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A2Dominion Housing Group Limited (202123950)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202123950

A2Dominion Housing Group Limited

11 July 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 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 repairs to pavement slabs in a communal area outside the resident’s property.

Background

  1. The resident is the leaseholder of the property, which is a flat within a block of flats. The landlord is the freeholder of the building.
  2. The resident raised a stage one complaint to the landlord on 14 September 2021 regarding outstanding repairs to pavement slabs nearby the resident’s property. The resident stated that the initial repair request had been raised by another resident in the building on 17 May 2021. The resident remained dissatisfied with the work undertaken to the pavement slabs as she said it had not been completed to a satisfactory standard and posed as a health and safety risk. The resident advised that he had contacted the landlord on 30 July 2021, but the repairs remained outstanding. The resident asked for:
    1. The landlord to explain the reasons for its delay in responding and repairing the pavement.
    2. Assurance that the broken slabs would be replaced with new slabs to ensure an even pavement.
    3. Confirmation that the costs associated with the repair would not be charged to the leaseholders through their service charges.
  3. The landlord issued a stage one complaint response on 11 October 2021. It stated it had been advised by its contractors that the repairs had been completed and had therefore closed the job. The landlord stated that reopened the job and that an inspection of the affected area would take place on 13 October 2021. The landlord stated that following its inspection, the outstanding repairs would be completed by 12 November 2021. The landlord appointed a point of contact to the resident for the repair and stated it had recommended further staff training in order to ensure better record-keeping. The landlord stated that it had upheld the resident’s complaint.
  4. The resident escalated his complaint to stage two of the landlord’s process on 22 November 2021 as the repairs had not been completed. The landlord issued a stage two response on 2 December 2021. The landlord apologised for its delays and its poor record keeping that contributed to it. It stated it would not charge the cost of the repairs to its leaseholders if the damage to the slabs w caused by the landlord’s contractors. The landlord offered £100 compensation to the resident for its poor communication and a further £55 compensation for the delays in completing the works. Following further contact from the resident, the landlord stated that the outstanding repairs to the pavement would be completed by 23 December 2021.
  5. In his complaint to this Service, the resident stated that he remained dissatisfied that despite repeated assurances from the landlord, the repairs to the pavement remained outstanding.

Assessment and findings

Policies and procedures

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy states it would assign one of two repair priorities: urgent (to which it would respond within 24 hours) and standard (to which an appointment would be scheduled with the resident at the landlord’s next available slot). The policy does not state an estimated timeframe in which the resident is to expect an appointment.
  2. The landlord’s compensation policy states it would consider awarding compensation to a resident in instances of service failure. It states it would award payments in the region £100-£150 for stress and inconvenience in its highest category. It states it would award payments in the region £150-£240 for time and trouble, in its highest category where the length of time the issue had been going on for had exceeded six months.

The landlord’s handling of repairs to the pavement slabs in a communal area

  1. It was appropriate for the landlord to acknowledge the significant delays in repairing the pavement slabs as the repairs remained outstanding from May 2021 to January 2022. The landlord’s stage two complaint response explained that the delay in completing the repairs was largely due to its miscommunication and poor record keeping with its contractors and the resident. The internal records show that this caused the resident to need to continually chase up the landlord for updates on the completion of the repair, which would have caused inconvenience to the resident.
  2. The landlord stated that on two occasions dated 24 May 2021 and 1 November 2021 its contractors were unable to complete the paving repair due to missing information and the wrong location being identified for the repair. The internal records also show that on two further occasions, the works were marked as complete and consequently closed in error, causing further delays. it would have been helpful for the landlord to take a more pro-active approach into ensuring that its contractors had all the relevant information required for the job. It would also have been appropriate for the landlord to have ensured the repairs to the pavement slabs had been adequately completed before marking the work orders as complete. According to the evidence, there were a number of work orders concerning the repairs, raised and then rescheduled by the landlord, which would have caused confusion. This Service expects a landlord to keep its residents informed of any delays that may occur and offer updated timescales and appointments as necessary. However, in this case, there is no evidence to indicate that it did so.
  3. It is noted that the landlord tried to set things right in its stage one complaint response, by appointing a single point of contact to the resident until the work was completed. However, the evidence shows that the resident still needed to contact different departments within the landlord’s organisation in order to receive updates on the outstanding repairs causing further inconvenience to the resident. The landlord stated in its stage one response that it had recommended staff training on record-keeping, it was appropriate for the landlord to arrange staff training, in order to provide better services to its residents going forward.
  4. In its stage two complaint response on 2 December 2021, the landlord offered the resident £100 compensation in recognition of its poor communication and an additional £55 for time and trouble. It was appropriate for the landlord to compensate the resident in view of its errors. However, the landlord’s compensation policy states that it would award offers in the amount of £150- £240 in compensation where issues remained outstanding for over six months. As it had been six months since the landlord first sent out its contractor at the time of its compensation offer, with some repairs still outstanding, it would have been appropriate for the landlord to adjust the compensation awarded to the resident according to its policy.
  5. The landlord should offer a further £90 compensation to the resident in recognition of time and trouble caused in the delays to the repairs. This should be paid in addition to the £155 compensation previously awarded to the resident, making a total of £250 compensation. This amount is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance (published on our website) which states that we may make awards ranging from £50-£250 where there has been service failure which had an impact on the resident but did not change the overall outcome of the complaint. This includes circumstances such as, repeated failures to reply to letters or return phone calls, not having regard to a resident’s preferred method of contact or contact requirements, and failure to meet service standards for actions and responses but where the failure had no significant impact.
  6. It is also noted that at the time when the resident referred the complaint to this Service, the repairs to the pavement slab remained outstanding. Therefore, the landlord should carry out any outstanding repairs if it has not done so already.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of repairs to the pavement slabs in a communal area.

Orders

  1.  The Ombudsman orders that the following actions are taken within four weeks:
  1. The landlord is to pay the resident the £155 compensation that it previously awarded in its complaint’s resolution, if it has not done so already.
  2. The landlord is to pay the resident a further £95 compensation.

The total compensation to be paid is £250, taking into account the compensation previously offered by the landlord.

  1. The landlord is to contact the resident within four weeks of the date of this decision to provide an update on the status of the repairs to the paving slabs and provide timescales for the completion of any outstanding works.