London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202227433)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202227433

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

30 September 2024

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 the resident’s reports of roof leaks affecting her loft and kitchen ceiling, including the landlord’s communication.
   2. The landlord’s handling of the associated complaints.

Background

2. The property is one-bedroom flat on the first floor of a converted house. The resident is a shared owner and her lease started on 3 January 2003.
3. The landlord has advised this Service that it has no vulnerabilities recorded for the resident.

Summary of events

4. The resident phoned the landlord on 3 and 23 March 2022 to request an update regarding the outstanding repairs to the roof. The landlord’s notes stated that the leak was affecting the resident’s loft and had been ongoing since June 2021. The notes also stated that the matter was with the landlord’s Section 20 team for consultation. The resident had asked the landlord whether a temporary repair could be done in the meantime.
5. The resident submitted an online complaint form to the landlord on 30 September 2022. The resident stated that in June 2021 she had reported a leak from the roof which was affecting her kitchen ceiling. She said the leak had not yet been repaired even though she had previously complained about the matter. She said: “I have put in a complaint about this before and the scaffolding needed for the work was then started but apparently my neighbours in the ground floor flat complained about the scaffolders conduct so it was not put up and nothing has happened since”. The resident added that she had a long-term health condition and the stress of the situation was not helping her condition. The landlord acknowledged the complaint on 3 October 2022.
6. The resident wrote to the landlord on 17 October 2022 to request an update regarding the roof repairs. She asked whether the landlord could arrange for someone to check the loft area as a friend had placed a bucket in the loft to catch the water and she was concerned that it might overflow. She also mentioned that her kitchen ceiling had staining due to the leak.
7. The resident wrote to the landlord on 8 November 2022 to request an update regarding the roof. She stated that she had arranged for a roofer to check the loft and the roof from the inside and he had advised her that there were “numerous damp patches”. She asked the landlord whether she could use her own roofer to carry out the work. She stated that she was feeling stressed and upset by the lack of progress and it was adding stress to her long-term health problems.
8. The landlord wrote to the resident on 15 November 2022 and advised her that it was waiting for a date to be confirmed to erect the scaffolding. The resident replied on the same day and advised that there had been a problem erecting the scaffolding because the owner of the ground floor flat was absent from the flat.
9. On 29 November 2022, the resident requested the landlord to escalate her complaint to stage 2. She stated that the landlord had not updated her regarding the leak.
10. The landlord wrote to the resident on 29 November 2022 with its stage one reply in which it stated the following:
    1. The landlord said that an order had been raised for scaffolding to be erected. However, it explained that it had been experiencing access issues with the ground floor flat and had therefore requested assistance from its Neighbourhood Lead.
    2. A job had been raised for its roofers to repair the leak and it was still awaiting an appointment for the contractor to attend.
    3. The landlord confirmed that the complaint had been escalated to stage 2 of the complaints process.
11. The landlord’s records show that during November and December 2022 it exchanged emails with the owner of the ground floor flat in order to obtain agreement to access his flat so scaffolding could be erected at the rear of the building. The emails from the owner of the flat indicated that he was in dispute with the scaffolding contractor and this was the reason he had been unhappy to provide access to his flat.
12. The resident wrote to the landlord on 11 December 2022 and stated that she had received advice from her own roofer that the rear of the roof could be accessed by erecting scaffolding at the front of the building. This would avoid having to erect scaffolding at the rear of the building and avoid having to access the ground floor flat. The landlord replied on 12 December 2022 and advised that it would investigate this possibility.
13. The resident contacted this Service on 7 February 2023 to report that the leak was still ongoing.
14. The landlord wrote to the resident on 22 March 2023 and advised her that the roofing repairs had been booked to take place on 19 April 2023. The resident replied on 23 March 2023 and confirmed she had forwarded an assessment from her own roofer who had found more damp patches in the loft than were included in the landlord’s original report. The resident also referred the landlord to an email the owner of the ground floor flat had sent to the landlord on 10 December 2022. The owner had requested certain conditions before he would allow access through his flat.
15. On 31 March 2023, the landlord sent its stage 2 reply to the resident in which it stated the following:
    1. The landlord said that the resident had complained on 3 October 2022 regarding a delay in repairing a leak, poor service and poor communication.
    2. The landlord said the resident had requested permission to use her own contractor as she had not yet received an appointment. Her contractor had advised her that scaffolding could be erected at the front of the building to provide access to the rear of the building.
    3. The landlord stated it had been liaising with its Neighbourhood Lead for assistance to obtain access to the ground floor property. However, the owner of the ground floor flat had been overseas and therefore the landlord had not been able to speak to him.
    4. The landlord had emailed the owner of the ground floor flat and he had advised the landlord that although he was still overseas, he was happy to provide access. The owner of the ground floor flat said he would confirm when he would be able to give access to the ground floor flat.
    5. The landlord confirmed the position regarding the information it had received from the owner of the ground floor flat.
    6. The landlord acknowledged that the delays the resident had experienced in relation to the repair were unacceptable and apologised for the stress this had caused.
    7. It also acknowledged there had been delays in replying to the resident due to a backlog and it apologised for this. It confirmed there was evidence on its system showing that the resident had contacted the landlord on “multiple occasions” to chase an update regarding the complaint. The landlord said this had been due to staff changes within its Customer Relations Team and it confirmed it had now reminded the staff involved of its complaint handling procedure.
    8. The landlord offered compensation of £570 in relation to the time taken to complete the repairs and the inconvenience caused. The compensation was made up as follows:
       1. £100 for the delay in the stage 2 reply.
       2. £110 for time and effort.
       3. £150 for distress and inconvenience.
       4. £70 for poor communication.
       5. £100 for service failure.
       6. £40 for complaint handling.

Events after the landlord’s stage 2 reply

16. The owner of the ground floor flat confirmed to the landlord on 3 April 2023 that he could be available on 19 April 2023 to provide access for the scaffolding contractor.
17. The resident wrote to the landlord on 13 April 2023 pointing out that the description of the repair in the landlord’s stage 2 reply had been incorrect. She requested an update from the landlord.
18. The landlord replied on the same day (13 April 2023) and apologised for the error in its stage 2 reply. The landlord said it had double-checked with the contractor that it had the correct information about the repair. The landlord also confirmed that the resident in the downstairs flat had agreed to provide access and that works were due to go ahead on 19 April 2023.
19. The owner of the ground floor flat wrote to the landlord on 19 April 2023 to confirm that he had been waiting for the scaffolding contractor to attend but the contractor had not arrived. He explained that he had returned home from abroad specifically for the appointment. The resident also wrote to the landlord on the same day to ask why the contractor had not attended as an appointment had been made.
20. The resident wrote to this Service on 8 June 2023 to advise that she had been expecting the repair to proceed on 19 April 2023. However, she stated that the repair was not carried out and she was not given an explanation by the landlord.
21. The resident wrote to the landlord and to this Service on 30 June 2023 to report that the repairs to the roof and guttering had still not been addressed and she had not heard from the landlord since April 2023.
22. During July 2023, the resident and the landlord exchanged further emails about the outstanding roof repair.
23. An internal email dated 16 Aug 2023 from the landlord confirmed that its Section 20 team had not received a request to carry out Section 20 consultation in relation to the resident’s property.
24. The landlord raised orders on 1 September 2023 for a contractor to inspect the roof and provide a quote. The roof leak was repaired on 13 November 2023.
25. The landlord’s roofing supervisor attended on 7 February 2024 and identified that there was a leak from the chimney, which was affecting the ground floor flat. He also identified that the skylight to the resident’s property was rotting. An appointment was therefore booked for 3 April 2024 for a contractor to repair the chimney/coping stones and renew the timber frame of the skylight.
26. The resident contacted this Service on 14 February 2024 to confirm that the works to repair the original leak from the roof were completed. However, she stated that a roofer had identified follow-on works to a skylight and these works were scheduled to be carried out in April 2024. The resident stated that she wanted the landlord to decorate and make good the kitchen ceiling in her property. She also stated that she had not yet received the £570 the landlord had offered at stage 2.
27. The landlord wrote to the resident on 22 February 2024 and confirmed that its roofing supervisor had attended on 7 February 2024. The landlord confirmed that an appointment had been booked for 3 April 2024 to carry out works to the chimney, the coping stones and the skylight. The landlord offered compensation of £890 as a goodwill gesture for the time it took the landlord to resolve the issue. The resident replied on the same day (22 February 2024) and asked whether her kitchen ceiling would be repainted after the works had been completed on 3 April 2024. The landlord replied on 23 February 2024 and confirmed that once the repairs were completed, a new order would be raised to paint the ceiling in the resident’s property.
28. The landlord’s records show that the works to the chimney, the coping stones and the skylight were completed on 2 May 2024.
29. The resident spoke to this Service on 13 September 2024 and advised that the issues with the skylight had been resolved as it just needed cleaning. She also mentioned that the kitchen ceiling was stained and had not yet been painted.
30. The landlord confirmed to this Service on 19 September 2024 that it had now processed the payment of £570 offered to the resident at stage 2. The landlord also confirmed that it had paid the compensation of £890 in March 2024.
31. The landlord confirmed to this Service on 19 September 2024 that it was unable to provide evidence showing that the scaffolding contractor had not been able to access the ground floor flat on 19 April 2023. It also confirmed that although a job had been raised to repaint the resident’s kitchen ceiling, it had not yet assigned a date to carry out the work.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

32. The Ombudsman has received information showing events that took place in relation to the property after the landlord sent its final complaint response on 31 March 2023. A key part of the Ombudsman’s role is to assess the landlord’s response to a complaint and therefore it is important that the landlord has had an opportunity to consider all the information being investigated by the Ombudsman as part of its complaint response. It is therefore considered fair and reasonable to focus this investigation on matters that occurred up to the date of the final response. Information following the landlord’s final complaint response has, however, been included in this report for context.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of roof leaks affecting her loft and kitchen ceiling, including the landlord’s communication

33. The landlord’s Repairs Policy states:
    1. “Across all our homes, [we are] responsible for maintaining…the structure and exterior of the home, including walls, roofs, windows, external doors, drains, gutters, external pipes and boundary fences and gates”.
    2. “[We] will only redecorate following a repair where we have an obligation or in exceptional circumstances entirely at our discretion”.
    3. “For routine day to day repairs, we will aim to complete the repair at the earliest mutually convenient appointment”.
34. The resident contacted the landlord on 3 and 23 March 2022 to request an update regarding outstanding roof repairs. The resident then complained to the landlord on 30 September 2022 and stated that the roof had not yet been repaired and was affecting her kitchen ceiling. She also stated that she had a long-term health condition and the outstanding repair was affecting her health. It was unreasonable that the landlord had not completed the roof repair 7 months after the resident had chased the landlord about it on 3 March 2022.
35. The resident then wrote to the landlord on 17 October and 8 November 2022 to chase the landlord about the repair. She made it clear that the leak was affecting her loft and had caused staining to her kitchen ceiling. It was unreasonable that the landlord had not provided an update regarding the repair over a month after she had submitted her complaint on 30 September 2022. The resident had advised the landlord that the stress was affecting her health and therefore the landlord should have at least provided reassurance to the resident that it was dealing with the repair.
36. The landlord advised the resident on 29 November 2022 that it had been experiencing access problems as it needed access to the ground floor property to erect scaffolding. The evidence shows that during November and December 2022, the landlord had been in contact with the owner of the ground floor property to secure access. This was reasonable as the landlord had decided that it needed access to the ground floor flat to erect the scaffolding at the rear of the building.
37. The resident wrote to the landlord on 11 December 2022 and said that her own roofer had advised her that the rear of the roof could be accessed by erecting scaffolding at the front of the building. The landlord replied on the next day and said it would investigate this. It was reasonable that the landlord had agreed to investigate an alternative method of accessing the rear of the roof as it had been experiencing problems accessing the ground floor flat.
38. The resident contacted this Service on 7 February 2023 to advise that the leak was still ongoing. The landlord wrote to the resident on 22 March 2023 to advise her that the repair had been booked in for 19 April 2023. It was unreasonable that the landlord had not made further progress with the repair since the resident had written on 11 December 2022 or advised her whether it was feasible to erect scaffolding at the front of the building.
39. At the time of the landlord’s stage 2 reply on 31 March 2023, the roof repairs had still not been carried out, even though it had been over a year since the resident had contacted the landlord on 3 March 2022. Even taking into account the reported difficulties in accessing the ground floor flat, the delay was unreasonable and excessive. It meant that the delay caused the resident distress and she had to spend time and effort chasing the landlord. It was therefore appropriate for the landlord to offer the resident compensation. The landlord offered £570 at stage 2 of its process, £140 of which was for complaint handling. The landlord had therefore offered £430 compensation for its handling of the roof repairs.
40. When there are failings by a landlord, as is the case here, the Ombudsman will consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this, the Ombudsman takes into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles; be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
41. The landlord acted fairly by acknowledging the delays in completing the roof repairs. The landlord had attempted to put things right by arranging for the repair to be done on 19 April 2023 and offering compensation in its stage 2 reply. The sum of £430 offered by the landlord was within the range of financial redress recommended in the Ombudsman’s Remedies Guidance where there was a failure which adversely affected the resident. The Ombudsman’s view is that the sum offered was proportionate to reflect the distress, inconvenience, and delays the resident had experienced at the time of the landlord’s stage 2 reply on 31 March 2023.
42. The Ombudsman understands that the roof repairs were completed on 13 November 2023 and that the follow-on works to the chimney, coping stones and the skylight were completed on 2 May 2024. However, at the time of writing this report, the Ombudsman understands that the works to the resident’s kitchen ceiling have not yet been completed. Therefore, although the landlord offered an appropriate level of compensation at the time of its stage 2 reply, the Ombudsman is unable to make a finding of ‘reasonable redress’ because the works to the resident’s kitchen ceiling have not yet been completed.
43. The Ombudsman’s Outcomes Guidance states that it would not be appropriate to make a finding of ‘reasonable redress’ where the substantive issue remains outstanding (regardless of the level of redress offered or the extent of future actions agreed). The substantive issue must have been resolved before this Service can say that the landlord has adequately addressed the issue.
44. Therefore, as the remedial work to the resident’s kitchen was still outstanding at the time of writing this report, this Service has found service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of roof leaks affecting her loft and kitchen ceiling. The Ombudsman has ordered the landlord to pay additional compensation of £100 for the delay in completing the work to the ceiling and ordered the landlord to complete the work within 4 weeks. The compensation ordered is within the range of financial redress recommended in the Ombudsman’s Remedies Guidance for service failures.

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaints

45. The landlord’s Complaints Policy states that it operates a 2-stage complaints process: stage one complaints are replied to within 10 working days and stage 2 complaints within 20 working days. If the landlord cannot meet either of these timescales, it will write to the resident within a further 10 working days to explain why. In situations where an extension of longer than 10 working days is needed, the landlord will try to agree this with the resident.
46. The resident submitted an online complaint to the landlord on 30 September 2022. The landlord sent its stage one reply on 29 November 2022, which was 42 working days after the resident made her complaint. The time taken by the landlord was therefore inappropriate as it had not kept to its advertised timescale for replying to stage one complaints and had not agreed an extension for the period of delay with the resident. Furthermore, the landlord had not included an apology for the delay in its stage one letter.
47. The resident contacted the landlord on 29 November 2022 and asked for her complaint to be escalated to stage 2 of the process. The landlord confirmed on the same day that it had escalated the complaint. The landlord sent its stage 2 reply on 31 March 2023, which was 85 working days after it received the resident’s escalation request. The landlord therefore did not meet its timescale for replying to stage 2 complaints. There was an excessive delay in replying and this was inappropriate.
48. The landlord apologised in its stage 2 letter for the delay in replying to the complaint, which the landlord said had been due to staffing changes. The landlord stated that it had reminded the staff involved of its complaint handling procedure.
49. The delay in replying to the stage 2 complaint caused the resident additional time, effort and inconvenience in chasing the landlord for a response. In its stage 2 reply, the landlord confirmed there was evidence on its system showing that the resident had contacted the landlord on “multiple occasions” to chase an update regarding the complaint.
50. As part of its stage 2 reply, the landlord offered compensation of £140 specifically for its complaints handling. The Ombudsman welcomes the landlord’s attempt to put things right. However, the view of this Service is that the landlord’s offer of £140 was not proportionate to reflect the complaint handling failures identified in this investigation, particularly as there were delays at both stages of the process. The Ombudsman has therefore found there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaints due to the delays in replying at both stages of the process. In reaching this decision, the Ombudsman has also taken into account that the landlord did not follow its complaints policy of writing to the resident to explain the reason for the delays and did not attempt to agree an extension of time with the resident.
51. The Ombudsman has ordered the landlord to pay additional compensation of £150 to put things right in relation to the delays in replying to the resident’s complaints.

Determination (decision)

52. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s reports of roof leaks affecting her loft and kitchen ceiling, including the landlord’s communication.
53. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of the associated complaints.

Reasons

54. The landlord offered an appropriate level of compensation at the time of its stage 2 reply to put things right in terms of the delays in carrying out the roof repairs. However, at the time of producing this report, the landlord had not completed the outstanding work to the resident’s kitchen, despite agreeing to do so.
55. There were delays in the landlord’s replies at both stages of the complaints process. The landlord did not follow its complaints policy of writing to the resident to explain the reason for the delays and did not attempt to agree an extension of time with the resident. Although the landlord made some attempt to put things right by offering financial redress, the offer was not proportionate to the failings identified by the Ombudsman’s investigation.

Orders

56. The landlord is ordered within 4 weeks of this report to:
    1. Write to the resident to apologise for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident £100 for its handling of the resident’s reports of roof leaks affecting her loft and kitchen ceiling.
    3. Pay the resident £150 for the landlord’s handling of the associated complaints.
    4. Pay the resident the £570 offered at stage 2 of the complaints process if this has not already been paid.
    5. Repaint the resident’s kitchen ceiling.