Nottingham Community Housing Association Limited (202234216)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202234216

Nottingham Community Housing Association Limited

31 July 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 time taken by the landlord to address issues with ventilation and airflow.

Background

  1. The resident has lived in the property as an assured tenant since March 2018. The property is a 2-bedroom bungalow.
  2. On 13 September 2022, the resident told the landlord he was concerned about airflow in his property and a build-up of CO2 gas. He wanted the airflow from the windows in his property improved.
  3. In response, the landlord arranged an inspection of the windows on 21 September 2022, which found the windows in a good condition. However, the resident said he could not leave them open at night because of security concerns and asked for a new window to allow ventilation.
  4. On 5 December 2022, the local authority contacted the landlord to ask what work would be done following the inspection. The landlord raised a job on 6 December 2022 to install a ventilation system in the hallway.
  5. The resident chased the repairs with the landlord in July and August 2023. On 13 September 2023, he complained about how long it was taking for the work to be done. The Ombudsman asked the landlord on 6 October 2023 to respond to the resident’s complaint.
  6. In its complaint response on 12 October 2023, the landlord apologised for delay in responding to the complaint and for the time the resident had waited for the ventilation system to be fitted. It said an order had been approved, and it would be fitted on 5 December 2023. It offered £10 for failing to respond to the complaint within its timeframes, and £100 for the time taken to complete works and the inconvenience caused.
  7. The resident escalated his complaint as he was unhappy with the response and said there was other recommended work that needed to be done.
  8. In its final response on 30 October 2023, the landlord said its contractors had attended on 26 October 2023, and found faults with the cavity wall insulation and airbricks. It said it had approved works on these faults and would arrange to carry them out.
  9. In January 2024, the resident complained to the Ombudsman. He said agreed appointments had been rescheduled by the landlord and agreed work had not been done. In June 2024, the landlord told the Ombudsman that the work had not been completed.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. The resident told the Ombudsman in July 2024 that he had experienced problems with the property going back to 2018. In investigating this complaint, the Ombudsman will look at the landlord’s actions from when concerns were made about ventilation and airflow in September 2022.
  2. The resident referred to the effect the ventilation and airflow had on his health. After carefully considering all the evidence, in accordance with paragraph 42.f of the Scheme, the Ombudsman cannot consider these parts of the complaint. This is because the Scheme says that the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which concern matters where the Ombudsman considers it quicker, fairer, more reasonable or more effective to seek a remedy through the courts, other tribunal or procedure. While the Ombudsman is an alternative to the courts, it is unable to establish legal liability or whether a landlord’s actions or lack of action had a detrimental impact on health. The Ombudsman is therefore unable to consider the personal injury aspects of the resident’s complaint.
  3. However, the Ombudsman can assess whether the landlord followed proper procedures and behaved reasonably when dealing with the resident’s concerns.

The time taken by the landlord to address issues with ventilation and airflow

  1. Under section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act (1985), the landlord is responsible for keeping in repair the structure of the property. This means the landlord has a general obligation to repair and maintain the property. This is confirmed in the tenancy agreement, which says the resident has a right to have qualifying repairs done in set timescales.
  2. The landlord’s service standards on repairs say non-routine repairs are repairs that take longer than 28 calendar days. It says it aims to attend to non-routine repairs within 60 calendar days of them being reported or identified by an inspector.
  3. In May 2021, the local authority conducted a Housing Health and Safety Rating evaluation of the property and provided its findings to the resident. On airflow in the property, the local authority said it may be possible to control air movement to improve comfort. It suggested the resident approach the landlord to ask if it was willing to consider improvements.
  4. Records provided by the landlord show that on 13 September 2022, the resident said he was concerned about ventilation in the property, a build-up of CO2 gas, and its effect on his health. He said the airflow needed improving and changes to the windows were discussed. The landlord took the reasonable step of arranging an inspection, which took place on 21 September 2022. The inspection found the windows were approximately 20 years old and in a decent condition. It noted that the resident had health issues and said he needed to keep the bedroom window open but was concerned about security as he lived in a bungalow. He wanted a new bedroom window with a top opener to allow ventilation whilst sleeping. The landlord told the resident that it was a security improvement rather than maintenance and may not be approved.
  5. The Ombudsman has not seen evidence of the landlord contacting the resident after the inspection, but on 11 October 2022 the resident telephoned the landlord and asked if it would be carrying out work on the window. On the 5 December 2022, the local authority asked the landlord to let the resident know what it intended to do following the inspection.
  6. Internal records provided by the landlord show that on 6 December 2022, it said it would install a ventilation system in the hallway ceiling. The Ombudsman has found that the landlord had identified a solution to the concerns about ventilation being raised by the resident, but it had not communicated with him about this for over 2 months following the inspection. Because of this, there was a service failure by the landlord.
  7. Records provided by the landlord show the resident chased it for updates on the ventilation system on 21 July and 25 August 2023. The Ombudsman has seen no records of a response. On 12 September 2023, the landlord asked a contractor for a quote to install a ventilation system at the property. The contractor replied and said it had already sent a quote. The landlord asked the contractor to send it again. The quote was received on 13 September 2023. The Ombudsman has not seen evidence on an earlier quote being requested or sent, and so cannot make a determination on whether the landlord tried to progress the work. However, the Ombudsman has found that there was a lack of ownership by the landlord after it agreed to install a ventilation system in December 2022. In addition, there is no evidence that the landlord provided updates to the resident about the work during this period. Instead, the resident had to chase the landlord, which caused him inconvenience. The Ombudsman has found this was a further service failure by the landlord.
  8. On 13 September 2023, the landlord acknowledged a complaint from the resident about the time taken to install the ventilation system. On 6 October 2023, the Ombudsman contacted the landlord as the resident had not received a response. The landlord sent a response on 12 October 2023, which was 21 working days after it had acknowledged the complaint. Because of this, the Ombudsman has found that the landlord failed to follow its complaints policy, which says it will respond at stage 1 within 10 working days.
  9. In its response on 12 October 2023, the landlord apologised for the delay in installing the ventilation system and said it would be installed on 5 December 2023. It offered £10 compensation for failing to respond to the complaint within 10 working days and £100 for the time taken to complete the work and the inconvenience caused. Taking everything into consideration, the Ombudsman has found that this was insufficient in the circumstances.
  10. The resident was dissatisfied with the response and raised concerns about other outstanding work at his property. In its final response on 30 October 2023, the landlord said that following a visit by contractors on 26 October 2023, in addition to the ventilation system it would carry out other work to improve thermal performance and airflow. It said the property met building regulations and was not defective, but it was happy to authorise improvement works. On 30 November 2023, it said it would schedule calls with the resident to ensure work was progressing. The Ombudsman has found that this was reasonable.
  11. However, in January 2024 the resident escalated his complaint to the Ombudsman because he said appointments had been cancelled and work had not been completed. In June 2024, the landlord told the Ombudsman that the manager who had sent the final response had left and had not arranged for the agreed work to be done. It said it had asked for it to be completed as soon as possible. The Ombudsman would expect the landlord to have records that allowed it to monitor the outcome of complaint responses. As this was not done, the Ombudsman has found that this was a further service failure relating to record keeping and internal communication.
  12. Overall, the Ombudsman has found that although the installation of the ventilation system was classed as an improvement work, the landlord had made a commitment to do the work and then failed to carry that through. There was a failure to provide the resident with updates, a failure to respond to the stage 1 complaint in line with the complaints policy, and a failure to carry out works agreed in December 2022. In addition, there was a failure to carry out works agreed as part of the final response.
  13. Individually, these are service failures. Combined they amount to maladministration, which caused inconvenience for the resident. The work to install a ventilation system was agreed in December 2022, but 18 months later in June 2024, the landlord told the Ombudsman the work had not been completed. Although classed as improvement work, this was a considerable delay, and during this time the resident, who was concerned about the affect ventilation had on his health, had to chase responses and had appointments cancelled. This caused inconvenience and frustration for the resident. In line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, maladministration is identified in cases where the Ombudsman has found a significant failure. Because of this, the landlord is ordered to pay additional compensation to the resident as follows:
    1. £50 for failure to respond to the complaint in line with the complaints policy, inclusive of £10 previously offered.
    2. £150 for inconvenience caused by the delays.
    3. £200 for failure to meet the repairs service standards, inclusive of the £100 previously offered.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of the time taken by the landlord to address issues with ventilation and airflow.

Orders

  1. The landlord is ordered to apologise to the resident for the failures identified in this report.
  2. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident a total of £400 in compensation within 4 weeks of the date of this report. This is inclusive of the £110 previously offered at stage 1 of the complaints process. Compensation should be paid directly to the resident, and not offset against any arrears. The compensation comprises:
    1. £50 for failure to respond to the complaint in line with the complaints policy, inclusive of £10 previously offered.
    2. £150 for inconvenience caused by the delays.
    3. £200 for failure to meet the repairs service standards, inclusive of the £100 previously offered.
  3. The landlord is ordered to contact the resident within 4 weeks of the date of this report to confirm when any outstanding work on the ventilation system and the work agreed in its final response will be completed.
  4. The landlord is ordered to provide evidence of compliance with the above orders within 4 weeks of the date of this report.