ForHousing Limited (202208410)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202208410

ForHousing Limited

28 April 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 a leak from the bathroom of the property and the level of compensation it offered.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord, which is a housing association. The property is a house. Both the resident and his wife have corresponded with this Service and the landlord during the complaint. For reasons of clarity, the resident and his wife have been jointly referred to as “the resident” within this report.
3. The resident has experienced an ongoing issue with a leak from the bathroom in the property for several years. On 18 October 2021, the resident contacted the landlord and requested to raise a complaint into how the landlord had handled the issue. The landlord’s logs and records described the elements of the resident’s complaint as:
   1. The property has had an ongoing leak in the bathroom for the last 16 years whenever the bath or shower were used.
   2. The landlord had attended on numerous occasions to inspect the bathroom and undertake repairs, but the leak had always returned. In 2020 the landlord arranged work to repair the leak and then renew the kitchen ceiling and the floorboards beneath the bath, but the leak had now returned again.
4. The landlord sent a stage one response to the complaint on 27 January 2022. It confirmed that it had arranged work to renew the tiles around the bath on 26 October 2021 which had not resolved the leak. A new inspection was arranged and further work was then undertaken on 16, 17 and 21 December 2021. It apologised for the poor level of service the resident had experienced. The landlord then apologised for the poor level of service the resident had experienced. Following an escalation request from the resident, a panel review of the complaint was held on 5 May 2022. A stage two complaint response was then sent 21 June 2022. The landlord informed the resident that:
   1. The panel felt that it had not given sufficient explanation of the works that had taken place nor had it recognised the impact the leak had on the resident and the family. The landlord apologised to the resident.
   2. The panel had expressed concern that the leak had yet to be resolved. The panel had asked the landlord to undertake a further inspection. As a result of this inspection, the landlord had raised work to renew the bath, refix the loose tiles, repair the ceiling and paint the affected areas.
   3. The panel had ordered it to award £250 compensation for the upset the continual leaks had caused and to pay for the replacement of the carpet in the property’s hall upon receipt of a quote.
   4. Confirmed that as a result of this complaint, that it had implemented new procedures for repeated repairs where the same operative attended each time to allow for an earlier intervention in cases similar to that of the resident.
5. In referring the case to this Service, the resident described the outstanding issues of the complaint were that the leak had yet to be repaired and the level of compensation offered did not properly reflect the impact the leak had on the family.

Assessment and findings

Relevant policies and procedures

6. Section 11 of the tenancy agreement sets out the landlord’s repair responsibilities. This, in part, states that the landlord agrees “to keep the structure and exterior of your home in repair including: Internal walls, skirting boards. doors and door frames, thresholds, floors and ceilings (but not painting and decoration); Major internal plaster work”.
7. The landlord’s repairs policy categorises its repair types as “Emergency” (respond within 24 hours), “Urgent” (respond within three working days and “Routine” (respond within 30 working days). The landlord’s website defines an emergency repair as a repair that presents “a danger to you or your community, or cause major damage to your home”. Urgent repairs are defined as a repair that “causes disruption to your home, and may affect your health, safety, or security – meaning they need to be done quickly and easily. Think partial loss of electrical power or gas supply, a blocked bath, or unsecured external door”. All other repairs would be considered a routine repair.
8. The landlord operates a two-stage complaints process. When the landlord receives a complaint, it will first attempt to resolve the issue informally within two working days. If that it not possible, a formal complaint will be opened and a stage one complaint response sent within ten working days from when the complaint was made. If the complainant is dissatisfied with the resolution offered, they can request an escalation of the complaint. The landlord will then review the request within five working days and if accepted, an independent panel will review the case within 21 working days of the escalation request. A stage two complaint response with the panel’s decision will then be sent to the resident. This is the landlord’s final response to the complaint.

How the landlord handled a leak from the bathroom of the property and the level of compensation it offered

9. When informed of the leak at the property, the landlord had a duty to respond to the matter in line with its obligations set out in the tenancy agreement and its published policies and procedures. In its complaint responses, the landlord has accepted that the resident had received a poor service. The landlord apologised for the poor communication the resident experienced while the work was ongoing. It agreed with the panel’s verdict that it had not properly explained what work it had carried out in order to locate and repair the source of the leak and it had also not considered the effect on the resident and the family in having to live with the leak over a long period of time. 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 of: be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
10. The landlord acted fairly in acknowledging its mistakes and apologising to the resident. It looked to put things right by undertaking repairs to the bathroom, offering £250 compensation and agreeing to reimburse the resident’s costs for replacing the carpet in the hall. It looked to learn from its mistakes by making changes to its repairs procedures in order to intervene sooner in cases similar to the resident’s going forward.
11. The compensation offer of £250 from the landlord in recognition for the distress and inconvenience the ongoing leak caused to the resident and the family is broadly in line with the Ombudsman’s own remedies guidance (which is available on our website). This recommends a payment of £100 to £600 for considerable service failure or maladministration which adversely affected the complainant, but there was no permanent impact. However, a payment at the lower end of this recommended scale is not sufficient in light of the landlord’s admitted service failures. Therefore, it is ordered that the landlord pay an additional £250 compensation in recognition of the poor communication the resident received from it during the repairs, the lack of explanations from the landlord and its contractors as to what work was required in order to locate and repair the leak, the distress caused to the resident and the family by these service failures, and the inconvenience caused to the resident in having to raise a complaint in order to resolve the matter. This would make the total compensation award from the landlord £500.
12. In an email sent to this Service on 22 July 2022 from the resident setting out the outstanding issues and desired outcome for the complaint, it was stated that the leak had yet to be repaired. Following the panel hearing held on 5 May 2022, an inspection was arranged for 12 May 2022 which recommended the work to refix the tiles and renew the bath. Notes added by an operative on 22 July 2022 during a follow-up visit stated that “the reason for the leak was that tiles [affixed on previous occasion] had not set and were still wet and fell off the wall when removing bath. [Tiling] needs to be done properly to prevent leaks”. This work was marked as completed on 10 August 2022.
13. On 5 October 2022 an urgent repair was raised following a report from the resident of issues with the waste pipe in the new bath. This was marked as completed on 7 October 2022 where the operative left the following notes: “There is outstanding tiling to be done at this property and needs doing ASAP as it’s starting to damage the flooring [underneath] as it’s leaking through when tenant uses the shower, tenant says this has been going on for a long time. There is a tiler booked in for the 14th October so this work needs to be completed then or it’s going to ruin the floor if this keep leaking to below”. The tiling work was marked as completed on 16 October 2022. There are no further notes in the landlord’s repair logs that it provided (which includes jobs up to 22 December 2022) that make reference to a leak from the bathroom. As such a recommendation will be made.

Determination

14. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in respect of how it handled a leak from the bathroom of the property and the level of compensation it offered.

Orders

15. For the service failure and reasons set out above, the landlord is ordered to pay to the resident £500. This payment should be made within four weeks of the date of this report. The landlord should update this Service when payment has been made. The compensation award is inclusive of the £250 compensation already awarded by the landlord in its complaint process. This amount can be deducted from the £500 if it has already been paid.

Recommendations

16. It is recommended that the landlord write to the resident to explain what work has been carried out since the work it was ordered to undertake as part of the stage two response and confirm whether the work in October 2022 has fully repaired the leak.
17. The landlord should also consider offering further compensation to the resident for any ongoing delays in repairing the leak since the stage two complaint response was sent on 21 June 2022 and the added inconvenience that this may have caused to the resident and the family. It should then write to the resident to inform him of its decision.