Peabody Trust (202212871)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202212871

Peabody Trust

5 July 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

The complaint is about:
1. The landlord’s handling of repairs to the communal doors and lifts.
2. The associated complaint handling.

Background

The resident is a shared owner of a flat in a block of flats.
On 15 July 2022, the resident informed her landlord that the entrance doors to the block of flats did not close properly.
The resident made a formal complaint to the landlord on 15 September 2022. She complained about the communal doors not closing properly and issues with the buttons on the lifts not working properly. Following a lack of response, she contacted this Service to request support in making her complaint. The Ombudsman wrote to the landlord on 5 October 2022 and asked it to respond to the complaint within 10 working days, by 19 October 2022.
The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 19 October 2022. It acknowledged failings in responding to the resident’s repair requests. It said its contractors would attend to complete remedial works to the internal security door and resolve outstanding issues with the communal lift. It said a repair job had been re-logged with a target completion date of 11 November 2022. It apologised for the lack of communication and said it would organise training to prevent reoccurrence. It offered the resident £100 compensation, which was made up of £50 for distress and inconvenience and £50 for delays and lack of communication.
The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 of the landlord’s complaint process on 18 November 2022. She said the landlord had not completed the repairs to the communal doors or lift by 11 November 2022 as stated in its stage 1 response.
The resident contacted this Service on 22 December 2022 informing us that she had not received a stage 2 response from her landlord. The Ombudsman wrote to the landlord on 4 January 2023 and asked it to respond to the complaint within 20 working days, by 1 February 2023.
The landlord acknowledged the escalation request on 9 January 2023, and issued its stage 2 response on 7 February 2023. It said:
1. It failed to fulfil its contractual obligation in completing the repairs within a reasonable timeframe, and the repairs remained unaddressed.
2. It had learned lessons and was making improvements on how it responded to resident’s complaints.
3. It would monitor the outstanding repairs until completion to ensure urgent progress was made to complete the repairs.
4. Its repairs surveyor and estate services area manager would visit the resident on 8 February 2023 to inspect and discuss concerns around communal cleaning and outstanding repairs.
5. It apologised for the failures and offered £200 compensation. This was made up of £100 for its complaint handling and £100 for time, trouble, and inconvenience.
The resident escalated her complaint to this Service as she remained unhappy that the repairs had not been completed. The complaint became one that the Ombudsman could investigate on 26 May 2023.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

After the completion of the landlord’s complaint’s process, the resident raised a new issue relating to the buzzer in the property not working. This Service has not seen any evidence that this complaint has exhausted the landlord’s internal complaints procedure. If the resident remains dissatisfied after the landlord’s final response, she may then bring her complaint to the Ombudsman as a new case to be investigated. This is in accordance with paragraph 42(a) of the Scheme.

The landlord’s handling of repairs to the communal doors and lifts.

The landlord’s repairs policy states:
1. It is responsible for completing repairs to communal areas.
2. It would complete non-urgent responsive repairs within 28 calendar days.
3. It would complete specialist works within 60 calendar days.
4. Specialist works are works which are complex in nature and therefore require either a specialist contractor and/or a technical lead in diagnosing and managing the works through to completion.
When investigating a complaint, the Ombudsman applies its Dispute Resolution Principles. These are high level good practice guidance developed from the Ombudsman’s experience of resolving disputes, for use by everyone involved in the complaints process. There are three principles driving effective dispute resolution:
1. Be fair – treat people fairly and follow fair processes;
2. Put things right, and;
3. Learn from outcomes.
The Ombudsman must first consider whether a failing on the part of the landlord occurred, and if so, whether this led to any adverse effect or detriment to the resident. If it is found that a failing did lead to an adverse effect, the investigation will then consider whether the landlord has taken enough action to ‘put things right.’
The resident first reported the issue with the communal doors on 15 July 2022 and a further 3 times between 6 October 2022 and 12 October 2022. The landlord’s repair records show it attended the property on 4 occasions between 21 July 2022 and 14 October 2022. However, its records were unclear and did not include vital information regarding what repair actions it took during these and subsequent visits to the resident’s property.
The resident first reported the issue with the buttons on the lift not working in her stage 1 complaint on 15 September 2022 and this Service subsequently raised the issue again in our letter to the landlord of 5 October 2022. The landlord records do not show that it ever raised a work order to complete the lift repairs. This was a failing.
It is vital that landlords keep clear, accurate and easily accessible records to provide an audit trail. If we investigate a complaint, we will ask for the landlord’s records. If there is disputed evidence and no audit trail, we may not be able to conclude that an action took place or that the landlord followed its own policies and procedures. In this case, the landlord has not kept robust records in relation to the resident’s communal doors and lifts repairs. This Service finds there was service failure in relation to the landlord’s record keeping.
This Service has not seen any evidence of communication from the landlord to the resident between when she made her initial repair request regarding the communal doors on 15 July 2022, until its stage 1 acknowledgement of 5 October 2022, a period of over 2 months.
The landlord stated in its stage 1 response of 19 October 2022 that it would resolve the outstanding issues with the lift and apologised for the lack of communication regarding the repairs. However, despite its apology regarding poor communication, it again failed to communicate with the resident regarding her lift repairs until 7 February 2023 when it issued its stage 2 response, a period of over 2 months.
As the landlord acknowledged its communication was poor in its stage 1 response, this Service would have expected it to be more proactive in its communication with the resident after it’s stage 1 response however, it was not. The level of communication with the resident regarding her communal doors and lift repairs was poor and not in line with what this Service would expect. This lack of communication was not reasonable and would have led the resident to feel her complaints were not being taken seriously, thereby causing further distress and inconvenience.
The resident raised her communal doors repair request on 15 July 2022 and the issue with the buttons on the lifts not working in her stage 1 complaint on 15 September 2022. In line with its repairs policy, the landlord should have completed the repairs to the communal doors within 28 calendar days and the lift repairs within 60 calendar days.
However, it stated in its stage 2 response of 7 February 2023 that the repairs were still outstanding. This was a delay of nearly 6 months to complete the communal doors repairs and a delay of nearly 3 months to complete the repairs to the lift buttons. This Service understands that there might be some delays associated with completing complex repairs. However, in-line with general customer service standards, the landlord would be expected to proactively manage the repair and complete it as soon as practically possible. It would also be expected to update the resident and manage their expectations. In this case the landlord has failed to act in line with customer service standards thereby causing the resident unnecessary distress and inconvenience.
This Service dispute resolutions principles state that where there has been a failing, we would consider whether the landlord has taken enough action to ‘put things right’ for the resident.
In this case, the landlord in its complaint response accepted that there had been failings. It highlighted the issues with its record keeping and lack of monitoring or engagement with its repairs team and said it would improve its overall service. It also said it would monitor the resident’s repairs and arranged a meeting with its management team and the resident to address her concerns regarding the outstanding repairs. The landlord’s actions in apologising, recognising that there had been a failing, and in proposing a solution to the failing was reasonable and in line with this Service dispute resolution principles.
Although the landlord made some attempts to put things right, it failed to adequately address the detriment to the resident and the compensation of £100 for distress and inconvenience was not proportionate to the failings identified in this report. This Service finds there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs to the communal doors and lifts.
In view of this, an order has been made below for the landlord to pay the resident additional compensation of £400 for its failures identified in its handling of the repairs. This sum is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for cases where a landlord has acknowledged some failings and made an offer to put things right, but the offer was not proportionate to the Ombudsman’s findings. The £400 is comprised as follows:
1. £150 for record keeping failures.
2. £250 for delays in completing the repairs.

The landlord’s complaint handling

The resident made her initial complaint on 15 September 2022, the landlord did not respond to this complaint. In line with its complaint policy, the landlord should have acknowledged and responded to the resident’s stage 1 complaint made on 15 September 2022 within 10 working days. The landlord not responding in line with its published time frame was a failing and would have understandably caused unnecessary distress and inconvenience to the resident.
This Service contacted the landlord on the resident’s behalf on 5 October 2022 and asked it to respond by 19 October 2022. The landlord responded within the time frame stipulated by this Service. Although the landlord’s actions of responding to the complaint of 5 October 2022 within the stipulated timeframe stipulated was reasonable, it would have been appropriate for it to have responded to the resident’s initial complaint of 15 September 2022 within its policy timeframe.
Neither the landlord’s stage 1 nor stage 2 response included details of the outstanding actions it would complete to resolve the complaint. This was a failing and not in line with its complaint policy.
The resident escalated her complaint on 18 November 2022, and the landlord failed to acknowledge or respond to the complaint within the time frame specified in its policy. This was unreasonable and would have understandably caused the resident further distress and inconvenience and she may have felt her complaint was not being taken seriously.
The Ombudsman wrote to the landlord on 4 January 2023 and asked it to respond to the complaint within 20 working days, by 1 February 2023. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 7 February 2023, 6 days outside the timeframe specified by this Service and 81 days from when the resident made her escalation request on 18 November 2022. Furthermore, there is no evidence to show that the landlord complied with its policy requirement of making an interim call or sending the resident an email or letter explaining this delay.
The landlord failed to respond to the resident’s complaint within its timeframe specified in its complaints policy at stage 1 and stage 2. This delay was unreasonable and would have understandably caused further distress and inconvenience to the resident.
In its stage 2 complaint response, the landlord did not acknowledge that the resident requested her complaint be escalated on 18 November 2022. It did not provide an explanation as to why it failed to escalate the complaint, nor did it agree an extension with the resident. This was unreasonable and not in line with its complaints policy. Furthermore, it did not explain the steps it would take to prevent such delays occurring in the future, failing to demonstrate that it had taken adequate points of learning from the complaint.
The landlord’s stage 2 response had the wrong date of issue on it, it was dated 7 January 2023 but was issued on 7 February 2023, this is another example of poor record keeping by the landlord.
The landlord actions in terms of addressing the new issues the resident raised in her escalation requests in relation to communal cleaning and the lifts making a grinding noise on the sixth floor was reasonable.
The landlord acknowledged there were failures in its complaint handling and offered the resident £100 in respect of these failure. However, this amount was not proportionate to the failures identified in this report in relation to its complaint handling.
This Service finds there was maladministration in respect of the landlord’s complaint handling. For this reason, an order for compensation in line with this Service remedies guidance has been made below.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of repairs to the communal doors and lifts.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of its complaint handling.

Orders

Within 4 weeks of the date of this determination, the landlord is ordered to:
1. Write to the resident to apologise for the service failures identified in this report.
2. Inspect the resident’s block of flats and decide if repairs are needed to the communal doors and lifts. The landlord should share the inspection report with the resident and this Service. If repairs are needed, the landlord should share its plan to permanently resolve the issues with the communal doors and the lifts with the resident and this Service.
3. Pay the resident total compensation of £850. This amount is comprised as follows:
  1. £100 previously offered by the landlord in relation to distress and inconvenience if this has not already been paid.
  2. £100 previously offered by the landlord in relation to its complaint handling if this has not already been paid.
  3. £150 for record keeping failures.
  4. £250 for delays in completing the repairs to the communal doors and lifts.
  5. Additional £250 for complaint handling failures.

The landlord should reply to this Service with evidence of compliance with these orders within the timescale set out above.