Lambeth Council (202302135)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202302135

Lambeth Council

30 September 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of:
1. No electricity in the kitchen since April 2022.
2. Multiple other repairs in the property.
The Ombudsman has also investigated the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

The resident holds a secure tenancy at the property, a 2 bedroom flat. The tenancy commenced in November 1998 and she lives at the property with her 2 children, aged 10 and 12 at the time of the complaint. The resident informed the landlord and this Service that she suffers with anxiety and depression.
The resident reported to the landlord that she had lost power in her kitchen in April 2022. The landlord attended and made the electrics safe on 15 August 2022. It noted the kitchen required rewiring. During this period, the resident also reported the following repairs within the property:
1. The window in the bathroom was broken.
2. The shower was not working.
3. The bathroom sink, kitchen sink and bath were blocked.
4. There was mould in both the bedrooms.
5. The bathroom flooring had been damaged by leaks.
6. The front door did not have a slow close mechanism and the handle was not secure.
7. The doorbell was not working.
8. The property did not have fire alarms or carbon monoxide detectors.
The resident was unhappy with the landlord’s handling of these repairs and complained to the landlord in August 2022. The landlord sent its stage 1 response on 16 December 2022. It apologised for the delay in issuing its response and said the repairs had all been completed with the exception of restoring the electrics to the kitchen. It said it wanted to book this work in for January 2023 but that the resident was out of the country. It apologised for any frustration, inconvenience and upset the situation had caused the resident.
The resident responded to the landlord in January 2023 and disagreed with the landlord’s findings. She outlined the repairs that were still outstanding. The resident sent this list to the landlord again on 1 March 2023 when she found out the staff member was no longer working within that team. She formally requested to escalate her complaint on 3 March 2023.
The landlord sent the stage 2 response to the resident on 5 April 2023. It said it had attended the property on 7 December 2023 to repair the electrics, however had not been able to gain access. It said the contractor would contact the resident directly to rebook this appointment. It said it had raised new repair orders for the window, shower and blocked drains and had added the request for fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors onto the electrical order. It said it had attempted to call her to discuss the repairs for the front door and the mould, but there had been no answer. It confirmed the doorbell was the resident’s own responsibility to repair. It said it appreciated the time it had taken to address the resident’s concerns.
The resident remained unhappy with the landlord’s response and referred the matter to this Service on 17 April 2023. In referring the matter the resident said she didn’t have the strength to continue chasing the repairs and now just wanted to be moved from the property.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

The resident informed the landlord and this Service that this situation had a detrimental impact on her health and wellbeing. The Ombudsman does not doubt the resident’s experience, but it is beyond the remit of this Service to determine whether there was a direct link between the landlord’s actions and the resident’s ill-health. She may wish to seek independent advice on making a personal injury claim if she considers that her health was affected by any action or failure by the landlord. While the Ombudsman cannot consider the effect on health, consideration has been given to any general distress and inconvenience which the resident experienced because of any service failure by the landlord.
In communication with this Service, the resident has mentioned additional repairs including issues with bed bugs and the phone line being cut in 2018. These issues were not raised as part of the formal complaint made in August 2022. The Ombudsman may only investigate complaints which have exhausted the landlord’s internal complaints procedure. For this reason these matters have not been assessed as part of this investigation. A recommendation has been made for the landlord to contact the resident regarding these issues to confirm if they remain outstanding and if the resident would like to open a complaint about the landlord’s handling of the matters.
Similarly, in referring the matter to this Service the resident has said she no longer wishes to pursue resolving the repairs and just wants to be moved. This request would need to be made directly to the landlord. This Service has not seen any evidence that this has been raised to the landlord, either as part of the complaint or afterwards. The resident has also been made aware that this Service does not have the authority to order a landlord to rehouse a resident. A recommendation has been made below for the landlord to contact the resident about her options for securing a move from the property. We encourage the resident to continue engaging in the repairs process in the meantime.

The resident’s reports of no electricity in the kitchen since April 2022.

The resident told the landlord she had no electricity in her property on 11 April 2022. In response to this report, the evidence shows the landlord:
1. Attended on 11 April 2022. The landlord does not have any notes following this attendance however the resident has informed this Service that the landlord was able to restore power to part of the property but not to the kitchen.
2. Attended again on 15 August 2022, after receiving the resident’s complaint on 8 August 2022, and made the electrics safe. The landlord’s repair records show the issue was identified as a category 1 hazard under the Housing Health and Rating System (HHSRS).
3. Said they attempted to attend on 7 December 2022 but did not gain access. There is no evidence of this and the attempt is not referenced in the stage 1 response dated 16 December 2022.
4. Said in its stage 1 response that the kitchen needed rewiring and it wanted to complete this work in January 2023.
5. Attended on 27 April 2023 and said a full electric test was required.
6. Referred the job to its contractor on 5 May 2023.
The resident has informed this Service that, as of the date of this report, she still does not have power to her kitchen. She said that she runs an extension lead to the kitchen to allow her to cook and the landlord has seen this during its visits to the property.
The landlord has a statutory duty under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to keep the installations for the supply of electricity in good repair. The landlord is responsible for ensuring the property is fit for human habitation and it is relevant to note that electrical hazards are listed as one of the 29 hazards under the HHSRS. This duty means it is required to repair any issues it is responsible for within a reasonable time.
The landlord’s repairs policy does not explicitly state a timescale by which it would aim to attend to a repair of this nature. However it is reasonable to conclude that it should have been attended under an emergency priority due to the potential safety implications as well as the significant inconvenience the situation would be causing the resident. In this case, the initial repair job on 11 April 2022 was raised as an emergency and this was appropriate. The landlord’s notes suggest that although power was restored to part of the property on 11 April 2022, it was not until 15 August 2022 that the kitchen electrics were made safe. Furthermore, there is no evidence of the landlord confirming what work was required to restore power to the kitchen until its stage 1 response on 16 December 2022. It is inappropriate that it took the landlord 4 months to make the electrics safe. It is also unreasonable that it took the landlord 8 months to outline the next steps for restoring power to the kitchen.
In both its complaint responses, the landlord failed to acknowledge or apologise for this initial delay. This was inappropriate as both its complaints policy and its compensation policy note that the landlord’s primary focus is to put situations right and learn from mistakes. Its compensation policy says it may make an offer of compensation where it has failed to deliver a service or there has been a delay in offering a service. The compensation policy suggests offers of £15 per week for issues having a major effect on the resident. Considering the resident had been running an extension cable to the kitchen to run her appliances and had been unable to enjoy the full use of the room for 4 months, it is reasonable to conclude the situation was having a major effect on the resident. This is a period of 18 weeks and therefore an offer of £270 would be proportionate to this failure and an order has been made below to reflect this.
It is unclear from the evidence what happened following the attendance in August 2022 as the repair records and call logs provided to this Service by the landlord are lacking in any detail about contact made to the resident about these repairs. For this reason this investigation has used the resident’s account as a basis for the assessment.
In its stage 1 response of 16 December 2022 the landlord said the kitchen needed rewiring and that it wanted to complete this work in January 2023. It said it was aware the resident was out of the country and so asked the resident to confirm a convenient time for the work to be completed.
On 9 March 2023 the resident informed the landlord that she had attempted to contact the landlord using the number provided in the stage 1 response on 6 occasions, in December 2022 and January 2023, but there was no answer. She also sent emails in January 2023, February 2023 and March 2023 reminding the landlord of the ongoing situation. It is unreasonable that the landlord failed to confirm an appointment to complete the rewiring after so many attempts from the resident to make contact. This was particularly poor service given the landlord had placed the onus on the resident to make contact to book the appointment in its stage 1 response.
The landlord’s compensation policy says it can make offers up to £250 for time and trouble incurred by residents as a result of having to pursue matters. It is inappropriate that the landlord failed to make any offer of compensation in recognition of the resident’s multiple attempts to get the situation resolved through the complaints process between August 2022 and April 2023. Therefore an order for £250 compensation has been made below. This is the maximum amount set out in the policy and is proportionate to the significant time and trouble incurred by the resident in pursuing this matter.
The landlord did not address these failures in its stage 2 response and said the contractor would contact the resident directly to rebook the appointment. It did not offer a timescale by which it would complete the work, an apology or a remedy to put things right. As above, an offer of additional compensation in line with its compensation policy for delays in offering a service that had a major effect on the resident would have been appropriate. As of the date of the stage 2 response, 5 April 2023, the resident had been without power in her kitchen for a further 33 weeks following the landlord’s attendance in August 2022 and so an additional £495 compensation would be proportionate to this failure. An order has been made below to reflect this.
Following the stage 2 response there is no evidence of the landlord making any attempts to complete the work. Its internal emails disclosed to this Service suggest the landlord had attempted to inspect the property on 3 occasions, but no dates or details of these inspections were provided. The resident contacted this Service on a number of occasions between April 2023 and January 2024 and said that she no longer had the strength to chase the repairs with the landlord and she felt the only solution was to move.
Although it remained the resident’s responsibility to continue to report repairs in a timely manner to the landlord, it is understandable that the resident may have felt disheartened and disengaged with the process after 12 months of chasing the landlord without achieving any results. It was unreasonable for the landlord to have placed any blame on the resident for not gaining access when it had not been able to demonstrate it followed any process for completing the works or evidence any access attempts at an earlier stage. It also failed to apply any appropriate level of urgency to the repair and this is a significant failure given the severity of the situation and the length of time the resident was impacted.
As well as failing to complete the repair through its usual repairs process, the landlord failed to achieve a suitable resolution through its complaint process. A further 17 months has passed and the repair has still not been completed. An additional offer of compensation is ordered for the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident as a result of the landlord’s failure to repair the electrics even after exhausting its complaint process. Using the calculation set out in the landlord’s own compensation policy again, this further delay of 76 weeks equates to an offer of an additional £1,140. This Service’s remedies guidance suggests offers over £1000 are proportionate where the landlord has repeatedly failed to provide a service which had a seriously detrimental impact on the resident. This is a proportionate sum to the detriment caused to the resident.
The landlord’s compensation policy says that the landlord should always consider if any practical action could provide all or part of a suitable remedy. It listed some examples of this as an apology, providing a service or reviewing information provided by the resident. This is in addition to any offers of financial redress made. It is unreasonable that the landlord failed to offer a sincere apology at any stage of its complaint process. It is a further failure that it was unable to offer the resident the solution she desired: for the electrics in her kitchen to be repaired in a timely manner. An order has been made below for a sincere apology and explanation for the failures identified in this report.
The resident has informed this Service that she remains without power in the kitchen. An order has been made below to urgently complete the work required to restore power to the kitchen. If the landlord is unable to meet this urgent timescale it must consider what alternative arrangements it can offer the resident. This may include an alternative power source or temporarily being moved from the property. This Service is aware that the resident no longer wishes to engage in the repairs process, however the landlord must demonstrate that it has taken all reasonable steps to resolve the issue for the resident.
In conclusion, the landlord failed to repair the electrics to the kitchen over an unreasonable length of time. The landlord also failed to make any attempts to put things right through its complaint process such as offering an apology or compensation. The landlord failed to show any understanding of the severity of the situation the resident was left in and did not apply an appropriate level of urgency to resolving the issue. For these reasons, this investigation has found severe maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of no electricity within the kitchen since April 2022. As outlined above, the landlord is ordered to pay the resident a total of £2,155 compensation (comprising £1,905 for the delays in repairing to date and £250 for the time and trouble incurred), arrange for urgent repair of the electrics and provide a sincere apology to the resident.

The resident’s reports of multiple other repairs in the property.

Upon receipt of the resident’s complaint, this Service asked the landlord to provide evidence relating to the complaint including repair records. The records provided by the landlord did not contain full information of each of the reported repairs which has made it difficult to draw conclusions based on the landlord’s actions. The lack of information has hampered this investigation. The landlord is reminded that under the terms of the Scheme it is required to provide evidence as requested by this Service within a reasonable time.
In her initial complaint on 8 August 2022, in addition to reporting the loss of electricity to her kitchen as assessed above, the resident told the landlord she had the following issues:
1. The shower was broken.
2. The toilet leaked.
3. The window in the bathroom was broken.
In the landlord’s stage 1 response of 16 December 2022, it said the issues had all been repaired although it did not include dates of when the work was completed. The resident attempted to call the landlord on 6 occasions in December 2022 and January 2023 and sent an email to the landlord in January 2023 explaining that the following repairs remained outstanding:
1. The window was broken.
2. The shower was broken.
3. The bathroom sink, kitchen sink and bath were blocked.
4. There was mould in both the bedrooms.
5. The bathroom flooring had been damaged by leaks.
6. The front door did not have a slow close mechanism and the handle was not secure.
7. The doorbell was not working.
8. The property did not have fire alarms or carbon monoxide detectors.
There is no evidence of the landlord replying until its stage 2 response of 5 April 2023.
In its stage 2 response it said it had raised new works orders for the window, shower, blocked sinks and bath, fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors. It did not confirm a timescale by which this work should be completed nor did it apologise for the delay in raising the orders, despite being aware of the issues since January 2023. This was unreasonable. There is no evidence of this work being completed within the landlord’s repair records but the resident has informed us of the following outcomes of each repair:
1. The window was fixed 3 times but the repair did not last. To date it blows open with the wind. There is no evidence of the resident reporting this back to the landlord after the stage 2 response.
2. The shower was fixed 3 times but the repairs did not last. It remains broken to date and the resident is unable to use the shower. She also noted the tiles now have several holes following the multiple repairs completed. There is no evidence of the resident reporting this back to the landlord after the stage 2 response.
3. The sink and bath blockages were fixed but the bathroom sink and bath continue to get blocked. There is no evidence of the resident reporting this back to the landlord after the stage 2 response.
4. Fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors were fitted in the property around November 2023.
The landlord is responsible for completing repairs within a reasonable time once it has been made aware of the repair issue. It is unreasonable that it took the landlord 4 months, from January 2023 to April 2023, to raise works order to complete this work. The landlord did not acknowledge this within its stage 2 response and this is a failure. It also failed to offer any remedy to put things right, such as an offer of compensation for the delay in raising the repairs.
The landlord’s compensation policy notes it will consider offering compensation when a service failure has occurred that had an adverse effect on the complainant. It is therefore inappropriate that the landlord failed to offer compensation considering its delayed response to the resident’s reports of these repairs. As outlined in the landlord’s compensation policy for delays in offering a service which had a moderate impact on the resident, an offer of £10 per week would be proportionate to this failure. This is based on the cumulative impact that these multiple repairs would have reasonably had on the resident. As the landlord has not provided details of when all the repairs were completed, the compensation has been calculated as follows:
1. £130 for the 13 week delay in raising the repairs after the resident reported them in January.
2. £100 for the additional distress and inconvenience caused by the delays in completing the work.
As outlined above, the resident has informed this Service that a number of the repairs remain outstanding. As there is no evidence of the resident reporting the ongoing issues to the landlord, this investigation has not been able to find any further failure with the landlord’s handling of the matter. A recommendation has been made for the landlord to contact the resident regarding the outstanding repairs and confirm an action plan to complete these within a reasonable timeframe.
In its stage 2 response, the landlord said it had tried to call the resident on 5 April 2023 to discuss the mould, the bathroom flooring and the issue with the front door. The contact records provided by the landlord did not show any attempts made to contact the resident about outstanding repairs. There is also no evidence of the landlord taking any further action if it could not reach the resident on its first attempt on 5 April 2023. It is unclear why the landlord needed to speak with the resident and it is unreasonable that it appeared to only make one attempt to do so. The evidence shows the mould was treated on 15 June 2023, however the resident has informed this Service that all these issues remain outstanding and the mould now affects the bedrooms, bathroom, toilet and living room.
The landlord’s repairs policy says it aims to complete non-urgent repairs within 30 days or 90 days if they are more complex. As with the repairs assessed above, it was inappropriate that the landlord failed to take action when the resident first reported the repairs to the landlord in January 2023. It is also unreasonable that, to date, the landlord has failed to complete lasting repairs despite being on notice of the issues since January 2023.
This investigation is particularly concerned with the landlord’s delayed action with regards to the reports of mould within the property. It is unreasonable that it took the landlord 6 months to treat the mould. It is also unreasonable that the landlord has failed to make any investigations into the cause of the mould with a view to preventing its return. Damp and mould growth are listed as hazards under the HHSRS and there is no evidence of the landlord considering or assessing the potential risk posed to the resident. This Service published its spotlight report on damp and mould in October 2021 and 1 of the recommendations encouraged landlord’s to satisfy themselves they were taking all reasonable steps to manage or resolve a situation if longer term or major improvement works were not feasible. There is no evidence of the landlord taking steps that could be deemed to have satisfied itself of this. It is reasonable to conclude that issues with mould growth would deteriorate over time and it is a failure that the landlord has failed to resolve or make reasonable attempts to resolve this situation within a reasonable timescale.
This situation was understandably distressing for the resident with 2 children living in the property. An order for an additional £100 compensation has been made below for the distress and inconvenience incurred by the resident as a result of the landlord’s failure to act in resolving the mould long term. This is in line with this Service’s remedies guidance for failures that the landlord has failed to acknowledge or offer proportionate redress.
The landlord did not have a damp and mould policy at the time of the complaint. However, as the landlord’s website now contains advice on dealing with damp and mould as well as its current Damp Charter outlining its approach to tackling damp and mould, no further orders have been made in this regard.
In its stage 2 response of 5 April 2024 the landlord confirmed the doorbell was the resident’s responsibility to repair. The resident accepted this outcome although was understandably frustrated that she had waited 4 months for this confirmation. This was particularly frustrating given both the landlord and resident had noted the broken doorbell was a cause of some of the access issues when trying to complete repairs. The landlord’s poor handling of the matter caused the resident unnecessary distress and inconvenience and therefore an additional order for £50 compensation has been made below.
In conclusion, the landlord took an unreasonable length of time to act on the resident’s reports of these repairs. It is positive that the landlord repaired the window, shower and blocked drains and installed fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors but these all took too long to complete. The landlord has not evidenced that it made all reasonable attempts to resolve the repairs once it was made aware of them. It is noted that the resident stopped engaging with the landlord after the stage 2 response therefore no further failings have been identified from this point. However due to the landlord’s overall poor handling of the matter and its failure to offer redress to put things right, this investigation has found maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the repairs. Orders have been made below for an apology and compensation of £380. This is in line with this Service’s remedies guidance for failures which had a significant detrimental impact on the resident.

The landlord’s complaint handling.

The resident sent her initial complaint to the landlord on 8 August 2022. The landlord responded at stage 1 on 16 December 2022. It apologised for the delay in responding to the complaint and said this was caused by a backlog of complaints. Although it is positive that the landlord apologised for the delay, it was unreasonable that it failed to offer any remedy to put right the failure. It is reasonable to conclude the delay of 4 months would have had a significant impact on the resident who was waiting for repairs to be completed. An order for £100 compensation has been made below in recognition of the distress and inconvenience incurred by the resident. This is in line with this Service’s remedies guidance which equates offers up to £100 where the landlord has acknowledged a failure but not offered a proportionate remedy.
The landlord’s complaint policy in place at the time of the complaint detailed timescales for responding to complaints outside of the timescales defined in the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code). It is noted this has since been updated therefore no further orders have been made in this regard.
The Ombudsman encourages landlords to use complaints as a source of intelligence to identify and implement service improvements. The landlord’s complaint responses are lacking in any acknowledgement of improvements needed or already made in response to the resident’s concerns. It is notable that despite making several attempts to contact the landlord and utilising the complaint process, the resident remained in a poor situation with a number of outstanding repairs. The landlord did not use its complaints process to find a lasting solution to the issue nor to identify how it could improve for the future and this is a significant failure.
In February 2022 the Ombudsman issued a special report about the landlord, highlighting concerns with its complaint handling. The report recommended the landlord review its complaint handling procedures to reduce the risk of similar failures in the future. We continued to identify problems with the landlord’s performance, reaching findings of maladministration and severe maladministration following investigations into 20 separate complaints from residents.
In June 2023 we told the landlord of our intention to carry out an inspection to find out the reasons for its ongoing failures in complaint handling. In December 2023 we issued a report setting out our findings with further recommendations for service improvement.
In this investigation we have identified failures similar to those that led to our special report in 2022 and subsequent inspection in 2023. We therefore order the landlord to consider the findings highlighted in this investigation against the recommendations in our inspection report of December 2023.
In conclusion, the landlord failed to respond to the complaint in a timely manner and failed to offer proportionate redress to its failings. It also failed to demonstrate that it had learned from the complaint. Therefore this investigation has found service failure in the landlord’s handling of the complaint and orders have been made below.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was severe maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of no electricity in the kitchen since May 2022.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of multiple other repairs in the property.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

Within 4 weeks, the landlord must:
1. Complete repairs to fully restore electricity to the kitchen. If it becomes apparent that the issue is more complex and will not be repaired within this timescale, the landlord must do all of the following:
  1. Confirm to the resident what the issue is and when it will be resolved.
  2. Offer appropriate alternative temporary solutions, such as providing temporary alternative accommodation until the issue is resolved or an alternative source of power if this can safely be used.
2. Provide a written sincere apology to the resident, from the Chief Executive, including:
  1. An explanation of the failures outlined in this report.
  2. Any improvements it has made since the events.
  3. Any further improvements it will be making as a result of this case.
3. Consider the findings highlighted in this investigation against the recommendations in our inspection report of December 2023 and provide a written summary of this case review to both the resident and this Service.
4. Pay the resident £2,635 comprising:
  1. £2,155 for the distress and inconvenience incurred by the resident as a result of the landlord’s failures in repairing the electrics to the kitchen.
  2. £380 for the distress and inconvenience incurred by the resident as a result of the landlord’s failures in handling multiple other repairs.
  3. £100 for the distress and inconvenience incurred by the resident as a result of the landlord’s failures in handling the complaint.

Recommendations

The landlord should contact the resident to confirm her options for rehousing and offer advice on the routes available to her.
The landlord should contact the resident regarding the reported outstanding repairs and either organise for them to be completed or confirm they have been completed. The resident is encouraged to engage with the landlord to complete these repairs. The repairs are as follows:
1. The window which the resident reports blows open in the wind.
2. The shower (and any surrounding damaged tiles)
3. The drains within the property.
4. The bathroom floor, damaged by leaks.
5. The front door handle and closing mechanism.
The landlord should contact the resident about her concerns raised with the handling of other repairs mentioned to this Service but not directly raised as a complaint, such as bed bugs. The landlord should confirm if the resident wishes to raise a complaint about the handling of these issues.