Sovereign Network Homes (202308206)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202308206

Sovereign Network Homes

6 August 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 landlord’s handling of reports of safety concerns with fire doors in the property.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant. The property is a 1-bedroom ground floor flat within a mid-rise building.
  2. In May 2021, the resident had a new fire door fitted to his property, which he raised issues with as this could not be secured as it was ill-fitting. The resident has said that throughout 2021 and 2022, contractors came out on several occasions but were unable to resolve the door’s issues. The resident wrote to the landlord on 22 September 2022, requesting a move from the property as he felt the fire protection was not up to specification. He said his own door and communal doors in the property were not fitted properly, lacked fire seals and had problems with their handles.
  3. The landlord performed an inspection of the door on 3 November 2022, replaced cold smoke seals on 1 December 2022 and performed a full survey of his front door on 15 November 2022, completing adjustments on 12 December 2022. Throughout this period, a number of issues relating to the fire safety of the communal doors in the property were raised, although from the landlord’s records it is not clear if these were raised by the resident.
  4. The resident raised a complaint to the landlord on 1 March 2023. He said that since the fire door was fitted in 2021, he had several contactors attempt to mend this but all had failed. He felt that the door frame did not meet the fire code of practice for the door’s manufacturer and was concerned about cold smoke being able to enter the flat. The resident said he would like the door frame replacing and the door refitting.
  5. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 15 March 2023. It confirmed that it had attended site with a fire door inspector who had recommended that the door be removed and refit correctly. The landlord also said that it had inspected the communal fire doors in January 2023 and raised repairs to mend these. It told the resident it had upheld his complaint about the communal fire doors, whilst partially upholding his complaint about his front door.
  6. The resident called the landlord on 28 March 2023 to escalate his complaint to stage 2 of the complaints process. He was unhappy that the landlord had failed to provide him with a date or formal plan of action for the works being completed.
  7. The landlord completed work on the resident’s front door on 20 April 2023 but he called the following day to report that this work was incomplete as the door still did not close properly and light continued to come through.
  8. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 1 June 2023. It upheld the resident’s complaint, apologising for not providing him with a start date for the work being completed. It also said that a contractor would be in touch in the week beginning 19 June 2023 to contact him to arrange for the door to be measured and replaced. The landlord advised that it would ensure that the replacement door was followed through to completion.
  9. The resident approached the Ombudsman on 26 June 2023 – he said that his front door still did not fit properly and that he felt the communal area doors and corridor doors were also not fire safe. He advised that he had been reporting this for over 2 years, but the works still remained outstanding. He said that he felt the landlord’s failure to complete the work was putting lives at risk.
  10. In a call with the Ombudsman in August 2024, the resident confirmed that the landlord had now replaced his front door but that the issues in communal areas remained. To resolve his complaint, the resident told the Ombudsman he would like the landlord to make all of the property fire safe.

Assessment and findings

The scope of this investigation

  1. Paragraph 42(c) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (in place at the time of the complaint) stated that the Ombudsman ‘may not consider complaints’ which ‘were not brought to the attention of the member as a formal complaint within a reasonable period which would normally be within 6 months of the matters arising’. The resident first reported concerns about poor workmanship in 2021 but there is no evidence of further reports about these concerns until September 2022. This investigation therefore considers the landlord’s response to the reports beginning in September 2022. The fact that the resident has expressed these concerns at an earlier stage and the landlord’s lack of records regarding any subsequent works have however been noted for context. 

The landlord’s handling of reports of safety concerns with fire doors in the property

  1. The landlord’s fire safety strategy states that it ‘will replace flat entrance door sets if they suspect they do not meet the fire or smoke resistance performance in the buildings regulation guidance’. For communal doors, it states that formal fire door inspections will be ‘carried out at intervals determined by the building risk posed and legislative requirements’. For low-risk properties, this inspection is every 6 months, and for medium and high-risk properties, every 3 months. The landlord says in its repair policy that it intends to ‘try and complete all responsive repairs within 28 calendar days’.
  2. As part of his complaint to the landlord, the resident reported that his front door was fitted incorrectly, as well as the cold smoke seal not operating correctly. The resident also said that he felt the communal fire doors throughout the building were not up to specification, and that these did not open and close correctly.
  3. The landlord responded to the resident’s reports about his front door in a reasonable timeframe and performed adjustments in an attempt to alleviate the situation. After the resident raised concerns in later September 2022, it inspected the door on 3 November 2022, repaired the smoke seals on 1 December 2022 and performed further adjustments on 12 December 2022. After the December adjustments, the work was signed off and the resident was noted to be happy with this.
  4. After raising his complaint on 1 March 2023, the landlord again performed new repairs to the doorframe on 20 April 2023. This work was undertaken following the recommendations made by a fire door expert after a door assessment carried out on 14 March 2023. The resident remained unhappy following this work, feeling that the door still did not shut correctly, and that light was coming through. After this, the landlord undertook another inspection on 19 May 2023 and decided that the door required replacing. The landlord then took measurements and ordered a new door. The resident was given a provisional timescale for this of between 8 and 12 weeks.
  5. The landlord responded to these reports in a timely manner, undertook the necessary inspections, and attempted remedial works. When these repairs were unsuccessful, it then ordered a brand new door. This represented a pro-active approach from the landlord in trying to resolve the matter. The landlord said in its June 2023 stage 2 complaint response that it would replace the door and subsequently fulfilled this commitment, although its records are unclear if there were delays in it doing so (albeit this was done by November 2023).
  6. At both stage 1 and stage 2 of the complaints process, the landlord upheld the resident’s complaints about his front door. This demonstrated that the landlord recognised that the door was potentially not fire safe and that it could have communicated with the resident better regarding this. It therefore would have been reasonable for the landlord to have made an offer of redress to the resident for these failings.
  7. The resident had also reported to the landlord that he had fears about the fire safety of the communal doors in the property. He felt that the doors were ill-fitting and that this represented a fire hazard.
  8. The landlord acknowledged in its stage 1 complaint response that there were faults with communal doors. It said these had been picked up in a January 2023 inspection and that the repairs had been raised. The landlord’s records do not clearly indicate what issues were found, and what jobs were raised. The resident believes that no action has taken place to rectify these.
  9. The landlord’s records do demonstrate it has taken some steps towards completing repairs to communal fire doors. These show that doors on the 4th and 5th floors were repaired in December 2022, a damaged fire door was replaced in the basement of the building in May 2023 and that a temporary fix to the bin store doors was carried out in May 2023 (whilst the landlord was awaiting a replacement door). Throughout this period, the landlord also appears to have undertaken other smaller repairs in relation to fire safety of the communal doors.
  10. However, the landlord has not provided the Ombudsman with a copy of its inspection report from January 2023, meaning it is unclear if these actions were responsive repairs or if later works were linked to the faults identified by this inspection. The landlord has not demonstrated either to the Ombudsman or to the resident that it had a strategy or plan in place to deal with the resident’s concerns about the safety of the communal fire doors.
  11. The landlord failed to communicate fairly with the resident regarding his concerns. If works had been scheduled to remedy any concerns that the resident had with fire safety, the landlord should have clearly communicated with him regarding this. As it stands, the resident has not been provided with any information or updates about what actions the landlord has taken to check, or make safe, the communal fire doors. The landlord’s failure to provide this evidence meant that the resident has been living for over a year believing that the communal doors in his building are not fire safe. This has undoubtedly caused distress for the resident over this period.
  12. When answering his complaint, the landlord was unclear about what it intended to do about the resident’s concerns about the communal fire doors. In its stage 1 complaint response, it said it had identified “remedial works” (although it did not report exactly what these were) and raised repairs in relation to these. It however failed to provide any further updates between its responses or as part of its stage 2 complaint response. Given that the landlord upheld the resident’s complaint because it did not provide a formal action plan in relation to his front door, its failure to consider this for the communal fire doors was unreasonable.
  13. The landlord’s complaints policy has 2 stages. At stage 1 of the complaints process, it says it will attempt to provide a response within 10 working days. At stage 2 of the complaints process, the landlord says it will attempt to provide its response within 20 working days. At both stages, the landlord says it may occasionally need additional time. It says it will write to residents to inform them if extensions are required to provide a complaint response.
  14. At stage 1 of the complaints process, the landlord took 10 working days to provide its complaint response. However, at stage 2, the landlord took 43 working days to provide its response, outside of the timescales specified in its policy. The landlord failed to update the resident about the delays. Given the distress and inconvenience this caused the resident, it would have been reasonable of the landlord to recognise this and offer a small sum of compensation for this matter. The landlord’s failure to recognise this or to remedy it was inappropriate.
  15. Overall, the landlord’s handling of the reports of safety concerns with fire doors in the property, and building, represented maladministration. The landlord failed to properly engage with the resident about the communal fire doors and did not communicate fairly with him regarding these. The landlord upheld the resident’s complaints at stage 1 and 2, recognising that the doors did not operate correctly and that it had not communicated appropriately. Despite acknowledging this in relation to the resident’s own front door, it failed to pick up on similar failings in relation to the communal fire doors. The landlord was also delayed in providing its stage 2 complaint response.
  16. For its failures, the landlord should pay the resident £350 compensation. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance which recommends figures in this range in situations where there was a failure which adversely affected the resident. The landlord also needs to demonstrate to the resident that the communal fire doors are now considered safe, or provide him with an action plan as to how it will remedy any outstanding works required.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the reports of safety concerns with fire doors in the property.

Orders and recommendations

  1. It is ordered that within 4 weeks of the date of this letter, the landlord:
    1. Pay the resident £350 for its failures to communicate fairly with him about the safety concerns he had about the fire doors.
    2. Apologise to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
    3. Provide the resident with a progress update for any outstanding works to the communal fire doors in the block. If the landlord has completed an inspection of these doors within the last 6 months, it should provide a copy of this to the resident as well as an action plan for how it plans to deal with any outstanding fire safety concerns. If the landlord has not performed a formal fire door inspection in the last 6 months, as per its policy, it should explain why and inform the resident when it will carry out such an inspection and commit to providing a copy of the resulting report to him alongside an action plan for any faults that it identifies (within 4 weeks of the inspection).
    4. Provide evidence to the Ombudsman that it has completed the above.