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Homes Plus Limited (202321094)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202321094

Homes Plus Limited

12 May 2025

 

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 the resident’s:
    1. Reports of repairs, drainage smells, and inadequate insulation.
    2. Associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident’s assured tenancy with the landlord began in 2012.
  2. From November 2021 to July 2022, the resident reported repairs to the landlord associated with her toilet and the surrounding flooring. On 14 March and 12 July 2022, she complained to the landlord about the length of time that the works had been outstanding. On 12 July 2022 the landlord called her and arranged an inspection. At the inspection, the resident reported unpleasant smells in her bathroom and separate toilet, which she told the landlord that it had previously failed to resolve.
  3. On 22 July 2022 the landlord sent the resident its stage 1 response. It advised that it raised an inspection to identify the cause of the unpleasant smells. It said that if its works caused further deterioration of her flooring it would revisit this aspect of her complaint. It apologised for its delays and “poor communication”.
  4. In August 2022 the landlord completed a CCTV drain survey, which identified gully and pipework defects. In November 2022 the resident chased it for repairs updates and reported inadequate loft insulation. During January 2023, she further chased it for updates and escalated her complaint to stage 2.
  5. On 23 February 2023 the landlord sent the resident its stage 2 response. It apologised for its service failures, which it acknowledged were unacceptable. It detailed the repairs it had booked and that her insulation would be inspected that day. It stated the actions that it had taken that month to eliminate external causes of the unpleasant smell. It explained the possible internal causes it would now explore. It committed to offer her compensation once the extent of any further work was known.
  6. During March 2023, the landlord began works to address the smell at the resident’s property. It offered her £800 compensation. Following the works, the resident told it that the smell was still present. From April to July 2023, the landlord undertook major works, and the resident chased it for updates. At the end of July 2023, the resident confirmed that the smell had been resolved. In August 2023, the landlord increased its compensation offer to £950.
  7. The resident asked the Ombudsman to investigate the landlord’s handling of the matters above. She asked that our investigation consider matters since 2012. She said that she did not believe that the landlord had fairly compensated her for the distress its failings had caused since that time.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. Complaints should be raised promptly so that landlords can take action to resolve the issues. The Ombudsman investigates complaints based on the evidence of service failure presented and it would not be fair to investigate back to 2012. This is because as time passes records may become unavailable and memories fade and will not be reliable. Therefore, this investigation is therefore focused on matters since late 2021.

Repairs handling

  1. In November 2021 the resident reported her blocked toilet and drainage issues to the landlord. The landlord initially attended within the timeframe of its policy and removed and partly refitted the resident’s toilet. However, from that point onwards, and as the landlord later acknowledged, the evidence shows multiple occasions of its poor service, and the distress caused to the resident.
  2. Over the following months, the resident reminded the landlord that her toilet had not been secured to the floor and reported other outstanding repairs. On 14 March 2022 she complained about its lack of progress and its nonattendance at appointments. The landlord’s failure to handle the matter as a formal complaint has been separately considered below. However, it also later accepted that, having noted that all jobs at the resident’s property had been closed, it had failed to take any further action.
  3. The resident continued to chase the landlord and on 12 July 2022 she made the same complaint again. The landlord contacted her the same day and acted in more timely manner over the following month when it inspected her property and completed a drain survey. However, the resident experienced further time and trouble while she chased the landlord for updates over the remainder of the year. In November 2022, she expressed her frustration that her repairs were still outstanding and her belief that she had insufficient loft insulation.
  4. The landlord has since said that it arranged to inspect the resident’s loft in December 2022 but did not gain access. It told us that, having left the resident a card, the matter was not raised again until her complaint was escalated, and it confirmed that she had sufficient insulation. It told us that it therefore did not consider that there had been any failure in this aspect of its service. However, this contradicted its own stage 2 response that apologised to the resident for the “administration error” that led to several repairs, including her loft inspection, being “incorrectly marked on our system as completed”.
  5. The landlord’s stage 2 response, in February 2023, also apologised to the resident for the time taken to address the strong drain smells and her outstanding repairs. It acknowledged that “this is not acceptable and falls below the standard of service we expect”. It was appropriate for it to explain its repair intentions and commit to offering her compensation.
  6. Following the conclusion of the landlord’s complaint process, while its initial attempt to resolve the smells was unsuccessful, it did act in a timelier manner. Nonetheless, the resident continued to experience time, trouble, and distress over the following 5 months while the landlord completed major works to resolve the drainage smells. In March 2023 it offered her £800 compensation, which it said was in respect of its service failings since November 2021. In August 2023, following the conclusion of its works, it increased its offer to £950.
  7. This award was in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance where there were failures that “had a significant impact on the resident” and “the redress needed to put things right is substantial”. It is therefore our opinion that the landlord’s offer to the resident resolved the complaint satisfactorily, was represented reasonable redress for the failings in its handling of her repairs. This finding is based on the landlord’s total compensation of £950.

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord’s complaint policy states that it will acknowledge residents’ complaints within 5 working days. It says that it will issue its stage 1 response within 10 working days of acknowledgment.
  2. As above, the resident’s complaint to the landlord on 12 July 2022 was her second attempt to make it. The information provided by the landlord acknowledged to us that it had been a “service failure” not to handle the matter as a formal complaint when she first made it on 14 March 2022. However, we have seen no evidence that it explained or apologised to the resident for this failing, including when it did respond to her complaint.
  3. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s second complaint on the same day that she made it. Its complaint handling from that point to the conclusion of its process was in line with its policy. Nonetheless, it had taken the landlord 83 working days to acknowledge the resident’s complaint from when she had first made it. This would have added to her time, trouble, and distress.
  4. The landlord should have identified this failing during its complaint investigation and addressed it in its response to the resident. A finding of service failure has therefore been made.
  5. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £100 compensation for the time, trouble, and distress caused by its delayed complaint handling. This award is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance’s recommended range, where there “was a failure which adversely affected the resident”, which the landlord has failed to acknowledge or put right.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53.b of the Scheme, the landlord has offered redress to the resident prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, satisfactorily resolves the complaint about its handling of the resident’s reports of repairs, drainage smells, and inadequate insulation.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s associated complaint.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. The landlord must, within 4 weeks of the date of this determination, pay the resident £100 compensation for the time, trouble, and distress caused by the delay in its complaint handling. Compensation awarded by the Ombudsman should be paid directly to the resident and not offset against arrears where they exist. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with this order within 4 weeks of this determination.

Recommendation

  1. The landlord should pay the resident the £950 compensation offered during the complaint procedure if it has not already done so.