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Leeds City Council (202209319)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202209319

Leeds City Council

22 February 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 response to the resident’s reports regarding water leaking from a window and resulting damage at her property.

Background

  1. The resident is a tenant of the landlord of a house. The landlord has no vulnerabilities recorded for the resident’s household, but she reports that she is disabled and has severe anxiety, and that the events in her case had a negative impact on her mental health.
  2. After a previous water leak from the resident’s living room window and surrounding brickwork damaged her property’s plasterwork in 2020, the landlord repaired her pointing and plasterwork in 2020 and 2021. She subsequently contacted it again in February 2022 to report that her living room walls were damp from a leak in the same place as before. The resident then made a stage 1 complaint to the landlord as it had told her to wait until March 2022 for the leak to be repaired. She complained that water had covered her windowsill and had pooled on and damaged her floor, causing her anxiety. The resident therefore asked for the landlord to repair the leak as soon as possible and to pay to replace the damaged floor.
  3. The landlord’s subsequent stage 1 complaint response in February 2022 agreed that it would attend the resident’s property urgently and arrange further appointments for any repairs it identified. However, it declined to pay for damage to her floor from the leak at the property, as it explained that it was unable to cover this, and so she should make a claim for the damage on her home contents insurance. The landlord explained that alternatively the resident could complete its claim form to submit a claim for the damaged floor to it, if she felt that it had been negligent about this. It then sealed her living room window’s external edges and brickwork in February 2022 and arranged a brickwork inspection at her property in March 2022.
  4. The landlord’s above inspection identified pointing repairs at the resident’s property that it completed in April 2022. Its subsequent inspection of her living room window and wall in May 2022 raised stain block, sealing, and filling works around the window and on the wall that it re-attended the property for in June 2022. The landlord also raised a water test for the resident’s window and surrounding brickwork for July 2022 that it had to rearrange due to staff absence. She then made a final stage complaint to it in August 2022, as she explained that she was still experiencing the same issues before without a resolution, which had negatively impacted her anxiety and mental health.
  5. The landlord subsequently cancelled its rearranged water test appointment at the resident’s property in September 2022 to attend another emergency repair elsewhere instead. She therefore informed the Ombudsman in September 2022 that the above appointment had been cancelled and that she had not received a final stage complaint response yet. The landlord then responded to the resident’s final stage complaint in October 2022 by apologising for its late response. It described the above events in her case and explained that it had rearranged her water test to October 2022, which would fit a cavity tray to the wall to protect against future leaks. The landlord also referred to the leak as not occurring again since February 2022, but only in both high wind and rain.
  6. The landlord therefore considered that the resident’s property was still in good condition and had not worsened, referring her to its contractor for the lack of updates she reported from it. It described the leak as unresolved due to being unusual and needing investigation, including via its water test, which it would take action to resolve if the leak occurred again. However, the landlord apologised for its repair delays, and for its water test not being before the decorating the resident had booked in September 2022, as she had requested. It also accepted that this and its cancelled appointments had caused frustration and inconvenience and so, although it repeated its stage 1 response’s position that she had to claim for damaged flooring, it awarded her £100 compensation.
  7. The landlord was unable to access the resident’s property for its rearranged water test and cavity tray installation in October 2022, which instead occurred in November 2022. The water test found only stained plasterwork and no more leaks, but it apologised that it had only previously carried out stain blocking and not the other repairs for the leak that it had raised earlier, which it therefore completed in November 2022. The resident nevertheless told the landlord in February 2023 that the leak had occurred again in November 2022, and that this had continued sporadically in high wind and rain. It therefore raised another water test and plasterwork check at her property in March 2023, which found no outstanding repairs, but it resealed the top of the window to prevent more leaks.
  8. However, the resident was dissatisfied that the landlord did not replace her living room window or take further action for the leak, and so she began but did not continue a disrepair claim against it for this via her solicitors. She also complained to the Ombudsman that the leak occurred again every year, had therefore not been resolved, and that she had subsequently not been responded to about this. The resident added that there was another leak in August 2023 that was not addressed by the landlord, and so she asked for an apology from it and for repairs to permanently resolve the leak. It then told the Ombudsman that it had received no further reports about leaks or any claims for damages from her.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident has explained that her living room window has leaked since at least 2020, that this damaged her floor, and that she is dissatisfied with the conduct of the landlord’s staff who handled this. She has also described these issues as having caused her anxiety and negatively impacting her mental health, which is very concerning. This investigation will nevertheless only consider the events in the resident’s case from 2022 onwards and will not investigate damage to her floor or health or the conduct of the landlord’s staff, in accordance with the Scheme.
  2. The Scheme states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints made prior to exhausting the landlord’s complaints procedure. The Scheme also states that we may not consider complaints that were not brought to the landlord’s attention as a formal complaint within a reasonable of normally within 6 months of the matters arising. The Scheme additionally states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints where the resident is seeking an outcome that is not within our authority to provide.
  3. Therefore, this investigation cannot consider the events in the resident’s case from prior to 2022 because these did not arise within 6 months of her formal complaint to the landlord in February 2022. The resident’s reports of damage to her floor and health will also not be investigated because determining liability and awarding damages for these issues in the way that a court or insurer might is an outcome that is not within the Ombudsman’s authority to provide. There is additionally no evidence that a complaint from her about the conduct of the landlord’s staff has exhausted its complaints procedure yet, and so this cannot be considered by this investigation either.

Water leak and damage

  1. The landlord’s tenancy agreement booklet obliges it to repair and maintain the resident’s property’s structure and exterior, and to make good internal decorations affected during a repair. Its tenant and repairs and maintenance handbooks require it to respond to priority repairs including leaks within 7 working days, general repairs including small external repairs within 20 working days, or non-urgent repairs or those needing an inspection within 60 working days. The landlord is responsible under its handbooks for items such as walls, windows, and plasterwork.
  2. The landlord responded to the resident’s report of 18 February 2022 that her living room walls were damp from the leaking window and surroundings at her property by sealing the window’s edges and brickwork on 24 February 2022. It therefore did so within an appropriate timescale because it responded to this repair within its tenant and repairs and maintenance handbooks’ 7-working-day timescale to respond to such priority leaks. The landlord later explained to the resident that the leak that occurred only in high wind and rain was unusual and required further investigation via inspections and, subsequently, water tests.
  3. It was therefore reasonable that the landlord arranged a brickwork inspection at the resident’s property on 30 March 2022, pointing repairs on 14 April 2022, and a living room and wall inspection on 5 May 2022. This is because these inspections and repairs were within the tenant and repairs and maintenance handbooks’ 60-working-day timescale for non-urgent repairs needing an inspection. As there is no evidence that the repairs for the leak at the resident’s property were urgent during this period, as there were no more reports of leaks at that time, it was appropriate for the landlord to respond to these as non-urgent. This is particularly because of its above explanation that further investigation was needed to try and resolve the unusual leak.
  4. However, it is of concern that the landlord then took until 1 and 30 June 2022 to attend the resident’s property for the repairs raised in its above inspection in May 2022. This is due to these attendances being 70 and 89 working days after her initial report of the leak in February 2022, respectively, contrary to its tenant and repairs and maintenance handbooks’ 60-working-day non-urgent repair timescale. It would have been understandable if the landlord had to take longer than this timescale to carry out the above works because they needed further investigation. There is nevertheless no evidence that these repairs required more investigation because they were raised during its May 2022 inspection, and there were no further inspections before it attended in June 2022.
  5. It is also concerning that the landlord later apologised to the resident that, of the stain block, sealing, and filling works around her living room window and wall it raised in May 2022, it only completed the stain blocking in June 2022. It instead took until 23 November 2022 to carry out the above sealing and filling works, which were therefore done within an inappropriately excessive timescale of 191 working days after her initial leak report in February 2022. This was far longer than the tenant and repairs and maintenance handbooks’ 60-working-day non-urgent repair timescale. Additionally, it was unreasonable that the landlord did provide an explanation for this delay, either at the time or subsequently.
  6. Moreover, it is of concern that the landlord twice cancelled the water test and cavity tray installation appointments it made with the resident on 21 July and 27 September 2022. This is because, while it may have had good reasons for this due to staff absence and an emergency repair elsewhere, respectively, these cancellations occurred at short notice and without her agreement, which was inappropriate. Although it is noted that the landlord was then not responsible for the next missed water test and cavity tray installation appointment on 14 October 2022, as it could not access the resident’s property at that time. It was therefore not at fault for instead rearranging the appointment to 1 November 2022, and for carrying out the water test and cavity installation on that date.
  7. It was also reasonable that the landlord responded to the resident’s next report of a leak at her property on 8 February 2023 by inspecting the property on 15 February 2023. This is because it did so within its tenant and repairs and maintenance handbooks’ 7-working-day priority repair timescale. As the leak again needed further investigation, as the landlord’s February 2023 inspection found no external issues at the resident’s property, it was appropriate that it subsequently completed a water test, a plasterwork check, and resealed the top of the window on 29 March 2023. This is due to it doing so within 60 working days of her February 2023 leak report, in line with the handbooks’ non-urgent repair timescale for such works needing an inspection.
  8. While it is concerning that the resident then informed the Ombudsman that there was another leak from her living room window on 4 August 2023, the landlord was not obliged to respond to this at that time. This is because this latest leak was not reported to it, and so it was not made aware that it was needed to attend this. The landlord had also previously taken reasonable steps to comply with the obligations on it from the tenancy agreement booklet and tenant and repairs and maintenance handbooks with its above repairs. This is due to its works to the resident’s window, surroundings, brickwork, wall, and plasterwork. These repairs were in line with the booklet and handbooks, which required the landlord to repair and maintain her property’s structure, exterior, internal decorations affected by its repairs, walls, windows, and plasterwork.
  9. It was nevertheless appropriate that the landlord’s final stage complaint apologised to the resident for its repair delays and cancelled appointments, and for her resulting frustration and inconvenience. This is because, as outlined above, it was responsible for delaying her stain blocking works by 29 working days later than its published timescale from her initial leak report in February 2022 until its repairs in June 2022. The landlord was also responsible for delaying the resident’s sealing and filling works by 131 working days later than its published timescale from the initial leak report until its repairs in November 2022, as well as for cancelling her appointments in July and September 2022.
  10. It was therefore also reasonable that the landlord’s final stage complaint response exercised its discretion under its goodwill, time and trouble, request for compensation guidance to compensate the resident for the above issues. However, the £100 that it offered her was only in line with its guidance’s recommendation to recognise moderate inconvenience or upset. This did not accord with the landlord’s guidance’s or the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance’s recommendation of compensation of over £100 for adverse effect over the above sustained period. Nor was its award proportionate to recognise the resulting distress and inconvenience that the resident reported experiencing as a consequence of its above handling of the leak and resulting damage.
  11. The landlord has therefore been ordered below to pay the resident the £100 compensation that it previously offered her, if she has not received this already, together with another £100 additional compensation. This is in recognition of the distress and inconvenience that she would have experienced from the further failures identified by this investigation, which it has also been ordered to write to her to apologise for. This has taken into account the fact that there was no evidence of further leaks between February and November 2022 and February and August 2023.
  12. The landlord has additionally been ordered to contact the resident to arrange for it to re-inspect her property to determine and resolve the cause of the leak via operatives who have not been involved in her case to date. This is in light of her outstanding concerns about the leak and the conduct of its staff. The landlord has been recommended below to review its staff’s and contractors’ training needs to ensure that non-urgent repairs needing inspections are completed within its published timescale in every case, and that any cancelled appointments are rearranged in advance with its residents’ agreement.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its response to the resident’s reports regarding water leaking from a window and resulting damage at her property.

Orders and recommendation

Orders

  1. The landlord is ordered to:
    1. Pay the resident compensation totalling £200 within 4 weeks, which is broken down into:
      1. £100 compensation that it previously offered her, if she has not received this already.
      2. £100 additional compensation in recognition of the distress and inconvenience that she would have experienced from the further failures identified by this investigation.
    2. Write to the resident within 4 weeks to acknowledge and apologise to her for the further failures in its handling of her leak and damage reports identified by this investigation.
    3. Contact the resident within 4 weeks to arrange for it to re-inspect her property to determine and resolve the cause of the leak via operatives who have not been involved in her case to date.
  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 and contractors’ training needs to ensure that non-urgent repairs needing inspections are completed within its published timescale in every case, and that any cancelled appointments are rearranged in advance with its residents’ agreement.