Leicester City Council (202010537)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202010537

Leicester City Council

4 January 2022

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 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 the resident’s request for repairs to her toilet, and to her living room and bedroom doors.

Background and summary of events

2. The resident is a tenant of the landlord.
3. On 21 October 2020, the resident emailed the landlord to raise concerns about several issues in the property after moving in, including that there was no opening window or air vent in the toilet, and there was a bad smell.
4. On 22 October 2020, the landlord’s records confirm that it was satisfied that the property had met the letting standard. It had found no evidence of a smell from the toilet during its inspection. It confirmed that there was insufficient room to install a fan or air vent in the toilet, and although it did have a window, it was too small to be an opening window.
5. The landlord’s records confirm that a repair was raised on 13 November 2020 to investigate a sewage smell reported by the resident. This repair was completed on the landlord’s system the following day.
6. On 18 November 2020, the resident submitted her stage one complaint to the landlord. She was unhappy that she had to keep chasing the landlord for a response to the issues she had been raising since 19 October 2020. Following this, on 25 November 2020, the resident also said she wanted to complain about the handling of repairs required to the internal doors in the property.
7. The landlord’s records confirm that a repair was raised on 25 November 2020 to clear a possible stack or drainage blockage. This repair was completed on the landlord’s system the following day.
8. On 2 December 2020, the landlord issued its stage one complaint response to the resident, which is summarised as follows:
   1. It had sent several teams to the building in relation to blockages and smells, which was “likely a block wide issue”. It recognised that although the resident wanted an urgent resolution, it would need time to investigate and consider any appropriate solutions to address this issue.
   2. It explained that the bedroom and living room door were not closing properly because one of the doors was now catching on the threshold strip, and the other door was not closing properly due to the stress placed on its hinges, following the carpet fitting. It offered the resident advice on how to resolve the issue and explained that it was not responsible for adjusting internal doors following carpet fitting.
9. On 6 January 2021, the resident submitted her final stage complaint to the landlord. She explained that no one had contacted her about the investigation into the sewage smell and she believed this to be affecting her health. She said she had arranged for a private carpenter to look at the internal doors who had suggested that they were in a poor condition.
10. The landlord’s records confirm that a repair was raised on 7 January 2021 to clear a possible stack or drainage blockage. This repair was completed on the landlord’s system the following day.
11. The landlord says that it visited the resident on 12 January 2021 to inspect the doors and concluded that they had become damaged since the tenancy sign-up and as a result of the new carpets and work carried out by the resident’s carpenter. The landlord also says that it visited the property again on 15 January 2021 to investigate the reports about the smell. During this visit, it did not identify any smell. It also visited both the upstairs and downstairs neighbour to try to understand the issue better; one did not answer, and the other mentioned a smell in the communal area, but not in their property. 
12. On 28 January 2021, the landlord issued its final stage complaint response to the resident, which is summarised as follows:
    1. Until it was able to evidence the smell in the property, it was difficult to identify any cause. However, it would raise a job to re-check the soil and waste pipework behind the panelling in the toilet, and it would check the system that links the three flats in question to determine if there may be an issue there.
    2. In respect to the resident’s internal doors, it recognised that she had disagreed with its assessment regarding them. However, it explained that as its operative was qualified in this area, it would be unable to dispute their position. Therefore, it would not be carrying out further work to the internal doors in the property.
13. On 3 March 2021, the landlord confirmed to this Service that it had completed its complaints procedure. It recognised that it had not concluded its investigations into the cause of the reported smells, however, it could not keep complaints open until the coronavirus restrictions had eased as this date was not known. It confirmed that it would maintain contact with the resident where it was considered necessary to do so.
14. The resident subsequently contacted this Service as she was unhappy with the landlord’s response to her reports of sewage smells in her property. She was also unhappy that she still had difficulty opening and closing her living room and bedroom doors. To resolve her complaint, she wanted the landlord to confirm the source of the smells she had reported and for her living room and bedroom doors to be replaced.
15. The landlord says that it installed a trickle vent in the window to the toilet during June 2021. It also says that a technical officer subsequently attended during October 2021 but did not identify any smells and carried out a thorough inspection of the pipework. Although no issues were identified, they agreed to replace the pipework to the rear of the toilet in case there were micro-gaps they could not see.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

16. It is noted that the resident has raised concerns over her health and wellbeing as a result of her reports of sewage smells in her property. The Ombudsman does not doubt the resident’s comments regarding her health, but this Service is unable to draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. This is because we do not have the authority or expertise to do so in the way that a court or insurer might. However, we have considered the general distress and inconvenience which the situation has caused her.
17. The resident has also raised concerns about overcrowding in her property and her request to move. However, no evidence has been provided to show that the landlord has considered this matter through its complaints procedure. If the resident wishes to pursue this matter further then she will need to raise a formal complaint with the landlord in the first instance. The resident should also note that complaints about the handling of housing applications by a local authority are generally dealt with by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman rather than this Service.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for repairs to her toilet and internal doors

18. Under the conditions of tenancy, the landlord is responsible for repairing the structure and exterior of the property including drains and external pipes, and for repairing the installations in the property including the internal water pipes and the toilet. This repairing obligation does not extend to repairing or replacing the internal doors in the property, and the conditions of tenancy confirm that the resident is responsible for repairing or replacing broken internal doors.
19. Initially the resident raised concerns that there was no opening window or air vent to the toilet and there was a bad smell. It is unclear if the landlord visited in response to this initial report, but it is evident it checked its records from when the property was empty and confirmed that an air vent or opening window could not be installed and there were no bad smells at this time. This was reasonable in the circumstances as it was not clear that the resident was reporting a potential repair. The landlord has not, however, provided any evidence that it updated the resident at the time.
20. The matter was subsequently logged in the repair records on 13 November 2020 and recorded as complete the following day. The landlord has not provided a contemporaneous record confirming the action taken in response to the report which suggests poor record keeping. However, it told the resident in its subsequent stage one response of 2 December 2020 that it had attended on a number of occasions and identified that the smell was likely to be a block-wide issue. This required further investigation which may take “some time” to address.
21. The landlord has not provided any evidence of any further investigation into the matter following this until 7 January 2021, when it raised a further repair in relation to this matter. The landlord has not provided a contemporaneous record of the inspection that it says subsequently took place on 15 January. However, it confirmed in its subsequent complaint response that the matter would be investigated further by inspecting the pipework in the property and checking the pipework connecting the property with the neighbouring properties.
22. There is no evidence that the landlord took any further action to investigate the matter at this time. Coronavirus–related restrictions did not prevent the landlord from carrying out inspections or repairs at this time providing that the government’s working safely guidance was followed, and in any case the landlord did not explain in its complaint responses that any delay would be due to this. It is noted that the landlord says that it has more recently installed a trickle vent to the window and raised an order to replace the pipework to the toilet. However, it has not been able to evidence that it took adequate and timely action to resolve the matter having identified that the smell was likely to be a block-wide issue, or kept the resident adequately updated in the matter.
23. In respect to the resident’s reports about her living room and bedroom doors not closing properly, it is evident that the landlord has inspected the doors and confirmed why it does not believe it is responsible for repairing them. Its decision not to repair or replace the doors was reasonable given that its officer concluded that the issue had arisen due to the resident laying carpet, and the conditions of tenancy confirm that internal door repairs would usually be the responsibility of the resident.
24. Although this Service has been able to determine this case using the information that was available, it is of concern that the landlord has failed to provide comprehensive repair records, particularly those relating to inspection findings and repair appointments. It is vital that landlords keep clear, accurate and easily accessible records to provide an audit trail of actions it has taken as part of its housing management duties. It is therefore recommended that the landlord reviews its record keeping processes, ensuring that there is a clear audit trail for repairs.

Determination (decision)

25. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in respect of its handling of the resident’s request for repairs.

Reasons

26. The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports about the internal doors was reasonable given the findings of its officer and its repairing responsibilities. However, it has not been able to evidence that it took adequate and timely action to resolve the reports about the toilet having identified that the smell was likely to be a block-wide issue, or that it kept the resident adequately updated in the matter.

Orders and recommendations

27. The landlord is ordered to:
    1. Pay the resident £75 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of her reports about the toilet.
    2. Write to the resident to provide an update of the investigations it has carried out to address the smells in her property and in the communal areas, and the timescales for any future work it has scheduled in respect to these issues.
28. It is recommended that the landlord reviews its record keeping processes for repairs including the findings of inspections and the outcome for repair appointments, to ensure that there is a clear audit trail for these.
29. The landlord shall contact this Service within four weeks of this determination to confirm that it has complied with the above orders and whether it will follow the above recommendation.