Hammersmith and Fulham Council (202100618)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202100618

Hammersmith and Fulham Council

6 August 2021

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 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of a leak from the roof into his property.

Background and summary of events

Agreement, policies and procedures

As per the sixth schedule, part one of the leasehold agreement between the resident and the landlord, it is responsible for the maintenance and repair of the structure of his property’s building, including the roof.
Under the landlord’s repairs and maintenance handbook, if the required work to a block requires a consultation with leaseholders, there could be a delay in the completion of the work, until the consultation process has ended.

Background

The resident lives in a first-floor flat, with the resident being the leaseholder and the landlord being the freeholder of the property.
In May 2019, the landlord responded to the resident’s previous historic complaint. This was in relation to a leak coming from the building’s roof into his property, and it had been identified in December 2018 that scaffolding was required to carry out the necessary work to this. The landlord found that, despite several visits by its contractor, the work was not completed. Therefore, it had appointed a new contractor, which would carry out an inspection and the subsequent repair.
The landlord’s records show that the resident has reported experiencing historical issues of a similar nature to the above roof leak affecting cracks in the walls of his property since 2017. While this is referenced below for context, this investigation will focus on the events in his case from within six months of the submission of his stage one complaint to the landlord of 28 February 2020. This is because the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints about issues that were not brought to the landlord’s attention as a formal complaint within a reasonable period, which would normally be within six months of the matters arising.

Summary of events

On 31 October 2019, the landlord’s repairs history for the resident’s property confirmed that an unresolved roof leak had been reported to it by him, which it requested be attended and investigated.
On 6 November 2019, the landlord’s records confirmed that it had inspected the resident’s property and determined the leak to be coming from the roof. It noted that scaffolding would be required at the rear of the property to carry out a full inspection to determine the work required, and to carry out the required repairs.
On 16 January 2020, the landlord’s recorded that the resident had it called to explain that he had not heard from its contractor following their above visit on 6 November 2019, for which it noted that the contractor had agreed to chase their sub-contractor.
The resident also advised the landlord that an appointment was made by its contractor to install scaffolding at his property in January 2020. However, he reported to the landlord that this appointment was not attended by the contractor.
On 28 February 2020, the resident emailed his latest stage one complaint to the landlord, stating the following:
1. He was disappointed that it had not repaired the leak from the roof, which had been ongoing and had been the subject of previous complaints to it by him. The resident had heard nothing in relation to the erection of scaffolding at his property to carry out the leak investigation and any subsequent repairs, despite being informed on 16 January 2020 that a request to arrange this had been made to the landlord’s contractor.
2. He therefore requested a surveyor’s inspection of the roof to identify the source of the leak, and to advise on the required repairs, prior to any further repair work being undertaken by its contractor. In addition to this, the resident also requested either the redecoration of the affected areas, or advice on submitting a claim for compensation to the landlord to meet the cost of the redecoration.
On 7 April 2020, the landlord issued its stage one complaint response to the resident, which is summarised as follows:
1. It apologised for not addressing the root cause of the roof leak. The landlord agreed to ensure that it would identify the cause of the leak via a supervisor’s attendance before further repairs were completed. Due to the corona virus pandemic restricting its ability to carry out the work, it set a 28-day review, at which point it would update the resident.
2. It understood from him that there was a scaffolding appointment booked for January 2020 that did not happen; therefore, it would raise this with the contractor.
3. It upheld his complaint, as it acknowledged that he had “waited longer than necessary for the repairs to the roof to be properly fixed.” The landlord offered £50 compensation for the inconvenience experienced by the resident, as well as apologising that his personal belongings had been damaged because of the leak and stating that it had given him a liability claim form to complete and return to it for this.
On 1 May 2020, the resident responded by email to the landlord, stating the following:
1. He wanted to resolve the issue rather than escalate the complaint. Therefore, the resident accepted the landlord’s findings and compensation offer.
2. It had not attached the relevant forms for him to submit his liability claim to it. The resident therefore asked for the landlord to send them to him for him to complete and return these to it.
On 23 May 2020, the landlord’s records confirmed that a new work order was raised, repeating the same commentary from above its visit to the resident’s property of 6 November 2019. It was noted as having been completed on the same day, with work completed under a reference number that it recorded as being marked as complete on 3 June 2019.
On 12 June 2020, the resident emailed the landlord, as he had not received a response to his above email to it of 1 May 2020. He reported that the leak had resumed, and so he wanted to escalate his complaint to the final stage of its complaints procedure.
On 19 June 2020, the landlord acknowledged the escalation of the resident’s complaint, and it confirmed that it would respond to this by 10 July 2020.
On 19 June 2020, the landlord’s records confirmed that it had sought further information on its stage one investigation, as well as the following:
1. It had tried to call the resident on the 28-day review detailed in its above stage one complaint response to him. The call went to voicemail, and the landlord did not try to call him again.
2. It had sent the liability claim form “a while ago”, and it had since emailed a further copy to the resident.
3. In respect to the resident’s reports of further leaks, it enquired as to whether this had been reported to the call centre.
4. It agreed that it should look to increase its offer of compensation if the resident was unhappy, and if the repairs were not done correctly in the first instance.
On 10 July 2020, the landlord issued its final stage complaint response to the resident, which is summarised as follows:
1. It apologised for not resolving matters at the first opportunity.
2. It confirmed that it did respond to his email of 1 May 2020, and had sent a further copy of the liability claim form to him.
3. As it had found that there had been “some further inconvenience” to him, it had increased its total compensation offer to him to £100, for which it also apologised to him.

Assessment and findings

The resident’s stage one complaint of 28 February 2020 raised concerns over the landlord having not completed the required work to address the issue of a leak from the roof into his property. He understood it to be necessary to erect scaffolding to carry out the necessary work, having earlier been advised of this in 2018 by a previous contractor. The landlord therefore apologised for this on 7 April 2020, and it committed to identifying the cause of the leak before completing further repairs once the corona virus pandemic restrictions were lifted. It set a 28-day review for it to provide an update to the resident.
While it is recognised that there had already been a significant delay in this work, this was a reasonable action for the landlord to take in all the circumstances of this case, including in light of its obligation from the resident’s leasehold agreement above at paragraph 2 to repair and maintain his property’s roof. This is because the Government’s guidance for landlords from 28 March 2020 on the corona virus pandemic restrictions did not allow for such visits to take place, instead only recommending access to properties for serious and urgent issues, and the landlord did not know when it would be allowed to do so again.
The landlord’s records on 19 June 2020 confirm that it had previously conducted the above 28-day review of this case, and made one attempt to call the resident, which went to voicemail. However, in view of the longstanding issues experienced by him, and the fact that these had been subjected to its formal complaints procedure, this was unreasonable of the landlord. The resident should have instead also been updated in writing about the schedule for the work to address the leaks into his property from the roof, and so failure has been found on its part for this delay, including because the Government’s above guidance for landlords was updated from 1 June 2020 to permit wider repairs and inspections of properties, if it was safe to do so.
Despite the resident having accepted the landlord’s £50 compensation offer at stage one of its complaints procedure on 7 April 2020, he remained dissatisfied as the roof leak had returned at his property. As per paragraph 14 above, another work order was raised by it for this on 23 May 2020, however its records of this are not clear, as it confirmed that the job was completed on 3 June 2019, despite the repair being raised again in May 2020. Failure has therefore also been found for the landlord not maintaining adequate records in respect of this outstanding work order.
The landlord’s final stage complaint response letter to the resident of 10 July 2020 apologised for not resolving matters at the first opportunity, and stated that it had provided a further copy of the liability claim form for the resident to complete and return to it for the damages that he had reported from the roof leak. This was reasonable action for it to take to recognise its initial failing in not resolving the leak and to enable him to claim for damages from this. However, the landlord failed to provide the resident with an update on the progress of the required work to address the leak from the roof.
This was unfair, as the resident should have instead been notified by the landlord of the progress that it had made, if any, to resolve the roof leak at his property, particularly since it had already failed to complete the repair with a previous contractor, and he had since reported further leaks on 12 June 2020. If there had been a delay due to it needing to consult with its residents, as detailed in its repairs and maintenance handbook above at paragraph 3, it should have communicated this to the resident. Failure has therefore additionally been found on the landlord’s part for not keeping the resident informed of the progress of the remedial work for the roof leak.
The landlord also increased its offer to £100 compensation due to the above “further inconvenience” to the resident on 10 July 2020. It is recognised that the above corona virus restrictions, coupled with the complex nature of the required work to address the leak from the property’s roof, meant that it was not able to complete the repairs during the course of its complaints procedure up to the above date.
However, the landlord failed to offer compensation which was proportionate to the level of detriment experienced by the resident. This is in light of the fact that he was still awaiting the completion of the roof leak repairs that he had re-reported to it from 31 October 2019 onwards after he had exhausted its complaints procedure in respect of this on 10 July 2020, for which it had still not provided him with its timescale to complete its remedial works. Accordingly, the £100 compensation offered by the landlord was not line with this Service’s remedies guidance.
As per our remedies guidance, compensation awards from £250 to £700 may be awarded where considerable service failure has been found, but there may be no permanent impact on the resident. Examples could include:
1. The resident being given inadequate information, and having to chase the landlord to progress the complaint.
2. Failure to address repairs in accordance with its policy.
3. The landlord not taking responsibility for sub-contracted services.
4. Repeated failure to meaningfully engage with the substance of the complaint, leading to considerable delay in resolving the complaint.
5. The impact experienced by the resident could include distress, inconvenience, time and trouble.
Therefore, the landlord has been ordered below to pay the resident further financial compensation, which is appropriate to this Service’s above guidance, and to reflect its above failings. It has also been ordered below to ensure that works at his property to repair the roof leak there have been completed, if it has not done so already, and to confirm the work that it has already completed and is still due to complete, to address his concerns about this. The landlord has additionally been ordered below to update the resident on the status of his liability claim to it, and to help him to progress this with it if necessary, as well as to review its staff’s training needs to seek to prevent a recurrence of its above failings in his case.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its response to the resident’s reports of a leak from the roof into his property.

Reasons

There were repeated delays by the landlord in getting scaffolding erected to seek to address the root cause of the leak from the roof into the resident’s property.
The landlord failed to keep the resident informed of the developments in the remedial work for his roof leak, which resulted in additional time, trouble, distress and inconvenience being caused to him in progressing the complaint.
The compensation offered by the landlord was not proportionate to recognise the detriment experienced by the resident because of the delayed repairs to the roof.

Orders and recommendations

The Ombudsman orders the landlord to:
1. Pay the resident total compensation of £500 within four weeks, compromising of:
  1. £250 for its delay in completing suitable repairs to address the leaks from the roof into the resident’s property.
  2. £250 for the resident’s resulting distress, inconvenience, time and trouble because of the failure to resolve his complaint about the roof leak.
2. If it has not done so already, contact the resident within four weeks to:
  1. Arrange for scaffolding to be erected at his property, and identify and repair the root cause of the roof leak there, communicating to him the work that it has already completed and is still due to complete at the property for this with the timescale for it to do so.
  1. Inform him of the status of his liability claim to it, and help him to progress this with it, if necessary.
3. Review its staff’s training needs in relation to their application of its policies and procedures with regard to the timeliness, records of and updates on the progress of repairs, and on appropriate levels of compensation, to seek to prevent a recurrence of its above failings in the resident’s case. This should include the completion of this Service’s free online dispute resolution training for landlords at https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/landlords-info/e-learning/, if this has not been done recently, and consideration of our remedies guidance at https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/corporate-information/policies/dispute-resolution/policy-on-remedies/.
The landlord shall contact this Service within four weeks of this determination to confirm that it has complied with the above orders.
The Ombudsman accepts that, because of the present restrictions due to the corona virus pandemic, the timing of the above actions will depend on what is reasonable in the light of Government guidance regarding the health of the resident and of the landlord’s staff.