Southwark Council (202437521)

Background

1. The resident lives in a flat. He reported a leak from the property above had caused damage to his flat. He complained because he was unhappy with the landlord’s response to this issue.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
   1. Reports of a leak.
   2. Complaint.

Our decision (determination)

3. We found service failure:
   1. In the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a leak.
   2. In the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Summary of reasons

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a leak

4. The landlord did not complete the repair in line with its policy timescales. It failed to keep the resident updated.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint

5. The landlord acknowledged its complaint handling delays at stage 1. But it did not apologise or acknowledge its delay sending the stage 2 response.

Putting things right

Where we find service failure, maladministration or severe maladministration we can make orders for the landlord to put things right. We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction.

Orders

Landlords must comply with our orders in the manner and timescales we specify. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with our orders by the due date set.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

What we found and why

The circumstances of this complaint are well known by the parties involved, so it is not necessary to detail everything that’s happened or comment on all the information we’ve reviewed. We’ve only included the key information that forms the basis of our decision of whether the landlord is responsible for maladministration.

6. The lease agreement says the resident should “keep the flat and every part thereof in good and tenantable repair and condition”. The landlord’s guide for leaseholders also says the resident is responsible for repairs inside their home. The landlord’s repairs policy describes non-urgent leaks as “minor leaks that do not cause serious damage or a safety risk”. It aims to complete non-urgent repairs within 20 working days.
7. The resident reported the leak on 10 December 2023. He said it damaged the ceilings and walls in the bedroom. He said it also caused damp in his daughter’s bedroom, which was hard to dry.
8. The landlord emailed the resident and asked about the leak, it is not clear what date it was sent. The resident replied on 12 December 2023. He said the leak was still active and he believed rain and wind caused it. He said the damage was in his second bedroom.
9. The landlord said it raised a work order on 14 December 2023, with a target date of 27 December 2023. However, the landlord did not repair the leak until 15 January 2024. This was 23 working days after the resident reported the leak and 3 days outside the landlord’s repair policy. The landlord did not update the resident to let him know it fixed the leak until 22 January 2024.
10. The landlord gave the resident its insurance team details so he could claim for the damage to the bedroom. It told the resident he would have to pay £500 excess. The resident was unhappy because he said the lease agreement did not say it was his responsibility if the leak occurred from another property. He also said he had made a previous claim, and he did not pay an excess. However, the landlord had changed insurer since that claim. It told the resident his lease says he’s responsible for the repairs in his property and must pay the insurance excess.
11. In its stage 1 response, the landlord apologised for the service the resident received not meeting its usual standards. The landlord offered £30 compensation, made up of £10 for each week it delayed in repairing the leak, in line with its compensation policy. It also offered £50 for inconvenience in line with its policy for the time and trouble the resident suffered.
12. In its stage 2 response, it did not uphold the complaint. It said the compensation offered at stage 1 was fair and in line with its compensation policy and it did not offer any additional compensation.
13. The landlord delayed repairing the leak from the property above. It contacted the resident within 2 days of the report but missed its target repair date of 27 December 2023. While there may have been issues accessing the property above and the delay fell over Christmas, the landlord did not meet its policy timescales, explain the delay or keep the resident updated. The records do not clearly show what work it carried out.
14. We found service failure and have ordered the landlord to pay an additional £50 compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused, a total of £130. This is in line with our compensation guidance where the landlord made an offer of compensation, but it does not quite reflect the detriment to the resident.

15. The landlord has a 2-stage complaints policy. It says it will acknowledge a complaint within 5 working days and provide a response at stage 1 within 10 working days of that acknowledgement. If it needs additional time, it will tell the resident when it will respond. At stage 2, it says it will acknowledge the escalation request within 5 working days and respond within 20 working days of the acknowledgement. These timescales and the complaint definition align with the Complaint Handling Code 2024 (the Code).
16. The resident complained on 20 July 2024. The landlord acknowledged the complaint 10 working days after the timescales in its complaint policy. It sent its stage 1 response 11 working days after the acknowledgement, one working day outside its policy. It apologised for its delay responding and offered the resident £50 compensation.
17. The landlord acknowledged the stage 2 escalation the day after the resident escalated it. It sent its stage 2 response, 7 working days outside its policy timescales.
18. In summary, the landlord delayed its stage 1 response and offered the resident £50 compensation. It then delayed sending the stage 2 response. The landlord did not acknowledge or apologise for the stage 2 delay. For this reason, we have found service failure because there was minor failure by the landlord in its response to the complaint and it did not appropriately acknowledge this. We have ordered the landlord to apologise and pay £50 it offered at stage 1. This is in line with our compensation guidance for a minor failing that did not affect the overall outcome for the resident.

Learning

19. It is important for landlord to keep sufficiently detailed repairs records. This helps landlords to resolve repairs and meaningfully update residents.

Knowledge and information management (record keeping)

20. The landlord may benefit from some of the knowledge and information management (KIM) learning included in our spotlight report on repairs and maintenance. This is supported by further learning in our earlier KIM spotlight report.

Communication

21. The landlord’s communication was poor. It should consider how it can improve its repair updates with resident’s by giving clear, timely, and proactive updates, particularly where repairs are delayed.