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Newham Council (202215505)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202215505

Newham Council

2 February 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 the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports about the standard of cleanliness within communal areas.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant at the property of the landlord. The landlord is a local authority. The property is a first floor flat in a building that includes communal areas.
  2. The resident raised a complaint on 28 July 2022 as she was dissatisfied with the standard of cleaning in the communal areas of her building, specifically the communal stairs. She requested an inspection of the stairs and for a deep clean to take place.
  3. In the landlord’s formal responses, it advised that the block was cleaned weekly and inspected every three months. It also advised that it had inspected the standard of the cleaning on 14 September 2022 and confirmed it was to a satisfactory standard. It acknowledged that due to the age and condition of the stairs, they were “not aesthetically pleasing.” It further advised that a surveyor had attended on 6 October 2022, and had recommended works to improve the presentation of the building, which would be completed by 14 October 2022. It also noted that it had repainted the communal areas.
  4. In her complaint to this service, the resident advised she remained dissatisfied with the condition of the communal areas and that she did not think the landlord had properly addressed her concerns regarding the stairs. She disputed the findings of the landlord’s inspection and advised that she considered the stairs required a deep clean, using specialist equipment.
  5. The Ombudsman notes that since the period of the complaint, the landlord has carried out an inspection of the stairs along with the resident, and has agreed to review the standard of cleaning following the next scheduled cleaning in February 2023.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The landlord’s formal responses addressed several issues raised by the resident. However, the resident has confirmed to this service that she only considers the issue defined above to be outstanding and that the other issues of the complaint have been resolved. Accordingly, this investigation has focused on and assessed the circumstances of the one issue that remains outstanding.

Stairs

  1. The tenancy agreement states the landlord “will maintain entrance halls, stairways, lifts, passageways, rubbish chutes and other shared areas.” The landlord’s website also outlines that cleaning staff should “sweep and mop lobbies, landings, staircases and clean handrails.” As a result, the landlord is responsible for fulfilling its cleaning obligations and assessing any issues reported by the resident.
  2. The resident has requested this service to attend the property to inspect the condition of the stairs. It is important to note that the role of the Ombudsman is not to determine whether the stairs were poorly cleaned. Instead, the Ombudsman’s role is to establish whether the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports were in line with its legal and policy obligations and to determine whether its response was fair and reasonable in the circumstances. As a result, the Ombudsman will assess whether the landlord appropriately investigated and addressed the resident’s concerns, rather than carrying out an independent investigation into the reported issues.
  3. The resident has also sent several pictures of the condition of the stairs. The Ombudsman is limited in the extent to which it can rely on photographic evidence as it is not possible for this service to determine the location or circumstances of the photographs, the dates they were taken, or the validity of the images themselves. As a result, we do not generally place significant reliance on photographs in reaching our decisions. However, it is noted that the resident remains dissatisfied with the condition of the stairs, which has been considered within this report.
  4. Following the resident’s complaint on 28 July 2022, the landlord promptly responded and inspected the block on 9 August 2022, which was within a reasonable timeframe. The resident raised concerns with the inspection as the lighting was off (the lights were only on intermittently due to being on a timer) so she considered the inspection was not a true reflection of the condition of the stairs. As a result, it was appropriate that the landlord reattended on 6 October 2022. The landlord therefore took sufficient steps to investigate the resident’s reports.
  5. In the landlord’s stage two response, it concluded that the communal area was cleaned to a satisfactory standard. The Ombudsman notes that there can be a level of subjectivity when determining what is considered a satisfactory level of cleanliness, so it was appropriate that several different members of staff attended to assess the communal area to increase the reliability of the landlord’s decision. It was appropriate that the landlord outlined the cleaning schedule and confirmed that the communal area was cleaned weekly and inspected every three months. As a result, the landlord demonstrated that it took the appropriate steps to upkeep the condition of the communal areas, in line with what the Ombudsman would expect. Following the completion of the complaints process, a further inspection was carried out on 8 December 2022, which confirmed the condition of the building and the stairs was of a satisfactory standard and the stairs had also been recently painted. The landlord has therefore continued to fulfil its obligations.
  6. The landlord acknowledged that although the communal areas were cleaned to a satisfactory standard, there were issues with the general condition due to the age of the building. The landlord outlined the actions it would take to improve the appearance of the communal areas, including painting, overhauling the communal windows, and replacing the communal floor tiles. As a result, the landlord demonstrated that it had considered the resident’s concerns and assessed the overall condition of the communal areas to make improvements. It is not evident these improvements were required beyond improving the aesthetics of the building, and so this demonstrated the landlord was willing to use its discretion to address the resident’s concerns.
  7. In her complaint to this service, the resident requested for the landlord to complete a deep clean using specialist equipment. The landlord has advised this service that as the stairs were concrete, to complete a deep clean the stairs would involve an acid wash. It explained this would require considerable disruption as the stairs would need to be closed off, which would cause a health and safety issue as there was only one stairway in the block. It was therefore not proportionate to consider this option. While this position is reasonable in the circumstances, it would have been helpful for the landlord to have articulated its reasoning to the resident. This would have ensured that the landlord reasonably managed the resident’s expectations and assured her that it had assessed the feasibility of all the available options to clean the stairs. As the landlord had already confirmed its position that it deemed the cleanliness of the communal area to be a satisfactory standard, it did not impact the overall outcome of the complaint.
  8. Overall, the landlord has demonstrated that it thoroughly investigated the resident’s reports, having inspected the condition on numerous occasions. It also appropriately articulate its position that it had determined the stairs were cleaned to a satisfactory standard, which was based on the inspections of a number of members of staff. Given that the landlord was limited in the actions it could take, it also appropriately used its discretion to improve the overall appearance of the communal area.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of its response to the resident’s reports about the standard of cleanliness within communal areas.

Recommendations

  1. Following its inspection in February 2023, the landlord to contact the resident to enquire as to whether she has any further concerns about the standard of cleaning.