A2Dominion Housing Group Limited (202112570)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202112570

A2Dominion Housing Group Limited

20 June 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 the resident’s windows.

Background

2. The resident is a tenant of the landlord.
3. The landlord’s records show that in February 2021 the resident reported that he was unable to close his living room window properly. The landlord attended on 26 March 2021. The records state “eased and adjusted window – job complete window closed”. The resident reported in August 2021 that the window handle had fallen off. The landlord inspected, and raised a work order to replace the window. Work was completed in December 2021.
4. The resident raised a formal complaint to the landlord in August 2021 about the above matter. He disputed that it any work had been done in March 2021, and said he had been awaiting a window replacement since then. He asked, if the landlord had completed work, why it did not contact him to check whether he was satisfied.
5. The landlord responded to the complaint, saying it was unaware that there was an issue with the window handle until August 2021. It said it left the window in working order in March 2021. It acknowledged that there had been some miscommunication as it had not updated him following the completion of work in March. It said there had been delays completing the work for the window handle reported in August, due to the manufacturer. It offered £95 compensation for the time taken to resolve matters.
6. In the resident’s complaint to this Service he maintained that work had not been completed in March 2021, and that he had waited for the windows to be replaced.

Assessment and findings

7. The landlord’s repairs policy explains that the landlord is responsible for repairs to windows, including the handles. It will attend to urgent repairs within 24 hours, and will resolve standard repairs at the next convenient appointment. It considers insecure windows, and damage to window glass to be urgent repairs. Its compensation policy states that it can offer from £85 to £110 for a resident’s time and trouble when the issue has been ongoing for four to six months.
8. Although the landlord’s repairs policy does not specify its target response timeframes for non-urgent repairs, standard industry practice would be for a landlord to attend to non-urgent repairs within 28-30 calendar days.
9. The landlord’s records show the resident reported on 19 February 2021 that his window would not close properly. It arranged an appointment for 8 March 2021, but then rescheduled for 11 March 2021 as its operative was running late. It inspected on 11 March 2021, and then recommended further work. On 26 March 2021 the landlord eased and adjusted the window, it closed the work order as the window would close. The landlord took 36 days to complete this repair. Even though it exceeded the 30 day guideline, the delay was not significant when considering that it had attended to inspect during this period, and the delay was affected by basic supply issues.
10. As part of his complaint, the resident disputed that any work took place in March 2021. The Ombudsman is only able to make conclusions based on the evidence presented to us. In this case, the evidence shows the landlord did attend and completed work in March 2021. Nothing has been provided which might suggest the landlord received any subsequent report that the repairs remained outstanding. As such, the evidence corroborates the landlord’s explanation.
11. The resident asked why the landlord had not contacted him after the appointment in March 2021 (if it had attended) to see whether he was satisfied with the work. Nothing in the landlord’s repairs policy states that it is obliged to this this, as such not making contact would not be considered a failing. Nonetheless, the landlord acknowledged that there had been miscommunication on its part, as it did not provide updates to the resident on what it had done to complete the repair. It said it had reminded its staff on the importance of clear communication. This was a reasonable response because, while the evidence supports its explanation that it had completed the repair, the landlord identified that there was room for improvement in its service, and took steps in that regard.
12. The resident reported that his window handle had broken on 13 August 2021. The resident’s report would not be considered as an urgent repair in line with the landlord’s repairs policy as there is no evidence to show the glass was broken, or that the window was insecure.
13. It is unclear when the landlord attended to inspect but it advised the resident in its stage one complaint response (dated 9 September 2021) that it needed to replace the window which shows it had inspected beforehand. In its stage two complaint response it explained that the replacement was booked for December 2021. It said the delays were due to issues from the manufacturer, and offered £95 compensation for the time taken to resolve the issue.
14. It is not disputed that the landlord exceeded 30 days to complete the non-urgent work. Nevertheless, the landlord’s offer of compensation was reasonable in the circumstances of this complaint. It was in line with its compensation policy, and also with the Ombudsman’s Remedies Guidance for service failure which had an impact, but was of short duration and may not have significantly affected the overall outcome. Whilst the delay replacing the window would have been frustrating for the resident, the landlord explained why it had occurred, and there is no evidence to show that the cause of the delay was something the landlord had direct control over. Therefore, the landlord took reasonable steps to address the delay (explanation, apology, and compensation), and the inconvenience caused.

Determination

15. In accordance with paragraph 55 (b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.