London Borough of Brent (202203503)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202203503

Brent Council

24 March 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 reports of vibration and humming in her home.

Background

2. The resident is a tenant of the landlord. The property is a ground floor flat in a two-story building.
3. On 13 December 2021, the resident sent the landlord a recording of humming and vibration in her property. She said she thought it was coming from the pipes in her boiler cupboard.
4. The landlord responded the next day. It confirmed it had visited the previous week and not been able to witness the noise or vibration, or where it might be coming from. A neighbour had said they had not experienced anything similar, and the resident’s recording was very faint and hard to make out the humming. Nonetheless, the landlord said it would arrange a surveyor to visit.
5. The resident raised a complaint on 31 December 2021. She said the humming and vibration had been going on for months, it was affecting her physically and mentally, and she wanted the landlord to do something about it.
6. The landlord responded to the resident’s complaint on 10 February 2022. It explained that a surveyor attended the property on 11 January 2022, and found the cause to be with the building’s ventilation system. It said it would clean the system to help alleviate the humming and vibration, but there was no guarantee it would be fully effective. It also explained that the ventilation system was checked every month and that there had been no other reports of noise or vibration.
7. The resident escalated her complaint on 18 February 2022. She stated that the issue had been going on for a year with numerous calls and visits from plumbers, electricians and heating teams yet was still ongoing. She stated that an electrician told her it was the new fans on the building’s roof causing the issue and she felt the landlord should have notified her it was going to change the fans. She suggested that she be disconnected from the communal ventilation system and given her own personal ventilation. She did not accept that nothing could be done and asked for the issue to be looked at again.
8. The landlord provided its stage two response on 31 March 2022. It explained that after a number of inspections, the nature of the vibration and humming was such that the surveyor was unable to give a definitive answer and that it appeared it was an unfortunate by-product of the ventilation system. It said it would ask for a review of the possibility to further soundproof the ventilation system and it would also consider if an alternative solution to ventilate the building is at all feasible. As the resident had exhausted the landlord’s complaints process it referred her to this Service.
9. The resident sent a further sound recording to the landlord on 12 April 2022. The landlord arranged for an operative to visit the property on 22 April 2022, who reported nothing of significance. At the resident’s request, operatives attended the property at midnight on 14 May 2022. In their report they explained that “[resident] switched off her fridge and closed her windows for the assessment. Property generally very quiet with some faint traffic noise. I asked [resident] if there was a specific area in her property where the perceived noise seemed the loudest and she replied ‘everywhere.’…While sitting in the lounge, she confirmed she could hear the noise at that time; my colleague and I could not detect any audible noise in the lounge or bedroom. She pointed us towards the bathroom stating that the noise source is the fan. A subjective assessment detected moderate level humming noise around the same level as a domestic fridge. This noise was not deemed to be excessive and certainly would not amount to a statutory nuisance in the bathroom. This noise was barely audible in the hallway and not audible in the lounge. [Resident] stated that she could hear the noise from the fan in the lounge. She claimed that multiple engineers have tried to fix the noise issue and have been unable to achieve a satisfactory outcome. Objective measurements using a sound level meter As per my previous assessment, measurements were taken…readings did not reveal any problem low frequency noise in any habitable space in [resident’s] property.”
10. The resident brought her complaint to this Service because the noises continued.

Assessment and findings

11. Landlords have a responsibility to repair and maintain the structure and fabric of a building, its common areas, internal piping and cabling, and a range of fixtures and fittings in communal areas and residences (as defined by the tenancy agreement). Where a repair issue is identified, landlord’s are expected to investigate, inspect, identify the problem and cause, and take steps to remedy the matter.
12. In this case, the information provided by the resident and landlord confirms that the landlord has responded to and investigated each of the reports made by the resident, and the overall issue of the humming noise she hears. Nothing in the evidence indicates that either the landlord or resident have clearly identified the cause of the problem. In the absence of a clear repair issue or cause – despite the investigation efforts – the fact that the resident continues to experience the noise does not equate to the landlord failing to meet its obligations.
13. The resident explained to the landlord that she had been told the source of the noise was the fans and ventilation system, and the landlord’s own efforts confirmed that was potentially true. She suggested replacing the system, or removing her property from it and replacing it with an individual solution. However, there is again no evidence of repair faults with the ventilation system, and so nothing that the landlord could be said to have been at fault for not remedying.
14. At the time of its complaint investigation the landlord said it had not received reports from other tenants similar to the resident’s (the resident has subsequently said that she has information from other residents on this, which she is recommended to share with the landlord, but that does not undermine the landlord’s explanation at the time of the complaint). The technical noise assessment carried out in May 2022 identified some low-level noise, but not at the level the resident said she was experiencing, and not at a level which could be considered unreasonable. Such technical assessments are robust and thorough. While it is for a landlord to decide what to do with the results of such a test, it provides robust evidence on which a landlord can rely to support its decisions.
15. It is clear from the landlord’s correspondence with the resident, and its complaint responses, that it accepted the resident’s reports, despite the difficulty verifying them, appreciated the impact it was having, and undertook proportionate actions to investigate and identify the cause of the problem. The noise assessment in May essentially confirmed what the landlord explained in its earlier final complaint response. That is, having exhausted all apparent options, the disturbance experienced by the resident is not the result of any clear faults or other causes which could be remedied, and that there possibly may not be any short-term or proportionate remedy available.

Determination (decision)

16. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of the complaint.

Recommendations

17. While this investigation has not found any indication of service failure by the landlord, the resident has confirmed that at the time of this report she continues to experience the same problem, and that she has further information which may be relevant. In the circumstances, the landlord is urged to continue working with the resident to resolve the problem, and to consider any new information she is able to provide to it.