Southern Housing (202230390)
REPORT
COMPLAINT 202230390
Southern Housing Group Limited
23 August 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
- This investigation is about the landlord’s handling of repairs in the resident’s home.
Background and summary of events
- The resident is a tenant of the landlord.
- The landlord’s repair records show a range of different repair issues reported for the resident’s home in 2022 and early 2023. These included reports of leaks from the roof, and other reports which are described as “various repairs” but with limited additional detail. Several of the repair jobs are noted as being unable to gain access to the property.
- The resident approached the Ombudsman Service (the Service) in early 2023 explaining that she had a range of complaints about the landlord. We wrote to the landlord in May and asked it to respond to the resident. These complaint concerns included several repair issues, such as a leaking roof which had caused damp and mould, and unresolved repairs to her front door.
- The landlord sent its complaint response in June 2023. It explained its records showed the repairs reported to it in 2022 and so far in 2023 had either been attended to and resolved, or had not been able to proceed as its operatives had not been able to gain access. It said the repairs for the roof and door had been completed, which the resident had previously confirmed. Nonetheless, it said it had arranged an inspection for later in June to check the property’s overall repair condition, and any damp and mould problems.
- The resident contacted the Service again in July 2023. She said the landlord had not inspected her home as it said it would, and asked that her complaint be escalated. On her behalf we asked the landlord to respond to her.
- The landlord sent its final complaint response in August 2023. It gave dates for repair appointments at which it had not been able to gain access to the resident’s home, including the inspection it had said it would do in June. It explained it had arranged a new date for the inspection, but that its contractors had already surveyed the property in July and created a list of repairs requiring attention. These included broken gutters, further repairs for the front door, mould in the bathroom, and damaged flooring. It apologised for that work not yet starting, which it said was because it was waiting for quotes. It said it would arrange appointments once the quotes had been authorised, and oversee the work to completion. It offered the resident £50 compensation for its delay.
- The contractors provided their quote to the landlord later in August 2023.
- The resident contacted the Service in December 2023 saying that the majority of the listed repairs had not been resolved. She chased the landlord for updates on the repairs in March and May 2024. She told the Service in July that they remained incomplete. The landlord’s records show it decided to decant her in July 2024, and also that she was in the process of moving from the property as part of a mutual exchange.
Assessment and findings
- The resident raised multiple issues in her complaints to the landlord, about a range of subjects. This investigation centres on her complaints about its handling of the repairs.
- It is not disputed that the landlord is responsible for repairs to the fabric and structure of the resident’s home, and the fixtures and fittings which it owns. The repair issues described in the complaint were the landlord’s responsibility to resolve.
- The original complaint to the landlord, made via the Service in May 2023, concerned delays resolving issues with a roof leak – said to be causing damp and mould and ceiling cracks – and repairs to the front door. In its complaint response the landlord explained how its efforts to address the door repairs had been impacted by not being able to gain access. It also said the resident had not given access to its recent attempts to inspect the property, and had told its staff no work was needed.
- It explained the roof, which had been affecting multiple properties, had been repaired. It said it sent its contractors to do follow-up inspections in March 2023, and they had also been told by the resident no work was needed, and access was again refused.
- The landlord’s explanations are supported by its repair logs showing attempted appointments and lack of access for several of them. An email in March 2023 from its roofing contractors confirms they had been told by the resident the “leak was fixed ages ago.”
- The landlord concluded there were no indications of currently outstanding repair issues. However, it said it would arrange a survey of the issues the resident had referred to, and any other problems. The survey was set for 20 June 2023.
- The resident did not dispute the landlord’s explanations. When she escalated her complaint in July 2023 it was because she said the surveyor had not attended as scheduled. In its final complaint response in August the landlord explained it had attempted to attend, but had again not been able to gain access. The repair logs support its explanation.
- However, the landlord explained a list of repair work had already been created based on a separate inspection done by its contractors in July. It agreed to reschedule the survey, but also said it was arranging work on the contractor’s list and was only waiting for a quote of works. It included the list of intended works which contained, amongst other things, mould in the bathroom, damaged flooring following a leak, damaged front door, and cracks in the living room and bedroom.
- The landlord said in its final complaint response that once it had the quote the work would be authorised and appointment dates set. It received the contractor’s quote in late August 2023. As with the first complaint, there is no evidence of the resident disputing the content of the landlord’s response, or the planned work. Accordingly, the landlord’s actions and intentions, up to that point, appear to be appropriate and reasonable, in the circumstances, and in line with its repair obligations and the resident’s repair requirements.
- The resident contacted the Service in December 2023 and February 2024 saying that despite her chasing the landlord, the promised work had not yet started. Internal emails show her asking the landlord for updates in March and May 2024. Other emails around the same time refer to the landlord wanting to obtain a second, and then third works quote because the first one had been too expensive. An internal email on 8 May 2024 states that work had not yet started because of that. Shortly after, an email to the landlord from its contractors in June states the resident told them she was moving and so the work needed to be arranged with the new tenant.
- The situation appears to have changed for the resident because in July 2024 the landlord decided to decant her for nearly a month in order to resolve what it described as major repairs to water damaged ceilings, roof, and other internal repairs. That plan then stalled because the resident had asked for 2 months to prepare for the decant, and at the same time was still hoping to move by mutual exchange.
- It is apparent, then, that while the landlord’s actions and intentions at the time of its final complaint response were reasonable, its subsequent plan stalled, and only limited action was taken to address the repairs. Events appear to have then caught up to and overtaken the plan in mid-2024 by the newly decided intention to decant the resident, and her own plans to potentially move from the property.
- The cost effectiveness of repair work is an important factor for every landlord, and in this case it was reasonable and understandable for the landlord to pause and consider whether the quote it received was acceptable. In such a situation, basic good practice is for a landlord to ensure it communicates clearly with its tenants and carefully manages their expectations about the causes of a delay, the expected timescales, and any steps in can take with the repairs in the interim.
- Emails between the resident and landlord in early 2024 show the landlord had been corresponding with and setting target dates by which it would provide details, and then not meeting them. This required the resident to chase again. No evidence has been seen of the landlord proactively providing what might be considered meaningful updates to the resident, or creating a timetable for work until the end of June. The second and third quotes it sought were in May and June, long after its final complaint response and first quote in August 2023.
- Delays caused by the need for further work quotes in general may often be unavoidable, and if managed well do not always constitute service failure. In this case they were not managed well. The situation appears to have been complicated to a certain extent by changes in the resident’s own plans and wishes, but that is not sufficient to explain the landlord’s poor handling of the repairs and communication with her following its final complaint response.
- The resident’s circumstances in regard to the repairs at the time of this report are unclear. The most recent information provided by the landlord, from the end of July 2024, shows it is currently working towards decanting her, while also incorporating her mutual exchange intentions into its repairs planning. The repairs, therefore, appear to now be in hand and proceeding after the initial delays up to mid-2024. Because of that, this investigation makes no orders to the landlord in regard to the repairs themselves.
- In the event the resident remains at the property and has cause for further concern about the repairs, it would be open to her to make a new complaint to the landlord. If such a new complaint about the repairs is eventually brought to the Ombudsman, this investigation’s conclusions will be taken into consideration in any new investigation.
Determination (decision)
- In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s repairs in the resident’s home.
Reasons
- The landlord’s responses to the resident’s complaint were reasonable in the circumstances at the time. However, the repairs promised in its final response have been significantly delayed. No evidence of appropriate contact and updates to the resident about the delays and their impact on the repairs has been seen in this investigation.
Orders
- In light of the landlord’s poor communication and management of the repair delays, and the inconvenience and frustration they have caused the resident, it is ordered to pay her £500. This payment must be made within 4 weeks of this report, and evidence provided to the Service.