Southwark Council (202120719)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202120719

Southwark Council

31 July 2023

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 the resident’s reports of leaks, roof issues and subsequent damage.

Background and summary of events

2. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord, a local authority. The property is a 4-bedroom house. The tenancy commenced on 30 May 1996.
3. On 25 July 2021 the resident contacted the landlord to inform it that her bedroom ceiling had collapsed during the course of bad weather and this resulted in a leak into her house. The ceiling collapsed on a member of her family, which resulted in hospital treatment. The landlord arranged for a contractor to attend the same day to make safe the ceiling, electrics and gas.
4. On 28 July 2021, the resident also contacted the landlord to request clearing of the guttering around the garage. The landlord responded the following day to inform the resident a work order had been raised.
5. The resident raised a complaint on 4 August 2021 regarding the roof leak which caused damage in her property. On 4 and 6 August 2021, the resident also contacted the landlord to raise concerns about the area of the ceiling which had been made safe. The resident also stated no further action had been taken with regard to clearing the garage guttering.
6. As a result of further bad weather, a second leak through the ceiling occurred in the same area as the first leak on 7 August 2021. This caused further damage to the resident’s belongings. The resident contacted the landlord that day and it arranged for a contractor to attend.
7. Scaffolding was erected to the property on 9 August 2021. However, the resident was under the impression repair works would commence straight away, which resulted in her chasing the landlord further.
8. Throughout August 2021, the resident and landlord were in communication. On a few occasions the resident chased the roofing repairs, whilst the landlord was in the process of arranging the required works and explained a cherry picker would need to attend first. The landlord was also in communication with contractors about the clearing of the garage gutter.
9. The roof contractor attended on 19 August 2021 with a cherry picker to clear the guttering. These works were marked as completed on 21 August 2021.
10. On 24 August 2021 the contractor attended the resident’s property to conduct an inspection for further repairs, however due to a system error the resident was unaware of this meeting. The landlord arranged for a further inspection of the resident’s property on 31 August 2021 so further repairs could be completed. However, as the resident felt the leak had not been resolved, she informed the landlord on 25 August 2021 that she would not allow the inspection until the matter was resolved.
11. A roof survey was conducted on 25 August 2021. The report identified the roof coverings were deteriorating due to age and stated that flooding would keep occurring unless proper maintenance was carried out.
12. The landlord issued its stage one complaint response on 1 September 2021. It understood the resident’s complaint to be about a lack of communication and the roof leak remaining unresolved. The landlord apologised for the delay in responding to her complaint. It explained that, at the time of the first incident, temporary accommodation was offered, however the resident chose to stay with a relative. It noted the actions which it had taken to date with regards to the repairs and stated further works had been approved to liquid coat the roof and to line the guttering.
13. On 2 September 2021 the resident contacted the landlord as she was unhappy with its findings. She stated that she had been experiencing flooding as a result of the poor roofing since 2006. She considered the landlord’s recommendation was not a permanent solution and expressed concern that the leak would reoccur in the future. The resident further stated the temporary accommodation offered was unfurnished and the landlord could not guarantee the condition of the property or its location. The resident expressed upset that despite her numerous calls and emails chasing repairs, the landlord did not carry out immediate roof repairs to prevent any further damage. The resident explained that she was told when the scaffolding was erected, roof repairs would be completed soon after, however she then had to wait for a cherry picker.
14. The remaining roof works were completed on 17 September 2021, seven weeks after the initial incident. The landlord further explained that it made the property safe and offered alternative accommodation. It explained that it was unable to guarantee location of any temporary accommodation, state of the property or furnishing within the property due to the fact that it may have to source the property from other local authorities. The landlord did not agree that the leak was part of an ongoing issue, it explained that previous reports had been made in relation to a blocked gutter. This was also set out in its stage two response on 13 October 2021. With regards to the length of time taken to repair the roof, the landlord explained the delay was not excessive considering the type of work required to resolve the leak.
15. The resident made a claim for damages in the region of £5,000 through the landlord’s insurance company. During March 2022 an offer for damages of £3,500 was made by the insurers, this was based on the documentation provided by the resident.

Assessment and findings

16. The resident states there has been ongoing issues with a roof leak since 2006. This service has noted this as context, however this investigation has primarily focused on the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports from July 2021 onwards which were considered during the landlord’s recent complaint responses. This is because residents are expected to raise complaints with their landlords in a timely manner so that the landlord has a reasonable opportunity to consider the issues whilst they are still ‘live’, and while the evidence is available to reach an informed conclusion. However, whilst the focus of this investigation has been on the events of 2021, consideration has also been given to the frequency and reoccurring issues of roof leaks within the property and we have commented on this later in this report.
17. We understand the resident was seeking compensation for damages, and therefore the landlord referred her to its insurers which was appropriate in the circumstances. Whilst we note the amount which was offered by the insurers was less than the resident was seeking. This is not something we will be able to consider within this report. This is because it is not within the Ombudsman’s authority or expertise to determine cause and liability for the roof leak in the way that an insurer does and the decision of the insurers is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to consider further. We can however assess whether the landlord has followed proper procedure, followed good practice, and behaved reasonably, taking account of all the circumstances of the case.
18. In accordance with the tenancy agreement and section 11 of The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 the landlord is responsible for repairs in relation to the structure and exterior of the property.
19. The landlord’s repairs guide states emergency repairs will be attended to within 24 hours. Urgent repairs would be completed within three working days and non- urgent within 20 working days.
20. The evidence shows when the resident reported the leak to the roof, the landlord arranged for contractors to attend the property within the same day to make it safe. They removed loose plaster and put a temporary ceiling cover in place. This was in accordance with the emergency timeframes where there is a serious risk to the property or resident’s safety.
21. The contractors’ visit to make the ceiling safe was a temporary measure put in place while the landlord arranged a roof repair, and it was unfortunate there was further bad weather which resulted in a further leak. It is clear the resident made several attempts to contact the landlord to express concerns about the quality of the make safe repair and about debris entering the property. Whilst we recognise in accordance with the landlord’s repairs timeframe this matter would not be considered an emergency, we would expect the landlord to have taken prompt actions when being notified of this concern. However this was not done.
22. When the second leak happened the landlord again took swift action by meeting its emergency obligations and made safe the ceiling. This was within the expected timeframes and appropriate in the circumstances.
23. The resident expressed upset with the length of time which it took the landlord to conduct a repair to the roof. In accordance with the landlord’s repairs policies with regard to major works, there may be a reasonable delay before it can start the work. In this instance the repair took a total of seven weeks to complete. Whilst we recognise the resident felt the matter should have been resolved sooner, we can see that the landlord was making continuous efforts to have the repairs conducted as soon as possible and was in communications with its contractors and needed to arrange scaffolding and a cherry picker.
24. The landlord’s leak repairs history shows the resident made reports of a leak during 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013, and 2016. Prior to the most recent incident there was a leak during May 2018, when there was an uncontainable leak from the flat roof ceiling which caused flooding to the property. The landlord attended to all the leaks at the time, however the records do not state what actions were taken to resolve the leak. There were no further reported leaks until the recent incident of 2021.
25. Looking at the repairs history and the number of reports it suggest the roof leak is recurrent. The landlord has attended to this each time in the past and most recently, therefore meeting its repair obligations. However taking into consideration the roofing contractor’s report dated 25 August 2021 which stated the issue will continue to reoccur without regular maintenance and the roof coverings have deteriorated due to its age, the Ombudsman considered that the roof is now at a point where the landlord should look for a permanent solution to resolve the issues with it.
26. This service has reviewed the images of the roof leak and agrees that given the circumstances. It was appropriate for the landlord to offer to decant the resident. The evidence shows the resident refused the temporary accommodation on the basis that the landlord could not guarantee location or furnishing, and she had none. We understand the landlord’s position on not being able to confirm the location as it needed to source the property, however and given the resident’s testimony that her furnishings had been soaked by the leak it may have been appropriate for the landlord to ensure the bare necessities of furnishings were provided such as beds, etc or consider hotel accommodation on a short-term basis. Whilst in this case the resident was able to stay elsewhere, the Ombudsman has made a recommendation to the landlord about its approach to future emergency decant offers.

Determination (decision)

28. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of leaks, roof issues and subsequent damage.

Reasons

29. At the time the landlord attended to the leak in line with its repair obligations. We find the length of time it took to repair the leak to be reasonable. However we do find the landlord ought to have acted promptly when the resident informed it of her concerns to the ceiling after it made it safe.

Orders and Recommendations

Order

30. The landlord to compensate the resident £100 for its service failure. This should be paid within four weeks of the date of this letter.

Recommendation

31. The landlord should consider a permanent solution with regard to replacement of the roof. Upon consideration the landlord should inform the resident of its position within eight weeks of the date of this letter.
32. The landlord should review its position for temporary emergency decants and its position on furnishings.