Paragon Asra Housing Limited (202527446)

Background

1. The resident lives in a detached house with a garage. Her son has physical health conditions known to the landlord and uses a wheelchair. In April 2025, she reported that the garage door was broken. Although the landlord has carried out several repairs, the door remains faulty. As a result, cats have entered the garage and damaged the resident’s motorbike, and she cannot safely store belongings due to the garage being unsecure.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the broken garage door.

Our decision (determination)

3. There was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the broken garage door.

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

Reasons

4. The landlord’s maintenance policy confirms its repair responsibility for garages and brick-built outbuildings where it has provided them. It says it will keep garages clear of rubbish, safe, lockable, secure, wind and watertight.
5. The resident reported the broken garage door on 22 April 2025. The landlord carried out several repairs to the door and the frame, and confirmed it was fixed on 30 December 2025. However, it was inappropriate that it took the landlord 8 months to resolve when its maintenance policy states it will complete non-emergency repairs within 15 working days. This caused prolonged distress and inconvenience to the resident, whose son’s wheelchair could not be stored in the garage as usual and obstructed access to medication indoors.
6. The resident repeatedly chased the landlord for updates, but poor record-keeping and communication led to avoidable delays and failed appointments. It appropriately acknowledged its failures in its stage 2 response, and offered £640.46 compensation, which is in line with our remedies guidance for circumstances where a failure significantly impacted the resident. The compensation offered also aligned with the landlord’s compensation and redress policy, and reflected accepted failures including delays, multiple missed appointments, an unfulfilled callback, and personal impact/inconvenience.
7. It was appropriate for the landlord to advise the resident to claim for the motorbike damage through her motor insurance. However, had it followed its own repair timescales, the damage may have been avoided. It was therefore reasonable for the landlord to offer to cover the insurance excess upon receipt of proof.
8. Since bringing the complaint to us, the resident says that the issue remains unresolved. She reports visible gaps between the door and the frame, and that in windy conditions the door blows open, leaving the garage unsecure. She has provided us with video evidence and says the landlord took no further action when she showed the video to it in January 2026.
9. This leads to a determination of service failure in the landlord’s handling of the repairs, as while it initially believed it had resolved the issue and offered proportionate compensation for the length of time taken to do so, the issue is still ongoing. We have ordered £100 additional compensation to reflect the further period that the garage door has been unsecure.
10. The evidence shows that the landlord repeatedly used the same contractor for the garage repairs. Given how long the issue has persisted, it is reasonable to require the landlord to arrange for a different staff member to inspect the garage door to identify a definitive solution. If this is not possible, it must instruct an independent party to carry out the inspection.
11. A report of damage to the resident’s car has not been considered as part of this investigation. This is because it has not yet completed the landlord’s complaints process. We have no power to investigate complaints which the landlord has not had the chance to put right first. The resident has the option of referring this matter to us for separate investigation if she is dissatisfied with the landlord’s final response.

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.