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MHS Homes Ltd (202342827)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202342827

MHS Homes Ltd

22 August 2025

 

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 reports of repairs to windows, window sills and walls.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord, a housing association. The property is a 3-bedroom townhouse.
  2. The landlord arranged to install new windows in the property in January 2023. The resident asked it to replace the window sills at the same time. The landlord installed new windows, but not window sills.
  3. On 6 May 2023, the resident emailed the landlord as it had not contacted her about the window sills. The resident also said that the window installer had damaged internal and external walls.
  4. In its stage 1 response of 18 May 2023, the landlord upheld the resident’s complaint. It said it had not replaced the window sills as it had not agreed this with the contractor. The landlord said it would book appointments to repair the damaged walls and replace the window sills. It offered £50 in compensation.
  5. On 21 July 2023, the resident escalated their complaint. They said the landlord had not contacted her to complete the works.
  6. The landlord sent its stage 2 response on 3 August 2023. It said it had now completed the works. The landlord said its contractor did not arrange an appointment, which led to it completing the works itself. The landlord increased its compensation offer to £100.
  7. The resident was unhappy as she was still waiting for the landlord to repair the walls. The landlord repaired the walls on 20 September 2023 and 20 December 2023. The resident requested more compensation. The landlord did not offer this, as it had already sent its final response. The resident brought her complaint to us in February 2024.

Assessment and findings

Handling of repairs to windows, window sills and walls

  1. The landlord has provided a copy of its repairs policy. This says that it is responsible for replacing and repairing windows. It does not give any timescales for repair works.
  2. In October 2022, the resident emailed the landlord and asked if it could replace the window sills at the property. She said that the sills had been in a poor state since she moved into the property, 24 years ago. The landlord confirmed that it could raise a repair and asked the resident to provide details of the issues with the sills. The resident provided this. It was reasonable for the landlord to request further information, to enable it to understand the issues with the window sills.
  3. The landlord’s notes show that it booked a repair for the window sills on 7 November 2022. On 2 January 2023, the resident emailed the landlord to ask if it would replace the window sills when it was installing new windows. The landlord replaced the windows on 4 January 2023. It did not replace the window sills. There is no evidence to show that the landlord communicated with the resident to let them know if it would be replacing the window sills.
  4. The landlord’s repairs policy does say when it will contact a resident. It is reasonable to expect a landlord to keep a resident updated about repairs. The resident asked the landlord to replace the window sills. It logged a repair, but did not complete the work or communicate with the resident. This is unreasonable.
  5. The resident contacted the landlord about the window sills on 4 January 2023. The landlord replied on 5 January 2023. It said it booked a repair but may have done this too late for it to change the sills at the same time as the window replacement. The landlord booked in another repair for 6 February 2023. It then said a contractor was manufacturing the window sills and it would contact the resident when it was ready to install these.
  6. The information given by the landlord in its responses was confusing. It initially said the delay may have been due to it not booking the repair in time, so it booked another repair. It then said a contractor was manufacturing the sills and would contact the resident to arrange to install these. This is conflicting information. This led to the resident having to contact the landlord to clarify if the appointment of 6 February 2023 would be going ahead.
  7. There is no evidence of further contact until resident emailed the landlord about the window sills on 13 April 2023. She also said that the contractor had damaged internal and external walls when it installed the new windows. This included holes around the windows, which the contractor had not sealed properly. The landlord did not respond to this email. This is unreasonable. This led to further delays in the it resolving the resident’s concerns.
  8. The resident followed this up with another email on 6 May 2023. The landlord logged this as a complaint. It sent a stage 1 response on 18 May 2023. In this, the landlord said that the contractor did not replace the window sills as the landlord did not include this as part of the agreed works. The landlord confirmed that it would contact the resident to arrange to replace the window sills and repair the damaged internal walls. A contractor would contact the resident to arrange to repair the external walls. The landlord offered compensation of £50.
  9. The landlord explained the reasons for the delays and said that it would complete the required works. This is reasonable, as it would resolve the outstanding issues. The landlord did not apologise for the delays the resident experienced. While it offered compensation, it would have been reasonable to expect it to apologise to the resident.
  10. There is no evidence to show that the landlord or contractor contacted the resident to arrange appointments. This is unreasonable, as the landlord had confirmed that it would contact the resident. The lack of any follow up meant that there were further delays in the landlord completing the repairs. The resident had to contact the landlord to chase this up.
  11. The resident emailed the landlord on 20 and 21 July 2023. She asked the landlord to escalate the complaint to stage 2 as it had not contacted her to complete any work. The resident was worried about water ingress due to the gaps left around the windows.
  12. The landlord booked an appointment for 2 August 2023. It issued its stage 2 response the next day. In this, it said that it had completed all works to the resident’s satisfaction. The resident replied to the stage 2, saying that the landlord had replaced the window sills, but had not repaired the damaged walls. The landlord booked a further repair for 20 September 2023.
  13. The landlord resolved one of the issues, as it replaced the window sills. The repair log shows that the landlord opened a new repair for the damaged walls on 1 August 2023. It did not take any action on this repair until 9 August 2023, when it booked an appointment for 20 September 2023.
  14. As the repair was still open when the landlord sent its stage 2 response, it was unreasonable for it to say that it had completed all works. This led to the resident having to contact the landlord again.
  15. The landlord booked another appointment for 20 September 2023. The resident contacted the landlord to ask if it would resolve all the repair issues during that appointment. She also raised concerns about spiders entering the property through the holes. The landlord confirmed that it had asked its contractor to repair all the window issues.
  16. This appointment went ahead, but the contractor only repaired the external walls. The repair notes say that the contractor was dealing with the window issues, but the landlord was handling repairing the internal walls. It is reasonable to expect the landlord to have correctly explain what work it would be completing at the appointment. It would have also been reasonable for it to arrange for one of its engineers to repair the internal walls. Its failure to do this, led to more delays in it completing the works.
  17. The landlord booked another appointment for 14 November 2023. It completed repair works to 1 internal wall but did not repair the upstairs wall. The landlord has not provided any explanation for this. It would have been reasonable for the landlord to ensure that it could complete the rest of the repairs in this appointment. If it could not, it would have been appropriate for the landlord to explain this to the resident.
  18. The resident had to wait until 20 December 2023 for another appointment to repair this. The appointment went ahead, and the landlord completed the final repair.
  19. The landlord offered compensation of £100 to the resident in its stage 2 response. The landlord’s compensation policy outlines the level of compensation it will offer. It bases this on its level of responsibility and the impact on a resident.
  20. The landlord was responsible for the installation and repair of the windows, window sills and walls. While there were delays due to a lack of contact from the contractor, the landlord is still responsible for these issues. The landlord did take steps to try to mitigate the issues with the contractor by completing some work itself. The resident still experienced delays and a lack of contact after this.
  21. In its stage 2 response, the landlord incorrectly said that it had resolved all the repair issues. This meant that the resident had to continue to chase up the landlord to complete the work. It took a further 3 appointments over 4 months for the landlord to complete the repairs. Based on the landlord’s compensation policy, the £100 compensation offered is unreasonable.
  22. In relation to the landlord’s handling of the reports of repairs to windows, window sills and walls, we find there has been maladministration.
  23. In recognition of the findings set out above, we have ordered the landlord to pay the resident £200, for the distress and inconvenience experienced. This includes the landlord’s earlier offers of £50 and £100. If the landlord has already paid these amounts, it should deduct them from the compensation payment required.
  24. We have also ordered the landlord to send the resident an apology which addresses the failures highlighted in this report and the learning taken to prevent recurrence.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, the Ombudsman finds maladministration in relation to the landlord’s handling of reports of repairs to windows, window sills and walls.

Orders and recommendations

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Write a letter of apology to the resident which addresses the failures highlighted in this report and the learning taken to prevent recurrence.
    2. Pay the resident compensation of £200.
    3. Provide evidence to us that it has followed the orders within 4 weeks.