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Hyde Housing Association Limited (202117735)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202117735

Hyde Housing Association Limited

30 October 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:
    1. the landlord’s handling of leaks in the property.
    2. the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The resident lives in a one-bedroom, mid-storey flat. She has pre-existing health conditions which cause pain and affect her mobility. The resident’s tenancy agreement began with the landlord on 21 July 2016, following the transfer of the property from Sovereign Housing Association.
  2. The resident states she has experienced repeated water leaks through the ceiling in her living room and bedroom for several years and that these caused distress and damage to her possessions. Additionally, the resident says the leaks in her bedroom forced her to sleep on the sofa, which aggravated her health conditions.
  3. The resident raised a complaint on 16 June 2021, in which she said the leaks had been occurring for over 10 years. She asked the landlord to resolve the leaks as well as redecorate her home and reimburse her for the cost of a damaged bed and sofa.
  4. The landlord issued its response on 21 September 2021 and upheld the complaint and offered £150 compensation. It acknowledged that the repairs and its complaint response had been delayed. The landlord committed to completing remedial works to stop the leaks.
  5. The resident remained dissatisfied as the repairs were still outstanding. She escalated her complaint on 2 December 2021. The landlord issued its final response on 28 January 2022. It accepted it had delayed the repairs and had not provided a full explanation. The landlord increased its compensation offer to £450.
  6. The resident referred her complaint to the Ombudsman. She is seeking reimbursement for a bed and sofa which had to be replaced due to water damage together with the £450 compensation previously offered.

Assessment and findings

Compensation following a water leak

  1. The landlord is responsible to repair the structure, exterior of the property and gutters and pipes, under section 11(1)(a) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985. When a landlord is given notice of disrepair, it must ensure it completes a full, effective and lasting repair within a reasonable time. The landlord’s responsive repairs procedure states that repairs to the roof, internal and external walls and repairs related to leaks in individual dwellings, all remain the landlord’s responsibility to repair. The landlord commits to attending emergency repairs within four hours and making the situation safe within 24 hours. All other repairs are to be completed within 20 working days.
  2. The landlord’s repair records indicate that the resident first reported a leak in her property on 15 October 2013. There are no repairs shown on the landlord’s repair records until 2018. Between 2018 and the date of this determination, there is evidence that the landlord attended the property to conduct repairs twice in 2018, once in 2019, 2020 and 2021 and twice in 2022. There is also inference of reports in 2021 which are not present within the landlord’s repair log. Namely, within the landlord’s surveyor report dated 2 February 2022, which indicated that a repair entry was reported on 26 December 2021 however there has been no evidence provided to the Ombudsman in relation to this.
  3. These works included tracing the source of the leak, reinstating waterlogged electrical appliances, conducting a water penetration test and ultimately removing sections of the ceiling to visibly trace the leak. The works were completed satisfactorily in June 2022, following the removal of the ceiling, and the resident has not reported further leaks since that time.
  4. The Ombudsman accepts that reports of the leaks were intermittent however, considering they were of the same nature, the landlord would have been expected to take further action or conduct a surveying inspection sooner, given the difficulties in tracing the leaks and water ingress.
  5. In considering the report made in August 2018, it is unclear what action the landlord took to rectify the leak and a further report was raised in October 2018, indicating that had there been an earlier repair, this was not sufficient in nature. Following this, a further report was made in December 2019, again it is unclear what action was taken to rectify the leak. Whilst the landlord inherited the property in 2016, it had knowledge of the leaks into the resident’s bedroom in 2013, as this is evident in its repair log. Additionally, following two reports of leaks in 2018, with no clear remedy, the landlord should have taken substantive action in aiming to resolve the issue following the report in December 2019, that it did not after several failed attempts in finding a permanent solution, warrants compensation to be paid from after the December 2019 leak.
  6. In the correspondence reviewed by this Service, there is evidence that the resident contacted the landlord on numerous occasions by email and phone to follow up on repairs. The resident also supplied the landlord with video footage showing the extent of the leaks within her property.
  7. Whilst it is appreciated that tracing leaks and water ingress can be challenging, the resident has experienced damage to her personal property, and has, on occasion needed to sleep on her sofa, as her bedroom could not be used. When the resident slept in her bed during any period of rain, she stated that she had to position buckets around the bed and sleep under a tarpaulin, to avoid being woken in the night due to the leaks. The resident has also explained that sleeping on the sofa has exacerbated her pre-existing medical conditions, making it difficult to sleep. Additionally, the resident has experienced anxiety during periods of rain, due to concerns about further water damage, which she says has also negatively affected her health. 
  8. It is noted that the landlord offered to decant the resident during the reported leaks. It is not clear from the correspondence when this was offered, however, it was subsequently declined by the resident. The resident has stated in correspondence with this Service that this was due to wanting to remain near her support networks, whom she relied upon for her health and well-being.
  9. Only following the formal complaint in June 2021, did the landlord instruct a surveyor inspection on 7 July 2021. Following this, the surveyor instructed the removal of the ceiling to attempt to trace the leak, this was not done in a reasonable period of time, given that the repair was only completed in mid-2022. In between this period, the resident’s representative confirmed ongoing issues regarding the leak and impact on the resident’s health. In the same period, the landlord accepted in its stage one response the repairs were not attended to as quickly as they should have been, which it accepted resulted in the damage worsening and in its stage two response that it failed to effectively resolve the issue, which it had known for a while; a job was closed in error, which resulted in lost track of progress; and lack of ownership of the repair, which was only highlighted when the formal complaint was made.
  10. The landlord does not dispute that the repair works took longer to complete than they should have. It specifically accepted it contributed to those delays. In particular, the landlord noted in its stage 2 complaint response that it had failed to raise works orders following the stage 1 response. It said other repairs had been inadvertently cancelled. In response, the landlord apologised and offered £450 compensation to the resident. However, at the time of this investigation, the resident has not received this payment.
  11. It is also reasonable to conclude that damage to the resident’s bed and sofa was unlikely to have occurred if the landlord had been timelier in repairing the issue or offered her storage space. The resident had previously requested reimbursement for replacing her sofa and bed and had supplied the landlord with copies of receipts to support this expenditure. In correspondence received by this Service, the landlord indicated that it would not make payments to the resident for these items. The evidence does not demonstrate the landlord fairly considered this request.   
  12. In the Ombudsman’s opinion £450 is not sufficient redress to recognise the impact caused by the longstanding nature of the leaks, the impact on the resident’s enjoyment and use of her property, the damage to her possessions and the likely impact on her well being. The landlord is ordered to pay additional compensation for the significant and longstanding impact this situation had on the resident. Additionally, the landlord is ordered to reimburse the resident for the cost of replacing her bed and sofa, on submission of receipts showing proof of expenditure.

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord operates a two-stage formal complaint procedure and has an informal stage before this. The landlord’s complaints policy states that responses will be issued to residents within 10 working days at stage one and within 20 working days at stage two. Complaints raised using the informal route will be resolved within five working days.
  2. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (‘the Code’) sets out that informal complaint stages (sometimes known as ‘stage 0 complaints’) are not appropriate. This is because they have the potential to confuse residents. The landlord should consider reviewing its complaint policy to bring it in line with the requirements of the Code.
  3. It is not contested that there were delays in the landlord’s response to the resident’s stage one and stage two complaints. Overall, there were delays of 77 working days (around 16 working weeks) in the complaint responses being sent to the resident. This is an unreasonable delay which caused additional time, trouble and distress to the resident.
  4. Whilst the landlord apologised to the resident and offered £50 compensation within its complaint responses, this is not proportionate to the level of delay, which amounts to maladministration. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident an additional £100 compensation to reflect her time and trouble in pursuing this complaint in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, which is available on our website.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there has been:
    1. severe maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the leaks in the property
    2. maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint. 

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 28 days of this determination, the landlord must:
    1. arrange for a suitably senior officer to apologise to the resident in person
    2. pay the resident compensation as set out below
    3. reimburse the resident for the cost of replacing her sofa and bed, which were damaged due to water leaks, on submission of receipts or other evidence showing proof of this expenditure
    4. provide this Service with evidence of compliance with these orders.

The compensation payment

  1. The landlord must pay compensation to the value of 15% of the rent from January 2020 until 14 June 2022, when the leaks were fully rectified. This is to reflect the resident’s loss of enjoyment of her home during this period. The landlord must calculate this based on the rent debits in the rent statement between this period. The landlord must provide evidence of its calculation to the resident and the Ombudsman, along with evidence of payment within 28 days of the date of this determination.
  2. The landlord must pay the resident £500 compensation comprised of:
    1. £100 for the complaint handling delays;
    2. £200 for the resident’s distress and inconvenience of these issues, and
    3. £200 for the resident’s time and trouble in pursuing this complaint.
    4. If the landlord has paid the £450 compensation offered in its stage 2 complaint response (or any part of it), it may deduct this from the total compensation ordered.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord should:
    1. Review its complaint policy, particularly the section around informal complaints, to ensure that it remains compliant with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
    2. Review its procedures for tracking repair requests and complaints, to ensure that these are addressed in a timely way, in accordance with its policies.