London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202127907)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202127907

London & Quadrant Housing Trust

13 April 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 bathroom and kitchen repairs in the property.
   2. The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Background

2. The resident is a tenant of the landlord and commenced his tenancy on 7 June 2021. On 1 July 2021 he told the landlord that he was unhappy with the condition of the bathroom and kitchen as various repairs were needed to both.
3. A number of appointments were arranged to address the repairs following this, but they had not been completed by the time the resident raised a formal complaint on 22 December 2021. In his complaint the resident said he was unhappy that an appointment made for 16 December 2021 was unsuccessful as it was attended by only one of the two operatives required. He was also unhappy that repair appointments were offered too far ahead and said the repairs had taken too long to be addressed.
4. Various appointments were subsequently arranged but the repairs remained incomplete by the time the landlord issued its final stage complaint response on 24 May 2022. In its response, the landlord:
   1. Apologised for the missed appointments and the difficulty the resident experienced in scheduling appointments at convenient times.
   2. Confirmed that the bath needed to be removed and re-fixed, and the rotten subfloor replaced. The previous appointment for these works did not go to plan due to contractor illness. It had arranged an appointment for 25 May 2021 to complete the works.
   3. Confirmed that the works to replace the kitchen sink and remove the shower screen had been arranged for 25 July 2021.
   4. Offered the resident £520 compensation comprised of: £100 for missed appointments; £320 for inconvenience; and £100 for time and trouble.
5. The resident informed the Ombudsman on 15 August 2022 that he remained dissatisfied with: the repairs not being completed; the landlord’s communication; and the difficulty he experienced in scheduling repairs. On 28 February 2023, he advised the Ombudsman that the bathroom and kitchen repairs remained incomplete.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

6. The Ombudsman understands that the resident made a new complaint in February 2022 about the landlord’s handling of kitchen and hallway floor repairs. This new complaint had not exhausted the landlord’s complaints procedure by the time that the earlier complaint was brought to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will not usually consider complaints which are made prior to having exhausted the member landlord’s complaints procedure, as the landlord needs to have the opportunity to respond to the complaint first. Therefore, the new complaint will not be considered in this investigation but the resident has the right to bring this new complaint to the Ombudsman if he is dissatisfied with the landlord’s final response.

The landlord’s handling of bathroom and kitchen repairs in the property

7. The landlord’s repairs policy confirms that the landlord is responsible for the repair and maintenance of the structure of the property, and the fixtures and fittings within for the provision of water, power, heating and sanitation. There is no requirement on a landlord to provide a new kitchen or bathroom at the commencement of a tenancy, provided the existing installations can be economically repaired.
8. This above policy also states that it aims to undertake repairs to a good standard and complete this within a reasonable timeframe. The policy is silent on what is considered to be a reasonable timeframe, however, it states that it will complete routine repairs “at the earliest mutually convenient appointment”.
9. While the landlord does not specify what it considers to be a reasonable timeframe, the Ombudsman would expect a routine repair – one which does not pose an immediate hazard to people or the property – to be completed within four weeks. This is in keeping with common practice across the social housing sector. When a landlord is unable to complete a repair within a reasonable time, it would be expected to explain the reason for this to the resident and provide regular updates while the repair remains outstanding. This is to manage the resident’s expectations and minimise any uncertainty and frustration which they may experience while awaiting the completion of the repair.
10. The records provided by the landlord to the Ombudsman do not clearly confirm all appointments that were unsuccessful, missed, or cancelled due to no access. However, it is evident that there were significant delays in the handling of the kitchen and bathroom repairs. These were attributable to missed appointments and failed repair visits due to materials or operatives not being available to complete the work. The landlord:
    1. Missed an appointment on 3 August 2021.
    2. Did not complete work on 6 October 2021 due to a lack of parts, which was rebooked for 3 November 2021, and then again for 17 January 2022.
    3. Failed to complete works on 1 December 2021 due to materials being unavailable.
    4. Failed to complete work on 16 December 2021 as one of the two operatives required did not attend due to illness.
    5. Failed to complete work on 14 February 2022 as materials were unavailable.
11. The landlord recorded appointments booked for 17 January 2022 and 28 March 2022 as no access. However, the resident disputed that he was not at home on 17 January and the landlord noted that insufficient time had been allocated to complete the work on 28 March. In its final complaint response the landlord offered compensation to the resident for these missed appointments, as it accepted that its communication about them should have been better.
12. Therefore, the landlord failed to manage the repair effectively over a 10 month period between the resident’s first report in July 2021 and the final stage response in May 2022. This caused inconvenience to the resident and he went to considerable time and trouble in pursuing the repairs during this time. It is noted that the resident’s sink was functional during this time but badly stained with limescale, and he reported that his worktop was rotting due to water ingress. The outstanding bathroom repairs are likely to have had a significant impact on the living conditions in the property as the sub-floor was rotten and the resident has not been able to lay new flooring in this room.
13. It was therefore appropriate that the landlord upheld the resident’s complaint, offered compensation and committed to completing the repairs. The landlord’s offer of £520 compensation reasonably and proportionately recognised the impact on the resident by the landlord’s failures up until that point.However, the resident has recently told the Ombudsman that the repairs remain incomplete. The Ombudsman has therefore made further enquiries with the landlord about this. Although the landlord has said that its systems show that the works have been completed, it has not provided any evidence to confirm this is the case including the date the repairs were completed. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the repairs remain outstanding despite the landlord committing to complete them in its final complaint response.
14. In view of this, further compensation is warranted and the landlord has been ordered to pay the resident a total of £800 for its handling of the repairs. This is in accordance with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance which provides for awards of compensation between £600 and £1000 where there has been a failure which had a significant impact on the resident. The landlord has also been ordered to complete the outstanding repairs to the kitchen and bathroom.

The landlord’s handling of the complaint

15. The landlord’s complaints policy provides for a two-stage complaints procedure. At stage one, it should respond to the complaint within ten working days; at the final stage it should respond within 20 working days. These timeframes mirror those set out in the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code, which member landlords are expected to adhere to. The complaints policy also sets out that, if a resident is dissatisfied with the resolution offered at stage one, the landlord should escalate the complaint to the final stage.
16. The landlord provided its initial stage one complaint response to the resident on 4 January 2022, six working days after he raised his complaint on 22 December 2021. This was in accordance with its policy.
17. The resident then contacted the landlord on 11 January 2022 to express his dissatisfaction with the stage one response and the landlord’s overall handling of the repairs, and to request the escalation of the complaint. The landlord issued a further response on 7 February 2022 but this did not contain information about the resident’s referral rights to the Ombudsman, nor did it clarify at which stage of the complaints procedure the landlord was responding at. The landlord therefore failed to escalate the complaint in accordance with its complaints policy, despite the resident’s clear request to escalate the complaint.
18. The resident then contacted the landlord again on 10 February 2022 to say that its further response did not resolve his concerns. The landlord did not escalate the complaint until intervention from the Ombudsman on 3 May 2022. It therefore failed on two occasions to escalate the complaint in accordance with its policy despite the resident clearly relaying his dissatisfaction with its responses.
19. Therefore, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the formal complaint. To recognise the inconvenience and time and effort the resident has gone to in progressing the complaint, compensation of £100 should be paid to him. This is in accordance with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance which suggests awards of this amount where there was a failure which adversely affected the resident.
20. It is one of the Ombudsman’s dispute resolution principles that part of the complaints process should be learning from outcomes. A landlord should use the complaints process to identify issues with its service delivery and take remedial action to prevent these reoccurring. The landlord’s complaint responses did not offer an adequate explanation of why the repairs had taken so long to complete, nor what it would do to prevent the same failures continuing. The landlord is therefore ordered to review its handling of the repairs in this case and confirm the action it will take to improve its service delivery going forward.

Determination

21. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in:
    1. Its handling of bathroom and kitchen repairs in the property.
    2. Its handling of the associated complaint.

Orders

22. Within four weeks, the landlord should:
    1. Apologise to the resident for the failures identified by this investigation.
    2. Pay the resident £900 compensation, inclusive of the £520 it already offered him in its final response, comprised of:
       1. £800 compensation for its failures in the handling of repairs.
       2. £100 compensation for its failures in the handling of the complaint.
    3. Agree an appointment with the resident to complete the outstanding repairs to the bathroom and kitchen.
    4. Review its handling of the repairs in this case and confirm to the Ombudsman and the resident what steps it will take to ensure that repairs are completed promptly and efficiently going forward.
    5. Review its complaint handling procedures and confirm to the Ombudsman what steps it will take to ensure that complaints are handled in accordance with its policy and the Complaint Handling Code.