Hyde Housing Association Limited (202204816)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202204816

Hyde Housing Association Limited

4 September 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

1. The complaint is about:
   1. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of damp and mould following a leak, and her subsequent request for compensation.
   2. The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord who resides in a one-bedroom, sheltered housing, flat. The building is a small block of flats.
3. The resident reported a leak in her bathroom on 27 September 2021 that she said was causing damp and mould growth in her bedroom. The resident said that this had damaged her personal possessions and her walk-in wardrobe. She said she made a further report of the leak on 10 December 2021 and that this was beginning to have an impact on her asthma. The landlord attended on 20 December 2021, but was unable to gain access to the property. It is not known if the resident reported any further leaks to the property.
4. It is not known when the resident first raised a complaint as no record has been provided. However, the landlord said this was recorded and a stage one complaint acknowledgement issued on 28 March 2022. It explained it would only consider events six months prior to her complaint and agreed that her complaint consisted of the following concerns:
   1. Water ingress into her wardrobe, damaging her personal belongings and that the landlord had taken no action to resolve this.
   2. The landlord previously attended to complete a repair under her bathroom sink, but this had returned several months later, damaging her clothing once more.
   3. She said she had raised the issue on multiple occasions but felt the landlord was resistant to log her complaint.
   4. She said that the flat above her was previously flooded, and at the time no one came to check her property (no dates or evidence of this has been provided).
5. The landlord contacted the resident on 8 April 2022 regarding the leak, saying it would respond to her complaint within 10 working days. It contacted her on 19 April 2022 delaying its complaint response, giving a new deadline of 3 May 2022.
6. The landlord’s operatives attended the property on 18 May 2022, uplifted the carpet in the bedroom to help dry out the property, but was unable to trace the source of the leak.
7. The landlord issued its stage one complaint response on 19 May 2022. It upheld the resident’s complaint, agreeing that it did not attend to the repairs in a timely manner. It offered £250 compensation for the distress, inconvenience and delays in the repairs, stating its operatives would attend on 21 May 2022 to replace the floorboards. It specified that it would not cover for damaged or loss of personal possessions. No record has been provided with regards to the appointment planned for 21 May 2022.
8. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 27 May 2022 as she remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s offer of compensation, the smell of damp within her property and that the repairs remained outstanding. She contacted her local councillor on 6 June 2022, providing updates on 29 and 30 July 2022, before bringing her complaint to the attention of this service on 1 August 2022. She attributed the development of her asthma to the landlord’s inaction with regards to the damp and mould within her property.
9. The landlord issued its stage 2 response following a request from this service on 25 January 2023. It stated that all repairs to the property were now completed and upholding its prior response. It added that its contractors were not suitably prepared to complete the repairs when previously attending the property, and apologised for the delays in issuing its stage 2 response. It included dates of its operative’s attendance and offered an increased compensation of £500, broken down as follows:
   1. £200 for resident’s “patience” throughout the complaints process.
   2. £150 for delays in completing repairs.
   3. £150 for distress and inconvenience.
10. The resident referred her complaint to this service for investigation as she remained dissatisfied with the level of compensation offered, and the time taken for the landlord to complete her repairs. She raised concerns that the landlord did not consider the loss of her personal possessions in its responses.
11. The landlord contacted the resident on 26 June 2023 following a review of its stage 2 decision. It acknowledged that it had delayed in addressing the resident’s concerns and that it failed to address the delays in the issuing of its stage 2 response. It added that it should have been more accountable and more sympathetic towards the resident’s situation. It increased its offer of compensation to £950 broken down as follows:
    1. £300 for delays in completing the repairs.
    2. £300 for distress and inconvenience caused.
    3. £300 for complaint handling failings.
    4. £50 for “customer effort”.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

12. The resident attributed the landlord’s delayed removal of damp and mould within the property to a deterioration in her asthma, as well as her physical health and well-being. However, this service is unable to determine causation, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. The resident may be able to make a personal injury claim against the landlord if she considers that her health has been affected by its actions. This is a legal process, and the resident should seek independent legal advice should she wish to pursue this option. However, any distress or inconvenience that this matter caused the resident has been taken into consideration.
13. In her communications to both the landlord and this service the resident reported that she experienced a leak on 3 August 2020 from her bathroom. The resident did not report another leak until 27 September 2021, some 13 months later. Whilst the historical incident provides contextual background to the current complaint, as there is no evidence that the report of 3 August 2020 is related to this complaint nor is there any evidence that the report made in August 2020 formed part of a separate complaint made to the landlord that exhausted the landlord’s internal complaints procedure, this report will focus on events from 27 September 2021.

Policies and procedures

14. In accordance with the resident’s tenancy agreement the landlord is responsible to keep in good working order and repair the structure of the property including floorboards. It advises residents to ensure they have their own contents insurance, as it is not responsible for personal possessions.
15. The landlord’s responsive repairs policy stipulates that it is responsible to repair any water leaks, floorboards or nonslip flooring within the property. It lists a repair timeframe of 20 working days, and states that this is for any repair that does not fit an emergency repair status.
16. In accordance with the landlord’s damp and mould procedure, it is required to attend to reports of damp and mould by attending the property and conducting a visual inspection and take photographs. Following this an action and treatment plan is to be issued and works to treat the damp and mould is to begin as soon as possible. Any underlying causes, such as leaks, are to be treated under its responsive repairs policy.
17. The landlord has a 2 stage complaints policy. It is required to respond to formal complaints by acknowledging them within 2 working days and issuing a response within 10 working days of receiving the complaint. When a complaint is escalated, it is to issue a response within 20 working days.

Landlord’s handling to the resident’s reports of damp and mould following a leak and her subsequent request for compensation.

18. In this case the evidence is suggestive that the leak experienced by the resident was intermittent in nature. Although the Ombudsman does not doubt that this can be damaging if left unattended, repairs of this nature would not warrant an emergency response from the landlord. Furthermore, leaks of this nature can be difficult to trace and identify and may take longer to resolve.
19. The landlord was required to attend to the resident’s reports of a leak and damp and mould on 27 September 2021, by attending the property and completing a thorough inspection of the affected area. It was to provide the resident with an action plan of works to treat and ultimately resolve the underlying cause of the damp and mould and complete the repairs within 20 working days, as per its obligations within its responsive repairs and damp and mould policies.
20. However, the landlord has not evidenced what actions it took, if any, to respond to the resident’s concerns regarding the leak, nor the reported damp and mould in her property, until it operative’s attendance on 18 May 2022, some 8 months later. This was an unreasonably long and unexplained delay in its response. The landlord said in its stage 2 response that all repairs were completed on 25 January 2023 (though a record of this has not been provided), which again represented an unreasonably long delay of some 16 months. The landlord has not provided any explanation or reason for the delays nor is there any evidence of it communicating these to the resident.
21. The landlord’s inaction and lack of communication with the resident resulted in her having to chase for a resolution, on multiple occasions, between 27 September 2021 and 25 January 2023. It also led her to having to seek assistance from her local councillor on 6 June 2022 and from this service on 27 May 2022, in order to ensure she was provided with the landlord’s stage 2 complaint response. This caused unnecessary distress and inconvenience for the resident, as well as a lack of faith in the landlord to affect the repairs and resolve the issue in a timely manner.
22. Furthermore, according to its stage 2 response, the landlord did not attend to complete a damp and mould wash until 12 December 2022, 14 months after this was first reported. In line with this service’s spotlight report on damp and mould (October 2021): “landlords should ensure they have strategies in place to manage these types of cases with an emphasis on ensuring that the resident is kept informed, feels that the landlord is taking the issue seriously and that the matter is progressing”. The landlord has a statutory obligation, under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, as well as the resident’s tenancy agreement, to keep the structure and exterior of the property in good repair. Left unchecked, damp and mould growth are a potential hazard, to both the structure of the property and the health of residents within.
23. Despite these obligations, the landlord has failed to evidence what actions it took, if any, to keep the resident updated on the progress of its works, nor did it evidence how it fulfilled its contractual obligations under its damp and mould policy to promptly attend the property and conduct a thorough investigation within a reasonable timeframe.As such, the landlord’s inactions, and delayed attendance to treat the damp and mould is of noticeable concern,especially given the resident’s communications over her health and wellbeing due to the prolonged exposure of mould within the property.
24. When failings are identified, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord has put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily. This is in accordance with this Service’s Dispute Resolution Principles; be fair, put things right, and learn from the outcomes.
25. In this case the landlord looked to put things right by ultimately completing the repairs, conducting a damp and mould wash to the property, as well as identifying its failings and offering compensation to the resident through its complaint’s procedure. It even showed some learning from the outcome of the resident’s complaint by stating it will look to take on additional resources and staff in order to meet its desired service levels. However, when taking account the lengthy delays in its attendance and completion of the repairs to the resident’s property, as well as the time and trouble the resident spent pursuing her complaint, including the distress and inconvenience caused in the process, its offer of £300 was not proportionate to the level of its failure.
26. Whilst the landlord increased its offer to £650 on 26 June 2023, which was a reasonable and proportionate remedy to the above identified failings, the offer was not made until 5 months after its final complaint response. It was unreasonable that it did not fully recognise the appropriate level of redress to address its failings until significantly after the conclusion of the complaint process. Therefore, this amounts to service failure and it will be ordered to pay the £650 it offered to the resident.
27. The landlord has also been ordered to conduct a case review to determine why its failings in this case occurred, and what actions it will do to prevent these from happening again.
28. It is also furtherordered to conduct staff training in respect of its record keeping. This is to ensure that, moving forward, all future repairs, attendance or on site visits to properties, are recorded in a timely and appropriate manner to prevent the record keeping issues in this case from reoccurring.
29. This service expects the landlord to keep a robust record of contacts and repairs, yet the evidence has not been comprehensive in this case. It is vital that landlords keep clear, accurate and easily accessible records to provide an audit trail. Where we investigate a complaint, we will ask for a copy of the landlord’s records. The lack of sufficient evidence, can impede this service’s ability to determine whether the landlord acted appropriately.

Landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

30. In accordance with its complaints policy, the landlord was required to respond to the resident’s stage one complaint within 10 working days. No record has been provided to this service as to when the resident first raised her complaint to the landlord and as such this service has had to rely on contemporaneous evidence to investigate and reach and impartial and fair decision. Although it is noted that the landlord requested an extension to its response on 19 April 2022, in light of the lack of evidence, this service is unable to determine whether the landlord fulfilled its stipulated timescales in its stage one response.
31. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 27 May 2022. In accordance with its complaints policy, the landlord was obliged to respond within 20 working days, but according to the records provided, it did not respond until 25 January 2023, 8 months later. Furthermore, the landlord has not evidenced that it sought to communicate or provide an explanation for these delays to the resident. This resulted in the resident having to chase her complaint on multiple occasion. However, despite this, the landlord did not issue its stage 2 response until receiving requests to do so by both the resident’s local councillor and this service.
32. When failings are identified, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord has put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily. This is in accordance with this Service’s Dispute Resolution Principles; be fair, put things right, and learn from the outcomes.
33. In this case the landlord looked to put matters right by apologising to the resident, acknowledging that it failed to meet its service standards and by offering £200. The offer made by the landlord was not proportionate to the level of its failure.
34. As with the compensation offered by the landlord for its failings with regards to the repairs reported by the resident, whilst the landlord’s increased offer of £300 on 26 June 2023, was a reasonable and proportionate remedy for its complaint handling failures, it was unreasonable that it did not fully recognise the appropriate level of redress to address those failings until significantly after the conclusion of the complaint process. This amounts to service failure and it will be ordered to pay the £300 it offered to the resident.
35. In addition, the landlord is also ordered to conduct staff training to ensure that, moving forward, all complaints are responded to within its policy stipulated timescales and where a delay in its response is inevitable to ensure that this is communicated with residents at the earliest opportunity.

Determination

36. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in respect of the landlord’s handling to the resident’s reports of damp and mould following a leak and her subsequent request for compensation.
37. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the housing ombudsman scheme, there was service failure in respect of the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Orders

38. That within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Pay the resident the £950 offered in its revised offer on 26 June 2023. This is broken down as follows:
       1. £300 for its repair delays.
       2. £300 for the distress and inconvenience caused.
       3. £50 for customer effort.
       4. £300 for its complaint handling failings.
    2. To carry out staff training in respect of its record keeping. This is to ensure that, moving forward, all visits, works, repairs or other attendance is recorded and kept up to date.
    3. Confirm that it has complied with the above orders.