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Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (202119575)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202119575

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council

27 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 response to the resident’s request for it to plaster a room at her property.

Background and summary of events

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant and her tenancy started in May 2015. The landlord has described the property as a two-bedroom house with a room to the rear that is connected to the kitchen and used to be a storage room for coal.
  2. The landlord has tenancy terms and conditions stating what will take place when a resident is being considered for a property, which say the landlord will:
  1. Invite the potential resident for a viewing.
  2. Inform the resident at the viewing of any repairs that will be carried out before and after the resident moves in.
  1. The landlord has a repairs policy that allows improvements to be made to the property by the resident, subject to approval from the landlord.
  2. The landlord has a two-stage complaints policy. At stage one it will respond to complaints within five working days. At stage two it will respond within 20 working days. Where the resident remains unhappy they can then escalate the complaint to this Service.

 

 

Summary of events

  1. On 2 June 2021, the resident complained to the landlord that a room within her property had not been fully plastered. She said that she did not accept the landlord’s position that the room is a former coal storage house or outhouse and therefore does not require plastering. This was on the basis that the room has a radiator and plug socket and that it is part of the house with an external door and a door leading to the front room. The resident also said that the room fits the Building Regulations definition of a habitable room.
  2. On 21 June 2021, the landlord sent its first response where it said the following:
  1. The property was built in 1955 and included an internal coal store. This area was classified as an outhouse and would not originally have had plastered walls.
  2. The landlord would not plaster an outhouse area.
  1. The resident escalated the complaint to stage two on 2 July 2021, saying that she did not believe the points she raised in her original complaint had been fully considered. Also, that no inspection had been carried out by the landlord on her property. The resident said that she was aware that other houses of the same design as hers were not fully plastered however that was not a reason that they should not be.
  2. On 2 August 2021, the landlord issued its final response stating the following:
    1. The property was built in 1955 with a coal store and has been let on the basis of that design since its construction.
    2. The electric socket was fitted to the property for a resident to use.
    3. The radiator was fitted to help maintain the “thermal efficiency” of the property throughout the winter.
    4. The coal store was inspected on 18 June 2021, whilst post inspection works were being carried out to the kitchen floor.
  3. The resident escalated the complaint to this Service on 24 November 2021.

Assessment and findings

  1. This property has a room which at the time of construction was a coal store and as such the walls are not plastered. The landlord says the walls in this room have never been plastered and the property has always been let out this way.
  2. The landlord has a policy that allows potential residents to visit the property prior to accepting the tenancy. This Service has seen no evidence that the landlord gave the resident any expectation that the walls of the former coal room would be plastered either prior to, or after, the tenancy had commenced.
  3. The resident says that she does not believe this room should be classified as an outbuilding but rather as a “habitable space” in line with the definition in the Building Regulations. This is because the room is connected to the property and has a radiator and a plug socket in it.
  4. The definition of a habitable space the resident refers to is taken from Section F, Volume 1 of the Building Regulations. This describes a habitable room as “a room used for dwelling purposes but which is not solely a kitchen, utility room, bathroom or sanitary accommodation.”
  5. The question of whether or not this room meets the definition of a habitable room is a legal question and therefore not one for this Service to determine. What is clear however is that the room in question was originally designed as a storage area. This is how the property was presented when the resident began her tenancy and the evidence suggests that currently the room is still fit for the purpose of storage. This being the case, there is no obligation on the landlord to carry out improvement works to the room by plastering the walls.
  6. The landlord’s repairs policy says that residents can contact the landlord to seek permission in the event that they would like to carry out improvement works to their home. The landlord has offed this option to the resident which is an appropriate response.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in its response to the resident’s request for it to plaster a room at her property.

Reasons

  1. The room in its current condition is fit for the purpose of storage and the landlord is not obliged to add plastering to the walls.