South Cambridgeshire District Council (202216493)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202216493

South Cambridgeshire District Council

14 June 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s:
1. Response to repairs reported during the defect period.
2. Handling of the complaint.

Background

The resident is a shared owner of a property since 30 June 2022 with the landlord, who is a local authority.
The property was handed over from the developer to the landlord in November 2021. It was subject to a 12 month defect period for which the developer is responsible. Residents are expected to report defects to the landlord, who will pass these onto the developer.
Under the terms of the lease, the leaseholder is responsible for keeping the premises in good and substantial repair and condition. The leaseholder is also responsible for keeping the boundaries for which they are responsible in good repair and condition.
The occupier’s handbook provides comprehensive information for residents, including information on how to report a repair to the landlord. It advises that emergency repairs will be carried out within 24 hours and all other repairs will be categorised as urgent or routine.
The landlord defines a complaint as an expression of dissatisfaction about a service that requires a response. The landlord’s policy and website explain what is not considered a complaint and directs customers to the ‘contact us’ page for a service request. It advises that service requests raised as a complaint will be closed as a complaint. Stage 1 complaints will be responded to within 10 working days. If a complaint is escalated to stage 2, this will be responded to within 20 working days.

Summary of events

Correspondence from the landlord show issues reported with gates, including that of the property, were raised with developers in June 2022. The landlord advised it was a defect, but the developer did not agree. There are several emails throughout July and August 2022 sent between the landlord and developer. The landlord had expressed concerns to the developer that it was not keeping to its contractual obligations. The developer had offered to meet with the landlord to discuss the terms of the warranty.
On 23 July 2022, the landlord became aware that the developer was not responding to defect repairs, and raised its concerns with the developer. The developer then advised repairs would be attended to and arranged for a contractor to attend on 4 August 2022.
There were subsequent emails from the landlord that show the resident had been in contact on 6 September 2022 to raise some issues with the property. The resident was told that if any defects required urgent attention, these should be reported via the telephone number provided in the ‘occupier’s handbook’. It said any non-urgent repairs would be picked up at the 12–month defect check later in the year.
The resident said she raised a stage 1 complaint in mid September 2022, but there is no evidence in the correspondence provided by the landlord or resident to confirm the date nor the details of the complaint. The resident said she was given a number to call but heard nothing further back and contacted the landlord again at the end of September 2022. The landlord emailed the resident on 11 October 2022. It apologised that the resident had reported defects that remained unactioned. The landlord then attended the property on 13 October 2022 to inspect the defects reported.
The landlord spoke to the developer who said that no issues at the property had been reported to them since July 2022, when there was an issue with a hob igniting. The landlord provided the developer with a comprehensive list of the defects it identified at its visit to the property on 13 October 2022, and sent photos taken at the visit.
The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 19 October 2022 as she had not received a formal response in writing from the landlord. The landlord confirmed various actions would be taken and the resident would be contacted to arrange access.
The landlord sent a stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 25 October 2022. It said that the resident submitted a complaint on 3 October 2022, and it attended the property on 13 October 2022 to investigate the issues raised. It then followed this up with the developer who built the property as it was within the 12–month defect period. It said it believed it had provided the resident with regular updates in response to her complaint, but then found that this was not the case. It noted there had been no formal acknowledgement of the complaint or update on its status. It recognised this was a failure of the process and upheld the complaint. It provided the response from the developer on each defect item reported, stating it would be in contact with the resident directly to arrange access. The items it identified were:
1. The ground floor bathroom door could not be closed: this was logged by the developer and sent to a contractor for adjustment.
2. The plasterboard wall next to the living room cupboard had cracks and peeling paint: this was not deemed a defect but the developer said it would check this at the end of defect inspection.
3. Water damage to the upstairs bathroom skirting and possible leak: the developer advised the plumber would attend to investigate.
4. The drainage cover was not sitting flat, preventing the doors from fully opening: this was logged by the developer and sent to a contractor to repair.
5. The timber fence had gaps, boards falling off and nails sticking out: this was passed to a fencing contractor but would only be repaired if the fixings were inadequate.
6. The gate could not be closed as the post was warped leaving a large gap: the developer advised this was not covered under the warranty.
7. The shed had a plank missing from the floor, and the roof felt was crumpled and not folded in or secured at the edges: this was sent to a contractor for repair.
It said the issues with the repairs not disputed and it was working with the developer to rectify these. It said it was not satisfied with the response from the developer about the gate and was continuing to negotiate with them about this item.

Post final complaint response

On 31 October 2022, the resident advised the landlord that the developer did not attend her property to carry out the fence repairs on the arranged dates.
An end of defect period check was completed on 28 November 2022, where several defects were identified and raised with the developer to rectify:
1. WC binding in the frame.
2. Chipped/blown paintwork on wall next to the living room cupboard.
3. Cracking along the stair string.
4. Skirting to be replaced in the bathroom from previous leak.
5. Small radiator not working properly.
6. Boiler always firing up.
7. Gate not closing.
8. Shed panels chipped.
9. Missing decking board to shed floor.

There are emails between the landlord and the developer and the resident about some of the outstanding defects throughout November–December 2022 and January 2023.

On 10 January 2023, the resident confirmed the gate had been fixed, the shed repaired, the drainage cover fixed, and the boiler and radiator repaired. The resident said the other work was still outstanding. The landlord responded to this advising it had asked the developer to provide an update with dates for completion of the outstanding works.
The landlord confirmed, following a phone call with the resident, that the following works would be completed on 12 and 13 January 2023:
1. Bathroom: make good following plumbing leak (rub down, stain block, redecorating the boxing and skirting).
2. Lounge: repair the small section of blown plaster near the understairs cupboard.
3. Cloakroom door: adjust.
4. Gate post: reset to correct position as unlevel.
On 18 January 2023, the landlord advised the resident it had been disappointed with the response from the developer. The landlord advised it had the option to carry out the repairs and recharge the developer, but before doing so needed to follow the terms of the contract. The landlord then confirmed with the resident later that day that the subcontractor would attend the following Saturday. From the information the landlord provided, there was no further work outstanding from this point, and the resident had not been in contact with it again.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s response to repairs reported during the defect period

Residents are asked to contact the landlord to report a defect. The landlord states that if a defect falls within the 12-month defect period, an email is sent to the customer services inbox of the developer whose responsibility it is to remedy the defect or reject the request.
All the correspondence provided by the landlord is in the form of emails. The landlord did not keep contact or repairs logs, and there is no information from the landlord to confirm what defects the resident said she reported at handover in June 2022 and between August–September 2022. This makes it difficult to assess exactly what the landlord passed on to the developer and when. The resident said she contacted the landlord on more than one occasion to report the defects which led to her frustration and may have led to a delay in getting the defects rectified. This was unreasonable and indicative of the landlord failing to keep adequate records.
There is evidence from the landlord in September 2022 in the form of internal emails that the resident was told defects would get picked up at the end of defect period inspection. There is no evidence from the landlord to show it logged or raised the defects the resident reported in September with the developer until the formal complaint in October 2022. This may have contributed to a delay in getting some of the defects rectified by the developer for several more weeks.
The occupancy pack suggests non-urgent repairs will be dealt with within 28 days. It is not clear whether this relates to secure tenants of the landlord or leaseholders. This lack of clarity likely caused some additional uncertainty for the resident as she may have expected any defects to be repaired within 28 days, rather than being picked up by the developer at the end of defect period check as advised in September 2022.
From October 2022, there are numerous email trails that show the response from the landlord in getting the defects rectified was reasonable. It visited the resident to inspect the defects reported and then raised these with the developer, providing information and photos of each issue. It liaised with the developer and resident to arrange access and provided the resident with appropriate updates.
The landlord was not satisfied with the response from the developer and demonstrated that it took steps to negotiate with them about the defects it was accepting or rejecting, escalating its concerns to get these rectified where required, which was a reasonable approach.
Overall, there was a service failure as the landlord has not demonstrated that it logged defects the resident reported with the developer at the earliest opportunity. This contributed to delays of up to four months to get the defects repaired by the developer. However, from October 2022 when the complaint was made, the landlord acted quickly to identify issues with the property, liaising with the developer and resident on numerous occasions to ensure the defects were accepted by the developer and subsequently rectified.

The landlord’s handling of the complaint

The resident said she submitted a complaint in mid–September 2022, but the landlord said in its complaint response that the complaint was made on 3 October 2022. There is no record provided to confirm the date the complaint was made and the issues raised but this was presumably the communication that led it to contacting the resident on 11 October 2022. The landlord failed to record communication with the resident and therefore maintain an audit trail of the action taken to resolve the complaint, which was unreasonable.
The landlord acknowledged in its complaint response letter that it had not provided an acknowledgement or response to the initial complaint made by the resident. However, the landlord’s only complaint response was at stage 2. This was following the resident’s complaint escalation request as she had not received a response.
It would have been more appropriate for the landlord to have issued a late stage 1 response to provide the resident with an opportunity to have her complaint reviewed by the landlord and ensuring it complied with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
Once the landlord acknowledged there was a complaint from the resident about the outstanding defects, it provided her with a reasonable response and offered appropriate updates about the response from the developer.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its response to repairs reported during the defect period.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of the complaint.

Reasons

Generally, the landlord has demonstrated that it communicated well with the resident and developer in its attempts to get the defects repaired by the developer after October 2022. The landlord contacted the developer on numerous occasions about the defects following the resident’s complaint and advised the developer it would escalate these issues if they were not resolved to the landlord’s satisfaction. It then liaised with the resident regularly and updated her with its actions.
However, the landlord has not demonstrated that it logged the defects when first reported by the resident. This led to an unreasonable delay between July-October 2022 in getting the defects rectified by the developer and caused the resident extra time and trouble to report and chase repairs with the landlord.
The landlord’s only complaint response was at stage 2. This did not provide the resident with an opportunity to escalate her complaint for review by the landlord.

Orders

The landlord should write to the resident to apologise for the failures identified in this report.
The Ombudsman orders the landlord to pay the resident a total of £150 compensation made up of:
1. £100 in recognition of the time and trouble to the resident in its delays in reporting the defects to the developer.
2. £50 for the inconvenience caused to the resident in the way it handled the complaint.
The landlord should reply to this Service with evidence of compliance within four weeks of this report.

Recommendations

The landlord to consider the Ombudsman’s Spotlight report on knowledge and information management (May 2023) and self-assess against the recommendations in that report.
The landlord should reply to this Service with its intentions in regard to this recommendation within four weeks of this report.