London Borough of Hackney (202200920)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202200920

London Borough of Hackney

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

1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
   1. the resident’s reports of repeated leaks from a neighbour’s property; and
   2. the associated complaint.

Background

2. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. The property is a one-bedroom ground floor flat.
3. The resident has complained about repeated leaks from an upstairs neighbour since 2016. At different times these leaks have been attributed to faults with the neighbour’s washing machine, pet urine and urine from the neighbour herself due to incontinence. The resident stated that the leaks have caused damage to her property and possessions, have restricted her use of parts of the property and have impacted her mental health significantly.
4. There is evidence on file that the resident raised a complaint about the landlord’s handling of leaks from the upstairs neighbour in 2018. The last entry in response that complaint was an inspection which determined there were no leaks on 24 January 2019.
5. The resident raised a further stage 1 complaint on 27 July 2020. The landlord responded to this complaint on 13 August 2020, however neither of these documents are available due to a cyber attack which affected the landlord’s computer systems.
6. The resident remained dissatisfied and escalated her complaint to stage two of the landlord’s internal complaints process on 28 September 2020. This document is also not available due to the cyber attack. The landlord issued its stage two complaint response on 18 August 2021. The landlord apologised for the delay in responding to the complaint and explained that it could not provide any time scales on progressing the issues with the neighbour due to delays with a third party caused by COVID-19 restrictions.
7. The resident remained dissatisfied and escalated her complaint to a designated person on 17 September 2021. The designated person replied on 1 March 2022, stating that they believed the issue was resolved as the neighbour had been rehoused in December 2021.
8. The resident escalated her complaint to the Ombudsman on 21 April 2022 seeking a permanent resolution to the leaks, which she stated had been occurring for the previous nine years and for all damage within her property to be repaired.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

9. Whilst it is not disputed by either party that this has been a longstanding issue spanning many years, under paragraph 42(b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, this Service may only consider complaints brought to us within 12 months of exhausting the landlord’s complaints process. For this reason, the scope of this investigation will be limited to matters since January 2020. That means the Ombudsman has not investigated leaks between 2016 and 2018.

The resident’s reports of leaks in the property

10. The resident’s tenancy agreement states that the landlord is responsible for providing help and advice in cases that involve anti-social behaviour and that extra help will be provided in cases where the resident is, themselves, vulnerable. Under this agreement, the resident is responsible for obtaining contents insurance for their possessions, however it is noted that compensation can be claimed in cases involving the landlord’s negligence.
11. Additionally, the landlord’s repair policy states that it will attend immediate repairs (including floods) within two hours and emergency repairs (including water leaks) within 24 hours. Urgent and normal repairs will be attended in five and 21 working days respectively.
12. The resident first reported leaks from the neighbour’s property in 2016 and the most recent formal complaint was made on 27 July 2020. It is acknowledged that a period of this complaint took place during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns and that the landlord was victim of a cyber attack which impacted its systems. Both factors have been considered in this investigation.
13. In correspondence seen by this Service, there is evidence of the resident repeatedly contacting the landlord to report further issues and chase action. There is also evidence of the landlord’s contractors attending the resident’s property on at least 21 occasions in response to leaks or the resulting damage. These leaks required repairs to light fixtures, damaged plaster, paintwork and cracks in the ceiling. On several occasions, attendance was to make safe electrical fittings that had been filled with water which left the resident without light for periods of time. There is also evidence of the landlord telling the resident that further repairs, including redecoration, would not be completed until the issue with the recurrent leaks was resolved, despite not being able to give any update on when this might take place.
14. The repeated leaks caused damage to every room within the resident’s property (except the hallway) including the living room, bathroom, bedroom and, most substantially, in the kitchen. At the time of this investigation, the landlord has not completed works to repair the water damage within the resident’s property. In particular, the resident stated that she continues to live with substantial black mould on the ceiling, walls and cupboards in her kitchen.
15. During this period, the landlord’s corporate complaints team recommended that possession proceedings were undertaken against the resident’s neighbour due to the ongoing issues. The landlord stated that it was “loathed to terminate a tenancy of a resident who is so clearly vulnerable” and who it felt may not have the capacity to understand the proceedings. There is no evidence that the landlord took legal advice on this issue or considered other legal avenues such as tenancy warning letters or injunctions.
16. There is evidence that the landlord contacted statutory services for an assessment around additional care and support being put in place. Whilst it is appreciated that a period of delay was caused by other statutory agencies not completing assessments in a timely way, this does not account in full for the complete period between 2016 and 2021, nor the period covered by this investigation.
17. Whilst this Service appreciates the need for sensitive, compassionate and reasonable handling of the resident’s neighbour, given her mental health conditions, there has been no evidence presented to this Service that the landlord considered any other action than continually undertaking patch repairs of the resident’s property, whilst it awaited a decision on supported housing for the neighbour. In particular, there does not appear to have been any consideration given to moving the resident herself.
18. The resident’s neighbour was rehoused in December 2021. One further leak took place on 28 February 2022, but the resident reports there have been no further leaks since that time.
19. Overall, the landlord failed to provide any timely response to the resident who was experiencing ongoing leaks and there is no evidence that the landlord explored ways to remove the resident from the ongoing situation. Notwithstanding that it is not disputed that this issue began in or before 2016, within the scope of this investigation, the resident raised her complaint in July 2020 and the leaks were not resolved until February 2022, with repair work still outstanding at the time of this report. This period of 84 weeks is an unreasonable delay which the cyber attack, Covid-19 lockdowns and third-party delays cannot reasonably account for. Additionally, the resident continues to reside in a property that has extensive water damage and associated damp and mould.
20. The resident has been placed in a position where her property has been water damaged and the landlord ought to have done more.

Complaint handling

21. The landlord’s feedback and complaints policy shows that it operates a two-stage formal complaints process. Alongside this the landlord operates a process called ‘Get it sorted’, which attempts to resolve complaints informally before the formal process begins. The landlord commits within its policy to providing a stage one complaint response within 10 working days and a stage two response within 20 working days. Informal complaints raised through the ‘Get it sorted’ process aim to be resolved within five working days.
22. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (‘the Code’), which is available on our website, sets out the key principles and timescales that landlords are expected to consider within their complaints processes. In particular, it states that informal complaints stages (“stage 0 complaints”) are not appropriate as these can often lead to confusion for residents. The landlord should consider reviewing its complaint policy to make it compliant with the Code for future complainants.
23. It is accepted in this case that the resident’s stage one and stage two complaint escalations along with the landlord stage one response were lost due to a cyber attack. It is also acknowledged that this attack contributed, in some part, to the delay in responding to the resident’s complaint and this has been considered in our overall response.
24. Notwithstanding the cyber attack, the landlord’s complaint responses were three days over timescale at stage one and 206 days (around 30 weeks) over timescale at stage two.  From the correspondence seen by this Service, there is also evidence of the resident contacting the landlord on several occasions to obtain a response to her complaints. Within its responses, it should be noted that the landlord did not offer a resolution to the resident’s presenting issue, made no offer of compensation (or other similar redress) and could also not provide a timescale on when action would be taken to relocate the neighbour.
25. Taking together the resident’s vulnerabilities, the time taken to resolve the complaint and the distress and inconvenience this caused the resident, this amounts to maladministration for which the landlord is ordered to apologise and pay the resident £200 compensation. This figure is in line with the landlord’s compensation policy and the Ombudsman’s Code for cases involving this level of time, trouble and distress.

Determination

26. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there has been:
    1. maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of repeated leaks from a neighbour’s property; and
    2. maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

27. Within 28 days of the date of this determination, the landlord must:
    1. pay the resident the following compensation (see paragraph 28(a)-(d) for the sums and calculation); and
    2. arrange a full survey/inspection of the property and building and complete any outstanding works (see paragraphs 29 to 31 for more information)

The compensation payment

28. The landlord must pay the resident:
    1. compensation based on 25% of the rent from 27 July 2020 to 28 February 2022 when the leaks were finally stopped (84 weeks)
    2. compensation based on 13% of the resident rent from 1 March 2022 until the date of this determination for the outstanding works, including damp and mould in the property;

These awards recognise the resident’s loss of enjoyment of her home during this period.

4. £600 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by the handling of the leaks and current outstanding works.
5. £200 compensation for the landlord’s handling of complaint and the likely distress and inconvenience caused

Example compensation calculation

 

Period	Weeks	Rent	Total rent
27 July 2020 to 31 March 2021	36	£101.58*	£3656.88
1 April 2021 to 27 February 2022	48	£103.29*	£4957.92
Total rent for the period			£8614.80
25% of the rent – unresolved leaks			£2153.70
1 March 2022 to 13 June 2023	67	£103.29*	£6920.43
13% of the rent – outstanding works			£899.66
Total payable compensation for loss of use			£3053.36
Compensation for distress and inconvenience			£600.00
Compensation for time and trouble caused by poor complaint handling			£200.00
Total compensation payable to the resident			£3,853.36

 

*Live_Table_702_Jan_23.ods 

The survey order

29. The purpose of the inspection/survey is to assess all outstanding repairs and to rectify the damp and mould. The report must set out:
    1. What repairs are required; and
    2. How long the repairs are likely to take.
30. Once the survey is complete the landlord must share the survey with the resident and this Service within 5 working days of receipt of the report.
31. The landlord must use its best endeavours to ensure the repairs are completed within the timescales set out in the report.

Recommendations

32. The landlord should:
    1. Review the ‘Get it sorted’ process within its complaint policy to ensure that its policy remains compliant with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
    2. Review its complaint handling processes to ensure that all responses are timely and in accordance with its policies and the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.