Homes Plus Limited (202341523)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202341523

Homes Plus Limited

26 September 2024

 

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 at the resident’s property.
  2. The landlord’s complaint handling is also considered.

Background

  1. The resident has an assured tenancy that started on 22 March 2023. The property is a 2-bed semi-detached house, which the resident shares with her son who is disabled. The landlord is a housing association. The landlord’s records show the resident has vulnerabilities.
  2. The evidence shows a survey carried out before the property was let (the pre-void inspection) on 26 January 2023, identified the bathroom door handle needed to be replaced and this was done on 17 March 2023.
  3. The resident moved into the property on 10 April 2023 and reported repairs to the landlord on 17 April 2023. The landlord raised a job the same day for the replacement of the double-glazing unit. The resident chased the window replacement in May and June 2023, and on 26 June 2023, reported the bathroom door did not close and the back door leaked when it rained.
  4. The resident raised a stage 1 complaint on 24 July 2023. The landlord provided a stage 1 response on 18 August 2023 and upheld the resident’s complaint. The landlord acknowledged it had failed to complete the window replacement, bathroom and backdoor repairs. The landlord said the window would be replacement and the doors repaired on 23 August 2023. The landlord also acknowledged it had not returned the resident’s calls. It apologised and awarded £100 compensation for the failings.
  5. On 19 December 2023 the resident raised a further complaint about the progress of the repairs, and the landlord then escalated the resident’s previous complaint to stage 2.
  6. The landlord inspected the doors on 5 January 2024 and concluded the backdoor needed to be replaced and the bathroom door required further repair. The landlord raised job to replace the latch on the bathroom door.
  7. The landlord provided a stage 2 response on 24 January 2024. The landlord apologised for the delay in providing the response. The landlord said the inspection had identified the bathroom door required repair and the backdoor needed replacing. The bathroom door repair and a temporary backdoor repair was scheduled on 1 February 2024. The landlord would order a replacement backdoor and estimated it would be fitted within 12 weeks. The landlord awarded the resident an additional £150 compensation.
  8. The resident contacted this Service on 8 February 2024 as repairs remained outstanding and the landlord was not responding to her enquiries.

Assessment and findings

  1. Evidence provided to this Service shows the landlord conducted a voidspre-inspection survey on 26 January 2023. The survey identified the bathroom door  bathroom door handle needed to be replaced.
  2. The landlord’s empty homes policy states it will make sure a property is safe, clean, secure and in reasonable repair before it lets the property. It makes a commitment to the resident that on moving day, their new home will be “ready to let”. The landlord replaced the bathroom door handle on 17 March 2023 and the resident moved into the property on 10 April 2023.
  3. On the 17 April 2023 the resident told the landlord the lounge window had ‘blown’. The tenancy agreement confirms the landlord is responsible for the upkeep and repair of the structure and exterior of the property, including the external doors, window frames and glazing. The resident said this was raised with the lettings officer when the tenancy agreement was signed. It is, however, not possible to confirm this from the evidence provided. On receipt of the resident’s report on 17 April 2023, the landlord raised a job for the replacement of the double-glazing unit in the lounge window, which had a target, service level completion time of 17 days.
  4. The resident contacted the landlord on 11 May 2023, and again on15 June 2023, as the window had not been replaced. The17-day completion timeframe meant the replacement should have been done by 4 May 2023. In the absence of any explanation for this delay, the landlord did not meet its service level timescales. The landlord acted inappropriately in not adhering to this timeline. It was reasonable to expect the landlord to have updated the resident if it could not complete the work in time, however the landlord failed to return the resident’s calls or respond to her enquiries.
  5. The resident contacted the landlord about the window replacement again on 26 June 2023, and also reported that the bathroom door would not close and the backdoor leaked. The landlord did not, however, raise a work order for the door repairs, which delayed the resolution of the issues.
  6. The resident raised a stage 1 complaint to the landlord on 24 July 2023. The evidence indicates this prompted the landlord to send an operative to look at the bathroom door on 8 August 2023. The resident subsequently told the landlord the operative’s attempted repair had exacerbated the problem.
  7. The landlord replaced the lounge window on 18 August 2023. This was 123 days after the resident reported the issue, and 107 days after the landlord said it would complete the work. The landlord took too long to carry out the work compared to the expectations set out in its service level standards. It was unreasonable that in addition to the delays, the resident had to chase the landlord on multiple occasions and did not receive responses to her enquiries.
  8. On 18 August 2023 the landlord also attempted a further repair to the bathroom door. The resident reported to the landlord on the same day that the work had again worsened the problem. After 2 failed repairs it is reasonable to expect the landlord to have arranged an inspection of the door to properly understand the nature of the problem and the work required to remedy the issue, however, the landlord did not do so.
  9. On 30 August and 24 October 2023, the resident told the landlord the backdoor leaked and the bathroom door still did not close properly. The landlord raised a repair and scheduled an appointment on 1 November 2023, which at the resident’s request was moved to 7 November 2023. The landlord attended on 7 November 2023 but did not have the necessary parts and could not complete the repair. The landlord then attended on 5 December and installed a new bathroom door latch. The resident subsequently reported to the landlord on 12 and 19 December 2023 that the bathroom door repair was unsuccessful, and the backdoor repair remained outstanding.
  10. The landlord conducted an inspection on 5 January 2024, which was 194 days after the resident reported the issues with the doors. The inspection found the backdoor needed to be replaced and that further repairs were required to the bathroom door. The landlord raised a work order for the bathroom door, but not the back door. The resident contacted the landlord on 22 January 2024, as it had not updated her on the repairs. In its stage 2 response on 24 January 2024 the landlord said it would complete a temporary repair to the bathroom door on 1 February 2024 and would order a new back door. The landlord did not attend on 1 February 2024 and did not contact the resident to reschedule the appointment until 1 March 2024. The landlord’s records show it completed the repair to the bathroom on 9 March 2024, which was 258 days after the resident reported the issue. The records show the landlord installed a new back door on 19 April 2024, which was 299 days after the resident reported the problem.
  11. The landlord’s repairs policy differentiates between ‘triage repairs’ and ‘non-triage repairs’. Triage repairs include emergency repairs and non-emergency repairs. The policy states the landlord will attend emergency tirage repairs within 4 hours. Non-emergency triage repairs are repairs that have been assessed to be completable in under 60 minutes. The policy states that ‘non-triage repairs’ will be prioritised in accordance with the service standards or service level agreement that is in place with the landlord.
  12. The landlord’s repairs policy does not provide clear timelines on when they can expect a repair to be completed. It is reasonable to expect the landlord to have clear timeframes that set out its repair commitments. Common timescales are for emergency repairs to be conducted within 24 hours, and non-emergency repairs between 7 and 28 days. Using these benchmarks, and considering the circumstances of the case, the landlord’s service provision fell below what could be considered reasonable.
  13. When there are failings by a landlord, the Ombudsman will consider whether the redress offered by the landlord (an apology and compensation) put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this the Ombudsman takes into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles; be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes. In its stage 1 response the landlord apologised for repair delays and for failing to return the resident’s calls. The landlord’s stage 2 response did not contain an apology for the further repair delays, which was unreasonable. The landlord awarded the resident £250 compensation, however, this figure was not commensurate with scale of the failings or the impact on the resident. It also did not reflect the further failings and delays that occurred after the landlord provided the stage 2 response.
  14. In summary, the landlord took too long to complete the window replacement. The landlord failed to raise a work order for the door repairs when the resident first reported the issues. The landlord arranged multiple appointments to address the bathroom door issues, however these appointments were either not attended or ineffectual, and it took 258 days for the repair to be completed. The landlord did not inspect the backdoor until 194 days after the resident’s initial report, and the door replacement took place 299 days after it was reported. The evidence in the case shows a lack of planning and management of repairs which caused wholly avoidable inconvenience to the resident. The landlord’s communication and the compensation it awarded was inadequate. These failings and the avoidable impact on the resident amount to maladministration in this case. Orders are therefore made for the landlord to provide the resident with a written apology and to pay the resident a further £350 compensation for the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience caused. The compensation order is in accordance with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance.

Complaint handling

  1. The resident raised a complaint to the landlord on 24 July 2023. The landlord acknowledged receipt on the same day and said it would provide a complaint response by 7 August 2023. The landlord has a 2-stage complaints process. The landlord’s complaints and feedback policy states it will acknowledge receipt of a complaint within 5 working days and provide a stage 1 response within 10 working days thereafter.
  2. On 8 August 2023 the landlord said it required further time to conduct its investigation and would provide a response by 21 August 2023. The landlord provided a stage 2 response on 18 August 2023. The landlord’s complaints policy allows for an extension to the response deadline of 10 working days. Therefore, the landlord acted appropriately in providing the response within the revised timeframe. It is, however, reasonable to expect the landlord to have advised the resident before the original deadline that it required additional time. The landlord acted unreasonably in only telling the resident about the time extension after the original response date had passed.
  3. The resident responded to the landlord’s stage 1 response on 30 August 2023 and said the bathroom repair was inadequate, and the backdoor repair remained outstanding. The resident’s email indicated that she remained dissatisfied, and the issues were unresolved. It is reasonable to expect the landlord to have clarified if the resident wanted to raise a stage 2 complaint and the landlord acted unreasonably in not doing so. Had the complaint been escalated at this point it could have facilitated a much swifter resolution to the outstanding repair issues.
  4. The landlord has said the resident submitted an online complaint form about the door repairs on 19 December 2023, at which point it escalated the previous complaint to stage 2. The landlord provided a stage 2 response on 24 January 2024. The landlord’s repairs policy states it will provide a stage 2 response within 10 working days of acknowledging receipt of the complaint. It is unclear when the landlord acknowledged receipt of the complaint, however, it provided a stage 2 response 24 working days after it escalated the complaint. This was a minimum of 14 working days outside of its target response time. Although the landlord acted reasonably in apologising for the delay, there is no evidence the landlord advised the resident in advance that it would require additional time to complete its investigation, which was unreasonable.
  5. In its stage 2 response the landlord said it would attend on 1 February 2024 to complete a temporary repair to the backdoor. The landlord did not attend and did not contact the resident until 1 March 2024 to reschedule the appointment. It is reasonable to expect the landlord to have used its complaints process to affect a lasting repair, however the landlord acted unreasonably in not ensuring the actions it set out in its stage 2 response were carried out.
  6. In summary, there was maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling. The landlord failed to use its complaints process to affect a lasting resolution to the issues the resident had reported. The landlord did not escalate the resident’s complaint in a timely manner and took too long to provide complaint responses. Although the landlord apologised for the delay in providing a stage 2 response it did not provide compensation. Orders are therefore made for the landlord to apologise in writing for the failings identified in this report and to pay the resident £300 for the time, trouble, distress and inconvenience caused. The compensation amount is in accordance with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of repairs.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Apologise to the resident, in writing, for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident a further £650 compensation. This comprises:
      1. £350 for the time, trouble, distress and inconvenience caused to the resident as a result of the failings in the landlord’s handling of repairs
      2. £300 for the time, trouble, distress and inconvenience caused to the resident as a result of the landlord’s complaint handling failures.

The compensation should be paid direct to the resident and must not be paid to a rent or service charge account. The £650 is in addition to the £250 compensation awarded at stage 2, and therefore the total compensation award is £900.

  1. Within 8 weeks of the date of this report the landlord is ordered to provide a framework which quantifies the service level agreements its customers can expect to receive for different categories of repair. The landlord should specify what timelines are applicable and how it will publish this updated information.
  2. The landlord should provide this Service with evidence of compliance within the above dates.