Colchester Borough Council (202119755)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202119755

Colchester Borough Council

9 September 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 reports of defective guttering causing a leak into her property.

Background

  1. The resident is the leaseholder and the landlord is the freeholder of the property. The property is a flat located on the top floor of a block.
  2. The resident reported to the landlord on 10 February 2021 that the front and rear guttering of the building was defective, causing a leak which was leading to the formation of mould within the property. After she chased the repairs on 3 March 2021, it informed her that these repairs would be completed by 23 March 2021. After chasing the repairs twice further, the resident raised a complaint with the landlord on 24 June 2021, seeking the full redecoration of the rooms affected by the leak and mould growth.
  3. The resident was dissatisfied with the landlord’s complaint response at stage one on 11 August 2021, which offered the decoration of two ceilings only, or a decoration voucher for £50. She escalated her complaint on 18 August 2021, saying that the repairs were still incomplete. The landlord’s final response on 25 August 2021 asserted that it only attributed “minor staining” to the ceiling as a result of the leak and repeated its earlier offer of decorating the two ceilings or providing a £50 decoration voucher. Further work to the guttering was confirmed as complete on 10 September 2021.
  4. The resident contacted the Ombudsman on 25 November 2021 to report that she remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response to her complaint. To resolve her complaint, she sought the redecoration of the room affected by the leak and held that the damage was caused by the landlord’s delay in repairing the guttering. The resident later informed this Service on 5 April 2022 that she had since instructed an independent damp specialist to inspect the property, who found that there was damp present which was attributable to a leak from the roof. She said that the findings of this inspection had been provided to the landlord.

Assessment and findings

  1. The landlord had an obligation under the lease agreement to repair, redecorate and renew the exterior of the property, including the gutters and rain water pipes; this is also confirmed in its leaseholders handbook. It would therefore be expected to carry out any repairs to guttering which was found to be defective. The landlord’s leaseholders handbook states that leaking guttering would be considered to be a routine repair with a timeframe of 21 days for completion.
  2. The landlord should, therefore, have completed the repair to the leaking guttering by 3 March 2021; this was 21 days after the resident’s report on 10 February 2021. It was not confirmed that the guttering repair was completed until it provided its stage one complaint response to the resident on 11 August 2021. This was a timeframe of approximately 182 calendar days.
  3. The landlord explained, in its final stage complaint response on 25 August 2021, that the delay was due to pressures on its repairs and maintenance service due to the corona virus pandemic which led to only urgent repairs being completed. While this was a reasonable response in light of the circumstances, the landlord would be expected to keep the resident updated on the progress of her repair, particularly due to the long delay involved. There was no evidence that it did this, which led to further involvement being required of the resident on 3 March, 7 April and 2 June 2021 to chase the repair. There was, therefore, a failure by the landlord to both complete the repair within its stated timeframe and for it to communicate with the resident about any delay to the repair. Compensation was therefore warranted for the landlord’s failure to complete the guttering repair promptly and for its failure to keep her updated on the progress of the repair.
  4. The resident has noted that the delay in completing the guttering repair led to damage to the interior of her property. The landlord responded reasonably by inspecting the property on 23 July 2021 to assess the reported damage, when it found that there was “minor staining” to two ceilings. It is reasonable for the landlord to rely on the opinions of its suitably qualified staff and therefore it was reasonable for it to maintain, in its final complaint response, that it would provide redecoration only to the affected ceilings or a redecoration voucher for £50.
  5. Whilst it is noted that it offered to redecorate her ceiling or provide a redecoration voucher for £50, this offer is not proportionate to the length of time that the repair remained outstanding and the time and trouble the resident spent pursuing her concerns due to the landlord’s poor communication. Additional compensation of £200 should be paid to the resident to recognise the likely distress and inconvenience caused to her by the prolonged delay of the repair.
  6. The Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, available to view online, provides for awards of compensation of between £250 and £700 where there has been a “failure over a considerable period of time to act in accordance with policy – for example to address repairs” and “a complainant repeatedly having to chase responses”. The additional compensation ordered of £200, coupled with the landlord’s original offer of £50 in decoration vouchers or redecoration of two ceilings, puts the award of compensation in accordance with this guidance.
  7. In relation to the recent survey the resident has received, it is outside the remit of this Service to determine whether or not the further damage to the resident’s walls is the result of the defective guttering or a different issue leading to a leak. The landlord will be recommended to engage with the resident to investigate the report made by the independent damp specialist, remedy any defects identified and offer compensation if there is a failure on its part in addressing this.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its response to the resident’s reports of defective guttering causing a leak into her property.

Order

  1. Within 28 days, the landlord should:
    1. Pay an additional £200 compensation to the resident.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord should:
    1. Re-offer the £50 redecoration vouchers or redecoration of two ceilings to the resident.
    2. Engage with the resident to address the reported damp in her property caused by a roof leak and carry out remedial work as appropriate.
    3. Review its procedures for communicating with residents about their repairs, to ensure that they are kept informed of the status of any reported repairs.