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ForHousing Limited (202303091)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202303091

ForHousing Limited

25 July 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 damp and kitchen door repairs at the resident’s property.

Background

  1. The resident is a tenant of the landlord of a house where she lives with her child. It has no vulnerabilities recorded for her household.
  2. In September 2022, the landlord recorded the resident reported water staining the base of her lounge walls. It therefore confirmed there were no respiratory illnesses in her household and arranged a damp inspection of her property by a surveyor in October 2022. The inspection suggested that the damp was due to a water leak, which it raised repairs for as well as replastering. However, the resident reported that this was incorrect, as well as that she was told it was safe for her to redecorate, but that her new decorations were then damaged. The landlord therefore inspected the property again in November and December 2022, when it found penetrating damp needing damp proofing, guttering repairs, external brickwork repointing, and more replastering.
  3. The landlord raised the above works at the resident’s property to be completed within 40 working days. However, she began chasing it in January and February 2023 because it had not carried out these repairs yet. The resident therefore made a stage 1 complaint to the landlord in February 2023. She complained about delayed damp works, the first inspection’s above incorrect information about this damaging her decorations, her having to pay for more heating and a dehumidifier and stay in her bedroom due to the damp, and its lack of communication about this. The resident added that the moisture in the property had caused her internal kitchen door to swell and have to be removed, which caused further issues with the moisture from the kitchen.
  4. The landlord’s February 2023 stage 1 complaint response apologised for the delays and the first damp inspection not identifying all the damp repairs found subsequently. However, it disputed advising it was safe to decorate during the first inspection and reported a lack of access for a second damp inspection attempted in October 2022. There were further delays from the contractor’s high workload, which the landlord agreed to regularly monitor and schedule when next available. It also agreed kitchen door repairs in February 2023 and another damp inspection in March 2023, apologised for the lack of communication, awarded £100 for delays and inconvenience, and offered more support, followed by another £100 compensation and £60 in energy vouchers.
  5. The resident nevertheless chased the landlord for damp works in March 2023, when its latest damp inspection found this damaged her decorations and she made a final state complaint to it. She complained a second inspection was not booked in October 2022, repeated that the first inspection’s incorrect advice damaged the decorations, the original appointment to repair her kitchen door was missed, and her above damp costs had affected her finances. The landlord’s April 2023 final stage complaint response apologised for and explained it had recruited more staff to improve its lack of communication, increased repair reports had further delayed its works that it was chasing and would update her on, and it changed its damp process to prevent this.
  6. The landlord also apologised for the first damp inspection’s incorrect information, awarding another £50 compensation for distress and inconvenience, £50 in energy vouchers, and offered to reimburse the resident’s dehumidifier purchase if she gave it a receipt. It then began carrying out works for damp at her property in April 2023, did repairs for this in her bedroom, gave her a paint pack to redecorate her whole property and reimbursed her £175 for her dehumidifier in May 2023, and began external brickwork and further internal repairs and gave her a £100 food voucher in June 2023. The landlord additionally completed the damp works and gave the resident a £70 food voucher in July 2023, but she reported issues with its works in August 2023.
  7. The landlord did further repointing and internal repairs and inspected brickwork in August 2023. It completed repointing and inspected the kitchen door in September 2023, more repointing and internal repairs in October 2023, and air vents and replastering for unrelated condensation in the lounge, bedroom, and hallway. The landlord also added in-house damp inspections for speed, monitoring and control, a centralised streamlined and consistent complaints team and process, and investigating reimbursements with evidence other than receipts. The resident nevertheless complained to the Ombudsman of inaccuracies and repair delays costing 3 days’ pay, staying in her bedroom, stress and anxiety from constant chasing, and an inappropriate apology.

Assessment and findings

  1. The resident’s tenancy agreement obliges the landlord to keep her property’s structure and exterior in repair, including gutters, outside walls, and major plasterwork. Its repairs and maintenance policy and procedure require it to respond to non-emergency routine repairs within 30 working days and to call 3 times and then send a letter to book a repair appointment with residents.
  2. The landlord’s damp and mould procedure obliges it to respond to damp, condensation, or mould reports by identifying potential causes, residents’ vulnerabilities, and raising inspections within 10 working days. Inspections are to identify and raise all interventions and repairs, such as additional vents or insulation, within 40 working days, give advice to assist with apparent issues, or otherwise monitor heat and humidity. It is to do work in progress and post-inspection checks, contact residents to agree to resolve unsatisfactory or incomplete works, and update them throughout.
  3. The landlord initially responded to the resident’s report of 23 September 2022 of water staining the base of her lounge walls in line with its damp and mould procedure. This is because it sought to identify if this was potentially caused by a water leak, and it confirmed her household had no respiratory illnesses on that date, as required by the procedure. The landlord then arranged a damp inspection at the resident’s property by a surveyor within its procedure’s 10-working-day timescale for it to do so on 7 October 2022, which was suitable. It appeared reasonable it raised leak repairs for this on the same day, as the inspection suggested a leak caused the damp, but it is of concern she reported this was incorrect on 12 October 2022 and damaged her new decorations.
  4. While it was appropriate that the landlord therefore subsequently promptly raised replastering works and attempted to carry out a second damp inspection after 2 working days on 14 October 2022, it is concerning the resident reported it found no access for this as it had not booked the inspection with her. No evidence was provided that she was given incorrect advice that her property was safe for her to redecorate before her new decorations were damaged by the damp there, but there was also no evidence she was called 3 times and written to with confirmation of the second inspection. This was unsuitable and contrary to the landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy and procedure’s requirement for it to do so.
  5. Moreover, it was unreasonable that the landlord did not then follow its damp and mould procedure by arranging a further damp inspection within 10 working days, but that it did so on 11 November 2022, which was 20 working days later. As this found penetrating damp needing damp proofing and guttering repairs, it was appropriate it made an appointment to repair the resident’s gutters on 16 November 2022. This was well within the landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy and procedure’s and its damp and mould procedure’s respective 30 and 40-working-day timescales to do so. However, it is of concern it did not raise a third damp inspection of the rest of the resident’s property it could not inspect during the second inspection until 21 working days later on 11 December 2022.
  6. It was also inappropriate that the resident had to chase and complain to the landlord on 27 January and 3 February 2023 to complete the outstanding damp works at her property, including the external brickwork repointing and further replastering found by its third damp inspection. It is additionally concerning she reported on the latter date that her property’s moisture had caused her internal kitchen door to swell and have to be removed, which caused further issues with the moisture from the kitchen. It was suitable that the landlord therefore inspected and measured the door well within its repairs and maintenance policy and procedure’s 30-working-day routine repair timescale on 13 February 2023, as well as replacing this within that timescale on 28 February 2023.
  7. However, it is of concern the resident reported the landlord missed its original kitchen door replacement appointment on 27 February 2023, when she stayed in and no one attended. Moreover, it is concerning she also explained the outstanding damp works meant she had to pay for more heating, extra blankets and a dehumidifier, her and her child had to stay in her bedroom, and it did not communicate with her. It was therefore reasonable the landlord’s 28 February 2023 stage 1 complaint response apologised for its delays, the failure to identify the damp works during the first damp inspection, and its lack of communication. It also explained there were delays from its contractor’s high workload that it appropriately agreed to monitor and schedule the next available works for.
  8. It is of concern the landlord additionally attributed repair delays to not being given access for a second damp inspection on 14 October 2022, when the resident explained it had not booked an appointment. It nevertheless suitably paid her £200 compensation for its repair delays and her inconvenience, as well as £60 in energy vouchers for the increased costs she reported. However, it was unreasonable that the resident had to chase and complain to the landlord again for the outstanding damp works at her property on 2, 13 and 15 March and 4 and 6 April 2023. It is also concerning that its latest 6 March 2023 damp inspection found her decorations blistering, and that she told it that its plasterer could not carry out replastering until it completed the damp works.
  9. It was therefore appropriate the landlord’s 17 April 2023 final stage complaint response apologised for and explained it recruited more staff to improve its lack of communication, and that its damp works had been further delayed by increased repair reports it was chasing the works for and would update her on. It additionally suitably described changing its damp process to inspect all of a property’s rooms as standard during damp inspections to prevent works being delayed in future by issues created by adjoining rooms, as well as apologising for the first damp inspection’s incorrect information. Moreover, it was reasonable the landlord paid the resident another £50 compensation for her distress and inconvenience and a further £50 in energy vouchers for her costs.
  10. The landlord also appropriately offered to reimburse the resident’s dehumidifier purchase if she gave it a receipt, which it later paid her £175 for on 23 May 2023, after arranging a paint pack for her to redecorate her whole property on 22 May 2023, as she told it she could not afford to do so. It subsequently began damp works to repoint her external brickwork and to her lounge, bedroom, kitchen, and understairs storage room walls on 6 and 23 June 2023 that it completed on 3 July 2023. The landlord additionally suitably gave the resident £100 and £70 in food vouchers on 12 June and 7 July 2023 due to her lack of cooking facilities during this period. However, it is of concern she reported uncleaned dust and a damaged extension lead to it on 7 July 2023.
  11. Moreover, it is concerning the landlord continued to raise repairs at the resident’s property after describing all of the damp works there as being completed. This is because it raised repointing, skirting, and casing repairs on 14 July and 2, 7 and 11 August 2023 that took up to 59 working days to complete on 6 October 2023, contrary to its damp and mould procedure’s 40-working-day timescale to do so. This is particularly after the original damp works identified on 11 November and 11 December 2022 were not completed until up to 158 working days later on 3 July 2022. These were followed by the resident reporting issues with the works on 8 August 2023, and brickwork and kitchen door inspections on 10 August and 2 September 2023, respectively.
  12. The resident therefore experienced unreasonably excessive delays for the damp works at her property, which the landlord did not explain or communicate with her about at the time, and its subsequent further damp works and delays were not remedied after it compensated her for its original delays. However, it responded to her later 16 October 2023 report of lounge and bedroom window condensation promptly in line with its damp and mould procedure by completing casing, air vent, and replastering works well within the procedure’s 40-working-day timescale on 22 October 2023, which was appropriate. The landlord’s above actions also sought to follow the Ombudsman’s dispute resolution principles to put things right and learn from outcomes from its original delays.
  13. The landlord apologised for and explained its original damp repair delays and lack of communication, paid £250 compensation for this and the resident’s distress and inconvenience, reimbursed her £175 dehumidifier costs, and gave her £110 and £170 in vouchers for her energy and food costs, respectively. It also gave her a paint pack to redecorate her whole property. The landlord additionally explained its damp inspections would now inspect all of a property’s rooms as standard to prevent issues from adjoining rooms. Moreover, it told the Ombudsman it had introduced in-house damp inspections for speed, monitoring and control, a centralised streamlined and consistent complaints team and process, and investigating reimbursements with evidence other than receipts.
  14. The landlord’s above compensation award was within its compensation guidance’s recommended band for prolonged distress and inconvenience, and its dehumidifier reimbursement, energy and food vouchers, and paint pack met her quantifiable losses for these, as recommended by the guidance. The total value of its compensation and dehumidifier, energy, and food reimbursements were also within the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance’s recommended band to recognise failures that had a significant impact on the resident. The landlord’s remedies were therefore proportionate to recognise its original damp works delays, and its above damp inspection, complaints team, and reimbursement process changes were suitably practical steps to prevent such delays in future.
  15. It is nevertheless of concern the landlord recorded on 18 July 2023 that all the resident’s damp works were completed when it had already raised more repointing, skirting, and casing repairs from 14 July 2023, which were completed up to 19 working days late on 6 October 2023. It also did not apologise to or compensate her for this further delay, which was unreasonable. The landlord has therefore been ordered below to pay the resident £100 additional compensation to recognise its further damp works delay. This is in accordance with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance’s recommendation of up to £100 compensation for such delays in getting matters resolved.
  16. Moreover, the landlord has been ordered below to write to the resident to apologise and accept responsibility for its further damp works delay and acknowledge the impact on her. It has also been ordered to contact her to confirm if she has any outstanding damp or related decorating issues, and to respond to these in line with its policies and procedures. The landlord has additionally been recommended below to review its staff’s training needs in relation to the application of its repairs and maintenance policy and procedure and its damp and mould procedure. This is to ensure it promptly and effectively inspects damp, accurately identifies and resolves potential causes, and regularly communicates with and updates residents throughout in every case.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of damp and kitchen door repairs at the resident’s property.


Orders and recommendation

Orders

  1. The landlord is ordered to:
    1. Pay the resident £100 additional compensation within 4 weeks to recognise its further damp works delay in her case.
    2. Write to the resident within 4 weeks to apologise and accept responsibility for its further damp works delay and acknowledge the impact on her.
    3. Contact the resident within 4 weeks to confirm if she has any outstanding damp or related decorating issues and respond to these in line with its policies and procedures.
  2. The landlord shall contact the Ombudsman within 4 weeks to confirm that it has complied with the above orders and whether it will follow the below recommendation.

Recommendation

  1. It is recommended that the landlord review its staff’s training needs in relation to the application of its repairs and maintenance policy and procedure and its damp and mould procedure. This is to ensure it promptly and effectively inspects damp, accurately identifies and resolves potential causes, and regularly communicates with and updates residents throughout in every case.