Sage Rented Limited (202411079)

Decision
Case ID	202411079
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	Sage Rented Limited
Landlord type	For profit
Occupancy	Assured tenancy
Date	13 March 2026

Background

The resident and her partner live in a block of flats. The resident was unhappy the nearby bin store was made larger without consultation. She also complained about faults with the communal external door.

What the complaint is about

The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of:
1. Repairs to the external communal door.
2. Issues with the communal bin store.
3. The associated complaint.

Our decision (determination)

We have found service failure in the landlord’s response to issues with the communal bin store.
We have found maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of:
1. Repairs to the external communal door.
2. The associated complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

The landlord did not repair the door within its policy timescales and left the communal front door unsecured for a year. It failed to adequately communicate with the resident.
The landlord failed to consider the tenancy agreement and consult with the resident before the bin store was made larger. It failed to clearly explain the actions it would and would not take once the bin store was changed.
The landlord failed to follow the Complaint Handling Code timescales. It did not acknowledge multiple complaints and delayed its stage 1 and stage 2 responses. It did not fully respond to all points raised.

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.

Order	What the landlord must do	Due date
1	Apology order The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure: The apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic. It has due regard to our apologies guidance.	No later than 10 April 2026
2	Compensation The landlord must pay the resident £900, made up of: £600 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of repairs to the communal door. £100 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the concerns about the bin store. £200 for the time and trouble caused by its response to her complaints. The £400 that the landlord offered to the resident during the complaints process can be deducted from the above amount if already paid.	No later than 10 April 2026
3	Specific action The landlord must explain in writing to the resident the outcome of its bin store investigations and any actions it will, or will not, take in relation to this. It should confirm any timelines for works or future decisions on works. It must demonstrate that it has considered the resident’s concerns about noise and smells from the store. A copy of this must be provided to us by the due date.	No later than 10 April 2026
4	Specific action The landlord must complete the agreed repairs to the communal front door. These repairs should ensure the door is secure and the intercom system and door entry system is working. The landlord must share documentary evidence of this with us by the due date.	No later than 10 April 2026
5	Learning order Write to this Service, setting out what it has learned from the complaint handling failures identified in this report and what actions it will take to prevent the same failures from happening again. This should include a review of why it did not acknowledge the resident’s escalation requests in 2023 and 2024.	No later than 08 May 2026

Order

What the landlord must do

Due date

Apology order

The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure:

The apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic.
It has due regard to our apologies guidance.

No later than

10 April 2026

Compensation

The landlord must pay the resident £900, made up of:

£600 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of repairs to the communal door.
£100 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the concerns about the bin store.
£200 for the time and trouble caused by its response to her complaints.

The £400 that the landlord offered to the resident during the complaints process can be deducted from the above amount if already paid.

No later than

10 April 2026

Specific action

The landlord must explain in writing to the resident the outcome of its bin store investigations and any actions it will, or will not, take in relation to this. It should confirm any timelines for works or future decisions on works. It must demonstrate that it has considered the resident’s concerns about noise and smells from the store. A copy of this must be provided to us by the due date.

No later than

10 April 2026

Specific action

The landlord must complete the agreed repairs to the communal front door. These repairs should ensure the door is secure and the intercom system and door entry system is working. The landlord must share documentary evidence of this with us by the due date.

No later than

10 April 2026

Learning order

Write to this Service, setting out what it has learned from the complaint handling failures identified in this report and what actions it will take to prevent the same failures from happening again. This should include a review of why it did not acknowledge the resident’s escalation requests in 2023 and 2024.

No later than

08 May 2026

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
2022 to January 2023	The landlord recorded it was aware of defect problems with the communal door and bin stores. The developer enlarged the bin store.
5 March 2023	The resident told the landlord she had serious concerns about the bin store and its location. The landlord discussed the bin store internally and with the developer, its managing agent and contractors.
12 May 2023	The resident reported the communal door was not fitted properly.
June 2023	Some residents were locked in and out of the building after the automatic door release stopped working and the thumb turn would not open it. The landlord ground off the latches and left the door openable but unsecured. A window was removed for residents to open the door.
July to October 2023	Multiple communal front door concerns were raised. The landlord recorded the main entrance door did not lock and then the fob entry system did not work. It also noted an issue with the bin store and the resident referred to noise from this.
20 October 2023	The landlord sent a stage 1 response. It apologised for delays and said some work was still to be completed to the bin store area. It said repairs to the communal front door were delayed but now complete. It offered £250 for delay in resolving various defects and £100 for complaint handling failures.
24 October 2023	The resident told the landlord she was not happy with the door and bins.
November 2023 to March 2024	The landlord carried out 3 site visits and marked the communal front door was broken and insecure. Pointing had been damaged by the door slamming.
29 February 2024	The resident complained to the landlord because the communal door was still not repaired. She said this was causing a draught, constant banging and disturbance and there was no security to the building.
11 June 2024	The contractor attended and secured the door with a key system.
13 June 2024	The landlord sent a stage 2 response. It apologised that the communal door work had not been completed. It offered £150 for distress and inconvenience and £50 for complaint handling failures.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident asked us to investigate because the communal door had not been permanently repaired and she felt the bin store issue had not been resolved. She wanted the door fixed and compensation for the distress and disruption.

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 did not investigate

The resident has told us she injured herself due to the landlord’s failings and has started a personal injury claim against it. The courts are best placed to deal with health disputes as they will have the benefit of independent medical advice to decide on the cause of any illness or injury and how long it will last. We have not investigated this further.

Complaint	Repairs to the external communal door
Finding	Maladministration

According to the resident’s tenancy agreement, the landlord was responsible for the repair and maintenance of the door.
The landlord identified door problems in December 2022, March and April 2023 as high priority “defect issues” and asked the developer to resolve them. The developer failed to start works and the landlord instructed its own contractor. The landlord failed to monitor if the developer had completed the works and delayed unnecessarily in instructing its own contractor. Record keeping failures mean it is not possible to assess what works, if any, were completed by the contractor in spring 2023.
On 8 June 2023 the door broke locking some residents in and out of the building. The landlord raised an emergency repair and attended on the same to force open the door.
The landlord’s contractor removed the locking mechanism so access could be gained. This was a reasonable emergency solution. The landlord correctly raised an urgent repair to fix the door within 24 hours. This was not completed and, although the landlord recorded all works complete in early July 2023, residents immediately reported that the door did not close properly.
The resident continued to report the door was insecure. During 2023 and 2024 the landlord carried out multiple inspections. These recorded the door was insecure and it classed this as an urgent issue. The landlord’s internal communication referred to challenges establishing who was responsible for the repair between the developer and contractors. However, the resident’s tenancy agreement is clear that the landlord was responsible for maintaining the structure and exterior of the building. The landlord should have considered repairing the door and then sought to recover costs if necessary.
The resident repeatedly explained the impact this was having on her, including disturbance due to noise and distress due to lack of security in the building. Although the resident’s front door secured her property, the landlord failed to carry out a lasting repair within a reasonable timeframe.
The landlord did not put a secure temporary solution in place until 11 June 2024. The landlord failed to follow its repairs policy timeframes and its failure meant the communal area of the block was insecure for 1 year. Additionally, the door did not ‘latch’, meaning it blew open in the window and force was required to close it.
Although a temporary solution enabled the door to be locked, the landlord did not fix the intercom system. This meant the resident was unable to let people into the building from her flat. She continued to report problems with the door after the landlord’s June 2024 stage 2 response. We have made an order for the landlord to complete a full and lasting repair, if it has not done so already.
The landlord offered £400 compensation at stage 1 and stage 2 for the delays in responding to defects. Considering the length of time to resolve the issue, the distress the resident said she experienced and her consistently needing to chase updates, we have ordered additional compensation in line with our remedies guidance for failings that had a significant impact.

Complaint	Issues with the communal bin store
Finding	Service failure

We have investigated the resident’s complaint about the change of the bin store location and size. The resident complained from at least as early as November 2022 that this impacted her enjoyment of her home due to how close it was to her windows. She was worried it was a fire risk and said the noise and smell were very disturbing. She was concerned the new size meant the space between the opening of the bin store and her allocated car space was very small.
In spring 2023, the landlord acknowledged the resident’s concerns and communicated with the developer, the National House Building Council and the local authority waste management team. It told the resident it was satisfied there was no fire risk but there were risks to ventilation and ease of access. The landlord told the resident it would investigate how else to locate the bin store. This was a reasonable approach; however, the landlord did not set out a timeline for the investigation.
The landlord did not update the resident about the bin store between June 2023 and its October 2023 stage 1 response. It recorded issues with the bin store in its October 2023 site inspection. It failed to record what the issues were, or actions needed to resolve them.
Although evidence shows the landlord investigated the new size and location of the bin store, it failed to clearly communicate with the resident. For example, it did not set timelines for investigation or explain what actions it could and could not take.
The landlord acknowledged the resident’s stage 2 complaint about the bin store but did not respond to this point. The landlord discussed relocating the bin store with the resident. However, evidence provided by the landlord suggests it has not proceeded with this. It is unclear if this was communicated to the resident.
We have ordered compensation to reflect the likely distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s communication failures. We have also ordered the landlord to explain to the resident the actions it has taken and what it will and will not do going forward.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Maladministration

The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out when and how a landlord should respond to complaints. The relevant Code in this case was the 2024 edition. Our findings are that the landlord:
1. Failed to acknowledge the resident’s stage 1 complaint. Evidence shows the resident contacted the complaints team in April 2023 but the landlord delayed its stage 1 response until 20 October 2023.
2. Failed to acknowledge the resident’s dissatisfaction with the stage 1 response that she sent on 24 October 2023. It also failed to acknowledge the resident’s requests to escalate her complaint on 29 February, 27 March, 2 April and 11 April 2024.
3. Only raised a complaint after the resident used a public website to complain.
4. Delayed its stage 2 response until 38 days after it first internally raised the resident’s complaint which was a few weeks outside of the required timescale.
5. Did not fully respond to all points escalated by the resident.
These delays and record keeping failures likely caused an adverse impact to the resident as she had to repeatedly chase her complaint. She reported the delays led to a lack of trust in the landlord. Although the landlord offered £150 compensation, it did not fully acknowledge the failures outlined above. We have ordered extra compensation in line with our remedies guidance and for the landlord to fully respond to her complaint about the bin store.

Learning

Repairs

There was a pattern of failures to monitor developer and contractor work. The landlord should consider how it can complete repairs in line with its repairs policy and seek costs from other parties if necessary.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

The landlord’s records repair records were not clear, and the timeline given in its complaint responses did not fully align with the internal records provided. The landlord should consider how it can record work raised, actions taken and completed.

Communication

The landlord generally responded to the resident’s communication but did not proactively update her on the issues.