One Vision Housing Limited (202328392)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202328392

One Vision Housing Limited

13 January 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. This complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for her windows to be renewed.

Background

  1. The resident is a leaseholder. The property is a 2-bedroom upper floor flat.
  2. The resident bought the property through the Right to Buy scheme on 20 February 2023. The survey undertaken whilst she was purchasing the property stated that the windows were in ‘poor condition’. The resident sent photos to the landlord on 20 March 2023 which she said demonstrated the need for the windows to be replaced. The landlord confirmed it had logged the photos and passed these to the relevant department on 24 March 2023. The resident chased the landlord for updates on 5 April 2023, and 11 April 2023.
  3. The resident contacted the landlord on 8 June 2023 to raise a complaint. She said that she had contacted it on several occasions requesting windows be replaced, but she had heard nothing in response.
  4. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 12 July 2023. It said it had spoken with its investment team and would not be bringing forward the date for the window replacement, which was in 2030. It said it had not seen any commitments made by its employees to replace the windows at an earlier date. It added that, given there was evidence of problems with the windows, it would send a surveyor out to conduct a further investigation into their condition albeit there was no obvious defect.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 of the complaints process on 13 July 2023. She was unhappy that the landlord had refused to commit to replacing the windows. She specifically referred to an unsafe bathroom window and mould growth. The landlord undertook a visit to the property to assess the condition of the windows on 7 August 2023.
  6. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 25 August 2023. It reiterated that it would be responsible for replacing the windows, but its position remained that it would not do so until 2030 as per its previous correspondence. The landlord did however say it partially upheld the resident’s complaint and agreed to instruct an RICS chartered surveyor to assess the condition of the windows.
  7. The resident contacted the Ombudsman on 16 November 2023, asking us to consider her complaint. She said 2 of the windows in her flat did not close properly making it constantly cold and causing mould. She was unhappy with the landlord’s delayed responses to her complaint and that she was unable to progress renovations in the property until it had replaced the windows. The resident said she wanted the windows replaced with the costs added to her repairs account.  

Assessment and findings

  1. The resident’s lease states that it is the landlord’s responsibility to ‘keep the structure and exterior of the building in repair and to make good any defects and in this clause “structure” includes the external walls (but not their internal faces) the window frames (but not the glass) the roof of the building and its foundations but not any floors or ceilings’. This means the replacement of the window frames is the landlord’s responsibility.
  2. The resident first raised concern with the landlord in March 2023. However, by the time of the landlord’s stage 2 complaint response 5 months later, it had failed to establish if the windows needed replacing. Its own internal correspondence highlighted that it was aware the windows had faults. Nevertheless, there is no evidence of any plan for it to address the reported window faults or the damp and mould problem that the resident linked to those faults. The length of time it took for the landlord to organise a formal inspection represented service failure.
  3. The landlord undertook an inspection of the windows on 7 August 2023. This did not determine if the windows needed repairing or replacing. The purpose of this inspection appears to have been to determine the age of the windows. The landlord’s replacement of windows is currently on a 40-year cycle. In this instance, the landlord said the resident’s windows would be due for replacement in 2030. It also told the resident it would review the condition of the windows when it undertook stock condition surveys.
  4. This was however incorrect as highlighted by the landlord’s internal correspondence. This stated that leasehold properties were not included in such surveys, or ordinarily included in replacement works. The landlord’s processes for window replacement appears to be responsive to reports of problems with the windows. The landlord should therefore have provided the resident with this information – rather than indicating these would be included as part of any program or that the condition of these would be reviewed as part of a stock condition survey.
  5. The landlord however did agree as part of its stage 2 complaint to undertake a new independent survey by a chartered surveyor. This was fair from the landlord and represented the course of action the Ombudsman would expect the landlord to take when dealing with the resident’s requests for window replacements. The evidence demonstrates that the landlord attempted to arrange for an RICS surveyor to inspect the windows in September 2023, however the resident asked that the landlord pause this action until she had sought independent advice.
  6. The landlord’s communication with the resident was poor throughout the complaint. The resident was forced to send the landlord photos of the windows on 3 occasions, as well as chasing it for updates. The landlord failed to provide the resident with a formal stage 1 complaint response, instead utilising an e-mail sent by one of its members of staff. The landlord’s decision to treat this as a complaint response was not explained to the resident, leaving her to feel that her complaint was not properly considered.
  7. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s requests for her windows to be renewed represented maladministration. Whilst its stage 2 complaint response did offer an inspection and survey of the windows, it took the landlord over 5 months to make this offer despite the maintenance of window frames being its responsibility. This apparently led to inconvenience in regard to the impact on the property condition and the limited use of windows. There were failings in the landlord’s communications and the handling of the complaint. For its failings, the landlord should pay the resident £200 compensation. It should also perform a survey of the windows to consider if these do require any repairs or renewal.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s requests for her windows to be renewed.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. It is ordered that within 4 weeks of the date of this letter, the landlord must:
    1. Pay the resident £200 for the time and trouble caused to her by the failings in its handling of her requests for windows to be renewed.
    2. Apologise to the resident in writing for the failures identified in this report.
    3. Undertake a new survey of the resident’s windows as previously offered. Within 2 weeks of this survey being undertaken, the landlord should write to the resident and the Ombudsman to advise how it intends to fulfil any recommendations from this survey and explain its decision on whether any windows need to be renewed or not. The landlord should also include information about how these will be paid for.
    4. Provide evidence to the Ombudsman that it has done so.