A2Dominion Housing Group Limited (202111942)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202111942

A2Dominion Housing Group Limited

12 August 2022

 

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 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:
    1. The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports about its handling of ventilation repairs in her property.
    2. The landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is a tenant of the landlord of a third floor flat in a block with a communal ventilation system.
  2. The resident contacted the landlord on 22 June 2021, raising a stage one complaint over a foul smell coming into her property from an exposed storage room ventilation pipe. She stated that the smell was negatively impacting her health and belongings, and that she has been raising concerns that there was a ventilation blockage with it for over a year, which it had inspected on 20 June 2021 but had taken no action for yet. The landlord therefore booked a supervisor to attend the property for this.
  3. During the landlord’s subsequent attendance on 2 July 2021, it identified an open ventilation pipe in the resident’s corridor storage cupboard, advising of repairs being required for this, but stating that it could not seal the pipe up as requested by her. It then rearranged its next appointment with her for this from 12 to 22 July 2021, when its plumber attended to check the ventilation pipe, but left this without returning. The landlord went on to say that, when its supervisor attended the property on 17 August 2021, the ventilation piping required senior supervision before any agreed works for this could be confirmed, believing that the ventilation pipes had been incorrectly terminated as a building defect, which would need to be passed over to its mechanical and engineering department.
  4. Another supervisor from the landlord attended the resident’s property on 20 August 2021, advising that the extract pipe in the cupboard and the surrounding brickwork should be sealed with expanding foam, while the open vent pipes in the storage cupboard should be boxed and sealed in with silicone. A further attendance to plasterboard over the exposed pipes behind, and to join this to the existing wall, was noted on 31 August 2021 as then being required upon the completion of these works.
  5. The landlord issued its stage one complaint response on 1 September 2021, apologising to the resident for the length of the delays to the outstanding ventilation repairs being ongoing for some time and its poor communication about this. It explained that its appointment with her was rearranged from 12 to 22 July 2021 due to its contractor’s illness, and that its plumber who then left on the latter date had done so because a supervisor’s attendance was required. The landlord therefore offered the resident £170 compensation in light of its failings in not communicating this to her, its missed appointment, and her time and trouble.
  6. After accepting the compensation, this was offset against arrears on the resident’s account on 21 September 2021. The landlord also confirmed with its contractors that ventilation works at her property would aim to be completed by 8 and 14 September 2021, for which they had been reminded of its service levels. It further contacted the resident on 21 September 2021, stating that she had accepted the stage one complaint outcome and would have until 29 September 2021 to escalate to the final stage of its complaints procedure.
  7. On 29 September 2021, the resident confirmed that she wished to escalate her complaint to the final stage of the complaints procedure to the landlord, as the smell was still present in her property and the works for this remained outstanding there, for which she had been given appointments for 11 to13 October 2021.It then recorded on 15 October 2021 that the smell that she had reported might possibly be damp and rot from her lack of an extractor fan, but that it completed all planned works for her ventilation system on 3 November 2021.
  8. The landlord subsequently contacted the resident on 5 November 2021, stating that she had not communicated that she was unhappy and that it would be unable to escalate her complaint, but that she could raise a new stage one complaint. After being approached by this Service for a final stage complaint response to her, it later tried to contact her about this several times on 18 January 2022, but it was unable to reach her.
  9. The landlord then advised the resident that it was beginning its final stage review of her complaint on 18 January 2022, and it issued its final stage complaint response to her 2 February 2022. It advised that only a small part of the works that it had raised was for the ducting at her property by its contractor, and that all of these repairs were completed on 3 November 2021, with the majority of works to the vents and common extractor system to be carried out by its advance maintenance team prior to these.
  10. The landlord also explained that the resident has accepted a revised compensation amount of £220, which it had credited to her rent account, and that no further works were required. It therefore partially upheld the resident’s final stage complaint, as she had accepted the stage one complaint outcome. The landlord additionally confirmed that it had spoken to its contractors to reinforce the service levels and obligation to provide a good service to its residents that was expected from them.
  11. The resident subsequently complained to this Service on 6 April 2022,advising that the smell was still present in her property, and that the repairs to box in the corridor pipe vents had failed. She reported that the smell was toxic and causing her pain, wanting the landlord to investigate and repair the outstanding issues relating to this, for which she told it on 12 April 2022 that the pipe was exposed again.
  12. The landlord’s contractor then attended this on 4 May 2022 and identified that the pipe that was meant to have been part of the capped off ventilation system was expelling foul air into the resident’s property instead of outside, believing that part of the ventilation system was connected to a combi-boiler, which presented health and safety concerns. The contractor therefore requested an urgent investigation into this by the landlord to decide to either cap off the entire ventilation system and put in adequate ventilation, or to fit new flues and pipework so that the foul air did not escape into the building’s voids.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident has stated that she raised a foul smell from her property’s exposed ventilation pipe with the landlord for over a year prior to June 2021. However, under the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, this Service cannot consider complaints that were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period, which would normally be within six months of the matters arising. Therefore, as the resident complained to the landlord about this in June 2021, and there is no evidence of earlier reports from her to it about the ventilation pipe smell, the scope of this investigation is limited to the events in her case from June 2021 onwards.
  2. The resident has also said that she considers that the issues affecting her property have an adversely affected her health and belongings. The Ombudsman is nevertheless unable to determine liability or award damages for ill-health or belongings in the way that a court or insurer might because we do not have the authority or expertise to do so. This is an accordance with the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, which states that the Ombudsman cannot investigate complaints concerning matters where the resident is seeking an outcome hat is not within our authority to provide.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports about its handling of ventilation repairs in her property

  1. In accordance with landlord’s responsive repairs policy, it is responsible for maintaining and repairing the pipework that is both internal and external to the resident’s property. Its standard repair works to this are to be booked within the next available appointment that is convenient with her, and its urgent repairs are to be responded to within 24 hours.
  2. The landlord’s compensation policy requires it to compensate residents where service failures by it have been identified for up to six months or longer with up to £150 for stress and inconvenience and £240 for time and trouble, as well as to compensate them from £20 for missed appointments. It should also refer residents’ claims that it or its contractors are liable for damage to belongings or personal injury to its insurance team to assess and refer to the appropriate insurer.
  3. The resident advised the landlord of a foul smell coming from the open ventilation pipe in the property, and that this was negatively affecting her health and belongings, by at least 22 June 2021. It then confirmed that the repairs that its inspections for this had found on 2 and 22 July and 17, 20 and 31 August 2021 had been completed by 3 November 2021, before further works were identified for the ventilation pipe.
  4. This was an unreasonable and excessive delay for the landlord to have addressed the repairs required for this, as it took almost four-and-a-half months to do so instead of at the next available convenient appointment under its responsive repairs policy. Its compensation policy therefore required it to compensate the resident for her stress, inconvenience, time and trouble, as well as to refer her claims for ill-health and her damaged belongings to its insurance team.
  5. During its investigation into the ventilation pipe repairs, the landlord had repeated visits by surveyors to the resident’s property, in order to determine the scope and approach to the repairs. Both in July and August 2021 it attended the property to do so, but it found that it required a senior supervisor’s attendance. On 20 August 2021, the landlord advised of repairs to be carried out to the open venting in the resident’s property, but it did not keep her informed during the process or manage her expectations. This meant that there was failure by it to communicate with her appropriately, and its repeated appointments and need for supervisors suggested that it did not coordinate the works effectively, leading to appointments which were ineffectual.
  6. There is also no evidence that, after the landlord addressed the resident’s latest report of the smell in the property of 12 April 2022 by visiting her again on 4 May 2022, where urgent outstanding repairs and possible health and safety works were identified, it took further action for this under its responsive repairs policy’s 24-hour timescale for it to do so. Considering seriousness of its findings, and the length of time that she had reported the smell to it for, it was unreasonable that it did not decide to carry out further repairs for this urgently, as requested by its contractor following their visit, which it has therefore been ordered to do below.
  7. The landlord’s complaint responses acknowledged its failures in its communication to the resident about the ventilation pipe works, missed appointment and the delays in its repairs, going some way to remedy the failures identified by offering her £220 compensation for these. It additionally confirmed that it had spoken to its contractors to reinforce their expected service levels and obligation to provide a good service, which was appropriate. However, while the landlord awarded the resident the £20 compensation recommended by its compensation policy for missed appointments and most of the £240 maximum compensation recommended for her time and trouble, it did not recognise her stress and inconvenience arising from this in accordance with the policy.
  8. The landlord also failed to refer the resident’s claims for ill-health and damaged belongings as a result of the smell in her property to its insurance team in line with its compensation policy. It has therefore been ordered to do so below, as well as to increase her compensation for her stress and inconvenience accordingly, and it has been recommended below to review its staff’s relevant training needs to try and prevent a recurrence of its failings in her case.

The landlord’s complaint handling

  1. The Housing Ombudsman’s complaint handling code, with which landlord’s complaints policy and procedure seek to align, obliges it respond to stage one complaints within ten working days, and to provide residents with an explanation and a clear alternative timeframe that should not exceed a further ten working days without good reason for any delays. It is also required to respond to final stage complaints within 20 working days, and to provide the above explanation and alternative timeframe for any delays.
  2. The landlord responded to the resident’s stage one complaint of 22 June 2021 on 1 September 2021, causing her to experience an unreasonable delay of 40 working days longer than the complaint handling code’s ten-working-day timescale for it to do so. There is also no evidence that it gave her an explanation and a clear alternative timeframe for this delay with a good reason for this delay as required by the code.
  3. On 29 September 2021, the resident attempted to escalate her complaint to the final stage of the landlord’s complaints procedure, but it did not do so until 18 January 2022, following a request from this Service. It additionally did not give her an explanation and a clear alternative timeframe for this delay with a good reason, in accordance with the complaint handling code.
  4. This therefore caused the resident an additional 67-working-day delay longer than the complaint handling code’s 20-working-day timescale when the landlord responded to her final stage complaint on 2 February 2022, totalling an unreasonable delay of 107 working days. Therefore, it would have been reasonable for it to have compensated her with the maximum amount available for her stress, inconvenience, time and trouble under its compensation policy for these failings and its resulting poor complaint handling. However, the landlord did not do so and the below order for it to compensate the resident to this effect has also been made for these reasons, as well as for it to review its staff’s relevant training needs to help to prevent this from recurring.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports about its handling of ventilation repairs in her property.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders and Recommendation

  1. The landlord is ordered to:
    1. Determine within four weeks whether to cap off the ventilation system in the resident’s building and put in adequate ventilation there, or to fit new flues and pipework at the building, and provide her with its decision while monitoring the safety of the ventilation system for her and other residents there in the meantime, if it has not done so already.
    2. Provide the resident with a timeline within four weeks for its works to her building’s ventilation system, together with subsequent regular progress updates on these until their completion, if it has not done so already.
    3. Provide the resident with details within four weeks to enable her to make a liability insurance claim to its insurance team for damages for her reports of ill-health and damaged belongings from the smell in her property.
    4. Pay the resident total compensation of £410 within four weeks, less any amounts that have already been paid to her for this complaint, comprised of:
      1. £150 in respect of her stress and inconvenience from its repair and complaint handling delays.
      2. £240 in respect of her time and trouble from its repair and complaint handling delays.
      3. £20 in respect of its missed appointment.
  2. It is recommended that the landlord review its staff’s training needs in relation to their application of its responsive repairs and compensation policies, its complaints policy and procedure and the Housing Ombudsman’s complaint handling code, to seek to ensure that its prolonged and communal repairs and complaint responses are timely, and that delays to them are appropriately remedied in every case.
  3. The landlord shall contact this Service within four weeks to confirm that it has complied with the above orders, and whether it will follow the above recommendation.