Beyond Housing Limited (202209518)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202209518

Beyond Housing Limited

31 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 is about the landlord’s:
   1. Decision not to renew the resident’s kitchen.
   2. Handling of the resident’s reports of poor behaviour by its contractors.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. Whilst these issues were ongoing, the resident had a third-party help deal with her complaint. For clarity in this report, both parties will be referred to as ‘the resident’.
3. In April 2022, the landlord raised works for the resident’s kitchen floor to be removed, renewed and for pipework to be inspected. This was due to a woodworm infestation in the flooring. This appointment was scheduled to take place on 6 May 2022; however, the resident refused access to the contractors as she wanted a new kitchen fitted as well as replacement flooring.
4. The landlord completed these works between 23 June 2022 and 24 June 2022. In order to remove the flooring, the landlord had to dismantle the kitchen units and whilst doing this it replaced an unspecified number of kitchen cupboard doors. In July 2022, the resident contacted the landlord to inform it that the work completed in her kitchen was not poor. She stated that the newly installed kitchen units were a different colour to the others, the shelves were unstable and there was a reduced number of units.
5. The landlord attended the property on 21 July 2022. It found that the kitchen was in good condition and was not eligible for a renewal in 2028. The resident subsequently raised a complaint about this matter on 26 July 2022, as she was unhappy with the landlord’s decision on this matter.
6. On 3 August 2022, the landlord attended the resident’s property to inspect the kitchen again to see if it was possible to bring the planned renewal in 2028 forward. However, during this visit the resident alleged that the landlord’s contractor had been rude towards her which led to the resident asking the contractor to leave her property.
7. In its complaint response, the landlord apologised to the resident that the contractor who attended her property had a poor attitude and was rude. It assured her that these matters would be dealt with internally. In relation to the resident’s request to have her kitchen renewed, after completing an inspection of the kitchen, as it was in good quality and fit for purpose, it would not be renewed until 2028.
8. In her escalation to this Service, the resident remains unhappy with the landlord’s decision to not renew her kitchen. She believed that the landlord had installed second hand cupboard doors. In addition, there were several issues with the fitting of the kitchen which included the kickboards not being installed properly, the flooring being unlevel and concerns that the woodworm infestation had not been adequately treated.
9. In March 2023, the resident contacted this Service to provide an update on her kitchen. She stated that the landlord had attended the property and fitted new counters and cupboards; however, there were still two cupboards to fix as these required ordering.

Assessment and findings

Kitchen renewal

10. The resident’s initial complaint stated that she would like her kitchen to be replaced prior to any works being completed. Therefore, this will be addressed initially in this report.
11. In accordance with the Decent Home Standard, the lifetime of a kitchen in a house or bungalow is 30 years; however, this does not automatically make the resident entitled to a new kitchen if it is in a good state of repair. Therefore, there are no automatic obligations for the landlord to replace a kitchen based solely on the resident’s request. Therefore, the landlord’s initial decision to not replace the kitchen at the time of the flooring repairs was reasonable.
12. However, when a resident states that their kitchen is not of a reasonable standard and the layout is poor following repairs, a landlord should carry out an inspection to determine if any repairs or amendments are required. The landlord completed two inspections of the property and found there to be no repair issues to be completed. Therefore, there was no obligation for the landlord to take any action in relation to the layout of the kitchen.
13. Following on from an inspection by the fire service, it was identified that some repairs were required to ensure that the appliances in the kitchen were appropriately placed as a matter of health and safety. This included the rearrangement of the kitchen. The landlord was made aware of this in January 2023 and the repairs were completed in March 2023. The landlord’s website states that planned repairs should be completed within 180 working days. As such, the landlord acted in accordance with its repair’s timeframes in relation to this matter.

Staff conduct.

14. The resident reported that during a visit, the landlord’s contractors had been rude towards her, and this led to the contractor being asked to leave. When the landlord receives reports of poor staff behaviour, it is expected that it should investigate this matter by speaking to both parties and establishing the evidence.
15. In this case, the landlord did complete an investigation into the resident’s concerns by discussing this with the contractor for which a version of events was provided; however, this discussion will not be disclosed by this Service. Considering its investigation, the landlord apologised to the resident for the incident that took place and assured her that the feedback would be provided to the contractor’s direct manager. Therefore, the landlord handled the resident’s reports appropriately and offered an apology for the distress and inconvenience caused because of this incident.

Determination

16. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of its decision not to renew the resident’s kitchen.
17. In accordance with paragraph 53 (b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord’s apology acts as an offer of redress prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint regarding the resident’s reports of poor behaviour by its contractors satisfactorily.