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Manchester City Council (202430450)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202430450

Manchester City Council

12 September 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 repairs to the roof and fence.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The property is a 2 bedroom bungalow.
  2. On 24 January 2024, the resident reported to the landlord that a tree at the back of the property had fallen onto the roof which caused damage to the roof and fence, and it had blocked access to the back door. 
  3. The landlord’s surveyor first attended on 1 February 2024 to make the roof safe, put a tarpaulin in place, and removed the tree.
  4. On 19 February 2024 the resident complained to the landlord. She said that since the landlord had attended she had not had any clarity about the roof repair, and the tarpaulin was making a loud noise.
  5. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 11 March 2024. The landlord acknowledged delays in attending to the roof and apologised for the miscommunication and errors made. It said the minor repairs team would be in touch to arrange the repairs.
  6. On 23 August 2024 the resident expressed dissatisfaction that the repairs to the roof had not been progressed. The resident also raised that she was unhappy that the fence had not been fixed and the debris from the storm remained in her garden. In response on the same day the landlord raised an emergency repair as flashing had fallen off the roof and slates were loose.
  7. On 23 September 2024 the landlord issued its stage 2 response. It acknowledged that the works were not progressed and this was unacceptable. It said work was assigned to a contractor and repairs to the roof and fencing would be arranged within 8 weeks. It offered £200 compensation for the inconvenience caused to the resident.
  8. On 11 December 2024 the resident sought assistance in seeking a response from the landlord from a Councillor as she said she was frightened during recent storms from the loud noise the tarpaulin was making and the potential for further damage to the roof. The landlord secured the tarpaulin on 20 December 2024.

Events after the landlord’s complaints procedure

  1. On 31 January 2025 the landlord attended to do works on the roof and advised a replacement fence was needed. The landlord requested the knotweed from the garden to be removed in March 2025 so that the fence work could commence.
  2. The fence repair was completed on 13 May 2025 and the repairs to the roof were completed on 21 May 2025.

Assessment and findings

  1. The tenancy agreement provides that the landlord must keep the structure and exterior of the property in repair.
  2. The landlord’s repair policy classifies emergency repairs as where there is a serious risk to the resident or their home. In these cases the landlord will attend within 3 hours to make it safe. The policy also says the landlord will complete a routine repair within 28 days and a major repair can take up to 90 days.
  3. The resident reported damage to the roof and the surrounding area on 24 January 2024. The resident was advised that an operative would attend on 26 January 2024, however no one attended. Following her initial report, the resident followed up with the landlord on 3 occasions before an appointment was assigned on 1 February 2024. The landlord’s surveyor attended on 1 February 2024 to assess the site and make it safe. This was 7 working days after the first report.
  4. Additionally, the resident informed the landlord that some roof tiles had fallen off on 23 August 2024. The landlord said it would raise an emergency appointment at this time, but is not clear from the evidence that this appointment went ahead. Given the landlord’s repair policy requires it to attend to an emergency repair within 3 hours and falling tiles is a hazard, the landlord did not act in accordance with its policy in response to the initial report or supply sufficient evidence that it had on the second occasion. This delay in attending and lack of communication to the resident meant she was further distressed by an already distressing situation.
  5. The landlord completed the roof repair on 21 May 2025. Therefore the overall time it took to complete the repair, after making it safe, was 15 months . The time taken to fix the roof was well beyond the timeframe listed in the landlord’s repair policy for a routine repair, which is 28 days. Even where there is a major repair its policy provides that these will be completed within 90 days (3 months). Additionally the fence was repaired on 13 May 2025, therefore it also took 15 months following the resident’s report of the initial storm event for the landlord to replace the section of damaged fence. These delays were unreasonable.
  6. The landlord did acknowledge delays at stage 1 and said there was miscommunications and errors made. However, it did not say what the miscommunication was or how it might make improvements in the future and learn from its mistakes. It did not acknowledge the initial missed appointment or the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident as a result of its failures. This was a missed opportunity to engage with the issues at hand and attempt to put things right.
  7. At stage 2 on 23 September 2024 the landlord missed another opportunity to acknowledge its failures, take learnings and put things right. It did recognise the further delays and offered £200 compensation for its poor communication and delays. However, this sum did not factor in its earlier failings (missed appointment and delays) and was not proportionate to the level of failures identified overall in this investigation. Additionally, it did not meet the timeframes it committed to in its stage 2 response of arranging the repairs within 8 weeks.
  8. The landlord demonstrated poor communication across its complaint process. The resident repeatedly expressed concerns about the lack of action from the   landlord to conduct the repair job. The resident attended the landlord’s office on numerous occasions and chased the roof repair over the phone on 24 March 2024, 12 December 2024 and 8 April 2025. In December 2024 the resident also turned to a Councillor for assistance in seeking a response from the landlord. She also requested updates about the fence on 28 March 2025 and 25 April 2025. The evidence does not support that the resident was given sufficient clarity about the repair works at these times, nor were there proactive updates about the repairs or assurances that the landlord was acting to prioritise them.
  9. Given the resident’s numerous attempts to seek clarity about the repairs, it was unreasonable of the landlord not to supply answers and stick to its commitments. The landlord took a further 23 weeks from its stage 2 response to action the repairs. This delay and the ongoing uncertainty due to poor communication caused the resident considerable inconvenience and distress.
  10. The resident reported concerns on 19 February 2024, 23 August 2024, and 11 December 2024 about the condition of the roof and disruptive noises from the temporary tarpaulin in place. She was worried further damage may have amounted to the roof when the bad weather hit, this caused her distress every time the weather turned. While the landlord did act to secure the tarpaulin in December 2024 in response to the resident’s concerns raised at that time, it did not recognise the overall distress and inconvenience caused to her across the 15 months it took to fix the roof. Therefore it was inappropriate of the landlord to not consider the impact to the resident in its complaint responses or thereafter.
  11. Overall there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the repairs to the roof and fence. The landlord recognised some failures but it did not fully engage to identify all of them in order to appropriately address them or to put things right for the resident. Its communication was poor, and it excessively delayed repairs to the roof and fence without adequate explanation. It also did not recognise the extent of the impact the resident faced, where she reported ongoing worries about the temporary nature of the fix to the roof and that it was disrupting her peace and enjoyment of the property.
  12. In line with our remedies guidance, we have made orders for the landlord to apologise to the resident and pay her additional £200 compensation. This is reflective of a finding of maladministration, where the resident was adversely affected and the landlord failed to acknowledge this or put things right.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the roof and fence repairs.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks the Ombudsman orders the landlord to provide evidence that it has:
    1. Apologised to the resident for its handling of the roof and fence repairs.
    2. Paid the resident a total of £400 compensation for its handling of the roof and fence repairs (including £200 it offered during its complaints process, if it has not already paid this to the resident).
  2. The Ombudsman orders the landlord to review the learnings from this report. It must identify areas of improvement specific to this case, including improvements in its response times to emergency repairs and routine repairs, and how it communicates with its residents about repairs. The landlord is to report back to us within 8 weeks of the date of this report as to how it will implement such improvements.