A2Dominion Housing Group Limited (202201426)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202201426

A2Dominion Housing Group Limited

21 November 2023

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 the landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns about the communal cleaning service.

Background

The resident is a leaseholder who resides in a flat. The building is a block of flats with shared communal access areas and refuse disposal facilities.
On 31 August 2022 the resident asked the landlord to explain why the cleaning had not been done that week and to confirm this would not be charged for. Following this, on a date unknown, the resident said that no cleaning had been done on a further bank holiday and that the windows had not been cleaned in over 6 months. She also said it had been over 2 years since she requested a copy of the cleaning schedule and she was still waiting for this.
The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 6 October 2022, upholding the resident’s complaint. It agreed that no cleaning took place on the bank holidays. It said the cleaning contractor normally scheduled additional time the week before and after bank holidays to cover hours missed. As the last bank holiday was unexpected it was difficult to schedule overtime at such short notice, but the contractor would make up for the missed hours by spending more time during the next few visits. It said the window cleaning was next scheduled to take place in December and it would provide the resident with a copy of the cleaning schedule. It said it had asked its contractor to carry out regular inspections and it would carry out impromptu visits to ensure the quality of the cleaning met its service standards.
It is not known when the resident escalated her complaint and the landlord has not provided a copy of this. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 5 December 2022, not upholding the resident’s complaint. Its understanding of the resident’s complaint was:
1. She disputed that the cleaning team made up for the loss of cleaning on bank holidays and requested a credit for services missed.
2. She questioned if cleaning materials were being used.
3. She wanted to know when the next window cleaning service was due.
The landlord’s investigation found that although the bank holiday had disrupted its cleaning services, this was corrected over the following weeks with additional time spent where needed. To ensure this was the case it inspected on 2 separate occasions and found that the standards met specifications. It previously advised that window cleaning would take place in December but this was to be completed by the managing agent so it would confirm this. It said it would continue its inspections for 6 months given the resident’s concerns.
The resident referred her complaint to the Ombudsman as she remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response. She requested that the landlord did not schedule cleaning to take place on Mondays to avoid no attendance on bank holidays, and wanted a copy of the cleaning schedule. She also raised concerns that the landlord was falsifying its cleaning records.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

As part of her complaint to the Ombudsman, the resident raised concerns regarding intermittent hot water outage at her property. However, in accordance with paragraph 42(a) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the Ombudsman is unable to investigate complaints that have not yet exhausted a landlord’s internal complaints procedure. As no evidence has been submitted to show that this complaint has completed the landlord’s complaints procedure, it is excluded from this report. Should this issue still affect the resident, it is recommended that she contacts the landlord and raises this as a formal complaint.
The resident has also raised concerns that the landlord was falsifying its cleaning records. No evidence has been provided to show that the resident raised this matter as part of her complaint to the landlord, and therefore, this matter has also been excluded from this report.

Assessment

In accordance with the resident’s lease and the landlord’s environmental service policy, it is responsible for undertaking the cleaning of the communal areas of the building. According to the cleaning schedule provided to the Ombudsman, the cleaning contractor is to conduct weekly cleaning of the communal spaces of the building including areas such as hallways, corridors and landings. The windows (both internal and external) and the bin areas are to be deep cleaned every 3 months.
In relation to the cleans missed on bank holidays, the landlord said the cleaning contractor normally scheduled additional time the week before and after bank holidays to cover hours missed. However, it did not confirm in the complaint responses when the additional hours had been worked and it has not provided any evidence to the Ombudsman to confirm this. Although the landlord says it inspected the building and was satisfied with the standard of cleaning, this does not evidence that cleaning was carried out within a reasonable time of the bank holidays and it is not known when these inspections took place.
Evidence provided by the landlord shows that the cleaning contractor confirmed in December 2022 that it would change the day it attended the building to Tuesdays, in accordance with the resident’s wishes. The landlord was not obliged to do this, however if the contractor had agreed to do so then it would be reasonable to expect the landlord to inform the resident accordingly. It is unclear if it did so.
In response to the resident’s concerns about the windows not being cleaned, the landlord confirmed when the next clean was due to take place. However, it failed to address the resident’s concern that the windows had not been cleaned in 6 months. This was a failing given the cleaning schedule confirms that the windows should be cleaned every 3 months. Furthermore, the landlord said in its stage 2 response that it would check when with the managing agent when the cleaning was due to take place but no evidence has been provided to show that it did this and updated the resident accordingly.
In relation to the resident’s request for a cleaning schedule, the landlord said in its stage 1 response that it would share this with the resident. However, no evidence has been provided to confirm that it did so. The resident also questioned if the cleaner was using cleaning products, however the landlord failed to address this in its complaint response. These were further failings.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s concerns about the communal cleaning service.

Orders

The landlord is ordered to do the following within 4 weeks:
1. Pay the resident £100 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of her concerns.
2. Provide a copy of the cleaning schedule to the resident.
3. Write to the resident confirming:
  1. The dates the window cleaning has been carried out since January 2022 and when it is next due.
  2. The day the building is currently cleaned. If this is still a Monday then it should confirm when the building will be cleaned when there is a bank holiday.