London Borough of Camden Council (202336573)

Background

1. The resident lives in a top floor flat. She reported a leak coming in through the flat roof, which led to water damage to the bathroom ceiling. Whilst the landlord repaired the roof, the repairs to the ceiling are outstanding.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of
   1. The repair of a leak on the roof and the damage to the bathroom ceiling.
   2. The associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. We have found the landlord responsible for:
   1. Maladministration in its handling of the repair of a leak on the roof and the damage to the bathroom ceiling.
   2. Service failure in its complaint handling.

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

Summary of reasons

The handling of the repair of a leak on the roof and the damage to the bathroom ceiling

4. The landlord did not carry out the repairs in line with its policy timeframes. Although the landlord has since repaired the roof, there was a delay and it failed to acknowledge its failure or provide appropriate compensation. The repair of the bathroom ceiling is still outstanding.

The complaint handling

5. The landlord did not follow its complaint procedure, as it did not initially address the resident’s concerns and was late in its stage 1 complaint response.

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.

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.

Roof

6. The landlord’s repair policy considers roof leaks as an urgent repair, which it must complete within 5 working days. It must attempt a temporary repair to make safe and stop the leak, within 3 working days.
7. The resident reported water coming though the bathroom ceiling and light in January 2023. On 18 January 2023, there was an inspection which found an ongoing leak from the flat roof. What happened next is unclear but there are notes about further inspections taking place on 31 July and 3 August 2023. It is not clear what these were for.  
8. There is no record that the landlord carried out any repairs. This left the resident unsure on the situation, and having to re -report the leak repair a further 2 times. On 27 October 2023, the landlord said that it had booked a repair for 12 December 2023. However, this repair did not take place with no explanation provided, which is unacceptable.
9. The resident reported the leak again on 16 February 2024, and the roof was fixed on 28 March 2024. This was 14 months after the initial report and not in line with the landlord’s policy of 5 working day urgent repairs. The landlord failed to update the resident during the delays, causing her further inconvenience and distress.
10. As the roof was the main issue which led to the damage to the bathroom ceiling, the landlord’s approach was unacceptable. It should have taken a proactive approach to dealing with the leak, to prevent further damage to the resident’s home. There is no evidence that the landlord had carried out any temporary repairs to the roof, to limit the damage to the ceiling, which caused the resident further distress. The landlord should have communicated with the resident about the delays with the repairs.

Bathroom ceiling

11. The landlord’s repair policy states that routine repairs have a completion time of within 20 working days. A repair note from 9 January 2023 shows the landlord knew that the ceiling was damaged. However, the landlord made no attempt at repair within the relevant timescale as the resident had to report the damage a further 3 times and it is still not fixed.
12. The landlord advised that following the completion of the roof repairs, the resident should make contact to book the ceiling repair. The landlord was aware of the damage to the bathroom ceiling, and it was aware of when the roof was fixed. Therefore, the landlord could have booked the ceiling repair automatically when the roof had been repaired. It did not need the resident to book this.

Putting things right

13. We order that the landlord pay the resident £400 in compensation. This is to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the repairs. We have considered our own remedies guidance (published on our website) in respect of compensation. Our guidance suggests awards of between £100 and £600 where there was a failure that adversely affected the resident but there may be no permanent impact. The roof was fixed, but after a delay, the repair to the bathroom ceiling is incomplete, so we have ordered the landlord to repair this.

14. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handing Code (The Code) sets out our expectations of landlords’ complaint handling practices. The Code requires landlords to have a 2 stage complaints process. It should acknowledge a complaint or escalation request within 5 working days. Landlords should issue a stage 1 response within 10 working days of the complaint. It must issue a stage 2 final response within 20 working days of an escalation
15. Whilst the landlord acknowledged the complaint the same day it was raised, it provided its stage 1 complaint response 19 working days later. This exceeded the expected 10 working days, although it was not a significant delay. It also failed to address the issues in its response, which was unreasonable complaint handling. The resident picked up on the failure, which added to her overall frustration at the situation. The landlord did issue its stage 2 final complaint response on time, which was consistent with the Code.
16. We order that the landlord pay the resident £100 in compensation. This is to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling failures. This is in line with our remedies guidance (as referenced above) which suggests awards in this range where there were failings by the landlord which caused distress and/or inconvenience to the resident but the failings were minor and/or would not have affected the overall outcome of the complaint.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

17. We have identified that there was a lack of record keeping around arranging the repairs. Our spotlight report on knowledge and information management highlights the importance of maintaining accurate, accessible records that provide a clear audit trail and support oversight of committed actions. The landlord may wish to review its record keeping practices based on the recommendations made in our spotlight report.

Communication

18. Our spotlight report on repairs and maintenance explains that failures can be avoided when landlords let residents know what to expect regarding repairs and provide a clear schedule for repair visits.
19. In this case, the records do not show the landlord regularly updated the resident on the status of repairs. It also put the responsibility on the resident to make an appointment for the ceiling repair.

Complaint handling

20. The landlord did not fully address the resident’s concerns in its stage 1 complaint response. It corrected this in its stage 2 response and issued an apology. This showed learning and was in line with the Code, which expects landlords to acknowledge errors and take steps to put things right.