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Sanctuary Housing Association (202230032)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202230032

Sanctuary Housing Association

11 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 complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s complaint about its handling of repairs to windows in her property.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the property, a second floor flat owned by the landlord. The property is within a Grade II listed building.
  2. The resident first reported problems with the window frames in her property being rotten to the landlord in late 2019. It raised orders for works to replace the window twice in late 2019 and again in March 2021 and January 2022.
  3. On 18 January 2023, the resident made a complaint to the landlord as she was unhappy with the length of time it had taken to replace or repair her windows. She stated the windows were rotten and that it advised her they were due to be replaced in 2022.
  4. The landlord responded to the resident’s complaint at stage 1 on 3 February 2023. In its response, it stated it could not provide a time for the works to her windows but that they would be replaced between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024. It offered £50 compensation as a goodwill payment in consideration of time, trouble, and inconvenience.
  5. The escalated her complaint on 7 February 2023. She said she would like it to replace her windows within the next 3 months with a start date put in writing to her, along with an increased compensation offer for her time spent phoning, emailing, and complaining. She described her experience as being one of frustration and inconvenience due to the lack of updates, information, and effective action from the landlord. She explained that the landlord told her it would replace the windows on 17 September 2019 after it visited, but this was never done.
  6. In its stage 2 response to the resident on 28 February 2023, the landlord provided a timeline of events from its records and apologised for a miscommunication in March 2021 and for not monitoring or following up the repair between April 2021 and January 2022. It explained that it had assigned the works to a redevelopment programme, so it was unable to provide an exact date for this. It increased its compensation offer and offered to revise it further if she could provide comparison electricity bills to demonstrate an increase in consumption. The stage 2 compensation offer was £550, broken down as follows:
    1. £50 as previously offered at stage 1.
    2. £300 for time, trouble and inconvenience caused by its actions or inaction.
    3. £150 for future impact.
  7. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response to her complaint as it had not provided a date for replacing her windows. She felt the matter remained unresolved and that its compensation offer did not fully reflect the impact the issue had on her.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. Paragraph 42(a) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme) states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion are made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaints procedure, unless there is evidence of a complaint-handling failure, and the Ombudsman is satisfied that the member has not taken action within a reasonable timescale.
  1. In an email to this Service on 2 April 2024, the resident stated that while the landlord replaced the windows on 21 March 2024, it had not completed required follow-up works. She had also not received an expected phone call from the landlord on 25 March 2024. In accordance with paragraph 42(a) of the Scheme, this Service advised the resident to make a new complaint to the landlord about these issues and follow it through the landlord’s complaints process.
  2. A significant period of this complaint took place within the COVID-19 lockdown and local restrictions legislated by the government. The pandemic had a major impact on a range of services provided by social landlords, including responses to antisocial behaviour. The findings in this report will have taken into consideration what was sensible and appropriate to expect from the landlord during this period in the circumstances of the complaint.

Policies and procedures

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy outlines its approach to appointed and routine repairs. It aims to complete appointed repairs within 28 days and at an appointment time agreed with the resident. Routine repairs include works that are not causing damage to the property and do not pose a threat to the health and safety of the resident but cannot wait to be included as part of a works programme. It aims to complete routine repairs within 20 working days.
  2. The landlord’s repairs handbook provided to its tenants states it is responsible for repairs to windows. The handbook explains that it aims to complete appointed repairs within 28 calendar days, but that some works may be included as part of a programme of planned repairs if multiple properties in one place require the same works, like replacing windows.
  3. The landlord’s complaints procedure outlines its approach to assessing compensation. It offers payments of up to £400 in recognition of time, trouble, and inconvenience of a service failure.

The landlord’s handling of repairs

  1. It is not disputed that the landlord failed to repair the windows in a reasonable timescale. In its stage 2 response it apologised for miscommunication and not monitoring or following up repairs at different times.
  2. When there are failings by a landlord, as is the case here, this Service will consider whether the redress offered by the landlord (apology, compensation, and information about completing repairs) put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this, this Service considers whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with the dispute resolution principles, be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
  1. The landlord first raised a job for a replacement window in the resident’s property on 19 August 2019. As the property is a Grade II listed building, the procedure would not have been as straightforward arranging and completing works. It raised orders for works internally on 4 separate occasions between August 2019 and May 2022, but no evidence has been provided to this Service demonstrating that it acknowledged itself, or explained to the resident, the additional processes of requiring approval both internally and externally from the local authority.
  2. On 25 and 26 February 2021, the resident made the landlord aware that the window frames were rotting and that the windows were not functioning properly. She said that she risked a pane of glass falling off into her hand, or falling out to the street at height which was dangerous. The landlord has not provided evidence to this Service demonstrating that it considered interim measures to mitigate the health and safety risks raised by the resident. This did not demonstrate good practice and it was not working in line with its repairs policy and handbook.
  3. Due to a serious personal matter, the resident did not chase the works again until January 2022. However, no evidence has been provided to this Service demonstrating that the landlord made any effort to manage or organise the repairs in this period, despite an email from its contractor on 20 May 2021 advising works would be rebooked as soon as possible. The onus should not have been on the resident to chase the repairs and it was not reasonable of the landlord to leave her to do this.
  4. The landlord raised the works order for a fourth time on 6 January 2022 following contact from the resident. However, no evidence has been provided to this Service demonstrating that the works were approved, or any further efforts were made to chase this internally until the resident complained on 18 January 2023, over a year later. It did not manage or monitor the repairs and continually left the resident to chase it for updates, which was not appropriate.
  5. In its stage 1 and 2 complaint response to the resident, the landlord stated the replacement of windows was included in a planned programme of works for completion between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024. While this was not unreasonable if other properties needed the same works as the resident, it had failed to adequately manage her expectations by raising works on 4 occasions prior to this response. When it then told her in 2023 that it could be up to another year before it completed works, she was understandably frustrated.
  6. As part of its stage 2 response, the landlord offered compensation totalling £550 to the resident. This offer was fair and in line with the amount recommended for high effort or high impact service failure in its complaints procedure and the remedies guidance issued by the Ombudsman. It also offered to revise its compensation offer if she could provide comparison energy bills from before the issue and since showing increased consumption. This was a reasonable response and showed the landlord’s willingness to put things right.
  7. The landlord offered an apology at stage 2 for a miscommunication about the exact works required in March 2021 and a further apology for not monitoring or chasing the works between April 2021 and January 2022. While its apology acknowledged failings, it did not offer an explanation on how it intended to learn from these. Paragraph 5.2 of the Complaint Handling Code published by the Ombudsman (current at the time of this complaint) states that landlords should acknowledge and apologise for any failure identified, give an explanation and, where possible, inform the resident of the changes made or actions taken to prevent the issue from happening again.
  8. In an email to this Service on 28 March 2024, the landlord confirmed that it had completed works in the resident’s property. This was around 4 and a half years since the issue was first raised by the resident, which far exceeded all timescales listed in its repairs policy and handbook.
  9. In conclusion, despite making a fair financial offer at stage 2 of its complaints procedure, the landlord did not act in line with its repairs policy throughout the period of this complaint and has not demonstrated any learning from its failings. It apologised for very specific matters but not for the length of time taken as a whole, or its failure to effectively manage her expectations. Landlords should recognise that putting things right is the first step to repairing and rebuilding the landlord and tenant relationship.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in respect of the landlord’s handling of repairs to windows in the resident’s property.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. The landlord is ordered to:
    1. Pay the resident the previously offered compensation of £550 if it has not done so already.
    2. Provide the resident with a written apology for its overall handling of the repairs, including its mismanagement of her expectations, detailing how it has learnt from its failings in this case and what measures it has put in place to prevent the same failings reoccurring with future repairs cases.
  2. The landlord must provide proof of compliance with the above orders within 4 weeks of this determination.

Recommendations

  1. This Service recommends that the landlord review its repairs policy to ensure reports are categorised correctly and it is clear on whether a repair is appointed, routine or needs to be part of planned works.
  2. This Service recommends that the landlord consider paying the resident additional compensation if she can provide it with energy bills showing increased energy consumption during the period of this complaint.