Walsall Housing Group Limited (202110945)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202110945

Walsall Housing Group Limited

1 December 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
1. repairs to the skirting boards at the property.
2. repairs to the plastering at the property.
3. the associated complaint.

Background

The resident has an assured tenancy agreement that began on 5 October 1998. The property is a 3-bedroom post-war house.
The resident instructed a solicitor in a disrepair claim in September 2020 and they sent a pre-action letter to the landlord. The claim settled out of court in September 2021. The resident received compensation, and the landlord agreed to carry out the necessary repairs.
The resident contacted us in August 2021, to express concerns about repairs at the property. We signposted the resident to the landlord and provided advice about completing its internal complaints procedure. In November 2021, the resident told us the landlord had not issued a stage 1 response. We contacted the landlord, and it told us that as the resident had “a live legal claim” it would not provide a complaint response, in line with its policy.
We continued to correspond with the landlord during 2021 and 2022. We told the landlord that it needed to respond to the complaint or explain its decision not to the investigate the complaint in writing. The landlord gave 2 responses in December 2021 and April 2022 in which it said it would not investigate the complaint.
The resident remained unhappy. In September 2022, we wrote to the landlord to confirm what the resident was unhappy about and said we had seen no evidence of a live legal claim or pending proceedings. We therefore asked it to provide a complaint response
On 4 October 2022, the landlord issued its stage 1 response. It said:
1. It had met with the resident on 22 September 2022 to talk about the repairs.
2. Plastering works to 2 upstairs bedrooms had been completed and signed off on 16 February 2021. However, new skirting boards were not installed after the plaster work.
3. It had arranged an appointment to install the skirting boards; and wished to offer the resident £50 compensation for the delay in installing the skirting boards.
4. It had also agreed further repair works from the 22 September meeting.
We informed the resident that they should escalate their concerns with the landlord if they were unhappy with the response. It is unclear whether the resident did so. However, they then contacted us in April 2023 and told us that they were still unhappy. Following a further exchange of correspondence with both parties, on 27 November 2023, we asked the landlord to issue a stage 2 response within 4 weeks.
The landlord sent its stage 2 response on 20 December 2023. It said:
1. It had completed the extra plastering work on 14 November 2022.
2. There had been several attempts to fit the skirting boards, but this had not been done as it could not gain access to the property.
3. It had handled the complaint in line with its policy
4. The stage 1 offer of £50 was still open for acceptance.
In February 2024 the resident spoke to us and said they were still having issues with their property. They told us they wanted us to look into the complaint as the repairs had not been finished.

Assessment and findings

Scope of Investigation

This investigation has focused on the complaint made in September 2022 and the response to this complaint from the landlord. However, in line with the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the Ombudsman would consider a reasonable period prior to the complaint date in order to come to an informed decision. This would normally include 12 months prior to the complaint date. It is therefore reasonable to include the resident’s attempt to raise concerns in August 2021 within this investigation as this was the point in which the resident contacted the Ombudsman to obtain a formal response The resident has also told us of issues with the kitchen, gas and hot water for the shower. However, in the interest of fairness, these issues need to be raised with the landlord first so they can go through its internal complaint procedure.

Repairs to the skirting boards

The landlord was responsible under a combination of section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the tenancy agreement and its policies for resolving all the repair issues included in the resident’s complaint.
Following the complaint of 16 September 2022, the landlord visited the resident’s property and found it had not replaced the skirting boards after the plastering work had been finished. It also found some further plastering work that needed to be carried out.
The original plastering work was signed off on 16 February 2021. The landlord has said it then did not install the new skirting boards as a follow up job order was not made.
As part of its stage 1 complaint response the landlord made an appointment for the new skirting boards to be installed. This was right. It also said its plastering contractor would contact the resident to look at the plastering work that the landlord and resident had identified in their meeting of 22 September 2022.
The plastering work was completed in November 2022. The landlord then tried to install the new skirting boards on the following dates but was unable to gain access to the property:
1. 27 October 2022
2. 1 December 2022
3. 15 December 2022
4. 20 January 2023
The resident phoned the landlord on 3 April 2023 and said they had not been contacted since the last appointment had been cancelled. The landlord arranged to go to the property on 12 April 2023 to look at the skirting boards and plastering. However, the resident cancelled the appointment as it was not convenient. The landlord made a note on its system to rearrange the appointment but there is no evidence to show this was done.
We would have expected the landlord to have made a new appointment as it made a record that it needed to do so. This is a failing by the landlord and added to the delay in arranging the installation of the new skirting boards.
The landlord had been put on notice that the repair was outstanding. It was therefore obliged to ensure that it was completed. Given the failure to fix the skirting boards in in early 2021, it should reasonably have tried to ensure that the works were completed without further delay. It is noted that the delay between October 2022 and January 2023 was not attributable to the landlord. However, it should reasonably have been proactive in arranging a further repair to avoid further delay
After the resident escalated their complaint in November 2023, the landlord asked the resident to contact it to arrange a time to install the skirting boards. It is unclear whether the resident did so. Currently there is no evidence to show the resident, or the landlord have made a new appointment for the skirting boards to be installed.
We acknowledge that the landlord tried to install the new skirting boards but was unable to as it could not get access to the property. However, it is the landlord’s responsibility to complete the repairs.
If it could not get access to the property to do so we would have expected it to remind the resident of their obligation under the tenancy agreement to allow it access. It should have also told the resident that if access was unreasonably refused it could consider taking enforcement action, if necessary. We have seen no evidence it gave them any such advice.
To start with, appointments were rescheduled, but after April 2023 the landlord did not make any further attempts to rearrange the installation of the skirting boards. It was only due to the resident’s request to escalate their complaint that the landlord told the resident to contact it to arrange the appointment.
We would expect the landlord to reschedule any missed appointments and whilst we can understand its frustration if appointments are consistently cancelled it still has a duty to fulfil the repairs. In our recent Spotlight report ‘Repairing Trust’ we highlighted the importance of landlords making sure they reschedule missed appointments. We have recommended the landlord review this case focusing on its management of missed appointments in line with the spotlight report.
Overall, we have found maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the skirting board repairs. This is due to the delay in it carrying out the required work and its failure to take appropriate action to make sure it could do so.
The skirting boards should have been installed following the plastering work that was completed in February 2021. The landlord found it had not done so in September 2022. This work had still not been completed by the time of the landlord’s stage 2 response in December 2023.
This is a long delay in completing the work further to which we have not seen any evidence that it has now been completed. As such we order the landlord to write to the resident, apologise for the failings we identified, and include within this letter its action plan for completing any outstanding repairs. Furthermore, we order the landlord pay the resident £200 compensation alongside its offer of £50, for the distress and inconvenience caused by this delay and failure to make sure appointments were rescheduled.

Repairs to the plastering

Following the meeting of 22 September 2022 the landlord found some plaster work that needed to be completed. It arranged for this work to be completed by its plastering contractor. The work was completed in November 2022.
We have found no maladministration in the handling of the plaster work repairs. Once the landlord was made aware of the work that was needed it arranged for this to be done and was completed within a reasonable amount of time.

The associated complaint

The resident tried to raise their concerns as a complaint in August 2021. Following communication from us, the landlord said it would not raise a complaint as there was a “live legal claim”. We informed the landlord that it should either issue a complaint response or confirm, in writing, the grounds under which it was declining to accept the complaint
The Housing Ombudsman Scheme and our Complaint Handling Code both set out the expectation that if a landlord declines to consider a complaint, it must set out full reasons – together with referral rights to this Service. The landlord did not do so.
On 13 April 2022 the landlord provided the resident with a response that set out the reasons why it would not look into the complaint and provided the resident with information about referring their complaint to us. However, correspondence was also previously issued to the resident on 20 December 2021 confirming the complaint would not be investigated in line with its complaint policy due to a live disrepair case. This was reiterated in its correspondence to the resident on 13 April 2022. The correspondence dated 20 December 2021 was 3 months after the resident first contacted the landlord and 1 month after we asked the landlord to provide an appropriate response to the resident.
The reason for the landlord’s delay is unclear. However, we have seen no evidence that this delay was unavoidable. It is also noted that the landlord’s decision not to issue a formal response was the cause of time and trouble to the resident and they found it necessary to contact us several times. As such, we have found service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling. For this we order the landlord pay the resident £100 compensation for this delay.
When the September 2022 complaint was made to the landlord and the later escalation of it in November 2023, the landlord responded within the timeframes set out in its policy. We have found no failings with this part of the complaint response from the landlord.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was:
1. maladministration in the handling of the skirting board repairs at the property.
2. no maladministration in the handling of the plastering repairs at the property.
3. service failure in the handling of the assocaited complaint.

Orders

Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord should:
1. Write a letter to the resident which:
  1. contains an apology for the maladministration and service failure found in this report. The apology should follow the best practice set out in the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance.
  2. contains an action plan with timelines to explain how it will complete the installation of the skirting boards if this has not already been done.
2. Pay the resident a total of £350 made up of the following:
  1. £250 for maladministration of the skirting board repair. This amount is inclusive of the £50 offered in its final response if this has not already been paid. If it has been paid the landlord need only pay the resident the £200 ordered by us.
  2. £100 for the handling of the associated complaint.
It is the Ombudsman’s position that compensation awarded by us should be treated separately from any existing financial arrangements between the landlord and resident and should not be offset against arrears.

Recommendation

We recommend the landlord reviews this case, particularly its management of missed appointments, with reference to the findings and recommendations in our Spotlight report ‘Repairing Trust’.