Camden Council (202126592)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202126592

Camden Council

2 October 2022

Our approach

The Housing Ombudsman’s approach to investigating and determining complaints is to decide what is fair in all the circumstances of the case. This is set out in the Housing Act 1996 and the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). The Ombudsman considers the evidence and looks to see if there has been any ‘maladministration’, for example whether the landlord has failed to keep to the law, followed proper procedure, followed good practice or behaved in a reasonable and competent manner.

Both the resident and the landlord have submitted information to the Ombudsman and this has been carefully considered. Their accounts of what has happened are summarised below. This report is not an exhaustive description of all the events that have occurred in relation to this case, but an outline of the key issues as a background to the investigation’s findings.

The complaint

1. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about the lift being out of service.

Background

2. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. The property is a flat in a block of similar properties.
3. On 19 January 2022 the resident raised a complaint as she said the lift had been out of service since 4 January 2022. She mentioned that the lift had also previously been out of service for two months in August 2021 and she wanted to know why the landlord did not appear to care about the problem.
4. In its stage one complaint response on 3 February 2022 the landlord apologised if had given the impression that it did not care about the problem and said that it had issued letters to residents on 28 January 2022 to explain that the lift was out of service due to flooding in the motor room.
5. Although it had identified that some brick work needed replacing which should stop water ingress into the motor room, it had not been confirmed that this was the only reason for the flooding. Therefore, a thorough investigation was being carried out. It said it was unable to provide an estimated resolution date as the investigations had not concluded. However, it provided the resident with contact details for two of its officers who were liaising with the lift contractors. It apologised for the inconvenience caused by the lift being out of service.
6. The resident escalated her complaint on 7 February 2022 as she said the landlord did not appear to be fixing the water ingress problem and that residents were “suffering” as a result of the lift being out of service. She added that as people were not able to use the lift to take their rubbish to the basement, they were leaving it outside the lift.
7. In its stage two response on 2 March 2022, the landlord apologised for the inconvenience caused by the lift being out of service whilst it tried to resolve the water ingress issue. It said that as there were five lifts serving the building with a walkway that “allows access to all upper flats via any of those lifts and thus access to the ground-floor as required” it would expect residents to use the remaining lifts to take their rubbish down.
8. It added that if that was not possible due to disability or infirmity, residents should contact their Housing Officer (HO) for advice and assistance. It said the HO had not had any reports of residents having difficulties but that the caretaking manager (CM) had confirmed that some rubbish sacks had been found outside the lifts and that they would move any sacks it found. It said if the problem became “more acute” it could consider issuing a letter advising residents of how to dispose of their rubbish, and how to obtain assistance if needed.
9. The resident contacted this Service on 2 March 2022 as she was unhappy that the landlord had still not repaired the lift. She said that as she had mobility problems she struggled to reach the next nearest lift and could not use the stairs due to severe knee pain. The outcome she sought was for the landlord to repair the lift.
10. In July 2022 the landlord confirmed to this Service that the repairs to resolve the water ingress in the lift had been completed in March 2022 and that the problem had not reoccurred since.

Assessment and findings

11. Due to the complex mechanical nature of lifts, breakdowns do happen on occasion. How these breakdowns are dealt with and managed by landlords is important. When a lift breakdown is reported to a landlord, it would be expected to respond to the report and complete the necessary repairs within a reasonable timeframe, and to communicate effectively with residents if the lift is likely to be out of service for any length of time whilst awaiting repair.
12. The tenant’s handbook confirms that the landlord is responsible for repairs to lifts, which it says it will attend “as soon as is reasonably possible”. The landlord has provided this Service with the lift repairs records which confirm that the lift is serviced on a regular monthly basis. In her complaints correspondence the resident has referred to the lift being out of service since 4 January 2022. The landlord’s lift repair records appear to show that the lift was serviced on 3 January and then was out of order from the 11 January 2022, so there is some discrepancy between the date the resident refers to and the date the repairs records have recorded. However, it is not disputed by either party that the lift was out of service from early January 2022, even if we cannot confirm the exact date.
13. In January 2022 when the landlord’s lift contractors identified water ingress in the lift motor room, as this was a safety issue, the landlord acted appropriately by ensuring that the lift was taken out of service whilst it investigated and resolved the issue. The repairs records show that the landlord’s lift contractor acted appropriately by arranging to pump the water out of the lift in January 2022, which addressed the immediate issue of the water being there. However, as it also needed to confirm how the water had entered the motor room and how to prevent a reoccurrence, the landlord acted appropriately by making the decision to investigate the problem thoroughly.
14. Although we have not been provided with a copy of the letter, the landlord also took appropriate steps to advise residents that the lift would be out of service whilst it investigated the problem, in a letter sent to them on 28 January 2022. The landlord has confirmed that the lift repairs were completed in March 2022.
15. The Ombudsman considers this time frame (from January 2022 to March 2022) to be reasonable, as the landlord had to thoroughly investigate the cause of the issue to ensure that any repairs that were carried out offered a permanent solution to the problem, and as of July 2022 the water ingress problem had not reoccurred.
16. The landlord’s complaint responses were, on the whole, appropriate. It took appropriate steps to explain what the problem was with the lift and the action that it was taking and to apologise for the inconvenience caused by the lift being out of service. Although it was not able to give an estimated completion date for the repairs, that was reasonable as until it had confirmed the cause of water ingress it would not be able to confirm how long it would take to repair, and in the meantime it had provided the resident with direct contact details for two of its officers, who were liaising with the lift contractors, should she want to contact them for updates.
17. Once the resident informed the landlord that people were leaving bags of rubbish outside the lift, the landlord’s response that its caretaking team would move any bags it found and that residents could contact their HO if they needed assistance with moving their rubbish was appropriate. The landlord also said it would consider sending a letter to residents if the problem became acute.
18. However, as the tenant’s handbook states that tenants should keep communal areas and escape routes clear and “must not let clutter collect in passages and stairwells as this is a fire risk” sending a letter at that point (rather than waiting to see if the problem became acute) would have been a good way of offering residents assistance if needed, whilst also reminding them of the fire risks of leaving clutter in communal areas.
19. Although there were four other lifts that could be used in the building, the resident advised the landlord that residents were having difficulties using the other lifts. As this was the case, it was appropriate for the landlord to advise, in its final response that other assistance was available to residents with mobility problems, whilst the lift was out of service, and invite residents to contact their Housing Officer (HO) for advice and assistance.
20. The resident has informed this Service that she struggled to get to the next nearest lift and has mobility issues and severe pain in her knee. However, the landlord has reported that the only vulnerability it has listed for the resident is a broken toe. As it is important that landlords have up to date records of any vulnerabilities residents have, this Service will be recommending that the landlord contact the resident to ensure that it has a full, accurate up to date record of any vulnerabilities she has.
21. Although the Ombudsman does not doubt that the lift being out of service caused inconvenience for the resident, is satisfied that there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of its response to the resident’s concerns about the lift being out of service

Determination

22. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of its response to the resident’s concerns about the lift being out of service.

Recommendations

23. The landlord is recommended to contact the resident to confirm whether she has any vulnerabilities including disabilities or health conditions that it is not aware of and to update its records accordingly.