Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTV) (202309880)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202309880

Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTV)

25 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 the landlord’s handling of the resident’s report of a dislodged vent cover following a repair to a blocked toilet, cracked plaster, and damp.

Background

  1. The resident has lived in the property with her partner and child since 2020. The property is a 2-bedroom maisonette.
  2. The resident advised the landlord on 23 November 2022 a vent cover, which is understood to be the cover to the soil pipe vent, had fallen off the roof. The resident reraised this with the landlord on 17 March 2023 saying that a contractor had pushed the vent cover off. The cover needed to be refitted. In her complaint dated 4 May 2023 the resident advised debris had fallen into the vent when the cover was off, she had cracks in her plaster, and damp on the walls. The resident said this remained outstanding as the landlord sent the wrong contractors.
  3. In the stage 1 response the landlord apologised for the complaint response delay and any inconvenience. The landlord raised an appointment for 24 May 2023 to complete the repairs. The landlord offered the resident £100, £50 for her time and trouble and £50 for its service failure.
  4. The resident escalated the complaint when the landlord did not complete all the repairs on 24 May 2023. The resident complained that the plasterer did not fill all the cracks, and no one attended to put the vent cover back on. The resident reiterated to the landlord she reported damp on the internal walls.
  5. The landlord extended the deadline for its final resolution on 2 occasions. The landlord through its investigation for the final resolution letter found it did not refit the vent cover as promised on 24 May 2023. This was because it did not add the job to the works order. The landlord raised a new repair to complete this, with a target date of 13 August 2023. The landlord apologised for the delays and addressed this internally to prevent a repeat.
  6. The landlord continued to say it recognised and apologised it did not manage the resident’s expectations regarding the plastering. It visited to fill the cracks on 24 May 2023. It believed the resident was aware it would need to revisit on 4 July 2023 to decorate. The landlord advised it needed this second appointment to allow the plaster to dry prior to decoration. The landlord noted the resident had asked that it put this on hold while they reached an agreement regarding asbestos in the property.
  7. The landlord upheld the resident’s complaint. It offered £10 for the missed appointment, and £80 for both service failures. This increased the landlord’s compensation offer to £170.
  8. The resident remains dissatisfied and would like the Ombudsman to investigate. The resident advised the Ombudsman the damp and cracked plaster remain outstanding. As a resolution the resident would like compensation and for the landlord to resolve the issues.

Assessment and findings

  1. When investigating a complaint, the Ombudsman applies its Dispute Resolution Principles. These are high level good practice guidance developed from the Ombudsman’s experience of resolving disputes, for use by everyone involved in the complaints process. There are only 3 principles driving effective dispute resolution:
  1. Be fair – treat people fairly and follow fair processes.
  2. Put things right.
  3. Learn from outcomes.
  1. The Ombudsman must first consider whether a failing on the part of the landlord occurred, and if so, whether this led to any adverse effect or detriment to the resident. If it is found that a failing did lead to an adverse effect, the investigation will then consider whether the landlord has taken enough action to ‘put things right’ and ‘learn from outcomes’.

Scope of the investigation

  1. As discussed with the resident, the Ombudsman will not address her concerns regarding the landlord’s handling of asbestos in the property. This was not raised as part of this complaint and the resident made a subsequent complaint with the landlord. Paragraph 42.a of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, are made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaints procedure.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s report of a dislodged vent cover following a repair to a blocked toilet, cracked plaster, and damp

  1. Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 the landlord has responsibility to keep the structure, installations, and exterior of the property in good repair. The landlord confirms this in its repairs handbook and the tenancy agreement.
  2. The landlord’s repairs handbook gives its different priorities for completing repairs. Emergency repairs are attended to in 24 hours, routine in 28 days, non- routine in 90 days. The handbook puts repairs where there might be a working at height element as non-routine, so it gives itself 90 days to complete. This would include the refitting of the vent cover.
  3. The landlord puts plastering and damp issues as routine repairs, therefore it should complete them in 28 days. It notes damp repairs may take longer to resolve. The landlord’s online damp and mould statement says it will contact a resident within 5 days of a report of damp.
  4. Through its investigation for its final resolution letter, the landlord discovered its failure to add the vent cover replacement to the works order. The landlord offered a total of £90 compensation, this was £80 for the failing and £10 for the missed appointment. The landlord did not confirm whether it previously sent the wrong contractor to replace the vent cover.
  5. The landlord did not provide the Ombudsman with the exact date it refitted the vent cover, however the target date was 13 August 2023. Therefore, we will use this date. The resident initially reported the repair on 23 November 2022. It took the landlord 173 days to complete. This was 83 days outside the landlord’s guidance to complete the repair. The Ombudsman has not seen evidence the landlord addressed the resident’s concern around debris going in the soil pipe, while the vent cover was dislodged.
  6. The resident first reported the cracked plaster in the bedroom to the landlord on 28 March 2023. She then reported cracked plaster in the hallway and living room on 13 April 2023. As the landlord would classify this as a routine repair it should have completed this in 28 days.
  7. In conversation with the Ombudsman the resident confirmed the landlord filled the cracked plaster in the living room on 24 May 2023, it did not fill the other cracks.
  8. The resident advised the Ombudsman the cracked plaster remains in the hallway and bedroom, and since being repaired the living room crack reappeared. The landlord did not provide the Ombudsman with the evidence it filled the cracks in the bedroom or hallway. In the resident’s complaint escalation, she mentions the landlord only completed half the cracks. The landlord only responded to the fact it did not complete the decorating, rather than it did not fill all the cracks in the house.
  9. When there is a disagreement in the accounts regarding property condition, the onus would be on the landlord to provide evidence showing how it completed satisfactory repairs. The Ombudsman has not seen this. The landlord’s repair log showed on 27 September 2023 the resident raised a repair to replaster the cracked plaster in the living room, bedroom and hallway. Indicating this work remained outstanding, the Ombudsman cannot reasonably determine that the landlord resolved the cracked plaster repair.
  10. The resident reported the cracked plaster in the living room on 13 April 2023, so the landlord should have completed this by 11 May 2023. The landlord completed this 13 days over its target. The other cracked plaster has been reported as outstanding.
  11. The Ombudsman has not seen evidence the landlord addressed the resident’s complaint point about damp or dealt with the damp itself. The resident raised this in her initial complaint and escalation request. In line with its online commitment to progressing damp complaints, the landlord should have contacted the resident in 5 days. The Ombudsman did not see evidence the landlord did this and there is no evidence it completed any damp repairs. As the resident raised this with the landlord it should also have referred to this in its complaint responses.
  12. The Ombudsman was pleased to hear the resident progressed the damp complaint point with the landlord and a surveyor visited around April 2024.
  13. In summary, the landlord took 83 days longer to replace the vent cover than it outlines in its handbook. The landlord did not respond to the resident’s concerns about debris in the soil pipe. The landlord only partially addressed the reported cracks in the property and does not appear to have acknowledged the resident’s further reports. The landlord did not address the resident’s reports of damp in the property. Although the landlord apologised and offered compensation, it does not appear to have fully resolved the reported issues. Therefore, the complaint cannot be considered to have been reasonably concluded. This amounts to maladministration.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s report of a dislodged vent cover following a repair to the blocked toilet, cracked plaster, and damp.

Orders

  1. The landlord is to issue a written apology to the resident for the failings found in this report.
  2. The landlord is to pay the resident compensation of £600. This is inclusive of any previous compensation award made in relation to this case. The Ombudsman has used its own remedies guidance to arrive at this figure, awarding the higher end of the maladministration range due to the landlord’s lack of engagement on the damp issue.
  3. The resident advised the Ombudsman that the landlord carried out a damp survey and is planning asbestos work. The orders have been made with this in mind as there is likely to be an overlap, and the resolution of some issues may impact on each other. If the landlord has not completed a survey in the last 2 years, it is to carry out one to comply with this order. The landlord is ordered to set out its position, including a timeline for completion of any necessary works, against the repairs which are considered to be outstanding:
    1. Cracked plaster in bedroom, living room and hallway.
    2. Damp in the property.
  4. The landlord is to ensure it has the correct details stored for the resident, any vulnerabilities, preferred communication methods, and days when repairs should not be booked so as not to waste the landlord’s, resident’s, or contactors time.
  5. The landlord is to confirm compliance with these orders to the Ombudsman within 4 weeks of the date of this report.