Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) (202209767)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202209767

Notting Hill Genesis

20 October 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 handling of the resident’s request for repairs.

Background

2. The resident holds a tenancy with the landlord for a 2-bedroom flat.
3. After signing the tenancy agreement on 20 June 2022, the resident contacted the landlord to report outstanding repairs at the property. These included problems with a balcony door, a main door lock, the ventilation system for the kitchen and bathroom, a leak under the sink, water temperature, electrical sockets, and a living room fire door. He said these should have been noted and fixed by the landlord following a void inspection, prior to the agreement being signed.
4. On 6 July 2022, following an inspection by its contractor, the landlord told the resident that parts to repair the ventilation system were on order. It also confirmed that its contractor would attend on 7 July 2022 to replace the balcony door locking mechanism and fix the door fully. Finally, the landlord apologised for any inconvenience caused to the resident and offered him a £50 credit towards his rent account.
5. On 11 July 2022, the contractor inspected the resident’s main door lock and found it was secure and working. The landlord’s asset inspector also confirmed this. On the same day, they repaired a loose pipe under the leaking sink, and tested the water temperature. They found no issues, and this was confirmed with the managing agents of the property. They also repaired the electrical sockets, and checked the living room fire door and found no issues with it.
6. On the same day and after the contractors visit, the resident raised a stage 1 formal complaint to the landlord. He stated that he had still not moved into the property because of the outstanding repairs. He reiterated that he would not be moving into the property with his family until the balcony door and ventilation were fixed.
7. On 4 August 2022, the landlord sent its stage 1 response to the resident. To recognise the inconvenience and the number of repairs that had been required, the landlord confirmed it would be taking off 1 weeks rent (£212.51) and also crediting the resident’s rent account with £250 for distress and inconvenience.
8. On 11 August 2022, the resident raised a stage 2 formal complaint with the landlord. He said that the repairs were still outstanding, the landlord had not completed a void process, and he was in rent arrears which he felt was unfair as he had not yet moved into the property.
9. On 11 October 2022, the landlord issued its stage 2 response to the resident. It offered the resident £250 as a goodwill gesture for any trouble caused to the resident by the outstanding repairs. It explained that it had experienced a delay in receiving parts required for the balcony door repair, but that its contractor would attend on 14 October 2022 to inspect the door again. It offered a further £250 in compensation for service failures, and an additional £250 to recognise the delay in providing its stage 2 response. It also agreed to clear the resident’s rent account from 20 June 2022 to 13 September 2022. This totalled £2,550.
10. On 19 October 2022, the resident’s balcony door was fixed in full. The landlord subsequently revised its compensation offer to include rent for up to 19 October 2022. The revised total was £3,673.39.
11. The resident has advised this Service that he remains unhappy with the landlord’s response. He has stated that he does not believe a void check had been carried out, and that the landlord took too long to resolve the issues. He is also seeking an increase in compensation.

Assessment and findings

12. The landlord’s void inspection policy states that it should carry out a pre-void inspection in order to “check the condition of the property and understand the amount of work that will be required once [the former resident] has left.”
13. The landlord’s handling of the void inspection was not appropriate, and it has recognised this in its stage 2 response to the resident’s complaint. The landlord has explained that the outstanding repairs reported by the resident were missed due to the void inspection being done by “desktop assessment rather than an in person visit to the property.”
14. Additionally, the landlord has been unable to provide a completed void inspection report to this Service, and when the resident asked it for a copy in July 2022, it only provided a general overview of the void inspection process, not the specific report for the property. The resident explained this in a follow up email to the landlord, but no void inspection report was provided to the resident.
15. By not carrying out a void inspection as per its own policy, the landlord caused the resident inconvenience in having to record the missed repairs himself, report them to the landlord, and chase it for confirmation on when the repairs would be carried out. This was a failure by the landlord.
16. The landlord’s repairs policy states that it will aim to complete routine repairs within 20 working days. The policy also states that it aims to ‘complete repairs on the first visit….and to the satisfaction of the resident.’
17. The landlord’s initial handling of the outstanding repairs was reasonable. When the resident raised his concerns after 20 June 2022, the landlord’s contractor attended at the beginning of July 2022. The contractor inspected the resident’s main door lock and found it was secure and working. The landlord’s asset inspector also confirmed this. On the same day, the contractor repaired a loose pipe under the leaking sink, and tested the water temperature. They found no issues, and this was confirmed with the managing agents of the property.
18. Additionally, the contractor repaired the electrical sockets, checked the living room fire door and found no issues with it. This was all completed in line with its own repairs policy. The contractor confirmed there was an issue with the balcony door. They then removed the top and bottom locks from the balcony door as a temporary fix. They confirmed to the landlord that the door could now be opened and closed properly, and locked using a key, and that the property was secure. However, this was not an effective or lasting repair, and additional work was needed to complete the works to a reasonable standard.
19. The resident had confirmed to the landlord that his wife was pregnant at the time, and they had a small child, so it was understandable that he was concerned for his family’s safety due to the balcony door not operating properly. He also raised concerns about the property not being ventilated properly due to the fault with the ventilation unit.
20. Both the balcony door and ventilation unit repairs remained outstanding due to delays in getting necessary parts. The contractor confirmed to the resident that the parts would take a number of weeks to be delivered. While this was understandably inconvenient for all parties, had the landlord identified the issue for itself during a void inspection prior to offering the resident the property, it may have had enough time to restore both the door and ventilation unit to working order before the resident was scheduled to move in. This Service has therefore not accepted the delay in retrieving the relevant parts to be a satisfactory justification for the lack of works.
21. On 7 September 2022, the contractor fitted a new ventilation system at the property. Further works were then required to replace a booster switch. This was completed on 23 September 2022. The landlord confirmed that while the ventilation system was undergoing repair, there were openable windows and trickle vents at the property to aid ventilation. Therefore, while the lack of a working ventilation unit was not ideal, the detriment on the resident while he waited for it to be repaired would have been minimal.
22. However, both the ventilation unit and the balcony door were not fully repaired until September and October 2022 respectively, over four months after the resident first reported them. This means that both repairs were completed outside of the landlord’s repairs policy. This was an additional failure by the landlord.
23. The resident was further distressed by the accumulating rent arrears on the property. The resident had refused to pay rent on the property until the balcony door was fully repaired in October 2022. This meant his rent account was in arrears totalling £2,550.12 for the time between 20 June 2022 to 13 September 2022.
24. In its stage 1 response to the resident’s complaint, the landlord said that because of the outstanding repairs it would take 1 weeks’ rent off of the resident’s rent account, and also credit the rent account an additional £250 for distress and inconvenience. This was in line with the landlord’s compensation policy for awards of up to £250 where there was a “serious failure in service standards, causing a significant level of distress and inconvenience to the resident.”
25. In its stage 2 response, the landlord offered the resident £250 in compensation for trouble and upset, £250 for service failure, and £250 for delays in its complaint responses. This was in line with the landlord’s compensation policy for awards of £250 or over, where there have been “multiple service failures which when added together would lead to compensation of more than £250”, and “significant time and delay to resolve the issue.” The landlord also agreed to clear the outstanding rent balance of £2,550.12.
26. On 14 November 2022, following further correspondence with the resident, the landlord agreed to revise the rent offer to include rent due up to 19 October 2022. With October included, the new outstanding balance was £3,673.39. The landlord agreed to clear this. Additionally, the landlord also agreed to reimburse the resident for council tax and utility bills for that period.
27. It is important to note that the landlord was not obliged to clear the resident’s rent arrears, or cover any council tax or utility bill payments. While there were clear failings by it in regards to repairs and following its own policies, the resident was still liable for rent and council tax from the date he signed the tenancy agreement in June 2022. Therefore, the landlord has offered more in compensation than it was obligated to do to resolve the resident’s complaint.
28. On 28 September 2023, the resident told the Ombudsman that the replacement ventilation unit the landlord fitted has needed a new cover for over a year. The Ombudsman would expect it to replace the cover if needed, as soon as possible.

Determination

29. As per paragraph 53 of the Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress to the resident which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.