London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202205075)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202205075

London & Quadrant Housing Trust

5 May 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 concerns how the landlord handled repairs to the kitchen sink and balcony in the property.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord, which is a housing association. The property is a maisonette.
3. In September 2021, the resident reported a strong odour from the pipework underneath the kitchen sink. A repair was undertaken by the landlord in December 2021. In order to complete the repair, the operative who attended had to cut through the boxing around the sink. The operative recommended follow-on work for a carpenter to fit a panel to allow access to the pipework and valve for future maintenance.
4. On 17 February 2022 the resident informed the landlord that the balcony divider had blown over. An emergency repair was raised, and an operative attended on the same day to make the area safe. The notes added to the landlord’s repair log recommended that the divider be replaced and as the building was a new-build which was still under warranty, that it would be the responsibility of the developer which built the property to resolve this issue.
5. The resident contacted the landlord on 13 April 2022 and requested to raise a complaint into how the landlord was handling the repairs. She described the elements of the complaint as:
   1. The length of time the repairs had remained outstanding and the number of appointments that had been made without any work being undertaken.
   2. The poor level of communication she had received from the landlord when chasing up the status of the repairs. The resident noted that she had booked call backs from the landlord that never took place.
   3. She had been informed that due to a lack of materials that the access panel for the sink could not be installed until 28 July 2022. The resident explained that she was unable to properly use the area in the kitchen where the hole had been made to complete the pipework repair and it was unacceptable to wait seven months for the panel to be fitted.
6. In its complaint responses, the landlord:
   1. Apologised to the resident for the length of time it was taking to complete the repairs and the inconvenience that this had caused.
   2. Explained that the work was initially delayed as a result of staff shortages and a nationwide shortage of materials caused by the Covid-19 lockdowns. The landlord also explained that it had initially determined that the replacement of the balcony divider was not its responsibility as the building was still under warranty. However, when it was confirmed that the warranty had expired and was therefore the landlord’s responsibility to repair the balcony, it then raised a work order to replace the divider.
   3. Accepted that the resident had not been kept properly updated on the progress of the work or the reasons why there had been delays. The landlord apologised to the resident for the poor level of service she had experienced.
   4. Confirmed that it had arranged appointments for 7 July 2022 to inspect the kitchen and balcony, then to complete the work on 26 July 2022.
   5. Offered the resident £340 compensation, which it broke down as; £40 for its failed appointment on 30 June 2022, £200 for the poor communication experienced by the resident, and £100 for the inconvenience caused to the resident in having to raise and then escalate the complaint in order to receive updates on the status of the work.
7. In referring the case to this Service, the resident explained that she had initially accepted the resolution offered by landlord in its stage two complaint response. However, the 26 July 2022 appointment was not successful as the material to fit the access panel had not been ordered and a further appointment had to be made for 31 August 2022 to complete the work. The resident noted that she was still experiencing a poor level of service from the landlord since the conclusion of the complaints process.

Assessment and findings

Relevant policies and procedures

8. Section 3 of the tenancy agreement sets out the landlord’s repair responsibilities. This, in part, states that the landlord will “make sure the structure and exterior of your home are kept repaired. We will make sure all fixtures and fittings for water, gas, electricity, space and water heating are kept repaired and in working order”.
9. The landlord’s maintenance handbook explains how it categorises repair types. This states that the landlord will respond to emergency repairs within 24 hours and all other repairs at a mutually agreed appointment date with the tenant. Emergency repairs are defined by the landlord as a repair that presents “an immediate danger to the occupant or members of the public”.
10. The landlord’s compensation policy states that it will consider offering discretionary compensation in circumstances where “an apology alone is not sufficient and we recognise the impact the service loss or failure has had on the customer” and “where we fail to follow our policies and procedures”. The policy does not provide any guidance on calculating compensation payments, but does note that the landlord follows the Housing Ombudsman’s remedies guidance (which is available on our website).

How the landlord handled repairs to the kitchen sink and balcony in the property

11. When it was informed by the resident of the issues with the kitchen pipework and balcony divider, the landlord had a duty to respond in line with its obligations set out in the tenancy agreement and its published policies and procedures. The landlord acted appropriately to the initial reports from the resident. It arranged an appointment to repair the pipework and raised an emergency repair to complete make-safe work to the balcony divider. However, there have clearly been delays in completing the recommended follow-on work to fit an access panel in the kitchen and to replace the balcony divider. The landlord has accepted that there were unreasonable delays in completing the work and that the resident experienced a poor level of customer service during the period the repairs remained outstanding.
12. Therefore, it was appropriate for the landlord to apologise to the resident, offer compensation and explain what steps it had taken to improve its service. This position is also in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes. The landlord acted fairly in acknowledging its mistakes and apologising to the resident. It looked to put things right by offering £340 compensation and arranging appointments to complete the outstanding work. It looked to learn from its mistakes by assigning a single point-of-contact to the resident to improve its communication and reviewing how it had handled the repairs. An internal landlord email sent on 19 August 2022 stated that an operations manager was arranging a meeting with the staff members involved in the resident’s case to discuss its poor commination and to identify how incorrect information was given to the resident relating to the reasons for the failed appointment in order to improve its service in the future.
13. The landlord’s compensation offer of £340 is broadly in line with the Ombudsman’s own remedies guidance. This recommends a payment of £100 to £600 in cases of considerable service failure or maladministration. This includes distress and inconvenience, time and trouble, disappointment, loss of confidence, and delays in getting matters resolved. A payment of £340 that recognised the failed appointment, the delays in completing the work, the poor communication the resident received and the inconvenience caused to the resident in having to raise a complaint to receive updates on the status of the work is therefore reasonable in the circumstances. The measures taken by the landlord to address what went wrong were proportionate to the impact that its failures had on the resident
14. However, while the resolution offered by the landlord in its stage two complaint response was reasonable, the resident continued to experience delays and poor communication from the landlord following the conclusion of the complaint process. Following the inspection on 7 July 2022, as a result of breakdown of communication between the landlord and its contractor, the materials required to fit the access panel were not ordered and the 26 July 2022 appointment did not go ahead. A new appointment was arranged for 31 August 2022 to complete the work.
15. Therefore, in order to fully resolve the complaint, further compensation is warranted in recognition of the poor customer service the resident experienced from when the stage two complaint response was sent on 5 July 2022, up to the date of this report. It would be appropriate, and in line with the remedies guidance described above, for the landlord to pay an additional £300 compensation in recognition of this further delay.

Determination

16. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of how it handled repairs to the kitchen sink and balcony in the property.

Orders

17. The landlord to contact the resident, to apologise for the continued maintenance delays to her balcony.
18. The landlord to arrange an appointment with the resident, to complete all of the outstanding repairs to the balcony.

19. The landlord to pay compensation of £640 for any distress and inconvenience experienced by the resident in relation to its response to the resident’s reports of maintenance delays. The compensation award is inclusive of the £340.00 compensation, already awarded by the landlord in its complaint process. This should be deducted from the £640 if it has already been paid.
20. The landlord to confirm compliance with the above orders to the Ombudsman within four weeks of the Final Determination.

Recommendations

21. The landlord, to consider changes it can implement to ensure that resident’s are actively kept informed of the progress of outstanding repairs to their homes.