Sovereign Living Limited (202101792)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202101792

Sovereign Living Limited

20 October 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

This complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for the damage caused to the ceilings in the property to be rectified.
The related complaint.

Background and summary of events

Background

The resident had an assignment of tenancy which commenced on 12 July 2004. The resident is a tenant of the landlord.
The property is described as a three-bedroom house.
The landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy to 2022 states that it will prioritise repairs relating to the health and safety of its residents and that pre inspections will be carried out when it needs to employ a specialist contractor. In addition, it will consider compensating residents when there has been a failure in its services such as damage, inconvenience and for missed appointments.
The landlord’s asbestos works – part 1&2 (working with non-licensed asbestos) procedure is applicable for properties built before 2000. It will complete a site survey of the intended works to determine if aluminium composite material is present and likely to be disturbed. Its employees are expected to adhere to controls and adopt safe working practises.
The landlord’s complaints procedure says that it will respond within 10 working days at the first stage of its complaint’s procedure and within 20 working days at its final stage.

Summary of events

As part of its repairing obligations, the landlord arranged for its contractor to carry out an asbestos inspection at the resident’s property on 15 March 2021. The asbestos contractor took samples of the ceilings to the ground floor hallway, toilet, living room and garage and the first-floor bedrooms, cupboards landing and the toilet.
The asbestos report from the contractor identified that the first-floor landing ceiling, the bedrooms, first floor cupboard, boiler cupboard, bathroom and ground floor, hall and living room ceiling contained low level asbestos. It recommended that inspections occur at regular intervals and the asbestos register be updated.
The resident completed the landlord’s complaint form on 9 April 2021 to complain that she had recently decorated the property and its contractor had damaged numerous ceilings within the property when it carried out the asbestos inspection in March 2021. The resident advised that she had been chasing the repair of the ceilings since 15 March 2021 and she had not received a response. She advised that her preferred outcome was for the damage caused to the ceilings by the asbestos contractor to be rectified.
On 14 April 2021, the landlord’s internal records show that the complaint was allocated to the east property manager for investigation and to provide a response to the resident. The resolution officer on 21 April 2021 checked that the east property manager had made contact with the resident regarding the complaint.
This Service contacted the landlord on 22 April 2021 to advise that the resident had not received the complaint response and requested that it respond to the complaint within 15 working days.
The landlord’s internal records show that the east property manager advised on 23 April 2021 that this was the first time he was aware of the complaint as he had been absent from work. It was agreed that the resident should be contacted and asked to supply photos of the damage to the property.
The same day (23 April 2021), the landlord emailed the resident, apologising for the delay in responding to the complaint and gave an explanation for the asbestos contractor taking the samples. The landlord advised that once it received photos of the damaged decorations it would assess whether its contractor had taken the correct sized samples.
This Service wrote to the landlord on 4 June 2021 requesting that it respond to the complaint by 11 June 2021.
The landlord contacted its asbestos contractor on 8 June 2021 regarding the report of the damaged decoration to the resident’s ceilings and advised that the resident wanted the damage rectified. It asked the asbestos contractor if it had received communication from the resident regarding the damage to the ceilings and when it had carried out the work, whether it had recorded any damage to the ceilings in the resident’s property.
The contractor responded on the following day, 9 June 2021. It confirmed that it had attended the resident’s property on 15 March 2021 to carry out the asbestos inspection. It had not received any further communication from the resident following the survey and it supplied a copy of the asbestos report to the landlord.
On the same day, (9 June 2021), the landlord’s internal records show that it discussed that the resident had not supplied the requested photos of the damage. In addition, the contractor had advised that it had not received any negative feedback from the resident. It agreed to contact the resident by phone and email.
The resident emailed the landlord on 7 July 2021, informing the landlord that she was responding to its phone call and that:
1. She had not received any emails from the landlord.
2. Before the asbestos inspection, she was not informed the ceilings within the property would be scrapped.
3. She had just completed the decoration of the property before the asbestos inspection occurred.
4. She had phoned the landlord to say she was unhappy with the damage to the paintwork, as unsightly marks were left.
5. She had sent in pictures of the damage to the ceilings.
6. She had not informed the contractor as she was told not to as the landlord would deal with rectifying the damage.
7. She had been informed that various managers would contact her, but they had not until the phone call of 5 July 2021.
8. She provided five pictures that she had previously sent on 15 March 2021. Three pictures showed the damage to the aertex ceilings, one showed a label covering a hole and the final picture showed an actual hole in the boxing to the toilet.
9. She advised that the toilet on the first floor looked like a screwdriver had been used to create a hole in the boxing in around the pipes.
On 20 July 2021, this Service issued the landlord with a Complaint Handling Failure Order for its failure to respond to the complaint.
The landlord informed the contractor on 21 July 2021 that it needed its opinion on whether the samples taken at the inspection were of the correct size and the action it could take to make good the damage to the ceilings.
The asbestos contractor responded on 23 July 2021, it advised that it had reviewed the asbestos report and the photos of the damaged ceilings and boxing in supplied by the resident. It advised that samples were taken from different sites to obtain assurance of asbestos content in the resident’s property. The sample points were sealed with paint in line with guidance and its own scope of works.
Furthermore, it had assessed the sample to the boxing in to the first-floor toilet, which had been appropriately sealed though it had a non-asbestos insulating board. The contractor advised that it was happy to return to the resident’s property to make good the damage to the ceiling using filler and white paper to remedy the defect to the non -asbestos insulating board. The contractor stated that it could not confirm that it had the required paint colour to match the resident’s ceiling.
On the same day, 23 July 2021, the landlord provided its complaint response to the resident. The key findings were:
1. The landlord explained that samples had to be taken as part of the asbestos inspection to ascertain whether asbestos was present in the property.
2. It understood that the sample points created by the asbestos contractor had been sealed with paint.
3. It apologised for the convenience caused to the resident.
4. It advised that the asbestos contractor rectify the damage caused when the samples were taken and requested that the resident contact the contractor to arrange a mutually convenient appointment.
5. It informed the resident that the asbestos contractor may find it difficult to match the paint colour on the ceiling.
The resident confirmed to this Service on 18 August 2021 that her preferred outcome was for the landlord to rectify the damage to her property when the asbestos contractor attended to obtain samples.
On 4 October 2022, the resident informed this Service that she would accept as a resolution to the complaint, the replacement paint colour to enable her to complete the decoration work herself.
In response the landlord informed this Service on 10 October 2022, that they had spoken to the resident and had agreed to make an award of compensation of £50 instead of supply decoration vouchers to enable the resident to purchase the paint to rectify the damaged decorations.

Assessment and findings

Damage caused to the ceilings in the property to be rectified

The landlord is responsible for the actions of its contractors when it is carrying out work on its behalf and to ensure that its resident’s properties are safe from hazards.
The landlord arranged for the asbestos contractor to carry out an asbestos inspection of the property in accordance with its repairing obligations and as part of the asbestos inspection the contractor took samples of the ceiling of the rooms within the ground floor and first floor of the property. These were reasonable steps for the landlord to take to assess whether there was asbestos present in the property and if it was present the actions to be taken if repairs were to be carried out at the address.
Following the inspection in March 2021, the resident complained the following month about the damage to the ceilings and to the first-floor toilet in the property. The landlord reviewed the photos that the resident provided of the damage and contacted the asbestos contractor who had carried out the work. This was a reasonable approach for the landlord to assess the actions of its contractors when it was working in the resident’s property. It was also reasonable to obtain the contractor’s feedback on the asbestos sampling work that it had been carried out as it was aware that the resident was disappointed with the condition of the ceilings once the sampling work had been concluded.
However, it took from the resident contacting the landlord in March 2021 regarding the damaged decorations, until July 2021 for the landlord to communicate with the resident. This is not appropriate. Whilst it is noted that the landlord emailed the resident in April 2021, the resident has said that she did not receive that email and there is no evidence that the landlord took any other steps to contact the resident regarding her concerns about the damaged decorations.
The landlord considered that to carry out an asbestos inspection, its contractor was required to take samples of the property. When the asbestos contractor reviewed the photos provided by the resident it agreed to return to the resident’s property to rectify the damage caused when the asbestos inspection was being carried out. However, the asbestos contractor had advised that it was unlikely to have the correct paint colour to rectify the damage. From the available information, once the landlord had sent its complaint response in July 2021, there is no evidence that the landlord took any steps to follow up with the resident regarding the damaged decoration despite it having receiving contact from this Service in April 2021 and June 2021 which indicated that this issue was a concern for the resident. Once this Service contacted the resident in October 2022, the landlord discussed the damaged decoration with the resident. The landlord reasonably agreed to supply the resident with an award of compensation of £50 for her to carry out the decoration works herself. Nevertheless, the resident experienced an unreasonable delay in receiving the landlord’s position on the action it would take to rectify the damaged decorations.

The related complaint

The landlord’s complaint procedure states that it will respond to complaints within 10 working days at its first stage and within 20 working days at the final stage. Looking at the facts of this case, there were complaint handling failures in the landlord’s handling of this case.
The resident complained to the landlord on 9 April 2021 using its complaint form regarding the damage caused to the ceilings following the asbestos survey. When the resident did not receive a response, she contacted this Service. This Service contacted the landlord on two separate occasions on 22 April 2021 and 4 June 2021 requesting that it respond to the resident’s complaint. The complaint handling code requires landlords to acknowledge and respond to complaints at the first stage of the landlord’s complaint procedure. The landlord’s actions fell below this standard when the landlord did not do this.
This Service served a complaint handling failure order on 20 July 2021 requesting that it respond to the resident’s complaint within the next five working days.
The landlord issued its complaint response on 23 July 2021. Given that the resident had made her complaint on 9 April 2021, this meant that the resident had to wait over three months to receive the landlord’s complaint response which is an unreasonable delay. Furthermore, the resident experienced unnecessary inconvenience by having to contact this Service to obtain the landlord’s complaint response.
The landlord’s complaint response did not inform the resident how she could escalate her complaint if she remained dissatisfied with the response to her complaint. This was not appropriate. Though the resident had contacted this Service to obtain a resolution, as part of its commitment to the Complaints Handling Code, the landlord was required to inform the resident of the next steps in the complaint process.
The landlord’s review of its complaint did not consider whether it should make an offer of compensation for its failure to progress her complaint within its published complaint handling timeframes. This was not appropriate as it had failed to address the resident’s concerns within a timely manner and the resident had to spend an unnecessary time and trouble, chasing the landlord for its complaint response.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there has been service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for the damage caused to the ceilings in the property to be rectified.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in its handling of the related complaint.

Reasons

The landlord has demonstrated that it has acknowledged the damage that was caused to the resident’s decorations when work was carried out by its contractors to undertake samples of the property. It has agreed to an award of compensation which will enable the resident to carry out the work herself.
The landlord failed to respond to the resident’s complaint within its published time frames. This Service issued a complaint handling failure order before it did so. The landlord’s complaint response did not comply with the complaint handling code as it did not inform the resident how she could escalate her complaint to the next stage of the complaint procedure if she remained dissatisfied with its response.

Orders

The landlord to write to the resident to apologise for the service failures identified in this report.
The landlord to pay the resident £250 compensation broken down as:
1. £100 for the inconvenience caused by the landlord’s communication failures.
2. £100 for its failure to provide its complaint response in accordance with its complaint’s procedure
3. £50 that it has agreed to rectify the damaged decorations.
The landlord to agree a mutually convenient appointment with the resident to check that the repair to the boxing in has been rectified.
If it has not already done so, the landlord to share the asbestos report with the resident.
The landlord should confirm compliance with these orders to this Service within four weeks of the date of this report.