Places for People Homes Limited (202012396)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202012396

Places for People Homes Limited

26 September 2022


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 level of compensation offered by the landlord in response to the concerns raised about the windows in the property.
    2. The landlord’s complaints handling.

Background and summary of events

  1. The resident has been a tenant of the landlord since 1998 and lives in a one bedroom, first floor flat.
  2. In September 2019, the resident formally complained to the landlord about a number of issues, including the condition of the windows. They complained that the windows were inefficient and allowed heat to escape. The landlord responded at stage one on 8 October 2019 and said that it had asked that the windows be looked into and added to its surveying programme.
  3. The resident reported a repair for a draughty window on 19 March 2020, in response, the landlord carried out repairs to the frame on 11 June 2020.
  4. The resident contacted the landlord again on 4 January 2021. They reported that they had insufficient windows since 1998 and had overspent money heating the property as a result. The landlord attended and inspected the window on 4 March 2021. The notes from the visit stated that the windows were old and were draught proofed but there was still a small draught coming through the windows.
  5. Between 5 January and 15 March 2021, the resident contacted this Service about their complaint. They complained to the landlord about the windows on 9 March 2021 and explained that they were seeking compensation as they had spent between £8000 and £10,000 more on electricity and gas than their neighbours. This Service also contacted the landlord about the resident’s complaint, on 15 March 2021, as the status of their formal complaint was unclear.
  6. On receipt of our enquiry, the landlord confirmed that it was dealing with the window matter, as outlined in its stage one response in October 2019. It agreed to contact the resident to clarify why they wished to escalate their complaint.
  7. When the landlord contacted the resident, it arranged an inspection for the windows for 12 April 2021. After this appointment, the resident contacted the landlord 6 May 2021 and asked that it resolve the issue with the windows. The landlord treated the correspondence as a stage two complaint and provided confirmation of this to the resident on 11 May 2021.
  8. On 17 May 2021, the landlord notified the resident that their complaint had been reassigned to a different member of staff. It noted that it aimed to respond by 9 June 2021 but would notify the resident if it would take longer.
  9. Between 9 June 2021 and 23 July 2021, the landlord notified the resident that it was in the process of arranging the window replacement and agreed to provide updates on the progress. A contractor attended to the property on 15 July 2021 and measured the windows for replacement. Following this, the landlord advised it would provide a further update by 23 July 2021 and did so. On 23 July 2021, it provided a provisional window delivery date of 18 August 2021. It agreed to provide an update again by 20 August 2021. 
  10. In the meantime, as the resident had not received the stage two response from the landlord, they contacted this Service for assistance. We wrote to the landlord on 27 July 2021, explaining our expectation for it to comply with the Complaint Handling Code and issue a final response. The landlord acknowledged this and confirmed that it would provide a stage two response.
  11. On 5 August 2021, the landlord provided its stage two response. It advised that it had completed repairs to the windows since 2014, and previous surveys it completed found that the windows were not in need of replacement. In relation to its stage one response issued in 2019, it said that it responded within its policy timeframes, acknowledged the resident’s concerns and had requested a survey. It acknowledged that it did not follow through on the actions that it agreed to take in 2019 to address the windows and partially upheld the complaint on this basis of this finding.
  12. The landlord apologised for its service delivery and offered compensation for the service failure. It offered the resident £600 compensation to account for the missed timescales over a 24 month period. It confirmed that the compensation did not take into account, any increase in energy bills but said such compensation would be reviewed on receipt of comparative bills from the resident.
  13. The resident was not happy with the offer of compensation and referred their complaint to this Service. On 20 August 2021, they explained that they were unhappy that the landlord only considered a 24 month period when assessing compensation. They said that they raised concerns about the windows prior to 2014 and there was evidence of other outstanding issues within the property, including structural cracks. The resident also mentioned that they previously had issues with their boiler and the landlord had not renewed the bathroom and kitchen within 20 years, as per the Decent Home Standard. Moreover, the resident spoke of their experience anti-social behaviour from former neighbours and the impact this had on them.
  14. To resolve the complaint, the resident said that they wanted the windows to be replaced as their heating costs would be reduced. They explained that they were seeking £24,00 compensation, to account for their gas and electricity bills over a 20 year period and, missed appointments every month for 20 years.
  15. On 26 August 2021, the resident sent the landlord copies of electricity statements showing payment summaries spanning from 2011-2012 and April to September 2019. They also provided electricity usage information for the period April to September 2019. The landlord responded that this did not show any gas charges. In response, the resident sent a document which they described as showing thier gas and electric bills, transactions & debits. The dates of these transactions spanned from 2005 -2021. There is no evidence that the landlord responded to this.
  16. In November 2021, the resident sent a letter from their energy provider setting out a debt recovery repayment plan for gas. They stated that they believed the debt was the result of the poor heat insulation in the property over several years. The landlord did not respond to this.
  17. The windows were replaced by the landlord on 8 November 2021.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. When explaining why they remained unhappy with the outcome of their complaint, the resident raised additional issues they have had with cracks in the property, boiler repairs, the condition of the bathroom and kitchen and anti-social behaviour. This Service notes that these matters were not considered as part of the complaint which completed the landlord’s complaints process on 5 August 2021. Therefore, those matters will not be reviewed as part of the Ombudsman’s investigation.
  2. The resident has also said that they reported the windows for more than 10 years and they believe this should have been taken into account in the assessment of compensation.
  3. The Ombudsman expects that issues are raised to landlords as formal complaints within six months of the issue occurring. There is no evidence that a formal complaint was raised to the landlord about the matter of the windows prior to 2019.
  4. Therefore, this investigation will only consider the landlord’s actions in response to the complaint the resident submitted in September 2019. We will review its response up to the point the complaint finalised the complaint procedure on 5 August 2021.
  5. In accordance with the tenancy agreement, the landlord is responsible for keeping in good repair the windows of the property. The landlord is therefore responsible for addressing the resident’s concerns about the condition of the windows.
  6. There was a significant delay in the landlord undertaking the survey that it agreed to take as part of the stage one resolution from October 2019. In total, it was 18 months before the landlord attended to inspect the windows. This Service accepts from March 2020 and the months after, there were lockdown restrictions in place as a result of the Covid 19 pandemic.
  7. On 1 June 2020 the Government issued updated guidance for landlords, tenants and local authorities concerning the Covid 19 pandemic. The guidance said that landlords “can now take steps to address wider issues of repairs and safety inspections, provided these are undertaken in line with public health advice” and that “where workforce is available and resources allow, landlords or contractors are now able to visit most properties to carry out both routine and essential inspections and repairs, as well as any planned internal works.”
  8. The landlord’s ability to complete a survey during the pandemic was hindered but nevertheless, after it agreed to inspect the windows in October 2019 there was four months prior to the national lockdown restrictions introduced by central government where it took no action. In addition, after the Covid 19 restrictions had been eased in June 2020, there was a delay of 10 months before it inspected the windows.
  9. Following the survey on 12 April 2021, the landlord agreed to replace the windows however, there is no evidence of it informing the resident of this decision prior to 9 June 2021. From 9 June 2021 onwards, it kept the resident informed about the progress of the work and set timeframes the resident could expect updates. It fulfilled the agreement to provide updates, and contacted the resident on 23 June 2021, 2 July 2021 and 23 July 2021 to provide information about when it expected the windows to be ready for installation. Its communication with the resident in relation to the progress of the replacement and fitting of the during this time was appropriate. The Ombudsman expects that landlord keep to communication arrangements they have made with residents regarding outstanding matters from a complaint.
  10. In relation to the stage two response, this was delayed. The landlord did not provide the response on 9 June 2021 as it advised it would. While it was in communication with the resident about the windows, it did not notify them that the complaint response would be delayed and the reason why.
  11. This Service is aware that the landlord intended to wait for the works to be completed before it issued its response. The Ombudsman does not deem it appropriate for a landlord to do so. We would expect that a response to a complaint is provided with details of the remedy the landlord intends to take to put the outstanding issue right. This includes a commitment to update the resident up to the point the pending action has been completed.
  12. At stage two, the landlord acknowledged that it did not follow through on the actions it agreed to take at stage one. It was appropriate for it to uphold the complaint on this basis.
  13. The landlord’s compensation policy explains that compensation will be considered where there is an unreasonable delay in the landlord resolving a query or issue and the customer has not been kept informed. In this case there was an unreasonable delay in the landlord inspecting the windows from when it agreed to do so in October 2019 therefore, it was appropriate for it to offer compensation.
  14. Its compensation policy does not prescribe amounts of compensation that it can offer. The Ombudsman considers compensation offers in the region of £250 to £700 in cases where a considerable service failure has been found but there is no permanent impact on the resident.
  15. The landlord’s offer of compensation of £600 is considered proportionate. There was a service failure due to the delay in the landlord inspecting the windows and as a result, the resident experienced draughts from the windows. This would have caused distress and inconvenience for the resident particularly during the winter months. The impact of the landlord’s service failure was not however permanent. As a result of the complaint, it made the decision to replace the windows, which resolved the issue the resident complained about.
  16. However, when the landlord responded at stage two of its complaint procedure, it failed to acknowledge that its response was not within its policy timescales of 20 working days from receipt. It responded 65 working days after it received the complaint it treated as the stage two complaint. This caused the resident to incur time and trouble in pursuing a response via the Ombudsman and delayed them from being able to refer his complaint to this Service for investigation. There was therefore a service failure in the landlord’s complaints handling.
  17. The resident also complained that their utility bills had been excessive as a result of the poor efficiency of the windows. When they provided the information about their energy bills, transactions and debits, to the landlord in August 2021 and November 2021, the landlord failed to provide a response.
  18. It is not for this Service to determine whether the resident paid more in energy bills as a result of the windows condition. The landlord is expected to respond to the resident and confirm if it was able to consider the information they provided and if so, whether it was willing to offer compensation or not. I find that there was a service failure in the complaint handling in this respect. This is because, the landlord agreed as part of the stage two response, to review the resident’s utility bills once the resident provided this and did not do so.
  19. In addition, the resident stated that they were seeking compensation for missed appointments every month over a 20 year period. As above, we will not consider matters which occurred prior to 2019. There is no evidence of any missed appointments between September 2019 and August 2021 relating to the window repair. Also, the resident did not raise any missed appointments when they progressed their complaint to stage two.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 55 (b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme the landlord has offered redress to the complainant prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was a service failure by the landlord in respect of its complaint handling.

Reasons

  1. There was an unreasonable delay in the landlord taking action to address the windows from when it responded to the complaint in October 2019. There was also no communication with the resident during the period of the delay. However, from June 2021 the landlord kept the resident informed about the progress of the replacement works up to the point it issued the stage two complaint response. In the response to the complaint, the landlord acknowledged the service failures and made an offer of compensation which the Ombudsman finds is proportionate to the shortfalls in its service delivery.
  2. In relation the service failure found in the complaint handling, this is because there was a delay in the landlord providing the stage two response and it did not acknowledge this. Furthermore, it agreed to review compensation on receipt of the utility bill information from the resident but failed to respond when the resident provided this information. It did not therefore, follow through on actions it agreed to take as part of the resolution to the complaint.

Orders

  1. In recognition of the above finding of service failure, it is ordered that the landlord pay the resident an additional £100 within three weeks of this determination.

Recommendation

  1. The above finding that the landlord has offered reasonable redress is dependent on the payment being made to the resident. Within three weeks, the landlord is to arrange for the payment of £600 to be made to the resident.