London Borough of Hackney (202318351)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202318351

London Borough of Hackney

28 March 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 various repairs.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord, who is also the freeholder of the converted house she lives in. The resident lives in the lower floor flat, while a leaseholder lives on the top floor flat.
  2. The leaseholder carried out unauthorised alterations, causing leaks in the resident’s kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, and hallway, along with multiple sewage resurges in her bathroom and kitchen. The landlord raised the necessary repairs in August 2022.
  3. The resident complained on 3 November 2022 about leaks from above and chased the landlord to progress with the repairs it had raised in August 2022. The landlord replied on 29 November 2022, saying its operatives had repaired the leak and reported no follow-on works to the property.
  4. The resident wrote to the landlord on 28 February 2023 and said that one of the bedrooms needed to be treated for water damage and repainted, which could not proceed until the landlord repaired the ongoing leaks from the roof and sewage works. She asked to escalate her complaint to stage 2. In July 2023, she reported issues with the water supply to her toilet following the sewage repair.
  5. The landlord sent its final response letter on 4 September 2023. It agreed that there were 56 weeks of avoidable delays in completing the repairs. It confirmed that the repairs had been completed or in the final stages of completion. In recognition of the distress and inconvenience, it offered the resident £1,560 in compensation.
  6. The resident brought her complaint to the Service on 4 October 2023. She said some repairs were still outstanding. Evidence submitted by the landlord shows that the last of the repairs were completed in January 2024.

Assessment and findings

  1. The tenancy conditions reflect the landlord’s obligations under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to repair and keep in repair the structure and exterior of the property, including drains, gutters, and sanitation systems.
  2. In response to the leaks and sewage issues in the resident’s home, the landlord raised the required repairs in August 2022, which included roof drainage, sewage repairs, internal plastering, redecoration and external works to a wall and stairs.
  3. The resident chased the landlord to complete the outstanding repairs in September, October, November, December 2022, and January 2023. By that time,she had complained to the landlord about the time it was taking to resolve the problems.
  4. In its response to the complaint, the landlord acknowledged that its repair service and communication with the resident had been poor, including 56 weeks of what it agreed were avoidable delays.
  5. Where a landlord has acknowledged errors, it is the Ombudsman’s responsibility to assess whether the redress offered by the landlord effectively resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the given circumstances. In making this assessment, the Ombudsman considers whether the landlord’s offer of redress aligns with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: Be Fair, Put Things Right, and Learn from Outcomes, along with our guidance on remedies.
  6. In this case, the landlord accepted that its poor service had had an impact on the resident, for which it apologised. It offered compensation of £1,560, comprising £10 for each week the repair was delayed, along with an additional £1,000 for his distress and inconvenience. This total amount was in line with its compensation guidance, which states that it may award over £1,000 when it fails to deliver a service over a significant period.
  7. The amount of compensation was proportionate and reflected the duration that therepair issues had remained unresolved, demonstrating the landlord’s acknowledgement of its shortcomings and their adverse effects on the resident. The amount also aligned with the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies for situations involving repeated failings and significant impact, particularly when the landlord has recognised its mistakes and attempted to rectify them. Along with its apology, the offer of compensation represented appropriate steps to resolve the complaint.
  8. The landlord, however, failed to explain what had gone wrong regarding the delays, and the reason for them is not clear from the evidence. It appropriately acknowledged that some were beyond its control, such as the external stairs due to a statutory obligation to consult leaseholders about remedial works. However, the majority of repairs were within its control. It had not investigated what had gone wrong or identified learning from the case. The landlord, therefore, failed to follow the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution principles. To reflect this, a finding of service failure has been made below.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was a service failure by the landlord in respect of its handling of the resident’s various repairs.

Orders

  1. If it has not done so already, within 4 weeks, the landlord must pay the resident the £1,560 in compensation it previously offered for the distress and the inconvenience caused by its handling of the resident’s various repairs.
  2. In line with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code and the Principles, he landlord must conduct a case review within 8 weeks of this report to identify what it can learn from its handling of this case, particularly with respect to its oversight of contractors and their work. It should explain the measures it intends to take to prevent similar failings in the future.
  3. Evidence of compliance with these orders must be provided by their respective deadlines.