Haringey London Borough Council (202210235)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202210235

Haringey Council

10 January 2023

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 handling of the resident’s reports of outstanding repairs to her fence.

Background

2. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. Her garden backs onto an alleyway leading out to the street.
3. On 28 March 2022 the resident’s fence, which had been temporarily secured with wooden posts in April 2021, was meant to be restored with concrete posts to make it more resistant to heavy winds. The landlord’s records show that works could not be completed on the day due to the operator’s van breaking down. The resident has stated that two days after this appointment, her fence completely collapsed.
4. The resident raised a formal complaint on 20 April 2022. She presented a summary of events following the repairs carried out to her fence in April 2021. She complained that following the cancelled March appointment she had been told that operatives would return later in the week to complete the works. However, when she called two days later to advise that the fence had completely collapsed, she was told the appointment had been rescheduled for August 2022. She said she had been continuously chasing to get an earlier appointment without success. She also explained how the collapsed fence posed a security risk to her family, especially due to her husband’s mobility disability, and raised a concern about a fire exit she said was blocked by the fallen fence.
5. The landlord acknowledged the problem and apologised for the delays in repairing the fence. It confirmed that the property was visited in March 2021 and follow on works were raised to replace the fence with concrete posts. The landlord could not explain why these repairs were not picked up and scheduled in a timely manner. It confirmed why the March 2022 appointment had been cancelled, and explained that the lengthy wait for the new appointment was due to work backlogs.
6. The resident requested an escalation as she was unhappy with the landlord’s lack of action and failure to address her security concerns. She explained that on several occasions her family had been harassed by trespassers entering the garden.
7. In its final complaint response the landlord apologised for its operatives incorrectly telling the resident that the cancelled appointment in March would be rescheduled for the next week. It acknowledged her security concerns and her husband’s disability. Nonetheless, it explained that the fence repair was not considered to be impacting on his disability, or urgent. It reiterated that August 2022 was the soonest appointment option due to the demand on fencing services. The landlord explained how the resident could bring her complaint to this Service if she remained dissatisfied.
8. The resident escalated her complaint to this Service in August 2022. She explained that the appointment due for August had been cancelled and rescheduled for October, which had in turn been rescheduled for February 2023. She said that the fence repair remained outstanding. The landlord has confirmed the same. It also explained, in its response to our information request, that: “The van breakdown could not be foreseen, and unfortunately due to Covid there were several delayed jobs that needed to be planned in. Earlier in the year, Storm Eunice hit which caused additional significant demand for the fencing jobs. Some of which were higher priority, this resulted in staff working at full capacity and longer waiting times for residents. The fencing team is very small, with only 2 fencers. Haringey Repairs Service is currently recruiting to ensure that fencing jobs can be completed sooner and to alleviate some of the backlog.”

Assessment and findings

9. The landlord’s repairs manual sets out the landlord is responsible for repairs to fences. It further states that, for planned repairs such as fencing, the landlord will inspect the property within 28 days and advise the resident of a date when the job will be carried out. It does not state a specific timeframe in which these repairs should be completed.
10. The evidence provided shows that the failed repair appointment in March 2022 had been long overdue, but that the fence was in an acceptable condition because of the interim repairs done the year before. If the fence had stayed in that condition the delayed future appointment might have been reasonable. However, upon the resident’s report of the fence’s full collapse several days later, the situation should have been reassessed as, arguably, its urgency and priority had significantly increased. There is no clear indication that the landlord did that.
11. The failed March 2022 appointment was followed up with a new appointment scheduled for August 2022. The landlord explained that the long gap was due to work backlogs. It did not explain why the resident had, for all intents and purposes, been moved back to the end of the queue through no fault of her own. Nor did the landlord explain what it was doing to resolve the backlog problem. The landlord has now provided some of that information for this investigation, but it should have been given to the resident at the appropriate time.
12. The resident had clearly explained to the landlord the concerns she and her family had about the security risk posed by the fallen fence. Nothing in the evidence shows that the landlord considered interim fixes which might have provided at least some level of security and peace of mind for the resident until the permanent repairs could be done. It may be that there was no practical interim solution available, but basic good practice in the circumstances was for it to have been at least explored as an option.
13. The resident has explained that she asked the Ombudsman to investigate because the August 2022 appointment was cancelled without notice, and that she only knew about it because she received a message for an appointment in October 2022. That October appointment was then rescheduled for February 2023. The landlord has confirmed these dates, and explained to this Service that it is recruiting to address its lack of fencing capacity. There is, again, no evidence that it explained this to the resident, adding to its earlier failings to appropriately communicate with her and manage her expectations.
14. In general, there can be a range of reasons why a repair is delayed, many of them beyond a landlord’s control. When delays occur, good communication and explanations, thorough assessment of the situation to allow prioritisation where possible, consideration of alternative or interim solutions, and effectively managing a resident’s expectations are key to providing a good service and maintaining a positive relationship with residents. In this case the landlord did not do these things, all of which contributed to poor and unreasonable service for the resident overall.

Determination

15. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of the complaint.

Orders

16. Within four weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Apologise to the resident in writing for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident £300 compensation for the distress and inconvenience, and time and trouble, caused by the failings identified in this report.
    3. Complete the fence repairs.