London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202216346)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202216346

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

4 March 2024

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. Repairs to internal damage at the resident’s property including her ceiling and redecoration.
   2. Repair works to the exterior of the resident’s property including pathway and staircase cracks, gutters, cracks to the front of the property, drainage checks and repointing to the brickwork. 
   3. The associated complaint.

Background

2. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord.
3. On 13 July 2021, the resident reported a leak at her property due to heavy rainfall. The leak resulted in internal and external damage to the resident’s property.
4. On 26 October 2022, the resident submitted a complaint to the landlord. She stated that she wished to make a formal complaint because essential repairs and maintenance to the building had still not been carried out which was risking her health and safety.
5. The landlord provided it stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 1 December 2022. It explained that it had already erected scaffolding and cleared the gutters. The landlord also confirmed that its surveyor had inspected the building, and it was awaiting to receive the report. It also stated that it had found contractors to carry out works to the walkway and parapet wall and confirmed that the works would start shortly after the contractors had submitted their quotations.
6. On 1 December 2022, the resident escalated the complaint. She explained that she had been consistently given conflicting and incorrect information regarding orders raised for the repairs. She stated that no action had been taken by the landlord to resolve the outstanding issues and the repairs remained outstanding. The resident stated that the matter would be resolved once the landlord had completed all the outstanding repairs and maintenance.
7. The landlord sent an acknowledgement letter to the resident on 14 December 2022 confirming it had received her escalation request.
8. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 12 January 2023. It explained that all identified damage relating to the inside of her property, including ceiling and decoration works were completed and repaired after the required dry-out period. The landlord also stated that many of its gutters and downpipes were not able to contain the vast capacity of water during the storm. However, it confirmed that the gutters and downpipes were now in good working order. It explained that it booked maintenance works for the exterior of the building, including works to the rear elevation, cracks to the front of the building, repointing of brickwork and weatherproof coating. In addition, works to repair the communal staircase cracks, clear the gutters, and check the drains. The landlord estimated that all the referenced works would be completed by May 2023. It also stated that it would ensure that the necessary works to the pathway would be identified and completed. The landlord also offered the resident a total of £170 compensation, which included £120 for its communication and delays relating to its stage 1 response and delay in escalating the resident’s stage 2 complaint response. Also, £50 for the inconvenience caused in relation to the repairs.
9. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and submitted her complaint to the Ombudsman. She stated that her desired outcome was for the repairs to be completed and to receive additional compensation for the delay and inconvenience.

Assessment and findings

The repairs to the ceiling and the redecoration.

10. The landlord’s repairs policy states that it will respond to an emergency repair within 24 hours. In addition, it states for routine day–to–day repairs, the landlord will aim to complete the repair at the earliest mutually convenient appointment.
11. The landlord’s repairs policy states that the landlord is responsible for ceilings, internal walls and plasterwork when cracked or severely crumbled.
12. On 13 July 2021, the resident contacted the landlord to report that her ceiling had collapsed due to a leak into the property from heavy rainfall. The landlord responded promptly to the report in line with its emergency repair timescales and made the ceiling safe on the same day the issue was reported.
13. Shortly after the ceiling was made safe, the landlord’s contractor attended the resident’s property on 20 July 2021 to take the ceiling down. On 28 July 2021, its contractor visited the resident’s property to investigate the water ingress. Due to the level of water ingress, the landlord was required to wait for the property to dry out. It also needed to carry out an asbestos survey before completing the internal decoration works, which was reasonable in this instance.
14. The landlord carried out an asbestos survey in September 2021 and, following this, it renewed the resident’s living room ceiling and decorated the living room. The landlord acted reasonably in this instance and carried out the necessary internal works to the resident’s property within an appropriate timescale and in line with its repairs policy.
15. Overall, the landlord responded quickly and made the resident’s ceiling safe within 24 hours of the issue being reported. The landlord also carried out necessary steps such as completing an asbestos survey and waiting for the resident’s property to dry out before completing the renewal of the living room ceiling and decoration works. Therefore, there has been no maladministration by the landlord in its handling of repairs to internal damage at the resident’s property including her ceiling and redecoration.

The repairs to a pathway and staircase cracks, gutters, cracks to the front of the property, drainage checks and repointing to the brickwork. 

16. There were external repairs required following the leak into the resident’s property in July 2021. These included repairs to the gutters, cracks to the front of the property, drainage checks and repointing to the brickwork. In addition, the resident raised other external property repairs which were not related to the leak at the resident’s property which included pathway and staircase cracks.
17. The landlord’s repairs policy explains that the landlord is responsible for repairs to all roofing and rainwater goods, including unblocking gutters and downpipes. It also states that the landlord is responsible for brickwork and concrete external walls when cracked by 5+mm or severely crumbled.
18. In addition, the policy also states that the landlord is responsible for repairing external communal paths, paving, and driveways when there are uneven surfaces, or they are severely crumbled. It is also responsible for steps, stairs, and ramps.
19. The landlord’s maintenance contractor initially attended the resident’s property in August 2021 and cleared the outlet gutters and building pipes. The landlord carried out the work to clear the gutters within a reasonable timescale. In addition, the landlord carried out drainage checks on 19 August 2022 and no issues were identified with the drains. Although the landlord carried out work to clear the gutters, the resident reported in August 2022 that the guttering to the property was leaking again. Following this, the landlord arranged for scaffolding to be erected on 26 September 2022 and the gutters were cleared on 5 October 2022. Considering the landlord had to arrange for scaffolding to be erected to access the gutters, the response time to complete the repair was reasonable.
20. The landlord arranged for its surveyor and structural engineer to inspect the cracks at the property in November 2021 and the surveyor’s report was issued in January 2022. The report recommended that the cracks should be monitored for a period of 12 months, including the ground conditions, to conclude whether the movement was historic or current. The landlord confirmed in its stage 2 complaint response that it would arrange for works to be completed to resolve the cracks and the repointing of the brickwork by May 2023. However, these works were completed in June 2023.
21. Considering the monitoring period of the cracks would have elapsed in January 2023, the Ombudsman would have expected the landlord to have arranged the works sooner than it did. It is acknowledged that the landlord’s repairs policy does not include any repair timescales for routine repairs. Therefore, the Ombudsman has considered what would be considered as good practice, which would be that non-emergency repairs should be attended to within 28 days. It is recognised that some repairs may take longer than 28 days due to the need to order parts etc. However, where this is the case, the landlord should provide residents with timescales and keep them updated. Therefore, it would have been appropriate for the landlord to have booked the repair works for the cracks and external brickwork by February 2023, but the landlord failed to do this.
22. The landlord also agreed in its stage 2 complaint response that it would be carrying out additional clearance of the gutters to prevent any further blockages. It also stated that it would be carrying out works to repair the pathway and staircase cracks and confirmed that it would be completing these works by May 2023. The landlord completed the clearing of the gutters in May 2023 as agreed in its stage 2 complaint response. It was reasonable for the landlord to carry out the clearance of the gutters in May 2023, as the landlord’s surveyor had recommended in its surveyor’s report from January 2022 that all rainwater goods are cleared and maintained at the very least annually, but certainly following autumn leaf fall. Therefore, the landlord’s contractor cleared the gutters in line with the timescales recommended by the surveyor.
23. The landlord’s contractor completed works to repair the cracked pathway and staircase cracks in June 2023.  The landlord’s stage 2 complaint response was issued in January 2023, therefore 4 months to repair the cracks was unreasonable. It would have been appropriate for the landlord to have arranged an appointment within 1 month of the stage 2 complaint response being issued given the resident’s concerns about health and safety and that routine repairs should be completed within 28 days. However, the landlord failed to do this and did not explain to the resident why there was a delay in booking an earlier appointment for the repairs.
24. Although all the repairs have been completed, it took the landlord several months from its final response to complete the works to the cracks to the front of the property, repointing to the brickwork and the cracked pathway and staircase. Therefore, there has been maladministration by the landlord in its handling of repair works to the exterior of the resident’s property including pathway and staircase cracks, gutters, cracks to the front of the property, drainage checks and repointing to the brickwork. The landlord offered the resident £50 compensation to recognise the inconvenience caused in relation to the repairs. However, the amount of compensation offered by the landlord is not sufficient to recognise the impact of the delays on the resident.
25. It would be appropriate for the landlord to pay the resident additional compensation of £200 to appropriately recognise the distress and inconvenience she would have experienced due to the landlord’s delay in completing the repairs. The amount of compensation awarded is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance (published on our website), which sets out the Ombudsman’s approach to compensation. The remedies guidance suggests awards of £100 to £600 where there has been a failure by the landlord which adversely affected the resident, but there may be no permanent impact. Whilst there was a delay in the landlord completing some of the repairs, the impact of this is unlikely to be permanent as the repairs were eventually completed in May and June 2023.

The associated complaint.

26. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out the Ombudsman’s expectations for landlords’ complaint handling practices. The Code states that landlords should operate a 2 stage complaints process. A stage 1 response should be provided within 10 working days of the complaint. It also states that a stage 2 response should be provided within 20 working days. The landlord’s complaints policy references the same timescales as the Code.
27. The resident submitted a complaint to the landlord on 26 October 2022 about the outstanding repairs to her property. It then took the landlord more than a month for it to provide its stage 1 complaint response, which was issued on 1 December 2022. The response was late and not compliant with the 10 working day timescale referenced in the code and the landlord’s complaints policy.  
28. On 1 December 2022, the resident contacted the landlord and escalated the complaint. There was a slight delay in the landlord acknowledging the resident’s escalation request, which was not acknowledged until 14 December 2022. The landlord then provided its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 12 January 2023, which was late and not compliant with the 20 working day timescale. The delay would have caused inconvenience for the resident as she was delayed in progressing her complaint to the Ombudsman because she needed to wait for the landlord’s final response before contacting our service.
29. However, the landlord did acknowledge and apologise in its stage 2 response for its delay in responding at both stages of the procedure. The landlord offered the resident a total of £120 compensation to recognise its complaint handling errors. The compensation offered to the resident is compliant with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance referenced above. In the Ombudsman’s opinion, the compensation proportionately reflects the impact of the delay on the resident, and it amounts to reasonable redress.

Determination (decision)

30. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs to internal damage at the resident’s property including her ceiling and redecoration.
31. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repair works to the exterior of the resident’s property including pathway and staircase cracks, gutters, cracks to the front of the property, drainage checks and repointing to the brickwork. 
32. In accordance with paragraph 53(b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress prior to investigation, which in the Ombudsman’s opinion, satisfactorily resolves the complaint about the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Orders

33. The landlord must, within 28 days of the date of this determination, pay the resident £200 compensation. This is to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the repair works to the exterior of the resident’s property including pathway and staircase cracks, gutters, cracks to the front of the property, drainage checks and repointing to the brickwork.
34. The landlord must provide evidence of its compliance with this order within 28 days of the date of this determination.

Recommendations

35. It is recommended that the landlord pays the resident its original offer made in its stage 2 response of £170 in compensation if it has not already done so.