Haringey London Borough Council (202228697)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202228697

Haringey London Borough Council

1 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:
1. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damaged windows.
2. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

The resident is a leaseholder who purchased the lease in October 2020. The landlord is the freeholder. The property is a 3-bedroom flat.
The resident first reported the condition of the windows to the landlord on 14 December 2020. The landlord’s contractor attended on 10 June 2021 and recommended the windows were replaced. A further inspection of the windows took place on 30 June 2022. The resident was informed the windows were not scheduled for replacement until a major works programme in 2023/2024 but could be repaired. The resident has said it is unfair for the landlord to charge her for repairs to windows which require replacement and are due to be replaced shortly.
The resident made a complaint about the issue on 20 September 2021, in which she said that she had been chasing works to the windows for 8 months and required a date for their renewal. The landlord responded, at stage one of its complaints procedure, on 4 October 2021. The landlord said it was unable to renew the windows as it was in the process of procuring a contractor. It said that the windows would be renewed when it had a contractor in place to pass the job to.
The resident requested escalation of the complaint on the same day. However, the complaint was not escalated at that time. The complaint was escalated to stage two on 5 December 2022 following further contact between the resident and the leader’s office. In its final response of 9 February 2023, the landlord said:
1. The windows were scheduled for replacement as part of the 2024/2025 External and Communal Major Works Programme.
2. Repairs could be undertaken before this but will be recharged to the resident.
In referring the matter to this Service, the resident has stated that she has been chasing the window replacement for 2 years and the landlord has breached the lease which states it is responsible for the windows.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

As part of her complaint the resident has questioned why the windows were not replaced in 2018 as part of a previous major works programme. However, the resident did not become leaseholder of the property until October 2020.
Paragraph 25a of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that the occupier must have had a legal relationship with the landlord at the time that the matter complained of arose. As such, the Ombudsman is unable to consider issues which arose prior to the resident purchasing the lease in October 2020.
The resident has also said that she has suffered ill health because of black mould. While we do not doubt the resident’s comments, this Service is unable to draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. However, this Service has considered the general distress and inconvenience that the resident experienced because of the landlord’s handling of the situation.
The resident has also expressed concern that she does not wish to pay for temporary repairs to the windows, only for them to be renewed shortly. While the Ombudsman is sympathetic, this Service is unable to make a judgement on the reasonableness of charges which may or may not be made in the future.
For further advice the resident may wish to consider contacting The Leasehold Advisory Service, a government funded, independent advice service for residential leaseholders. Further, if the resident has received a service charge which they are concerned about they can contact the First Tier Tribunal. The First Tier Tribunal handle applications and appeals relating to disputes over property and land including leasehold disputes and the reasonableness of service charges.

Windows

The resident first reported concerns about the condition of her windows to the landlord on 14 December 2020. An initial inspection took place on 10 June 2021. The landlord’s contractor recommended the windows required renewal.
It is not in dispute that the maintenance or renewal of the windows is the responsibility of the landlord. As such, at this time the landlord should have taken one of two actions, either:
1. Arranged for the windows to be renewed, or
2. If suitable, arranged for temporary repairs until the windows were renewed as part of its planned works programme.
However, the landlord failed to follow up with the resident until she made a formal complaint on 20 September 2021. This was unreasonable and resulted in delays.
The landlord responded at the first stage of its complaints process on 4 October 2021. The landlord said that it was unable to undertake renewal of the windows as it was ‘awaiting on the procurement of contractors’. However, it committed to renewing the windows once a contractor was onboard and further reiterated this to the resident by email later that day.
However, the landlord failed to follow up with the resident despite her contacting it via email in November, December 2021, and January 2022. This was unreasonable and resulted in delays.
On 26 March 2022, the resident contacted the landlord via her local councillors and the landlord’s leader’s office seeking assistance. The available evidence suggests, while she did not receive a response, this prompted action from the landlord.
On 30 June 2022, the landlord inspected the resident’s windows. The resident has said it was at this appointment that she was informed the windows would not be replaced until the 2023/2024 major works programme. The resident has said she was told the landlord could undertake temporary repairs for which she would be recharged.
On 30 August 2023, the resident contacted the landlord by email. She outlined that she did not feel it was fair for the landlord to charge her for temporary repairs now, only to renew the windows next year.
In its final response to the complaint the landlord has confirmed its position that temporary repairs can be undertaken but that these will be recharged to the resident. It has also said that the resident’s windows were included in the 2023/2024 major works programme, however, due to financial constraints had been moved to 2024/2025.
Since issuing its final response the landlord has confirmed to the Ombudsman that the resident’s windows will likely not be included in a major works programme until 2025/2026 or even 2027/2028.
The Ombudsman is aware landlords have limited financial resources and need to ensure best use of these. Therefore, it would have been reasonable of the landlord to carry out repairs to the windows, with a view to renewing them later.
The landlord had the opportunity to do this in June 2021 following its initial inspection of the windows. However, it failed to do so and informed the resident that the windows would be replaced. It then failed to follow up on this commitment despite emails from the resident.
It is only in June 2022 that there is any evidence the landlord informed the resident the windows would not be replaced and that temporary repairs would be rechargeable. This represents a 12-month delay from when this decision could first have been made and was unreasonable.
The resident has said that due to gaps around the windows she has experienced increased costs heating her home. She has also said that black mould forms around the windows and that this has affected her and her children’s health.
Throughout the timeline of this case the landlord has failed to proactively engage with the resident. It has not followed up with the resident following inspections, has provided incorrect information, both about replacing the windows and the date for major works, and has on occasion failed to respond to emails.
As the landlord is responsible for keeping the windows in good repair, it is entitled to decide that repairs are needed to keep the windows safe, functional, and watertight until they can be renewed. However, the Ombudsman has not seen any evidence from the landlord which indicates the windows can be repaired. To the contrary, the landlord’s own contractors have recommended they are replaced. As such, orders have been made below which look to add clarity to this.

Complaint handling

The resident submitted a formal complaint to the landlord on 20 September 2021 and the landlord responded within its stated timeframe on 4 October 2021.
The resident responded on the same day requesting escalation of her complaint to stage two. The landlord told the resident it would provide her with more information and if she still wished to escalate following this she could.
On 7 October 2021, the landlord emailed the resident to inform her it does not have a contractor to renew the window at this time but would raise a job once they do. The resident replied on 18 October 2021 and said it was unacceptable for the landlord to make her wait any longer for the window renewal.
At this point it should have been clear to the landlord that the resident remained dissatisfied following its stage one response and the complaint should have been escalated. However, it was not, and it was only following the resident contacting the leader’s office in October and December 2022 that the complaint was taken to stage two. This was unreasonable and resulted in a missed opportunity for the landlord to get the required works back on track.
The resident confirmed she wished for her complaint to be escalated on 5 December 2022 and the landlord acknowledged the complaint on 23 December 2022. In its acknowledgement the landlord said someone would be in touch with the resident after the Christmas break.
On 12 January 2023, the resident made further contact with the landlord as she had not heard from the complaints investigator. The landlord responded to the complaint on 9 February 2023 which is outside of its stated timescales for stage two. Overall, it took 17 months for the resident to complete the landlord’s internal complaints process.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damaged windows.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Orders and recommendations

The landlord should take the following action within 6 weeks and provide evidence of compliance with these orders to the Ombudsman:
1. Conduct a further inspection of the resident’s windows using an independent third party contractor to establish if the windows are beyond repair.
  1. If the windows are beyond repair the landlord should prioritise their renewal as a responsive repair.
  2. If the windows can be repaired, these works should undertaken as soon as possible.
2. A senior manager to apologise to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
3. Pay the resident the sum of £1000 this consists of:
  1. £900 for distress and inconvenience caused by the delay in undertaking works the windows.
  2. £100 for time and trouble caused by the landlord’s failure to escalate the resident’s complaint.