Birmingham City Council (202310197)

Background

1. The resident lives in a flat. The resident has reported various repair issues around a rodent infestation, aroof leak, ceiling repairs, and bathroom window ledge to the landlord. The roof leak has been fixed but the other issues are still outstanding.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:

a)                 Reports of a leak from the roof and the associated repairs to the roof, bathroom ceiling and window ledge.

b)                 Reports of rodents in the loft space.

c)                 A dip in the living room ceiling and damp on the bedroom ceiling.

3. The landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

4. We have found the landlord responsible for:

a)                 Service failure in its handling of the reports of a leak from the roof and the associated repairs to the roof, bathroom ceiling and window ledge.

b)                 No maladministration in its handling of rodents in the loft space.

c)                 No maladministration in its handling of the dip in the living room and bedroom ceiling.

d)                 Service failure in its complaint handling.

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

Summary of reasons

Reports of a leak from the roof and the associated repairs to the roof, bathroom ceiling and window ledge

5. The landlord did not remedy the repairs in line with its policy timeframes. Although it has acknowledged this failure and provided appropriate compensation, the repair of the window ledge is still outstanding.

Rodents in the loft space

6. The landlord followed its pest and vermin policy and completed pest control treatment in line with its policy timescales. This issue is now resolved.

The bedroom ceiling and bathroom ceiling

7. The landlord followed its repair timescales for these issues and both ceilings are now repaired.

Living room ceiling

8. This repair is still outstanding. This is because the landlord has attempted to carry out the repair but it has not been able to gain access to the property.

The complaint handling

9. The landlord did not follow its complaint procedure, as it did not address the resident’s further issue of damp on the bedroom ceiling in its stage 2 complaint 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.

Recommendations

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

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

10. The landlord’s repair policy lists different timescales for each type of repair. For urgent repairs, it has a completion period of 1,3, or 7 working days. Routine repairs, have a completion time of within 30 days of the repair being reported. However, larger repairs may need special materials and arrangement. The landlord will inform the resident of the new timescale.
11. The resident reported further leaks on 30 October 2023. The landlord logged it as a 7-day urgent repair and so aimed to complete the repair by 8 November 2023.
12. Having visited the property on 1 November 2023, the landlord found that they needed scaffolding. But it did not order it until 9 November 2023, with a target of 21 December 2023 to build the scaffolding. The landlord did not build the scaffolding until 22 January 2024, going over this date by a month. It is unclear why there was such a delay,
13. The repair did not happen until 24 January 2024. This was over 16 weeks after the further leak report in October 2023 and not in line with the landlord’s policy of 7-day urgent repairs. The landlord failed to update the resident during this delay, causing her further inconvenience and distress.
14. Considering the roof was the main issue which led to the damage to the bathroom ceiling and window ledge, the landlord’s approach was unacceptable. The landlord should have taken a proactive approach to dealing with the leak, to prevent further damage to the resident’s home. The landlord should have also kept up with communication with the resident about the delays with the repairs.

Bathroom ceiling

15. Following the visit on 3 July 2023, the landlord found it needed to replaster the ceiling/wall. It raised a routine repair, for 20 July 2023, but the resident did not confirm the appointment and there was no answer from the resident on 25 July 2023.
16. We have no evidence that repairs took place, which reflects poor record keeping and oversight. However, we can infer that they did happen, based on an email from the resident to the landlord on 23 October 2023. Here, she explained that after the previous plastering, another damp patch had formed on the ceiling. Despite this email, we have not seen anything to suggest that the landlord acknowledged the further damp patch until their stage 2 complaint response on 29 November 2023. Here, the landlord explained that no further repairs could happen to the ceiling, until it fixed the roof.
17. The landlord did not do anything to ease the damage temporarily until the roof repair took place, which likely caused the resident further distress.

Window ledge

18. The resident first reported the bathroom window ledge as being loose on 25 May 2023, and repairs took place on 2 July 2023. However, on 28 July 2023, the resident reported it loose again. The landlord arrived on 31 August 2023 to carry out a routine repair but could not access the property. Following this, it left a calling card on 5 September 2023 but received no response from the resident. We are not questioning the resident’s reasons for not allowing access, but the landlord was not responsible for this delay.
19. Neither party has given us any further evidence about the repairs to the window ledge. The landlord had promised in its stage 2 complaint response that another contractor would come and assess the window, whilst waiting for the fix to the roof. However, we have seen no evidence that this happened or of any temporary repairs in the meantime. This likely added further distress to the resident and reduced their confidence in the landlord’s repair services.
20. The resident has confirmed that the repairs to the window ledge are outstanding, Without the repair to the actual roof, repairs to the window ledge would not have been effective as the damage may have continued from the roof leak. But that does not explain why in November 2025, the repairs are still outstanding, after the roof was fixed.

Putting things right

21. The landlord has apologised for the repeated reports of the roof leaking, the delay, and for the resident not being able to carry out decoration in her property. It has awarded the resident compensation of £250.
22. 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 landlord’s award is within this range; and it was sufficient for the distress and inconvenience caused by the delay. But the window ledge repair is still outstanding so we have ordered the landlord to repair this.
23. We have ordered the landlord to carry out a full repair on the bathroom window ledge.

24. The landlord’s pests and vermin policy explains within 10 days of notification, it visits the property to investigate the cause of the problem and the extent of infestation and advise the tenant of their responsibilities.
25. The resident first raised an issue with rodents on 28 July 2023. The landlord raised it as a 7 working day repair, which is the standard timescale for this type of report. On 8 August, they visited the property and put out bait.
26. On 29 December 2023, the resident reported having squirrels in the loft, which the landlord raised as a 7 working day repair. To seal any holes which might be allowing entry to the squirrels and prevent future access in the roof. However, the resident cancelled on the basis that she would not be available for the appointment and would call back to rearrange.
27. She put in a further request for a repair on 11 January 2024. In January and February 2024 there were 3 occasions where the landlord could not gain access to deal with the rodents. 2 occasions where the landlord left calling cards and 1 occasion where the resident didn’t answer the phone. The landlord was not responsible for any delay caused by the missed appointments as it made reasonable efforts to contact the resident to carry out the pest control works.
28. The resident reports that the rodents are still there. If she wants to, she can report this to the landlord and it would be expected to carry out the works it agreed previously, if the resident allows access.
29. For these reasons, there was no maladministration with the landlord’s handling of reports of rodents in the loft.

The living room ceiling

30. The resident informed the landlord on 28 July 2023, that the living room ceiling was bowing. The landlord inspected the roof on 3 August 2023, within the 30-day repair timeline for routine repairs and found there was no leak.
31. The resident was unhappy with this finding, so a supervisor would visit the property and assess the ceiling. The landlord tried to call the resident and attended the property on 3 occasions but was unable to gain access to inspect the roof.
32. On 1 November 2023, the resident contacted the landlord again to report the living room ceiling bowing. In its stage 2 response, the landlord agreed to send out a contractor to assess if the ceiling was safe and if required, carry out temporary repairs. The landlord explained it would repair the roof before completing lasting ceiling repairs.

The tenancy agreement states that the landlord must be given access to the property to carry out inspections and repairs. Therefore, the resident is required to give access for the resident to repair the ceiling. Overall, the landlord’s response to the ceiling issue was reasonable as it attempted to find the source of the problem, but it could not gain access to the property to complete its investigations.

Damp on the bedroom ceiling

33. On 1 November 2023, the resident notified the landlord of damp to the bedroom ceiling. The landlord raised a 7-day repair, however on 6 November 2023, it could not access the property.
34. The resident raised a repair again on 4 December, and the ceiling repair took place on 13 December 2023, within the policy timescale of 7 working days. Overall, the landlord’s handling of the ceiling repair was reasonable.

35. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handing Code sets out our expectations of landlords’ complaint handling practices. The Code requires landlords to have a 2 stage complaints process. They should acknowledge a complaint or escalation request within 5 working days. Landlords should a stage 1 response within 10 working days of acknowledging the complaint. They must issue a stage 2 final response within 20 working days of an escalation acknowledgement. The landlord acknowledges these expectations within its complaints policy.
36. The landlord sent its stage 1 acknowledgement response on time, which was consistent with the Code. However, it’s stage 1 response was 3 working days outside of the 10-working day timescale, which was a minor delay.
37. The stage 2 complaint response was incomplete, as it did not address the issues with the bedroom ceiling the resident raised on 1 November 2023. The landlord should have addressed this as it was resultant water damage from the leaking roof. Or, the landlord could have issued a separate stage 1 response to this issue if it considered that it was not related to the current complaint.
38. 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. In this case, the bedroom ceiling was repaired so although the landlord should have addressed the complaint about this, this failing did not affect the overall outcome of the complaint.

Learning

Complaint handling

39. The landlord did not acknowledge the resident’s further issue of damp on the bedroom ceiling in its stage 2 complaint response.

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

40. There was a lack of record keeping around the replastering of the ceiling/wall in the bathroom.

Communication

41. Our spotlight report on repairs and maintenance explains that failures can be avoided when the landlord keeps residents informed of the status of their repair
42. In this case, the records do not show if the landlord regularly updated the resident on the status of repairs.