front door.  
8. The landlord’s contractor carried out a drain scan on 13 September 2021, their report concluded: “flow tested toilet several times there are no blockages on site today. Customer thinks they have rats coming up the drains but I can’t see any issues on today’s visit.”
9. The landlord issued its stage one complaint response on 21 September 2021, which stated:
   1. it had carried out a comprehensive drain scan and found no defects to the drains, therefore no further action was required.
   2. an apology for its contractor wrongfully advising the resident that a pipe was the cause of the blocked toilet and it confirmed that was not the case.
   3. it found no issues with the front door and its contractor confirmed all locks and seals were functioning correctly. (This Service does not have a copy of the outcome records of this visit.)
   4. an apology for its out of hours team disturbing the resident at 1 am, however, it advised that the emergency cover was a 24 hour service and because the resident had confirmed that there was only one toilet within the property, it had treated this as an emergency to be attended to as soon as possible. 
   5. It had asked its compensation team to send the resident compensation forms. 
10. On 22 September 2021, the landlord’s contractor carried out minor works to the resident’s toilet, including straightening out the pan connector, adjusted the ballcock and cleaned scale off the syphon. 
11. On 12 October 2021, the resident requested that her complaint be escalated to stage two of the landlord’s complaints procedure, stating:
    1. On 9 October, the toilet blocked again and a result she had to cancel work and wait for the repairs. (This Service does not have a copy of the outcome of this reported repair.)
    2. The situation negatively impacted her young daughter as she could not use the toilet when it was blocked which had caused her to have urine infections and headaches.
    3. The landlord’s contractor suggested a change of toilet may fix the issue.
    4. Water continued to come through the front door so she had to change her carpet to laminate, and as the issue continued she was concerned that the water would damage her new laminate flooring.
    5. She wanted a permanent solution to the problems with the front door and reiterated that she wanted compensation.
12. The landlord sent the resident its compensation forms on 13 October 2021, and has confirmed it did not receive the completed forms back to process.
13. The landlord issued its stage two response on 8 November 2021, concluding:
    1. In September 2021, its contactor carried out a drain scan and confirmed there were no issues with the flow or blockages on the day of the visit. It also straightened out the pan connector, the ballcock was adjusted and the syphon was cleaned. Therefore, the toilet did not need to be replaced.
    2. In August 2021, its contractors confirmed that the front door was in good working order and was well sealed inside and outside. (This Service does not have a copy of the outcome of the visit.)
    3. It would visit with its contractor on 11 November 2021 to discuss any ongoing issues and carry out any identified repairs to the front door.

Assessment and findings

14. The resident reported her ongoing problems with her toilet and front door several times and it is clear that the landlord’s contractors at times gave contradictory information on the cause of the issues. This may have negatively impacted the resident’s confidence in the landlord’s ability to resolve the issues.
15. However, the Ombudsman recognises it is not unreasonable for the landlord to attempt a number of different solutions to fix a repair, where the cause of the problem is not obvious or straightforward, before it finds the one that resolves the issue. It, nonetheless, where practical, must ensure its contractors are giving its residents clear, correct and consistent information.
16. As part of this investigation, this Service asked the landlord to provide the outcomes of the visits/work orders that were recorded in its repair logs associated with the resident’s reports of issues with her toilet and front door, which included the outcome of the additional inspection it outlined in its stage two response. We also asked for details of any works that remained outstanding. The landlord, although it responded, did not provide the full information that was requested.
17. Therefore, the gaps in information in this case means this Service does not have the relevant evidence, such as the outcome of the landlord visits for the numerous logged repairs on the landlord records associated with this case, to say independently and fairly that the landlord carried out all relevant and necessary measures to satisfactorily investigate the resident’s reports of issues with her toilet and front door.
18. The landlord stated in its stage two response that its contractor visited in August 2021 and found no defects or problems with the resident’s front door. Although, the resident does not dispute that this visit went ahead, as stated above, the Ombudsman does not have the documents to support the outcome of the visit  independently of what was stated in the landlord’s stage two complaint response.  
19. Although, the landlord appropriately carried out repairs and scans of the toilet to try and resolve the issue, the toilet continued to block, therefore, after a further visit in November 2021, which formed part of its stage two response, it subsequently replaced the toilet. On the same day the landlord carried out a further investigation of the resident’s front door, but as stated in paragraph 16, the landlord did not provide us with the outcome of the visit in relation to the front door.
20. Overall, the landlord’s lack of records mean that there is insufficient evidence that it dealt with the resident’s reported repairs to her toilet and front door satisfactorily. Furthermore it is not clear how it investigated her complaint about these matters, given the lack of records.
21.  After it had issued its final complaint response, the landlord decided to replace the resident’s toilet after its visit in November 2021. Due to the lack of evidence, the Ombudsman cannot say definitively that it would have been reasonable for the landlord to make that decision earlier to save the resident undue inconvenience.

Determination (decision)

22. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme:
    1. there was a service failure by the landlord in respect of its handling of the resident’s reported repairs to her blocked toilet and front door.
    2. There was a service failure by the landlord regarding its record keeping.

Reasons

23. The landlord was not able to provide evidence that it had carried out all relevant and necessary measures to satisfactorily investigate the resident’s reports of issues with her toilet and front door.
24. The landlord failed to provide this service with requested key information and documents to support the position that it outlined in its internal complaint response. This is information that should have been requested and taken into account in its own consideration of the complaint, and it is unsatisfactory that it was not able to provide this information. A landlord should have systems in place to maintain accurate records, so it can satisfy itself, the resident (and ultimately the Ombudsman) that it took all reasonable steps to meet its repair obligations.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

25. The landlord should pay the resident £300, within four weeks of the issue of this report, which comprises of:
    1. £150 compensation in respect of in respect of its handling of the resident’s reported repairs to her blocked toilet and front door.
    2. £150 compensation in respect of its poor record keeping.
26. Review its record keeping procedures in relation to repairs, taking into account the comments in this investigation report. It should ensure that it has robust record keeping arrangements in place which allow it to provide clear audit trails of all actions taken, which will also help residents receive accurate information about their reported repairs and provide this service evidence of its review within 12 weeks of the issue of this report.  

Recommendations

27. The Ombudsman recommends that the landlord:
    1. ensure residents are advised on out–of–hours calls that a contractor will visit any hour, including early hours of the morning.
    2. contact the resident to ensure there are no outstanding issues with her front door.