Aster Group Limited (202114318)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202114318

Aster Group 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

The complaint is about:
1. The condition of the resident’s property when she moved in.
2. The resident’s request for compensation from the landlord for her son’s damaged bike and garden turf.

Background

The resident is a shared-ownership leaseholder of the property.
On 23 July 2021, the resident submitted a complaint to the landlord. She stated that she had various snags in the property which required fixing. She referred to an issue with the backdoor seal and new flooring lifting.
On 11 August 2021, the landlord provided its stage one complaint response. It stated that the defects had been recorded by the developer on many occasions, but it had failed to fix them. The landlord confirmed it had booked an appointment for 19 August 2021 with the contractor to repair the following snags:
1. The downstairs toilet not flushing.
2. The backdoor needed sealing and adjusting.
3. The kitchen cupboard door was chipped.
4. The skirting board in lounge and bathroom needed replacing.
5. There was a hole in the bedroom floor under the carpet near the cupboard.

The landlord also confirmed that it had booked an appointment for 27 August 2021 with the contractor to fix the flooring. The landlord offered £150 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused.

On 18 August 2021, the resident asked for her complaint to be escalated. She stated only a couple of the defects had been fixed. She also stated the quality of the turf laid in the garden was poor.
On 14 September 2021, the landlord provided its stage two complaint response. It confirmed which defects had been repaired and provided an appointment date of 7 October 2021 for the repair of the outstanding defects. It also increased its offer of compensation to the resident to £250.
The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and submitted her complaint to the Ombudsman. She stated her desired outcome is for the snags to be repaired to a decent standard. The resident also stated she would like compensation for the time and trouble dealing with the situation. She also stated that she would like compensation for her son’s bike, which had been damaged by the landlord’s contractor and for the turf in her garden.
The landlord has stated that it has repaired all the defects to the resident’s property since the resident submitted her complaint to the Ombudsman. The repair of the last defect was in June 2022. The resident has said not all the snags have been completed and she has not been reimbursed for the cost of her son’s bike.

Assessment and findings

The condition of the property when the resident moved in

The Ombudsman appreciates that when the resident moved into her new property, she would have been disappointed with the defects that she discovered within a short period of her occupancy.
The Ombudsman does recognise that on occasions there will be defects and snagging in new build properties which may have not been identified in the initial build. Shared owners are normally protected by the defect period and the warranties in place. The landlord has not disputed its responsibility to repair the defects.
The landlord would be expected to ensure that defects are repaired within a reasonable time. Also, it would be expected that repairs are appropriately managed by the relevant contractor and completed to a satisfactory standard. This would also include ensuring reported repairs are passed on to the contractor and arranged within a reasonable amount of time.
The resident submitted a complaint to the landlord about various defects/snagging issues in July 2021. The resident had also reported the defects to the landlord prior to this date. The landlord’s contractor attended the resident’s property on several occasions between February 2020 and June 2021 to repair the defects. However, all the defects were not repaired to an acceptable standard and within a reasonable time. It is acknowledged that some of the delays to repairing the defects were due to COVID-19 restrictions being in place which were out of the landlord’s control. However, after the Covid-19 restrictions were lifted, there were still further delays with the landlord repairing the defects.
As works were being undertaken by the developer which built the property, it is accepted that matters were to an extent out of the landlord’s hands as it did not have direct control over the developer. However, in such circumstances, the Ombudsman would expect to see that the landlord had done all that it could to manage the situation by proactively pursuing the outstanding works, and considering alternative solutions where resolution was being delayed.
The landlord acknowledged and apologised in its stage one and two complaint response to the resident, for the length of time the resident had waited for the defects to be repaired. As a resolution, it offered £250 compensation. However, since the compensation was offered, there were further delays in repairing the defects. The landlord stated in its stage two complaint response that a contractor would be visiting the resident’s property on 7 October 2021 to repair the outstanding defects. Yet, according to the landlord’s records the last outstanding defect was not repaired until June 2022. The resident has stated that the defects have not all been repaired as of April 2023.
The resident has stated that the following defects are outstanding:
1. The front door still has adjustment issues.
2. The replacement of the bathtub panel.
3. The replaced carpet has not been laid properly.
4. The kitchen countertop needs replacing.

All the defects stated above apart from the kitchen countertop were included in the resident’s initial complaint sent to the landlord. It’s the landlord’s responsibility to repair the defects and it previously committed in its stage two response that it would repair the outstanding defects. Considering this, the landlord should contact the resident and arrange for repair of the outstanding defects as soon as possible. The Ombudsman acknowledges that the defect regarding the kitchen countertop was not included in the resident’s initial complaint. However, it is suggested that the landlord considers repairing this defect as well, as it will avoid the resident needing to submit an additional complaint only about the kitchen countertop.

Given the further delay in the landlord repairing the remaining outstanding defects, there has been maladministration by the landlord. It would be appropriate for the landlord to pay the resident further compensation of £200 for the distress and inconvenience caused. The amount is in addition to the £250 the landlord offered through its own complaints process. The amount of compensation is appropriate to recognise the additional delay the resident experienced in the repair of the outstanding defects. This amount is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance (published on our website) which sets out our service’s approach to compensation. The remedies guidance suggests awards in this range for cases where there have been failings by the landlord which affected the resident but there may be no permanent impact from these failings.

The resident’s request for compensation from the landlord for her son’s damaged bike and garden turf

The landlord’s compensation policy states that under discretionary compensation payments, the replacement of damaged items will be on a like-for-like basis, considering the age of the item and considering the possibility of replacing them with used items or of an equivalent value.
In August 2021, the resident told the landlord that its contractor had damaged her son’s bike when they visited the property to repair some of the defects. In response to this, the landlord requested details of the son’s bike from the resident and stated it would pass the information over to the contractor for it to consider paying compensation for the damaged bike.
The landlord has told the Ombudsman that the resident has not yet provided details of her son’s bike. So, it has not been able to pass the information over to the contractor to consider a compensation payment. If the resident provides the bike details to the landlord, the landlord should pass this information over to the contractor as stated in its stage two response. However, if the contractor does not pay compensation for the bike, the Ombudsman would expect the landlord to review and facilitate the claim for the bike in line with its own compensation policy.
In August 2021, the resident told the landlord that its contractor visited her property without her acknowledgement and laid garden turf. She stated that the garden turf was laid to a poor standard. Due to this, the resident stated that she had to pay a contractor to fix and improve the garden turf.

The landlord apologised in its stage two complaint response for the contractor not completing the works to the garden turf to a satisfactory standard. It also stated that it would reimburse reasonable costs for the garden turf, if the resident provided a copy of the receipt or invoice for the turf works.
The landlord has stated that the resident is yet to provide the receipt for the garden turf works. If the resident provides the receipt for the garden turf, the Ombudsman expects the landlord to reimburse reasonable costs for the turf as stated in its stage two complaint response.
There was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for compensation from the landlord for her son’s damaged bike and garden turf as the landlord acted reasonably in offering for itself and its contractor to reimburse the cost of these items, subject to the resident providing evidence of her costs.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of remedial works to defects in the resident’s property.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for compensation from the landlord for her son’s damaged bike and garden turf.

Orders

The landlord to complete the required repairs to resolve the outstanding defects, which were included in the resident’s initial complaint.
The landlord shall contact this Service within four weeks of this determination to confirm that it has complied with the above order.
The landlord to pay the resident a further £200 compensation for its handling of remedial works to defects in the resident’s property. This amount is in addition to the £250 compensation already offered to the resident through the landlord’s complaints process. The payments should be made within four weeks of the date of this report.

Recommendations

It is recommended that the landlord pay the resident its original offer in its stage two response of £250 in compensation if it has not already done so.
It is recommended that the landlord reimburse the garden turf cost the resident incurred if the resident provides a copy of the receipt.
It is recommended that the landlord facilitates a claim for the resident’s son’s bike, subject to the resident providing a receipt for the bike or alternatively details of the bike such as make and model.
It is recommended that the landlord repairs/replaces the resident’s kitchen counterwork top.