Nottingham City Homes Registered Provider Limited (202209952)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202209952

Nottingham City Homes Registered Provider Limited

20 April 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 response to the resident’s report of repairs to the shed at the property.
  2. The landlord’s complaint handling has also been investigated.

Background

2.     The resident is a secure tenant and lives in a 3-bedroom property with gardens at the front and rear.

3.     In May 2021, the resident contacted the landlord to raise concerns about the shed door being rotten and difficult to lock. The landlord arranged for repair work to be carried out on 13 and 17 September 2021 but its contractor failed to attend on either of those dates. 

4.     The resident formally raised a stage one complaint to the landlord on 20 September 2021 about the outstanding repair, missed appointments and the lack of communication from the landlord. The resident expressed her dissatisfaction with the lack of communication about the cancelled appointments and expressed that she was unable to keep taking time off work.

5.     The landlord upheld the resident’s complaints. It apologised to the resident for the lack of communication and acknowledged that there were delays. The landlord arranged for the outstanding shed repair to be carried out on 15 November 2021 in an attempt to resolve the complaint.

6.     The resident again chased repairs to the shed door and advised the landlord that it needed to be secured on 4 April 2022.

7.     On 12 April 2022, the resident filed a notice of Right to Buy (RTB) which the landlord acknowledged on 10 May 2022.

8.     The resident escalated the complaint on 14 July 2022, due to the agreed repairs not being carried. The landlord replied with a final response on 2 August 2022 and confirmed that, although the repairs were agreed in its stage 1 response, because the resident had since then made an application for the RTB , it was only able to carry out essential and urgent repairs during the RTB process. Therefore, as the repairs to the shed would not be considered essential, the landlord would not be carrying them out.

9.     The resident complained to the Housing Ombudsman Service that the landlord was refusing to carry out repairs to the shed that were logged over a year ago. The resident wants the landlord to complete the agreed repairs to the shed.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

10. The resident has previously complained about outstanding repairs to the loft, the glass sealant on her front door and extractor switch change as part of the stage one and two complaints. However, there is evidence that the repairs to the loft and the front door were completed, and, on 18 October 2021, the resident confirmed to this Service that the only outstanding issue was in relation to the repairs to the shed. This investigation will therefore not be investigating the other repairs mentioned in the resident’s stage one and Stage two.

11. The resident made a RTB application on 9 May 2022 which the landlord admitted on the 8 September 2022. The resident had made a previous RTB application in February 2019, however, the resident cancelled that application a week later.

The repair to the shed

12. The landlord’s repair policy states that it has a commitment to keep housing in good condition by ‘providing effective repair and maintenance system.’

13. The resident initially reported the repairs to the shed on 5 May 2021 and only after the repair appointments were missed, did the resident formally complain on 20 September 2021. The resident was dissatisfied with the landlord’s failure to carry out repairs, and the lack of communication from the landlord to the resident. The resident was especially concerned about the two appointments that did not go ahead and there is a mention of the resident stating ‘that she can’t keep missing work’ and needing some guarantees.

14. The landlord’s repair policy defines an emergency repair as being ‘any repair necessary to keep the property secure and weatherproof, including roof repairs.’ The policy states that emergency repairs will be completed on the same day or within 24 hours. The repair policy does not give specific timeframe for routine repairs. However, the usual standard for social landlords is around 28 days.

15. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint and advised that it would reply within 10 working days as per its complaints policy.

16. The landlord provided a stage one reply to the resident on 11 November 2021 and advised that the resident’s complaint was upheld. The landlord apologised for not contacting the resident and cited ‘supply chain issues’ for missing the arranged appointments. The landlord also apologised for the delays and arranged a further repair appointment for 15 November 2021 for the shed repair. The landlord’s response was appropriate and demonstrated an attempt by the landlord to follow its own policy and maintain a good condition of repair.

17. However, the resident chased the landlord about the shed repairs on 4 April 2022 and it appears that the agreed repairs scheduled for 15 November 2021 were not carried out. The Service has not seen any evidence of any communication from the landlord to the resident concerning the repair scheduled for 15 November 2021 following on from the stage one response.

18. The resident completed a RTB application which the landlord acknowledged on 10 May 2022. In its acknowledgement letter, the landlord included its policy of only carrying out non-essential repairs during RTB process. This letter made no reference to the shed repairs and there does not appear to have been a response from the resident in relation to the acknowledgement letter.

19. On 14 July 2021 the resident escalated her complaint to a stage two due to the outstanding repair. The landlord acknowledged the complaint and that the resident was unhappy with the delays to the agreed repair and confirmed that it would reply to the resident within 20 working days.

20. The landlord’s stage two final response was provided to the resident on 2 August 2022 in which the landlord advised the resident that it was unable to carry out the shed repair. The landlord acknowledged in its response that the repairs were previously agreed but stated that under the RTB policy, it was only able to carry out essential work during the RTB process.

21. The landlord’s stage one response agreeing to the repair was on 11 November 2021 and if the landlord had honoured the agreed repair schedule, the repair would have been carried out on 15 November 2021. This was six months after the resident first reported the problems with the shed. The landlord did not fulfil its stage one agreement of carrying out the shed repair and this was unreasonable.

22. The resident’s RTB application was received on 10 May 2022, which was six months after the date the landlord had arranged to repair the shed. The landlord acted unreasonably in then not carrying out the outstanding repairs to the shed based on the resident’s later RTB application.

23. The landlord stated it was following its RTB policy but, in its RTB website link, which was also provided to the resident, the RTB repair policy only applies when the RTB application has been admitted by the landlord. The RTB application was admitted by the landlord on 8 September 2022. It was inappropriate for the landlord to rely on the RTB application and not to carry out the repairs to the shed which had been agreed ten months before the RTB was admitted.

24. The landlord’s decision not to carry out the agreed repair work to the shed amounts to maladministration. The Ombudsman has made an order below concerning the outstanding repair work and compensation to reflect the distress and inconvenience incurred by the resident.

The landlord’s complaints handling

25. The landlord’s complaints policy states that at stage one it will aim to respond within 10 working days or it will notify residents of delays. At stage two it will aim to respond within 20 working days or will notify the resident of delays.

26. At stage one, the resident complained on the 20 September 2021 and the stage one response was provided on 11 November 2021, after 38 working days and 28 working days later than the 10 working days response time set out in its complaints policy. The delay in responding was inappropriate and there is no evidence of any communication to the resident to advise of delay. This amounted to maladministration by the landlord.

Determination (decision)

27. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman scheme:

  1. There was maladministration by the landlord in its response to the resident’s report of repairs to the shed at the property.
  2. There was maladministration by the landlord in its complaints handling.

Orders and recommendations

28.  The landlord is ordered to:

  1. Complete the outstanding repair work to the shed within 8 weeks of this decision.
  2. Pay £100 to the resident in respect of compensation for the inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of the repairs.
  3. Pay £100 to the resident in respect of the time and trouble incurred by the resident as a result of the landlord’s complaints handling failings.
  4. The landlord will provide evidence to this Service that a total of £200 has been paid to the resident in compliance with this order within 4 weeks of this decision.
  5. The landlord should provide evidence to this Service of compliance with the above order concerning the outstanding repair work within 8 weeks of the date of this decision.