London Borough of Newham (202427228)

Background

1. The resident lives in a flat within a block. She said she is severely sight and hearing impaired and wears hearing aids. She said she reported problems with the communal drains outside of her property for 16 years. She complained the landlord took too long to replace them and did not tell her in advance when it would start the works.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
   1. Repairs to communal drains.
   2. The complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. We found:
   1. Service failure in the landlord’s handling of repairs to communal drains.
   1. Reasonable redress in the landlord’s complaint handling.

We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Summary of reasons

The landlord’s handling of repairs to communal drains

4. The landlord did not repair a collapsed drain within the target timescale outlined in its policy. It did not tell the resident before it started the work, which caused her and her service dog distress due to the noise and disruption. Although the landlord apologised, agreed to improve communication and gave reasonable explanations for past repair decisions, it did not fully recognise the impact on the resident. We ordered it to compensate her to reflect the distress and inconvenience caused over the two days of works.

The landlord’s complaint handling

5. The landlord did not respond to the resident’s final complaint within its policy timescale. It apologised and offered the resident £50 compensation. The redress it offered for the minor delay was reasonable as it was in line with our guidance.

Putting things right

Where we find service failure, maladministration, or severe maladministration we can make orders for the landlord to put things right. We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction.

Orders

Landlords must comply with our orders in the manner and timescales we specify. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with our orders by the due date set.

Recommendations

Our recommendations are not binding, and a landlord may decide not to follow them.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

What we found and why

The circumstances of this complaint are well known by the parties involved, so it is not necessary to detail everything that’s happened or comment on all the information we’ve reviewed. We’ve only included the key information that forms the basis of our decision of whether the landlord is responsible for maladministration.

What we have not considered

6. The resident said the issues affected her health and wellbeing. The courts are the most effective place for disputes about personal injury and illness. We cannot decide causation or liability for personal injury like a court can. Therefore, we have not considered this issue when assessing this case. If the resident wants to pursue a claim, she may wish to seek independent legal advice.
7. The resident raised issues dating back over 16 years. We do not usually look at matters that happened over 12 months before residents have complained. This is because we expect residents to raise and escalate complaints in a timely way. We have not assessed the landlord’s handling of historic issues that occurred over 12 months before the complaint.
8. The resident has complained about other issues to the landlord and referred them to us. We are assessing these complaints separately and we will not consider them in this report.

What we have considered

9. We have considered the landlord’s handling of repairs to the communal drains in the months leading up to her complaint. On 30 April 2024 the landlord inspected the drains outside the resident’s property due to reports of rats. It found part of the drain pipework had collapsed. It responded within its policy timescale the following day when it used CCTV to investigate further. However, it did not return to replace the drains within the 20- day timescale outlined in its policy.
10. Repairs can be delayed for various reasons. Where landlords cannot complete works within planned timeframes, we expect them to keep residents fully updated throughout. They should consider if there is anything they can do to mitigate the impact of any delays, such as temporary steps to resolve the rat issue. There was no evidence the landlord kept the resident updated throughout the repairs or considered any interim solutions.
11. The landlord started works on the drains on 16 July 2024. It excavated the front of the resident’s property with a mini digger during the next 2 days. The resident complained the landlord had not told her it was doing the works. She said the noise was upsetting for her and her service dog. She said she had to remove her hearing aids because the drilling was loud and distressing her. She complained the landlord should have told her in advance it was doing the repairs, as she would have made other plans, so her dog was not in the property. She also complained the works affected her ability to get in and out of the building.
12. The landlord’s repairs policy says it will identify and record any special needs or vulnerabilities its residents may have. It says it will use its records to consider if it needs to make any special arrangements, such as regarding pets. It says it will explain the nature of the work it is due to complete and explain the safety issues involved.
13. In its final complaint response, the landlord explained it had not told the residents in the block because it did not class the repairs as “major works.” It said there were no safety issues because it did the work in sections on either side of the footpath so residents could still access and leave the building. However, it recognised the resident’s distress and agreed it should have communicated better. It attempted to remedy this by apologising and explaining it would feed her comments back to the relevant department.
14. The resident also complained the landlord had taken 16 years to replace the drains. The landlord’s response to this was reasonable. It provided a summary of the drain repairs she had reported over the last 4 years. It explained it took too long to fix them once in 2020 and apologised for its handling of this past repair issue. Its explained it had not replaced the drains previously as it was able to repair them, which was a fair response.
15. The landlord’s apology and explanations went part way to resolving the resident’s complaint. However, we found service failure as the landlord’s attempts at remedying the issue did not go far enough in acknowledging the distress it had caused the resident. We ordered the landlord to pay £100 compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience the issue caused the resident over a 2-day period. This is in line with the landlord’s policy and our remedies guidance.

16. The landlord’s policy says it will acknowledge all complaints within 5 working days. It says it will respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days and within 20 working days for stage 2 complaints. This is in line with our Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
17. The landlord acknowledged and responded to the resident’s initial complaint within its policy timescales. However, its final response to her complaint was delayed by 4 working days. It apologised for this and offered the resident £50 compensation. The amount of compensation the landlord offered was in line with our remedies guidance where there has been a minor delay. We therefore found reasonable redress in the landlord’s complaint handling and recommend the landlord pays the compensation it offered.

Learning

18. The landlord explained the learning it took from the resident’s complaint. It said it should have told the resident before starting works and would let the repairs team know for future reference. The landlord would benefit from ensuring it establishes processes for informing residents in advance before starting any works which may potentially have an impact on its residents.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

19. The landlord’s repair records were reasonably clear in this case. Its thorough recording of historic repairs information enabled the landlord to relay the information back to the resident which we found resolved this part of the resident’s complaint.

Communication

20. The landlord’s communication with the resident before starting the repairs was poor and led to our finding of service failure. The landlord should communicate more effectively when managing repairs to build its relationship with its residents. This is particularly the case where residents have health issues and works may have more of an impact on them.