Peabody Trust (202221266)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202221266

Peabody Trust

25 April 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 resident’s complaint is about the landlord’s:
    1. Handling of requests for repairs to a leaking sink in the resident’s bathroom.
    2. Handling of the associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident has an assured tenancy for a 1 bed flat with a housing association. Her tenancy started in 2003. The landlord has told this Service that some vulnerabilities are recorded on the resident’s tenancy file and that the resident speaks limited English. The resident has told this Service that English is her first language and that she suffers from poor mental health.
  2. In mid July and early August 2022, the resident reported that her new bathroom sink, installed after a new bathroom was fitted by the landlord, was leaking. The landlord’s contractors attended on both occasions and carried out repairs. Follow on repairs to water marks in the resident’s hallway following the leak were raised in mid August but not carried out, with the landlord’s records stating this was due to issues with access to the resident’s property.
  3. Another leak was reported in early October 2022, with the resident making it clear that the new sink was leaning forward and leaking. Notes from contractors who attended at the resident’s property after this report state that they were encouraged by the landlord to raise a request for works to reinforce the wall behind the sink. This was because the supporting wall was made of plasterboard and could not support the weight of the sink, and the small size of the bathroom meant a pedestal could not be installed to support the weight of the sink.
  4. The landlord’s records state that an inspection of the bathroom took place in early November 2022 and that works were fully completed on 9 December 2022. The resident made a formal complaint about the amount of time that the landlord took to repair the sink on the same day as repairs were completed.
  5. A stage 1 complaint response was given to the resident on 23 December 2022. It acknowledged there had been delays in carrying out the repairs and there had been issues about poor communication between the landlord and resident. The landlord initially offered £150 as compensation but, after discussion with the resident, revised the offer to a total of £250. This consisted of £150 for the time, trouble and inconvenience caused by delays in repairs and £100 for issues caused by poor communication.
  6. The resident requested escalation of her complaint on the same day she received the stage 1 response. In her request, she explained she felt the level of compensation offered was too low to put things right given the amount of time it took for repairs to be completed, that the leak had caused major disruption to her home, and that she had attempted to make a complaint on 2 November 2022 which the landlord had failed to acknowledge. The landlord provided an acknowledgement of the escalation request on 5 January 2023.
  7. A stage 2 response was given on 3 February 2023. This response acknowledged the resident had attempted to make a complaint about delays to repairs in November 2022 and it had taken the intervention of this Service to get the landlord to accept a complaint. Although the landlord stated the original offer of compensation was fair and reasonable, it increased the total offer to £320: £250 for the time trouble and inconvenience caused by delays to repairs, £70 for poor complaints handling. This offer also removed any compensation elements for poor communication.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of requests for repairs to a leaking sink in the resident’s bathroom

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy states that works which have failed to pass a quality inspection or where the resident has confirmed that works have not been completed will be carried out within 5 days. Non-urgent repairs will be completed within 28 days.
  2. The resident’s tenancy agreement states the landlord will keep the structure and exterior of the resident’s property, which includes plasterwork and internal walls, in good repair. It also states the landlord will keep specific installations provided, including sinks and basins, in good repair and proper working order.
  3. This Service has assumed that the renovation works were completed not long before the leaking sink was first reported. We asked the landlord for confirmation of the date of these works and whether quality checking was carried out, but this information has not been provided.  Regardless of whether the renovation works had been quality checked or not, the resident’s report of the leaking sink should have drawn the landlord’s attention to the fact that the renovation works may not have been completed properly. At this point, the repairs should have been classed as needing to be completed within 5 working days, as per the landlord’s repairs policy, rather than within 28 calendar days as a non-urgent repair. This is a failure of the landlord to properly apply relevant policies, act appropriately when issues with renovations had been reported, and to fully listen to the concerns raised by the resident.
  4. Issues with the bathroom sink were first reported on 18 July 2022 and eventually fixed on 9 December 2022. This is a delay of 144 calendar days from first report to successful repair. This is a failure of the landlord to keep to timescales published in its policies for carrying out repairs. The resident would also have been frustrated by the delays, inconvenienced by not being able to use her bathroom sink, and concerned about the landlord’s ability to carry out effective repairs in a reasonable period of time without the resident taking an active role in chasing for updates.
  5. Repair records from initial visits show the issue was incorrectly diagnosed at first, as contractors had believed the leak was due to pipework and sealant not being applied properly. The root cause of the leaks was only identified on 13 October 2022, 41 working days after the first report, when it was noted that the bathroom sink had been inappropriately installed on a wall which could not bear its weight. If the landlord had quality checked the renovation work to the bathroom, the Ombudsman believes it is possible that the issue with the inappropriately installed sink would have been identified at an earlier stage and the landlord would have been able to take appropriate remedial action much sooner to prevent any further issues arising. Incorrect diagnosis of the root cause led to delays in carrying out effective repairs, avoidable damage to plasterwork to the bathroom wall, and damaged the resident’s relationship with her landlord.
  6. Although the landlord has offered £250 in compensation for delays to repairs, this was only for the time, trouble and inconvenience caused to the resident by delays in repairs where the landlord recognises there was moderate disruption to the resident as per its compensation policy. This Service does not consider this offer enough to put things right, given the impact on the resident’s ability to use her bathroom in a hygienic manner during the period of disrepair and the resident’s distress at seeing her bathroom deteriorate despite her best efforts to get the landlord to respond appropriately.
  7. Due to the delay between first report of the leak and effective repairs being carried out, the landlord’s failure to provide evidence that it checked the quality of works done to the resident’s bathroom, and repeat visits by contractors which did not resolve the issue, this Service has found maladministration in the landlord’s handling of requests for repairs to the resident’s bathroom sink.
  8. The landlord’s compensation policy states that if a room or part of a room is assessed as unusable, a percentage of the weekly rent can be offered to the resident as compensation. 25% of the weekly rent payable after the first 48 hours is suggested for an unusable bathroom. Access to a bathroom sink is essential for personal hygiene reasons, although a defective sink does not render a bathroom totally unusable. This Service has therefore ordered that an amount of compensation which is based on 10% of the resident’s weekly rent during the period of disrepair should be paid to the resident in addition the sum previously offered for time, trouble and inconvenience caused to the resident.
  9. The resident has told this Service that she has found the process of chasing her landlord for repairs deeply frustrating and that she did not feel that she was treated with dignity and respect. This Service has therefore recommended that the landlord self assess against the recommendations within the Ombudsman’s report titled Spotlight on attitudes, respect and rights – relationship of equals (available via this link: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ARRRoE-22012024-FINAL.pdf).

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

  1. The landlord operates a 2 stage complaints procedure. Stage 1 complaints are logged and acknowledged within 5 working days, with a complaint response that addresses all issues raised by a resident within 10 working days. Escalation requests are acknowledged within 5 working days of receipt, with a response provided within 20 working days from the date of escalation.
  2. The resident first made her complaint on 2 November 2022 but this was not acknowledged by the landlord, with the complaint closed 3 days later. A further complaint was made on 9 December 2022 with the assistance of this Service. It is not clear if the resident was provided with an acknowledgement of her complaint. A formal complaint response was provided on 23 December 2022, 37 working days after the initial complaint. This is a breach of the timescales in the landlord’s complaints policy. The delay also affected the resident’s confidence in the landlord listening to her concerns and reacting appropriately, and forced the intervention of this Service to ask it to provide a response.
  3. Sections of the stage 1 response, specifically on complaint learning and putting things right, were poorly drafted and very hard to read. The landlord should have taken the time to make sure its complaint response was legible and written in plain and clear language. This is also a failure of the landlord to apply the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code to its complaint response at stage 1. 
  4. Although it is positive that the landlord revised its compensation offer at stage 1 after contact with the resident, the points that the resident raised regarding issues with complaints handling and whether it would be classed as minor, moderate or severe as per the landlord’s own policy were not addressed. This further affected the resident’s confidence in the landlord’s ability to investigate her complaint, led to her feeling that she was not being listened to by the landlord, and forced the resident to escalate her complaint.
  5. The escalation request was made on 23 December 2022, with an acknowledgement of this request given to the resident on 5 January 2023. The acknowledgement was given 6 working days after the escalation request a minor breach of timescales in the landlord’s complaints policy. The stage 2 response was given on 3 February 2023, 27 working days after the escalation request and without any agreement for an extension of the deadline for the response. This is a more serious breach of the timescales for response in the landlord’s complaint policy and, combined with issues with how the stage 1 response was handled, would have given the resident the impression that her concerns were not being taken seriously by the landlord.
  6. The stage 2 response acknowledged issues which had been raised by the resident at stage 1 but not considered in the stage 1 response, including issues with complaints handling. The landlord therefore used this as an opportunity to properly review what had happened during the complaints process and to try and put things right. However, the offer of compensation for poor complaints handling was not enough to fully restore the resident’s confidence in her landlord. The stage 2 offer is also unclear as it appears to have removed any element linked to poor communication, which had been acknowledged at stage 1. This is another failure of the landlord to make sure that its complaint response was written in plain and clear language.
  7. Due to the initial delay in accepting a complaint until the intervention of this Service, issues with the legibility of the stage 1 response, and delays in the stage 2 response, this Service has found service failure in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was:
    1. Maladministration in the landlord’s handling of requests for repairs to the resident’s sink.
    2. Service failure in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Pay the resident a total of £678.70, less any compensation already paid to the resident, comprising of:
      1. £250 for the time, trouble, and inconvenience caused to the resident by delayed repairs.
      2. £228.70 for the impact on the resident of not being able to properly use her bathroom pending repairs to the sink. This is based on 10% of the weekly rent at £111.18 for a period of 20.57 weeks when the property was in disrepair.
      3. £100 for inconvenience, distress, time and trouble caused by poor communication.
      4. £100 for inconvenience, distress, time and trouble caused by poor complaints handling.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord should review its processes for approving the quality of renovation works.
  2. The landlord should contact the resident and see if she wants her health details recorded on her tenancy file.
  3. The landlord should self assess against the recommendations within the Ombudsman’s report titled Spotlight on attitudes, respect and rights – relationship of equals (available via this link: https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/ARRRoE-22012024-FINAL.pdf)