Lambeth Council (202347814)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202347814

Lambeth Council

30 September 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 the renewal of the windows and doors at the property.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord, which is a local authority. erHis tenancy began on 16 July 2007. The property is a 4 bedroom terraced house. The resident lives there with his disabled brother, whom he is full time carer for. A family member of the resident acted as his representative during the period of complaint. The representative brought the complaint to the Ombudsman on the resident’s behalf.
  2. The resident says that in 2019 the landlord inspected the windows, front door, back door and patio doors at the property. It agreed to renew all windows and doors with double glazing. The landlord later put these works on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  3. On 4 July 2022, the resident’s representative contacted the landlord to chase up the window and door renewals. On 22 September 2022, the landlord sent a contractor to inspect the windows and doors.
  4. The resident’s representative made a complaint on 1 February 2023. They expressed dissatisfaction that they had been chasing the landlord for an update on the renewal works since the inspection in September 2022. They said the windows were in a “hideous state” and the patio doors were so “rotten” the resident couldn’t use them. They said the property had been “freezing” and “unbearable” during the winter and that the resident had had to buy electric heaters due to the central heating escaping through the windows.
  5. The landlord’s stage 1 complaint response is undated and it is unclear when it provided this. It acknowledged that there had been delays in arranging the works and offered the resident £690 compensation for the inconvenience caused. It said that it would liaise directly with the resident to arrange and complete the works.
  6. The resident’s representative asked to escalate the complaint to stage 2 of the landlord’s complaints process on 16 August 2023. They said they were still waiting for it to carry out the works.
  7. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 20 September 2023. It said that a surveyor and its repairs contractor would visit the property on 29 September 2023 “to undertake any repairs on the day and advise on renewals”.
  8. The resident’s representative asked the Ombudsman to investigate the complaint on 25 March 2024. They said that they had received no update regarding the works since the visit on 29 September 2023.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. The landlord’s complaints policy says that “complaints are expected to be made in a timely manner”. It says it “will not consider or investigate complaints where the cause of the complaint occurred more than six months prior to the complaint being raised”. This position was in keeping with the Ombudsman’s complaint handling code at that time.
  2. However, the landlord’s stage 1 complaint response referred to the original works order for renewal of the doors and windows, which it raised in 2019. As this order was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, which was beyond the landlord’s control, this investigation will consider events from July 2022 onwards. This is when the resident’s representative first contacted the landlord to chase up the works.

Renewal of windows and doors

  1. The landlord’s records show the resident’s representative contacted it on 4 July 2022 to chase up the renewal of windows and doors, which she said had been agreed prior to the pandemic. Her enquiry was passed to the landlord’s repairs team. There is no evidence that the landlord contacted the resident or his representative to respond.
  2. The resident’s representative contacted the landlord again on 19 July 2022 and 2 September 2022 to chase up a response. The landlord has provided no evidence that it responded to these contacts either. However, it is evident that it arranged an inspection for 22 September 2022. This was likely a result of the contact on 2 September 2022.
  3. The landlord had already inspected the windows and doors, back in 2019, and determined they needed renewing. However, 3 years had passed since this inspection, and it was reasonable for the landlord to check the current condition of the windows and doors before arranging any works.
  4. The resident’s representative contacted the landlord on 22 September 2022, after its contractor had completed its inspection. She expressed concern that the contractor had told her it would not be renewing the doors and only some of the windows. The landlord has again provided no evidence that it responded.
  5. In her complaint to the landlord, the resident’s representative listed 4 further occasions on which she spoke with the landlord to get an update on the windows and doors without success. These took place between 3 January and 30 January 2023. The landlord has provided no records of these contacts but did not dispute them in its complaint responses.
  6. This led to the resident’s representative making a complaint on 1 February 2023. The landlord’s stage 1 complaint response also failed to offer a clear update on the windows and doors, stating only that it would be in touch with the resident to arrange the works. It did, however, offer compensation of £690 for the delays and inconvenience experienced by the resident.
  7. This offer was in keeping with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for instances of maladministration causing significant impact on a resident. Considering the 7 month delay since the resident’s representative had begun chasing the works, this was a reasonable offer at that time.
  8. The landlord’s repair records show that its contractor visited the property to measure up the windows and doors on 12 April 2023. It is unclear why it had not done this during its previous inspection on 22 September 2023.
  9. The resident’s representative escalated her complaint on 16 August 2023 as the works had still not progressed. The landlord has not provided any records which show that it had contacted the resident, his representative or its contactor since the contractor’s visit on 12 April 2023.
  10. In its stage 2 complaint response the landlord advised that its surveyor and the contractor would visit the property on 29 September 2023 to carry out any immediate repairs and “advise on renewals”. As the landlord’s contractor had already inspected and measured up the windows and doors, it is unclear why this further visit was required. The landlord also failed to offer further compensation for what had now been an additional 7 months of delay since its stage 1 response.
  11. The resident’s representative has advised that the landlord’s surveyor failed to attend on 29 September 2023, with only the contractor visiting the property. She said the contractor had been told to “attend and repair the windows” but said that the windows were unsuitable for repair and needed renewal.
  12. The resident’s representative says that they have contacted the landlord on multiple occasions since 29 September 2023 but have received no further updates from it. This is supported by the landlord’s repair logs which show that the resident and his representative contacted it on 3 occasions in October and November 2023. On 9 October 2023, the landlord advised the resident’s representative that it would need to make an appointment to measure up the doors and windows, despite this apparently having been done some months earlier. As of 10 August 2024, the resident’s representative informed this Service that the windows and doors had still not been renewed.
  13. The landlord has told this Service that the renewal is under the remit of its ‘capital works’ department. The landlord says this department is currently developing its “five year rolling programme” which it hopes to finalise by March 2025. It says it is currently unable to determine where the resident’s property will fall within this programme and when the works will be completed. The landlord has not provided evidence that it has made the resident aware of this position.
  14. The resident’s representative made clear the impact of the condition of the doors and windows on the resident in her original complaint. She detailed how heat was escaping through the deteriorating single pane windows leaving the property “unbearably” cold. She said the resident had been forced to purchase electric heaters for each room to keep them warm and running them was “costing him money he doesn’t have”. She described the stress the situation had caused the resident, which had led to her becoming involved as his representative.
  15. The government’s Decent Homes Standard lists windows and doors as ‘key building components’. It says that “If in poor condition [key components], could have an immediate impact on the integrity of the building and cause further deterioration in other components” and “have potential safety impacts”. The Decent Homes Standard says that if key components “are old and need replacing, or require immediate major repair, then the dwelling is not in a reasonable state of repair and remedial action is required”. It is the Ombudsman’s view that the resident’s property does not currently meet the Decent Homes Standard and immediate action is required by the landlord.
  16. The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) provides guidance on hazards within properties. It identifies ‘excess cold’ as a deficiency which can be hazardous. The HHSRS says that low energy efficiency can be a cause of excess cold within a property. It lists preventative measures which include “properly fitting butt-jointed floor boarding/doors/windows” and “appropriate levels of thermal insulation to minimise heat loss”. The energy performance certificate (EPC) for the property, produced on 19 July 2023, records the energy efficiency of the windows as “very poor”. It lists replacing the windows with double glazed units as a step which could be taken to improve the EPC rating and save energy.
  17. Whilst the landlord’s stage 1 offer of £690 compensation was reasonable at that time, the resident has since experienced another 18 months of delays with little or no communication from the landlord. This has caused him to endure a further winter of living in difficult conditions due to the windows being unfit for purpose. It is apparent the landlord still has no plan in place to renew the windows and doors to meet the decent homes standard and HHSRS guidance. Due to this the Ombudsman makes a finding of severe maladministration. An order for further compensation of £1,200 is made below.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was severe maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the renewal of windows and doors at the property.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this determination, the Ombudsman orders the landlord to:
    1. Pay the resident £1,890 compensation composed of:
      1. The £690 offered in its stage 1 complaint response, if not already paid.
      2. A further £1,200 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its maladministration in the renewal of the doors and windows since February 2023.
    2. Apologise to the resident for the severe maladministration identified by this report.
    3. Provide the resident with a time-specific action plan detailing when it will fit new doors and windows at the property. 
    4. Contact the resident and provide its position on a temporary decant into alternative accommodation, until such time as it can renew the windows and doors in the property. The landlord should arrange and bear the costs of all removals for any decant.
  2. The landlord should provide evidence of compliance with these orders to this Service.