Housing Solutions (202206842)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202206842

Housing Solutions

12 December 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 handling of repairs to the communal bike shed.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord.
3. In February 2022, the resident reported that due to a storm a piece of plastic had come away from the communal bike shed making it easily accessible to the general public. In April 2022 the resident reported that her bike was stolen from the communal bike shed, as a result of the plastic not being replaced.
4. The resident subsequently complained in May 2022, as the bike shed had not been repaired, which she stated had caused her bike to be stolen. As a result, the resident requested the landlord pay £320 compensation to cover the cost of her replacement bike.
5. The landlord stated that, due to a storm, a lot of the estate had experienced damage. As a result, it needed to prioritise repairs that were dangerous, which the bike shed was not, meaning that it had needed to extended its repairs timeframes to 60 days. In regard to the resident’s request for compensation, it stated it would not be responsible for any items stored in the bike shed and, therefore the resident would be required to submit a home contents insurance claim.
6. The resident referred the complaint to this Service in July 2022. She remains unhappy with the landlord’s handling of the repair as it has yet to repair the communal bike shed. The resident also remains unhappy with the landlord’s position that any personal belongings are left at her own risk. As an outcome to her complaint the resident would like the landlord to repair the communal bike shed and compensate for:
   1. The cost to replace her bike;
   2. The cost to replace a bike basket;
   3. The cost to replace the broken lock; and
   4. Stress and anxiety caused.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

7. The resident has referenced how the theft of her bike has impacted her mental health, namely, it has caused the resident stress and anxiety. However, the Ombudsman cannot draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. This is more appropriate for it to be dealt with through the courts as a personal injury claim. Nonetheless, consideration has been given to the general distress and inconvenience which the situation may have caused the resident. This is an accordance with paragraph 42(g) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.

Assessment

8. Part of the resident’s complaint concerned the theft of her bike from the communal bike shed and as a resolution the resident is seeking for the landlord to make an offer of compensation to cover the cost of the stolen bike. The Ombudsman cannot make an assessment about whether or not the landlord could or should have prevented the theft from occurring, as it is outside of this Service’s scope. The Ombudsman cannot draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, the theft of the resident’s bike. This is an accordance with paragraph 42(g) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme.
9. However, as per its repairs policy, the landlord is obligated to repair any damage to communal facilities within 21 working days. The resident reported the repair in February 2022, meaning the repair should have been completed by March 2022. However, at the time of the resident’s escalation to this Service, the bike shed had not been repaired. This means that the repair has been outstanding for at least seven months in addition to its repairs policy. Therefore, the landlord has not acted as per its obligation leading to a failure in its service.
10. It is acknowledged that the landlord was experiencing delays to its repair timescales due to an excessive number of repairs being reported due to the storm. It is likely that there were more urgent repairs to be completed in light of the extreme weather. Therefore, delays in the repairs process would not be unreasonable in these circumstances. However, if the landlord anticipated that repairs may be delayed, it should have contacted the resident to inform her about any such delay, and set realistic expectations about when the repair would be completed.
11. In this case the landlord did inform the resident in June 2022 that repairs had been delayed by up to 60 days due to the storm and the increase of repairs being reported due to extensive damage on the estate. Whilst this is the case, the resident reported the bike shed repairs in February 2022, meaning the landlord did not inform the resident of these delays for at least four months. Therefore, the landlord did not set any expectations for when the repair would be completed, and did not communicate as soon as it was aware of the delays in its repair obligations. This was not in-line with good practice and meant that the resident had to chase the landlord for updates on the repair on multiple occasions, leading to an unnecessary level of involvement in the repairs process and is a failure in the landlord’s service.
12. In order to remedy the resident’s complaint, the landlord is ordered to complete the repair to the communal bike shed within four weeks of this report if it has not done so already. In addition, the landlord should pay the resident £100 compensation, in light of the above failings in its communication and delayed repairs. This compensation is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, which suggests awards of £50 to £100 for cases where the Ombudsman has found service failure by the landlord resulting in minimal impact on the complainant. We recognise that there has been service failure which had an impact on the complainant but was of short duration and may not have significantly affected the overall outcome. 
13. The resident remains dissatisfied with the landlord’s position that any items left in communal areas would be at the resident’s risk and it would not accept any liability. The resident stated that this was not in her tenancy agreement nor were there any signs around the communal areas. It is generally accepted that resident’s leave any personal belongings in communal areas at their own risk and, as such, the landlord would not have to accept liability over this. However, this Service has recommended that the landlord install signs in communal areas, to avoid any similar queries.
14. In light of the above, the landlord informed the resident that she could submit a claim against her home contents insurance for the cost of her stolen bike. This was reasonable in the circumstances, as home contents insurance would cover any damage to personal belongings. However, the landlord could also have provided the resident with its liability insurers details as the theft happened on its communal property. However, this is only a recommendation by this Service and we cannot guarantee any success in any liability or insurance claim the resident may submit.

Determination

15. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in way the landlord handled repairs to the communal bike shed.

Orders

16. The landlord is ordered to:
    1. Pay the resident £100 compensation for the delays in repairing the communal bike shed.
    2. Repair the communal bike shed, if it has not done so already.
17. These actions should be completed within four weeks of this report.

Recommendations

18. It is recommended that the landlord:
    1. Install signs in communal areas which state that any personal belongings are left at the owner’s risk, to avoid any further confusion in the future.
    2. Provide the resident with the details of its liability insurance.