Wandle Housing Association Limited (202124143)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202124143

Wandle Housing Association Limited

31 July 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. repair issues since the beginning of the tenancy, and
   2. the associated complaint.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord and she lives in a two-bedroom house with her two children. The resident has anxiety and depressive disorder, which she states have both been impacted adversely by this complaint.
3. The resident’s complaint is about repairs that have been reported since she moved into the property in September 2021. These have included leaks, blocked drains and basins, the toilet overflowing and noisy pipework in the bathroom when the water was running.
4. The resident complained to the landlord, and it issued a response on 11 November 2021. The landlord upheld the complaint, admitting that it had not responded to the repairs requests, or the associated complaint, within its policy timescales. The landlord apologised, offered £50 compensation and committed to arranging contractors to resolve the issues.
5. The resident raised a second stage 1 complaint on 29 December 2021, which was later merged with the previous complaint by the landlord. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 10 February 2022, following an intervention from this Service. The landlord upheld the complaint, as it had failed to meet its policy timescales. The landlord apologised, offered increased compensation of £330 and again committed to contractors attending to resolve the substantive issues.
6. The resident remained dissatisfied and escalated her complaint to the Ombudsman seeking additional compensation for the delays and the associated distress and inconvenience.

Assessment and findings

Repair issues

7. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 places a legal duty on landlords to make full, effective and lasting repairs, once it is given notice of disrepair. This duty includes repairs to drains, gutters and external pipes and to keep in repair, and working order, ‘sanitation installations’ such as basins, sinks and baths.
8. The landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy divides repairs into emergency, appointed or major works. These repairs must be attended to within 24 hours, 28 days and 90 days respectively. Within this policy, the landlord’s responsibilities include repairs to drains, gutters, plumbing, baths, sinks and blockages (if the resident has been unable to clear these with commercially available products). The resident’s responsibilities include clearing blockages (unless there is a fault with the drainage system) and resolving leaks from flexible hoses connected to appliances.
9. The resident stated in correspondence with the landlord and this Service that despite signing her tenancy agreement on 12 September 2021, she was not able to move into the property due to a leak in the living room. In an effort to avoid being liable for payments of rent on two properties, the resident did not move into the property until 6 October 2021, whilst the landlord undertook repairs. The resident requested repayment of this period of rent during her complaint correspondence with the landlord, however, this was declined.
10. Once the resident had moved into the property, she first reported repair issues on 13 October 2021. Between this date and August 2022, the resident reported the following repairs:
    1. four reports of noisy pipework when the water was in use
    2. two reports of leaks from the toilet
    3. five reports of blockages within the drains or associated back-surges, causing the sinks and toilets to overflow.
11. Within this same period, there is evidence that the landlord recommended a CCTV survey of the drains and a descaling of the plumbing stack to help resolve the ongoing issues. The landlord’s records do not provide sufficient detail to show it carried out these works. Additionally, there appears to have been numerous appointments to resolve leaks, repair the associated damage to the flooring and investigate the noisy pipework. Again, the records do not clearly document what interventions were undertaken by the landlord to resolve the issues.
12. Within the landlord’s complaint responses, and in correspondence with this Service, it accepted that it exceeded its policy timescales for these repairs and therefore this fact is not disputed. Additionally, the landlord’s evidence states “further appointments to investigate were not raised accordingly or booked with the resident”, indicating further delays for the resident.
13. At the time of this investigation, the resident reported that the repairs to the pipework remain outstanding. As a result, she is experiencing ongoing leaks and back surges from an outside drain and the basins. Additionally, the issue with noisy pipework in the bathroom is ongoing and this room is adjacent to the resident’s bedroom. Having first reported these issues in September and October 2021, the resident reports that the landlord’s contractor has attended around 20-25 times, and has repeatedly jetted the drains, but has not undertaken any further or more extensive works. As the issues remain ongoing, this amounts to an unreasonable delay of over 21 months.
14. Overall, the landlord has exceeded its policy timescales for repairs, has not kept adequate repairs records and has admitted to not adequately progressing investigations which may be resolved the issue. Furthermore, the repairs prevented the resident from moving into her property when she took possession of the keys (for a period of almost a month) and are ongoing to the present day. Taking these together, along with the resident’s vulnerabilities, this amounts to maladministration. It is likely that the repairs have impacted the resident’s enjoyment of her home and caused distress and inconvenience. The landlord offered £280 compensation and apologised for the delays. However, given the amount of time taken to resolve the issues, this is not a proportionate remedy in this case. 

Complaint handling

15. The landlord operates a two-stage complaint procedure, within which it commits to acknowledging complaints within five working days and issuing responses within 10 or 20 working days at stages 1 and 2 respectively. These timescales are compliant with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code), which is available on our website. The landlord also commits to a senior member of staff reviewing all stage two complaints.
16. Within the evidence reviewed as part of this investigation, the Ombudsman identified several issues with the landlord’s handling of the complaint. This includes missing documentation, missed deadlines and combining two complaints, which caused additional confusion for the resident.
17. It has not been possible to determine the timescales that it took for the landlord to respond to the resident’s complaint as neither the stage 1 complaint nor stage 2 escalation from the resident have been recorded. It is, however, acknowledged that both complaint responses from the landlord state that it exceeded its policy timescales for complaints, apologised for this and offered £50 compensation. Additionally, there was intervention required by this Service before the landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response. It is therefore not disputed that the landlord failed to adhere to the timescales within its complaints policy and the Code.
18. There is also evidence of the resident raising a second stage 1 complaint, which was acknowledged by the landlord, but was later combined into the stage 2 complaint. Whilst this may have been an appropriate response, given the issues were related, it was not clearly explained to the resident, and this caused additional confusion.
19. It was also concerning to note that both complaint responses were written by the same manager. Not only does this breach the landlord’s complaint policy, but it is also not compliant with the Code which requires complaint processes to be conducted in an impartial manner (paragraph 4.6) with a different person considering the complaint at each stage (paragraph 5.12). It is noted that the landlord’s self-assessment against the Code does not include a response to paragraph 5.12 of the Code.
20. Overall, given that there have been delays in the complaint responses, incomplete record keeping, no independent reviewing manager at the second stage and inadequate communication with the resident about the complaint process, this amounts to maladministration. The landlord’s previous apology and £50 compensation are not reasonable or proportionate in this case given the multiple failings found. 
21. As part of the evidence-gathering process, it is also noted that the landlord failed to provide this Service with the evidence we requested, as required by paragraphs 10 and 11 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. This resulted in a Complaint Handling Failure Order (CHFO) being issued on 28 September 2022.

Determination

22. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the repair issues.
23. The landlord was also responsible for maladministration in its complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

24. Within 28 days of this determination, the landlord must:
    1. Pay the resident compensation as set out in paragraph 24 below.
    2. Arrange a full survey/inspection of the property and complete any outstanding works (see paragraphs 25 – 27 for more information)
    3. Review its self-assessment against the Complaint Handling Code to ensure that it is compliant, in particular by addressing paragraph 5.12, to ensure that complaints are reviewed by an independent person at stage two.
    4. Provide this Service of evidence of compliance with these orders.

The compensation payment

25. The landlord must pay the resident compensation based on:
    1. 15% of the rent from 10 October 2021 until the date of this determination for outstanding works, including blocked and noisy pipework which have caused the resident loss of enjoyment of her home during this period.
    2. the rent charged by the landlord between 12 September 2021 and 9 October 2021. This is to recognise the total loss of enjoyment of her property during this period.
    3. £700 compensation, comprised of:
       1. £200 for the complaint handling failures
       2. £100 for the time and trouble of pursuing the complaint
       3. £400 for the resident’s distress and inconvenience of these issues, and
       4. If the landlord has paid the £330 previously offered in its stage two complaint response (or any part of it), it may deduct this from the amount ordered above.

Example compensation calculation

*Local authority average weekly (social and affordable) rents, by district, England 1998-99 to 2021-22 

The survey order

26. The purpose of the inspection/survey is to assess all outstanding repairs and to rectify the ongoing issues with the drainage and pipework. The report must set out:
    1. what repairs are required; and
    2. how long the repairs are likely to take to complete.
27. Once the survey is complete the landlord must share the survey with the resident and this Service within 5 working days of receipt.
28. The landlord must use its best endeavours to ensure the repairs are completed within the timescales set out in the report.

Recommendations

29. The landlord should:
    1. Review its processes for handling complaints to ensure that it can respond within the timescales found in its policy and the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
    2. Review its staffing arrangements to ensure that a different and independent person reviews complaints escalated to stage 2 of the procedure.