Trent & Dove Housing Limited (202200745)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202200745

Trent & Dove Housing Limited

2 October 2023

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 handling of reports of defects at the resident’s property.

Background and Summary of Events

Background

2. The resident is a shared owner of the property. The lease agreement is dated 23 May 2018.
3. Under the terms of the lease, the resident agrees “to keep the premises in good and substantial repair and condition”. A 12 month defect inspection was carried out on 17 April 2019.
4. The landlord has a 2 stage complaint process. It will respond to complaints at stage 1 within 10 working days, and stage 2 within 20 working days. The landlord will not consider an issue which happened more than 6 months previously unless there are valid reasons why a resident was not able to raise the matter with it sooner. When a resident is unhappy with the outcome of their complaint, they have a right to appeal the decision. The landlord asks residents to escalate their complaint within 20 working days.

Summary of events

5. On 21 February 2020, the resident contacted the landlord as the back door was letting in water through the glass window pane. She also said that inspectors visited in January 2020 as her carpets were fraying and she had not heard anything back. The landlord contacted the developer who confirmed this was now the responsibility of the resident as the 12 month defect period had passed. The developer said that the manufacturer of the windows and doors could be contacted directly to discuss their warranty.
6. In June 2020, the resident contacted the landlord about a damaged fence and gate. The landlord requested the developer replace the gate. From the information provided, the developer repaired the gate instead. In August 2020, the information provided to this service shows that the resident raised a complaint about her fence/gate and the landlord responded to this complaint on 17 August 2020. Copies of the complaint and response have not been provided for this investigation.
7. On 5 January 2022, the resident contacted the landlord as her bathroom ceiling had developed a brown patch. She said that at the 12 month end of defect inspection in April 2019 she advised the inspector that the boiler flue on the roof “did not look right”. The landlord contacted the developer who checked the inspection report. They advised the landlord that there was no mention of the flue on the report and said that no other work would be carried out at the property. On 11 February 2022, the resident made a formal complaint about this to the landlord.
8. On 17 February 2022, the landlord responded and said that the complaint was not upheld. It said that no defects had been logged for the flue during the 12 month defect period and provided the resident with a copy of the inspection report. The form contained a section for the date the repair was remedied, but this was not completed. The developer said all the repairs noted on the inspection form were carried out. The landlord explained that repairs were now the resident’s responsibility and that any building warranties would not cover issues caused by a leaking flue. It said that it had also spoken to the officer who carried out the defect inspection in April 2019. They said they did not recall a conversation with the resident about the flue (bearing in mind the inspection occurred almost 3 years previously) and that the report was correct to the best of their knowledge.
9. On 24 February 2022, the resident escalated her complaint. The resident stated she had not been provided with the end of 12 month defect inspection report previously. She said that had she received it at the time of the inspection, she could have checked whether anything had been missed off straightaway. She said she showed the inspector the flue when they were outside in the garden and said the inspector made a note of it. She also said that the report stated the thermostat controls may have had a loose connection but this was never repaired, and that the back gate was never replaced as indicated in the report, but just had “shoddy wood” nailed onto the post. The resident said she had previously raised this as a complaint (in August 2020).
10. On 17 March 2022, the landlord provided its final stage response as follows:
    1. It confirmed that the flue and/or roof were not part of the works raised at the 12 month defect inspection and apologised if the resident brought this to the attention of the inspector at that time. The landlord stated that there had been nearly a 3 year gap before the resident brought issues with the flue to its attention and there was not enough evidence to support the resident’s claim that the leak reported had occurred during the 12 month defect period.
    2. The landlord confirmed that the possible loose connection of the thermostat control was on the defect report. However, it had assumed all repairs were completed in 2019 as advised by the developer, and the resident had not reported a fault to the thermostat.
    3. It stated that the alleged poor workmanship to the gate occurred more than 6 months previously and it would not investigate this matter further, in accordance with its complaints policy.   
    4. It was not obliged to provide a copy of the 12 month defect inspection sheet to residents, but would consider doing this in the future.

Assessment and findings

11. The resident reported the brown stain on the bathroom ceiling in January 2022, which she attributed to a leak through the boiler flue. The resident said that at the 12 month defect check in April 2019 she reported that the flue “didn’t look right” and the inspector made a note of it.
12. Although the inspection was almost 3 years earlier, the landlord responded to the complaint and investigated the resident’s reports as far as it could reasonably be expected to. This included providing the record from the 12 month defect inspection and contacting the inspector who visited to check whether they had any recollection of events.
13. The resident did not contact the landlord about a repair to the flue following the defect inspection. No leaks were reported at the property at any point since the commencement of the lease in March 2018 up until January 2022. By this time, all repairs to the premises were the responsibility of the resident under the terms of the lease. It is not known if the stain could be attributed to any faults with the flue. The actions of the landlord to investigate the matter and subsequently advise the resident that it would carry out no further work at the property were therefore reasonable.
14. The resident did not raise the complaint about the thermostat controls until a copy of the 12 month inspection record had been provided with the landlord’s stage 1 complaint response. The record stated that the thermostat had a possible loose connection, which the resident said had not been repaired. From the information provided, it is not clear whether this was repaired or not.
15. However, the resident has not reported an issue with the thermostat at any point in the period between the start of the lease and the complaint, and there is no indication that this caused any issues at the property since the commencement of the lease almost 4 years earlier. The landlord therefore acted appropriately by advising the resident all repairs were now her responsibility. Further, given there is no indication that the thermostat was not functional or caused problems with the heating at the property, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, there was no significant adverse effect caused to the resident.
16. The evidence shows that at the 12 month defect inspection, the gate was identified as requiring replacement – “timber side gate much too small for the opening. It needs replacing with one made to fit”. The landlord then contacted the developer in June 2020 requesting the gate be replaced, but the developer carried out a repair instead.
17. There is no indication that the resident escalated her original complaint made in August 2020 about the gate/fence, and there are no other references made about the gate until the resident’s stage 2 response in February 2022. The landlord stated that under its complaints policy, it will not investigate an issue which happened more than 6 months prior to the complaint unless there are valid reasons why a resident is not able to raise the matter within that timeframe. It also asks a resident to escalate a complaint within 20 working days. Although the landlord would in some circumstances be expected to apply some discretion to its timeframes, the resident did not raise the issue of the gate again for 18 months, which was well outside of these timeframes. It was therefore appropriate for the landlord to advise the resident it would not look investigate the complaint about the gate.
18. The landlord provided the resident with a copy of the 12 month defect inspection record with its stage 1 complaint response. Although required repairs are identified in the report, it does not provide any completion dates of work, which meant there was no record that all repairs noted were completed, or that all concerns raised by the resident were noted on the sheet. A recommendation has therefore been made below in this regard.
19. When the resident escalated her complaint to stage 2, she said she had not previously received a copy of the 12 month defect inspection record. The landlord advised that it was not legally obliged to provide the report, but thanked the resident for her feedback, and said it would consider doing this in future. Although providing the report shortly after the inspection would have provided more clarity to the resident, it is not known whether there would have been a different outcome. It is acknowledged that the landlord could only act retrospectively once the resident raised an issue.
20. The landlord has identified some improvements it could make in relation to its future communications with residents following the 12 month defect checks which may provide more transparency to its residents and better manage their expectations. A recommendation is made below about this learning point.

Determination (decision)

21. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of reports of defects at the resident’s property.

Reasons

22. The resident reported a stain on her ceiling almost 4 years after the lease commenced. There is no evidence that any problems with the flue, or any leaks, had been previously reported. The resident stated she reported concerns about the flue at the 12 month defect inspection; although this was almost 3 years previously, the landlord still investigated the resident’s reports. It was also clear in its communications with the resident that it would not complete any further repairs at the property and provided advice about the warranty.
23. The resident was not aware until February 2022 that there was a possible loose connection of the thermostat identified at the 12 month defect inspection. Although from the information provided, it cannot be confirmed whether this was repaired or not, no faults to the thermostat were reported that the landlord failed to act on, or raise with the developer, in the 4 years since the start of the lease.
24. Although the gate was not replaced, it was repaired. The landlord responded to the complaint made in August 2020 and the resident did not escalate the complaint to the landlord at that time. The resident did not raise this issue again until February 2022 at which point the landlord appropriately decided that it would not investigate the matter further.

Recommendations

25. The landlord is to provide all residents of newly built properties a list of all outstanding defects found at the end of 12 month defect inspection, and record completion dates, for any repairs identified, within 4 weeks of the inspection.
26. The landlord should reply to this Service with its intentions in regard to this recommendation within 4 weeks of this report.