Origin Housing Limited (202425613)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202425613

Origin Housing Limited

20 May 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 window repairs at the property.
2. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

3. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord’s since 2021. She lives in the property, a 1-bed top floor flat within a low-rise block, with her young daughter. The landlord is the leaseholder of the flat and the block is owned by the freeholder.
4. On 21 March 2024 the resident told the landlord the handles of the kitchen, hallway and bathroom windows were broken.
5. The resident complained to the landlord on 1 July 2024. She said she was unhappy with the length of time she had been waiting for the windows to be repaired.
6. On 18 July 2024 the landlord responded at stage 1 of its internal complaints process. It said the freeholder of the building had responsibility for the window repairs and they would attend on 22 July 2024 to assess the repair. The landlord apologised for the delay and offered her £100 compensation.
7. The resident escalated her complaint on . She said she was unhappy with the length of time she had waited for the repair to be completed.
8. On 13 November 2024 the landlord responded at stage 2 of its internal complaints process. It apologised again for the delay the resident had experienced and increased the offer of compensation to £400.
9. The resident remained dissatisfied and brought the complaint to us. She said the landlord had since accepted it was responsible for the window repairs. The hallway and kitchen window repairs were completed but the bathroom window repair remained outstanding. She is seeking an increased offer of compensation and for the bathroom window repair to be completed. The resident said she remains concerned for her child’s safety in the property as she is unable to lock the bathroom window.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

10. In the resident’s correspondence with the landlord, she said she had raised the need for window repairs since 2021. We encourage residents to raise complaints with their landlords in a timely manner. This is so the landlord has a reasonable opportunity to consider the issues while they are still ‘live’, and the evidence is available to reach an informed conclusion on what occurred. The Scheme says we may not consider issues not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint, within a reasonable period of the matters arising. As such, this report will centre on the landlord’s handling of window repair issues from March 2024 leading up to the resident’s complaint when it was made in July 2024. Any reference to events before this time are for context only.

The landlord’s handling of window repairs at the property

11. On 21 March 2024 the resident raised repairs for the kitchen, hallway and bathroom windows at her property. She said the handles were broken and she was unable to open the windows.
12. The landlord attended the property on 10 April 2024. It noted the following:
    1. The bathroom window could lock and unlock, however, the handle was “coming loose” and needed to be replaced.
    2. The restrictors in the windows of the kitchen, hallway and bathroom were not working properly.
    3. It would need to source parts from a “specialist”.
13.  On 25 April 2024 the resident chased the window repairs with the landlord.
14. The resident’s tenancy agreement states the landlord has an obligation to keep window catches in good repair. The landlord’s repairs policy states:
    1. It will repair windows and window catches.
    2. It will complete routine repairs within 10 working days and “exceptions to this must not amount to more than 20 working days”.
15. The landlord’s repair notes show it attended on 13 May 2024 but did not get access into the resident’s property. On 20 May 2024 the landlord attended and recorded it had closed the windows and “made safe” the repair. It noted there were “broken handles and mechanisms”.
16. The resident complained to the landlord on 1 July 2024. She said she was unhappy with the delay to repair the window handles. The resident said the state of the windows were a health and safety concern.
17. On 18 July 2024 the landlord responded at stage 1 of its internal complaints process. It said the following:
    1. It apologised for the delay in completing the window repairs and its “lack of communication”.
    2. “It had since come to light” the freeholder of the block had responsibility for the window repairs. The freeholder would attend the property in 4 days’ time.
    3. It offered £100 compensation for the inconvenience caused to the resident.
18. The evidence shows the landlord had attended the property a total of 3 times and that the issue was still not resolved. At the time of the stage 1 response the resident had been waiting around 3 months for the repair to be completed. This was 2 months longer than she could reasonably have expected to wait as per the timescales in the landlord’s repairs policy.
19. On 23 July 2024 a repairs appointment for the window handles was cancelled by the landlord.
20. The resident escalated her complaint on 29 July 2024. She said she was unhappy with the landlord’s delay in completing the repair and the amount of compensation it had offered to her at stage 1.
21. On 13 November 2024 the landlord replied to the resident at stage 2 of its internal complaints process. It said the following:
    1. The repair had not yet been resolved due to the freeholder cancelling repair appointments or not getting access to the property. It also said they had been unable to contact the resident.
    2. It upheld her complaint and offered the resident a further £300 compensation for the inconvenience and stress caused to her.
22. The landlord’s compensation policy states the following:
    1. If it does not complete a repair within its target time it will set a new target date. If the repair is not completed by this date, it will “consider making a compensation payment”.
    2. It will calculate compensation payments based “on each individual case”.
23. The evidence shows at the time of the landlord’s stage 2 response the resident had been waiting around 7 months longer than the timeframe stated in the repairs policy for her window repairs.
24. Internal emails sent by the landlord on 13 February 2025acknowledge it had responsibility for the window repairs at the resident’s property.
25. The resident told us the landlord completed the kitchen and hallway window repairs. She told us that on 14 April 2025 the landlord attended but was unable to complete the bathroom window repair as it did not have the correct part for the window latch.
26. When a failure is identified, as in this case, our role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this, we take 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. As well as our own guidance on remedies.
27. In summary, the landlord took far longer than the timescales within its repairs policy to fix the windows in the resident’s kitchen and hallway. The resident reports that the bathroom window is still defective. The delays to fix the issues were unreasonable and have caused distress and inconvenience. The resident reports she feels the property is unsafe because she is unable to secure the bathroom window.
28. The landlord did not carry out a risk assessment of the repairs despite the window safety issue and a child living in the property. It failed to prioritise the window repairs. This was unreasonable of the landlord and will have caused further distress to the resident. The situation has been made worse by the landlord’s continued failure to complete the bathroom window repair.
29. The landlord awarded £300 compensation in its stage 2 response. This went some way in putting things right for the resident. However, it did not fully address the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident by the landlord’s repair delays, miscommunication and the failure to complete the bathroom window repair.
30. The landlord’s failings amount to a determination of severe maladministration. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £800 compensation. This amount is calculated in line with our guidance on remedies. The circumstances have meant the redress needed to put things right is substantial and there has been a significant emotional impact upon the resident.

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaint

31. The resident complained to the landlord on 1 July 2024. It replied 13 working days later at stage 1 of its internal complaints process on 18 July 2024. This was 3 days more than the 10 working days stated in its complaints policy. Although the delay was short, the landlord failed to acknowledge this within its reply which was inappropriate.
32. On 29 July 2024 the resident escalated her complaint. The landlord told the resident on 12 September 2024 it needed more time to respond to her complaint. It said it would respond at stage 2 by 27 September 2024.
33. The landlord replied on 13 November 2024. This was a delay of around 2 months beyond the 20 working days stated in its complaints policy. It was also a delay of around 33 days from the deadline given by the landlord.
34. In its stage 2 response the landlord apologised for the delay and offered £100 compensation to the resident. This amount was an appropriate offer which reflected the level of failure in the landlord’s complaint handling. As such, the landlord made a reasonable offer to put things right for the resident from its error and leads to a determination of reasonable redress for the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.

Determination

35. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was severe maladministration in the landlord’s handling of window repairs at the property.
36. In accordance with paragraph 53.b. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has provided reasonable redress in its handling of the associated complaint.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

37. The landlord must complete the bathroom window repair within 3 weeks of this report.
38. Within 4 weeks of this report the landlord must also:
    1. Provide the resident with a written apology from the chief executive for the failures outlined above.
    2. Pay the resident £800 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s failures. It may deduct £300 previously offered to the resident if this has been paid to her.
39. The compensation balance must be paid directly to the resident and not offset against a rent or service charge account.
40. The landlord is to provide evidence of compliance with the above orders to this Service.

Recommendations

41. To pay the resident £100 if it has not done so already, which it offered during its internal complaints process.