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Shepherds Bush Housing Association Limited (202009257)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202009257

Shepherds Bush Housing Association Limited

23 February 2021


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 request for it to carry out a roof repair.

Background and summary of events

  1. The resident has said that there have been ongoing issues with the roof of her property for a number of years. She submits that she raised a complaint in 2018 about roofing repairs which resulted in compensation being paid by the landlord.
  2. The resident complained to the landlord on 2 November 2020 about problems with the roof of her property she had been experiencing since 2015. She said that the landlord had failed to repair the roof properly and its contractors had done poor workmanship and it had failed to do any follow up checks. She submitted that, as a result of the poor repairs previously carried out, there had been further problems in 2020. She said that the contractor who had attended had told her that the roof was in a state of disrepair and she therefore requested asked the landlord to fully repair the roof and redecorate her bedroom ceiling which had been damaged by a leak. She also considered the roof to be unsafe as bricks above the front door had fallen in the past and therefore posed a risk to her and her family.
  3. In the landlord’s Stage 1 response of 26 November 2020, it said that it was not able to take in to account the historical repairs as part of its consideration of the complaint, as a complaint response in respect of these repairs was issued in July 2018. It also noted that the roof fault previously repaired had been caused by the neighbouring property. It advised that it had attended to a roof repair in October 2020 and the contractor reported that he cleared the gutters and fixed some tiles which had slipped. The contractor had also reported that the roof was in poor condition due to wear and tear and recommendations for it to be replaced had been made.
  4. The landlord said that, in response to the recommendations, the resident’s roof had been added to a programme of works. The roofing programme was completed in each financial year and the resident would be written to when the works were due to go ahead. It had spoken to the contractor who attended in October 2020 and been assured that the roof repair would hold pending further works, but the resident should report any further leaks in the meantime. With regard to the damage caused by the leak, the landlord confirmed that it would arrange for this to be made good. However, it declined to provide any compensation as this had already been offered in 2018 in respect of the service failure that occurred at that time. It also said that it could not consider a personal injury claim as part of the complaint process and provided details on how to submit a claim.
  5. In the resident’s response of 27 November 2020, she asked for the complaint to be escalated on the basis that the landlord had not fully understood her complaint and she found its response confusing. She said that the landlord’s statement that her neighbour had caused the damage previously was not true, and that she had only highlighted why she believed the roof to be unsafe and the potential for injury. She stated that the issue had been ongoing for five years and that she had experienced disruption due to the landlord’s failure to correctly repair the roof. She also said that one of the landlord’s staff had told her that her complaint would be rejected and therefore believed that the complaint had not been correctly investigated.
  6. The landlord responded the same day, referencing a conversation it had with her and confirming that it would provide a copy of its repairs history (no notes of this call have been provided to the Ombudsman). The landlord advised that it had reviewed its Stage 1 response and upheld the outcome. It confirmed that the review had been escalated and explained that the complaint had been correctly investigated at Stage 1 but the staff member had been trying to manage the resident’s expectations. It apologised for the inconvenience the resident had experienced in having to move her furniture and noted that it had compensated her for the redecorating costs in July 2020. It also said that it would ascertain when the roof works were scheduled for and would let her know, but the interim repairs had resolved the leak.

Assessment and findings

  1. When referring the matter to this Service, the resident has said that the issues with her roof began in 2015 and that she has raised a number of complaints relating to pest control and leaks in the roof since then. She submits that, following a further leak in 2020, she has been told that the roof is in disrepair and she believes that the landlord has failed to fully resolve the roof issues on previous repairs which has caused damage and distress. As stated above, the landlord has declined to investigate any service issues regarding previous repairs on the basis that these historic matters were investigated and addressed as part of a complaint which was responded to in July 2018.
  2. As the resident did not contact the Ombudsman until November 2020, following completion of the landlord’s complaints process that month, this Service is also unable to consider the events which occurred prior to July 2018 as part of this investigation. This is in line with paragraph 39(d) of the Scheme, which states that the Ombudsman will not consider a complaint which is brought to its attention more than 12 months after it exhausted the landlord’s internal complaints process. Instead, this assessment is focussed on the more recent events and, specifically, the landlord’s response to the complaint raised in November 2020.
  3. In accordance with the terms of the tenancy agreement and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 the landlord was obliged to keep in repair the structure and exterior of the property, including the roof. Therefore, it was necessary for the landlord to investigate the resident’s concerns regarding the roof and take appropriate steps to resolve any identified issues.
  4. The Ombudsman has been provided with a copy of the landlord’s repairs history for the property, which dates back to 2008. The earliest record relating to issues with the roof was on 7 March 2018 and related to leaks and squirrels. Work to plug holes was recorded and pest control arranged to attend. The record also mentioned work to make brickwork at the front of the house safe.The records show that damp was reported in July 2018 and, following a survey, work was arranged to carryout repairs to the valley of the roof in August 2018. The landlord also arranged for pest control to attend and carryout further works.
  5. The records show that there was then a two-year break in any issues with the roof being reported until October 2020, when a problem with the tiles was identified. Therefore, this investigation is focussed on the events from this point onward. Given that there was a significant period when no issues were reported prior to October 2020, it is reasonable to conclude that the previous repairs were effective and that there was no ‘ongoing’ issue with the roof of the property. 
  6. Following the reported leak in October 2020, the landlord arranged for a roofing specialist to carry out a repair to resolve the immediate issue. This demonstrated that it was mindful of its obligations to repair and maintain the roof and applied appropriate resources to doing so. In addition, the specialist recommended that the roof be replaced due to its age and condition and the landlord has shown that it accepted these recommendations by arranging for the roof replacement to be added to its cyclical planned works. The landlord has also said that it would provide updates to the resident on when this would be happening.
  7. Whilst it is understood that the resident may have found it distressing and inconvenient to have further repairs carried out to her roof, the landlord cannot be expected to prevent intermittent repairs and maintenance issues arising on its properties. Instead, when such issues are raised, it is for the landlord to respond in line with the terms of the occupancy agreement and its relevant policies and procedures. In this case, the landlord has taken proportionate action to fulfil its repairing obligations in the short term and has committed to a larger scale repair as part of a cyclical programme of works. In the interests of making the most effective use of its resources as a social landlord, this approach is reasonable.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Scheme there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of its response to the request to carry out a roof repair.

Reasons

  1. There is no evidence to show that the repairs carried out in 2018 where of poor quality or directly related to the leak reported in October 2020. Once the more recent issues were reported, the landlord attended to carry out work to resolve the immediate problems in a timely and professional manner.
  2. The landlord has taken appropriate steps to arrange for the roof replacement as part of its cyclical planned works in response to the roofing specialist recommendations. There is no evidence that the replacement needs to be done outside of the planned works as repairs to stop the reported leak were completed in October 2020.

Recommendation

  1. If it has not already done so, the landlord should provide the resident with an update on when the roof replacement is expected to be carried out. Any reasonable adjustments to the schedule in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and associated government regulations should also be explained.