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Birmingham City Council (202229132)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202229132

Birmingham City Council

8 February 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 response to the resident’s request for replacement windows.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord, which is a council, and her tenancy started in 2019. The property is a one bedroom ground floor flat.
  2. The landlord’s records show the resident first reported that she could not open the bathroom window and the handle was stiff on 6 June 2019, and the repair was completed on 12 June 2019.
  3. The resident reported the bedroom window frame being rotten, and condensation on the bedroom and living room windows, on 6 November 2019. The landlord said the job was cancelled on 26 November 2019 as its contractor had been unable to access the property.
  4. The resident reported damp and mould growth in the bathroom, bedroom and living room on 9 January 2020. The landlord’s records show its contractor called the resident as it was running late for a scheduled appointment on 11 February 2020, but there was no answer. The records show there was no access to the property so a card was left, and the job re-raised for 25 February 2020. The landlord’s records say the resident cancelled the job and wanted to re-book at a later date. No evidence has been provided of her re-booking.
  5. The resident reported that she could not close the bathroom window on 25 January 2022. The job was logged as an emergency repair and was completed the same day. She then reported that the rubber seal was defective on 7 February 2022 and the job was logged as routine. It is unclear what happened, but the repair log shows the job re-raised on 1 March 2022 and completed on 8 March 2022.
  6. The landlord’s records show a job raised on 22 August 2022 for damp and mould growth on the living room floor. It was unable to gain access for a damp inspection on 14 September 2022, but returned 2 days later to complete the inspection.
  7. The resident reported damp and mould again in the living room on 17 October 2022 and that the windows were draughty on 20 October 2022. The landlord attended on 18 October 2022 and recommended the mould be treated around the bay window in the living room, with the work completed on 26 October 2022.
  8. The resident reported further damp and mould growth in the bathroom on 24 November 2022. The landlord’s records show it removed the mould on 23 December 2022.
  9. The resident complained on 22 January 2023 and said she had single glazed windows in the living room, bathroom, and bedroom. She said they were mouldy, damp, rotting, and full of condensation 24 hours a day and were very draughty. She said she had been trying to get double glazed windows since she moved in, and the landlord’s contractor had told her the windows needed replacing, not repairing. However, no evidence of this conversation or the condition of the windows has been provided to this Service. She also said the property was freezing cold and breathing in mould and living in a damp property was making her health, including her mental health, worse.
  10. After making internal enquiries, the landlord issued its stage 1 response on 1 February 2023, saying the property was not on the window replacement programme for that financial year. It did not comment on the damp or mould.
  11. The resident escalated the complaint on 6 February 2023 and the landlord issued its stage 2 response on 13 February 2023. It confirmed its position outlined in the stage 1 response, and explained that it had 60,000 properties and carried out stock condition surveys on a rolling basis. It was targeting the older housing stock due to limited budget, and it was not possible to issue investment work for its full housing stock in any single financial year.
  12. The landlord has subsequently said an order to renew the windows has been issued and the resident’s property was included, however there was a delay in the production of the windows so the installation date was not known.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. During the complaint journey, the resident told the landlord about the impact the windows were having on her health and mental health. The Ombudsman is unable to determine the impact of, or a causal link between, the landlord’s actions and the resident’s health. These matters would be better dealt with as a personal injury claim through the courts. This Service’s role when considering such complaints is to assess whether the landlord appropriately and fairly considered the matters, and correctly applied its policy and procedures when reaching a decision. In doing so, we can consider the impact of the landlord’s actions on the resident in terms of more general distress and inconvenience.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s request for replacement windows

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy says:
    1. It is responsible for the structure of the property including window frames, window sills, and glazing.
    2. Tenants must take reasonable steps to avoid condensation building up in the property and causing damage.
    3. Routine repairs are targeted to be completed within 30 days of being reported.
    4. The repairs contractor shall ensure that in all cases every effort must be made to repair and maintain for as long as possible, and economically practical, any window. The criteria for deciding if a window is beyond economic repair shall be where the cost of repair is greater than 50% of the replacement cost including all associated elements.
    5. It will always prefer that any necessary window renewal is undertaken as part of its planned window replacement programme. For properties included in planned maintenance programmes, the contractor shall note all efforts must be made to repair and maintain windows for as long as is economically practical, and renewal in UPVC should be regarded as the last resort and not the norm.
  2. This Service has not been provided with copies of damp and mould inspection reports, so it is not clear if the window condition was a contributing factor to the damp and mould within the property. However, the landlord has a limited budget and a responsibility to manage its resources effectively so it is common practice for windows to be repaired rather than replaced wherever possible (as per the landlord’s repairs policy above). The evidence shows the landlord has completed repairs to the windows in line with its policy on multiple occasions, unless it was unable to access the property.
  3. While the resident stated that a contractor had informed her the windows needed replacing, no documentation has been provided to support this position. In the absence of such evidence, it was appropriate for the landlord to complete repairs and it did so in a timely manner. It then took the opportunity of the complaints process to explain the reasons for its position, and it has since confirmed that the windows are now scheduled for renewal.
  4. The evidence shows that, overall, the landlord has acted swiftly and in line with policy when carrying out repairs to the windows and conducting damp and mould inspections. There was no evidence to suggest the resident was treated unfavourably. The decision to not replace the windows was acceptable at the time and in the circumstances that it was made.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s request for replacement windows.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord:
    1. Contact the resident and provide an update regarding the window manufacturing delays and, if possible, a date her windows will be replaced.
    2. Review the Ombudsman’s Damp and Mould Spotlight report of October 2021 and ensure its staff responding to these issues are aware of it.