Sanctuary Housing Association (202310602)
REPORT
COMPLAINT 202310602
Sanctuary Housing Association
16 October 2024
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
- The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of repairs to the communal lighting.
- The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.
Background
- The resident holds a shared ownership lease with the landlord in a first-floor flat within a block. She occupies the property with her children.
- On 13 March 2023 it was reported that the emergency lighting within the communal block was not working. The landlord’s contractor attended on 17 March 2023 but was unable to gain access to the block. On 29 March 2023 it was reported that all 3 communal lights on the first floor were not working. The landlord subsequently attended on 30 March and 3 April 2023 and identified it would need certain materials to complete the repairs and booked follow-up works for 12 and 13 April 2023.
- On 12 April 2023 the resident complained to the landlord. She said the communal block lighting did not work properly. She explained that she had to walk in the dark and the lights would go off when she visited her neighbours on the fourth floor. She added that the lights had not been working for over a year. She felt it was a safety issue and her children had fallen up the stairs. As an outcome, she wanted the lighting fixed immediately, compensation for the safety impact and an explanation of why the contractor had not fixed the issue.
- The following day the landlord responded to the complaint at stage 1 of its complaints process. It said it was contacted on 13 March 2023 regarding issues with communal lighting and had booked the repair for 5 June 2023. It said it would bring this date forward if possible and apologised for not completing the repair within its 28-day repair timescale. It upheld the complaint and offered £25 compensation for the delay in repairing the lighting. The same day the resident asked to escalate the complaint. She said there had been inadequate lighting for many months and felt it was unsafe. She wanted the lighting fixed urgently before June 2023.
- On 18 April 2023 the landlord’s contractor attended the block but was again unable to gain access. On 30 April 2023 the resident reported that the emergency lights on the ground floor were still not working. The resident chased the landlord for a response on 5 May 2023 and asked what it intended to do to fix the issue. On 20 May 2023 the landlord issued its stage 2 final response. In summary, it said:
- It was sorry for the distress and inconvenience this matter caused and for the slight delay in issuing its stage 2 response.
- It had raised various orders for issues with the communal lighting and its contractors had attended and completed repairs. It had arranged an appointment for 11 May 2023 to complete the work.
- The delays were due to additional repairs and difficulty with its contractors gaining access to the block. It acknowledged that it should have managed this better and improved its communication.
- It would offer a total of £175 compensation comprised of £25 as offered in its stage 1 response, £50 for the delays in issuing its response, £50 for the resident having to log a complaint for the issues to be addressed and £50 for the time and trouble caused.
- The resident referred her complaint to this Service on 23 June 2023. She said the sensors for the communal lights across the block had not been working properly. She added that she had to walk in the dark and it was a serious health and safety issue. She explained that although work had been done to add new sensors the stairwell lights were broken again. As an outcome, she wanted the lighting fixed and further compensation. In addition, she wanted an update on the status of the repairs and the landlord to review the case to ensure this did not happen again.
- Between June 2023 and January 2024 there were multiple reports of issues with the communal lighting. On 8 February 2024 the landlord issued another stage 2 final response. It apologised for the lack of communication since 8 September 2023 and acknowledged that several additional visits were necessary to try and repair the communal lighting. It said the last repair was on 11 January 2024 and its contractor had adjusted the timer and left it in working order. It upheld the complaint, acknowledged its poor communication and apologised for the distress and inconvenience caused. In addition, it offered compensation of £450, comprising of £200 for time, trouble and inconvenience and £250 for poor complaint handling. The resident recently informed this Service that parts of the communal lighting still do not work properly.
Assessment and findings
The landlord’s handling of repairs to the communal lighting.
- The landlord’s homeowner handbook states that it is generally responsible for keeping the structure and outside of the property and block in a good state of repair. This includes estate and block lighting. The landlord’s repair handbook states that it will carry out ‘appointed repairs’ such as a partial loss of electricity within a maximum of 28 days.
- In this case, the landlord does not dispute that there were failings in its handling of this matter. Where the landlord admits failings, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether the landlord resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances and offered appropriate redress. In considering this, the Service assesses whether the landlord’s actions were in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: Be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
- While the landlord’s records showed that it promptly arranged for its contractor to attend to fix the communal lighting following the 13 March 2023 report, they could not access the block. Internal landlord emails suggested that its contractor needed a code to obtain a fob to access the block. Although the landlord shared this code internally, it did not appear to provide it to its contractor and the repair was not carried out. This was a failure on the landlord’s part who should have followed up with its contractor and managed the situation better to ensure they could access the block.
- On 29 March 2023 following further reports of issues with the communal lighting the landlord again promptly arranged for an operative to attend the next day. On this occasion, it found that further repairs and materials were needed and booked follow-up appointments for 12 and 13 April 2023. However, these appointments did not happen, and it is unclear as to why. This was a further failure on the landlord’s part that led to the resident raising a formal complaint. In response to the complaint, the landlord said it would complete the repair on 5 June 2023, almost3 months after the original March 2023 report. This was inappropriate and the landlord should have sought to attend and complete the repair within its policy timescales. This would have caused distress and inconvenience to the resident who would have felt the landlord was not taking her concerns seriously.
- Nonetheless, following its stage 1 response the landlord made reasonable efforts to bring the repairs forward. But, again, when its contractor attended, they were unable to access the block. This is concerning given the previous failed attempt in March 2023. Further, it appeared there was a delay in the landlord providing the correct code to its contractor. This likely delayed getting matters resolved.
- Although the landlord managed to bring this appointment forward to 11 May 2023, its contractor did not complete the repairs on this date, despite the landlord suggesting this was the case in its May 2023 final response. The landlord’s records showed that on 22 May 2023 its contractor informed it that electrical works were needed. This was another failure which demonstrated a disconnect between the landlord and its contractor who should have checked that they had resolved the issue before communicating with the resident. This would have left her feeling frustrated that the repairs still remained outstanding.
- Indeed, there continued to be multiple issues with the communal lights between June 2023 and January 2024. While most of these reports appeared to be attended to within a reasonable timescale the landlord failed to carry out a long-lasting repair, which led to similar issues with the communal lighting being reported time and time again. When a repair falls under a landlord’s repair obligations, it is required to carry out a repair within a reasonable timeframe. If the same issue keeps being reported, the Ombudsman would expect the landlord to carry out a more detailed technical inspection to identify the underlying issue, which would enable it to carry out a lasting repair. However, there is no evidence that this happened, and any meaningful inspection that did take place was significantly delayed.
- Overall, the landlord’s handling of repairs to the communal lighting was poor. There were significant failures in communication between the landlord and its contractor. Further, it failed to consider whether a technical inspection or survey was required in this case despite the continued reports and failed attempts to resolve the matter fully. This demonstrated a lack of lateral thinking on the landlord’s part. In addition, this Service has seen an internal landlord email which stated that it did not think it had appropriately managed the risk. This is concerning and indicates that the landlord had not carefully considered the potential health and safety risks to residents.
- While the landlord’s May 2023 final response acknowledged that the delays were exacerbated by how it managed the situation with its contractors, it failed to learn from this and similar issues arose again following this final response. Moreover, the resident recently informed this Service that some floors in the block do not have working sensors and that many lights flash. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the landlord has not fully resolved the communal lighting issues. While the landlord’s final responses identified some of its failings and paid compensation to the resident broadly in line with this Service’s remedies guidance, it is unclear if the landlord paid the compensation offered in its May 2023 stage 2 response. Given the landlord’s February 2024 final response appeared to assess its handling of this matter after May 2023, it would be appropriate for the landlord to honour the offer made in its May 2023 response. Further, the landlord’s February 2024 response failed to identify any learning or explain what action it would take to ensure this did not happen again. This Service has therefore made a finding of maladministration for the failings identified in this report and orders are made below for remedy.
- In this investigation, The Ombudsman identified failures in the landlord’s handling of its repairs, similar to those identified in case 202224898. We have not, however, made any further orders for the landlord to review this. This is because this Service made a wider order as part of case 202224898 which the landlord has now complied with. We expect the landlord to take forward the lessons and improvements it shared with this Service following the wider order and will monitor the progress of this.
- The landlord has informed this Service that since its February 2024 final response it is considering a replacement of the communal lights. However, it is unclear if this proposed replacement relates specifically to the resident’s block. Further, this Service has seen evidence that suggests a survey of the communal lighting has subsequently taken place. While this was an appropriate step to take, it is unclear whether the survey findings and any proposed recommendations have been shared with the resident. In light of this, a recommendation is made below.
Complaint handling
- The landlord issued its May 2023 stage 2 final response slightly outside of its 20 working day policy timescales. It was therefore appropriate for it to apologise for this and offer £50 compensation to put things right. However, following an evidence request from this Service on 6 February 204 the landlord issued a new stage 2 final response to the resident on 8 February 2024. In its submissions to the Ombudsman, the landlord informed this Service that the complaint had not exhausted its complaint process.
- The landlord later informed this Service on 19 March 2024 that due to the ongoing contact from the resident, the complaint was ‘reviewed’ at stage 2 with a further response sent to the resident on 8 February 2024. This was inappropriate. As the resident had raised ongoing concerns after its May 2023 final response, in which it had already provided referral rights to this Service, the landlord should have opened a new complaint and responded at stage 1 of its complaint process. This was a failing on the landlord’s part.
- The landlord should review its policy which states, ‘following its stage 2 response, residents are encouraged to contact their complaint handler to share why they remain unhappy, provide any additional evidence which has not been considered’. It adds that ‘once this has been provided, it will review any additional information and provide a final response to the resident’. The landlord was therefore essentially operating a 3-stage process, yet its policy is unclear in this respect. Further, a 3-stage process is now contrary to the Ombudsman’s April 2024 Complaint Handling Code which states that stage 2 must be the landlord’s final response. As such a recommendation has been made below.
- Nevertheless, the complaint handling failures identified in this report did not cause delays to the resident bringing her complaint to this Service. Nor has it significantly delayed the Ombudsman’s investigation into this complaint. Further, we have been able to assess the landlord’s handling of the substantive matter up to its February 2024 final response. In view of this, it is the Ombudsman’s opinion that the £250 total compensation awarded in the landlord’s February 2024 final response (and paid to the resident) proportionately reflected the level of detriment caused by the complaint handling failures identified. Therefore, this Service considers that the landlord’s offer of redress was satisfactory in putting matters right.
Determination
- In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of its handling of repairs to the communal lighting.
- In accordance with paragraph 53b of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord offered redress to the resident prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the landlord’s complaint handling.
Orders
- The landlord must do the following within the next 4 weeks:
- Provide a written apology for the failures identified in this report.
- Pay the resident compensation of £125 as offered in its May 2023 final response if has not already done so.
- Provide an action plan to the resident and this Service on what it intends to do to resolve any repairs identified with the communal lighting within the block.
- The landlord should provide this Service with evidence of compliance with these orders within the timescale set out above.
Recommendations
- The landlord should update the resident on the outcome of its communal lighting survey and whether it intends to replace the lighting in the block.
- The landlord should review its complaints policy to ensure compliance with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.