Southwark Council (202501874)

Background

1. For ease of narration, this report will refer to “the resident” in discussing any action by his or his representative. The resident said they reported a leak in September 2023. They then raised a complaint in February 2024 as they were unhappy the issue had not been resolved.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about:
   1. The landlord’s handling of reports of a communal waste stack leak.
   2. The landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

3. We have found there was:
   1. Maladministration in the landlord’s handling of reports of a communal waste stack leak.
   2. Maladministration 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 reports of a communal waste stack leak

4. The landlord did not complete the repair within its policy timeframe.

The landlord’s complaint handling

5. The landlord did not issue its stage 2 response within its policy timeframe. It did not identify its failings and did not take any steps to put the matters right.

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.

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.

6. The landlord is responsible for maintaining drains and external pipes under the lease and its repairs policy. Its repairs policy says non-urgent repairs will be completed within 20 working days.
7. The resident said they reported the leak in September 2023. We do not dispute this but have not seen any evidence from the landlord that corroborates it. The landlord was made aware in November 2023 by an external contractor that a plumber was needed to inspect the resident’s property. The landlord inspected the property on 16 January 2024 following a report from the resident’s plumber. The landlord’s contractor then attended the property on 23 February 2024. This was unreasonable as it was 3 months after the landlord was made aware of the issue and was outside of its repairs policy timeframe.
8. The landlord’s records we have been provided do not show what the inspection found or what repairs was carried out. This is not appropriate and has impacted on our ability to investigate matter.
9. The resident reported the communal soil stack was still leaking on 22 July 2024. The landlord said in its stage 2 response it attended on 26 July 2024 but found no evidence of leaks or water marks. We have not seen any repair records for this attendance.
10. The landlord inspected the property again in September 2024. It told the resident they needed to remove a section of wall panelling as this was their responsibility under the lease to allow it access to pipe behind it. While this was reasonable, we would have expected the landlord to have made the resident aware of this before it attended the property. The landlord had previously inspected the property about the same issue. It would have been aware of the access it required. As it did not effectively communicate this to the resident it caused a further delay in the repair being completed.
11. The landlord recorded the repair being competed on 2 December 2024. This was 13 months after it was made aware of the leak. This is significantly outside of its repair policy. The resident also continued to report the issue to the landlord during this time.
12. We have also ordered it to pay compensation in line with our compensation guidance. There has been a failure which has adversely affected the resident and the landlord has taken no steps to put the matter right. The landlord did not identify its failing or the distress and inconvenience that was caused to the resident.

13. The timescales in the landlord’s complaints policy are compliant with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code). The landlord issued its stage 1 acknowledgement and response within its policy timeframe. The landlord’s stage 2 acknowledgement was within its policy timeframe. Its stage 2 response was 12 working days outside of its policy timeframe. This is a failing.
14. The landlord did not take any steps in its stage 2 complaint response to put this matter right for the resident. It also did not identify its failures in repairing the communal waste stack. It did not recognise the impact this had on the resident or show any empathy towards them about the issue.

Learning

15. The landlord did not identify its own failings. It did not recognise there had been a delay in completing the repair.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

16. The landlord did not demonstrate effective record keeping in this case. It needs to ensure it has an effective system in place to track and record repairs.

Communication

17. The landlord did not always communicate effectively with the resident and they regularly had to chase it about the leak. It needs to make sure it provides residents with a reasonable amount of notice if they need to take any action before it can complete a repair.