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Stonewater Limited (202340091)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202340091

Stonewater Limited

18 August 2025

 

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 a guttering repair and external wall damage.

Background and summary of events

  1. The resident was a leaseholder of the landlord. The landlord is the freeholder of the building. Following a stock transfer in August 2023 the ownership of the building transferred to the current landlord. He lived in a 2-bedroom ground floor flat. The resident moved out of the property in January 2025.
  2. The landlord used a contractor to complete repairs at the resident’s property. This contractor also used a sub-contractor. For the purposes of this report all will be referred to as the contractor.
  3. On 1 September 2023 the resident reported broken communal guttering which had caused damage to the wall of his property. The landlord’s contractor attended on 4 September 2023 and notes say they put up a scaffolding tower and refixed the downpipe, and gutter joints. The resident reported the guttering again on 8 September 2023 but the contactor did not attend as they assumed it was a duplicate job.
  4. The resident made a stage 1 complaint to the landlord. It was acknowledged on 13 October 2023. He told the landlord he was unhappy with the delay in repairing the guttering.
  5. The landlord provided the resident with a stage 1 complaint response on 26 October 2023. It apologised for the delay and lack of communication about the repair. It said it would raise new works for the guttering and downpipes on the block. It offered £75 compensation for the time, trouble, and lack of communication.
  6. The resident continued to contact the landlord for an update on the repair. He requested escalation of his complaint on 23 November 2023. He said the leaking gutter was causing concern as it was damaging the external wall on his property.
  7. The landlord issued a stage 2 complaint response on 15 January 2024. It told the resident it had raised a follow-up works order but not processed it through the system and that it had raised concerns about the contractor’s poor performance. The response said it would ask a surveyor to attend, discuss the repairs with the resident, then issue works to the contractor. It offered £250 in compensation.
  8. The resident had been in contact with the Ombudsman during the landlord’s complaints procedure due to the delays in the repairs. He referred the complaint to the Ombudsman on 3 September 2024. He said that the landlord had resolved the guttering and external wall damage but had not managed it well and he wanted an investigation.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident recently told this Service that he experienced issues with the gutters before the initial report made in his complaint. These reports were to the previous landlord. In the interest of fairness, the scope of this investigation is limited to the issues raised during the resident’s formal complaint. This is because the landlord needs to be given a fair opportunity to investigate and respond to any reported dissatisfaction with its actions prior to the involvement of this Service. This investigation will focus on the guttering repair reported in September 2023 and how the landlord responded.

Handling of guttering repair and external wall damage

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy says leaseholders are responsible for all repairs inside their home and it is responsible for all external repairs to the structure.
  2. The landlords repair policy says it will respond to emergency repairs within 24 hours, non-emergency within 28 days, and major works within 42 days.
  3. The resident reported broken guttering which was causing damage to the external wall to his property on 1 September 2023. The landlord’s contractor attended on 4 September 2023 and refixed the downpipe and gutter joints. The landlord’s initial response was reasonable, it arranged for the repairs within its policy timescales.
  4. However, on 8 September 2023 the resident had to report broken guttering again. The landlord raised a job order to its contractor but the contractor didn’t attended as they believed it to be a duplicate request. While human error can occur, landlords should ensure systems are in place to reduce inconvenience and identify incomplete work at the earliest opportunity. The resident chased the repair on the 28 September 2023. The landlord missed an opportunity to identify that the works order was cancelled.
  5. The resident made a complaint to the landlord on 12 October 2023, it acknowledged this on 13 October 2023, and sent the response on 26 October 2023. It apologised for the delay and committed to raising new works to assess and action the required work. It offered £50 for time and trouble and £25 for the lack of communication. It was appropriate for the landlord to raise further work as the resident was still experiencing issues. At this stage, the apology and compensation were reasonable.
  6. However, the resident continued to chase the landlord as a contractor had been to look at the issue and said the work was not their responsibility. Evidence shows that the landlord requested a surveyor to speak with the resident but, there is no evidence of contact to the resident. This lack of communication added further frustration and inconvenience for the resident and resulted in the resident requesting an escalation as his complaint remained unresolved.
  7. The resident sent his escalation request on 23 November 2023. He said he had no contact from the surveyor, as promised in the stage 1 response. He said the leaking gutter had caused damage to the external wall of his property and he was frustrated at the time and effort he was spending following this up.
  8. The landlord sent its stage 2 response on 15 January 2024 and apologised for the delay which was reasonable. It was appropriate for it to apologise that stage 1 did not resolve his concerns and for the lack of communication. It confirmed the contractor raised follow up work orders but they were not processed through the system. It also said there had been poor performance in the delivery of works which would be picked up by the surveyor with the contractor. The landlord said it would learn from the communication around the repair.
  9. The landlord promised to have a surveyor attend, discuss the repairs, and issue works to the contractor with a commitment to monitor this. It was appropriate for the landlord to recognise its failings and offer compensation, but it was not clear on the next steps. It did not give the resident specific timescales for when it would attend and assess, which would have reassured the resident the guttering would be resolved.
  10. The landlord offered an additional £250 which included £75 for further time, trouble and inconvenience caused, £75 for the delay in escalating the complaint to stage 2 and £100 for the poor communication and inaccurate recording keeping. After considering the impact of the landlord’s failure to repair the guttering, the Ombudsman is satisfied the offer of compensation it made at stage 2 was fair and proportionate for the failings identified.
  11. However, there were further delays. The surveyor did not contact the resident until 2 months after the stage 2 response despite chases by the resident. The landlord did not complete the guttering repair until the end of March 2024. The resident then had to continue to chase for the damage to the external wall to be resolved, which was not completed until May 2024. This was 8 months after the resident’s initial report. The resident continued to experience delays which would have caused further frustration. This showed continued failure to follow the landlord’s own repair policy, and do what it said it would during the complaints process. The landlord failed to learn from its previous mishandling of the issue, and in doing so further weakened the landlord and resident relationship. Therefore, this Service has found maladministration in the landlords handling of the guttering repair and external wall damage.
  12. After being notified of the resident’s escalation to this Service the landlord reconsidered its failings 9 months after its stage 2 response in January 2024. It offered the resident a further £250 for the poor communication, and additional time and trouble chasing a resolution to the repair issue. Under its compensation policy the landlord says it follows the Ombudsman’s guidance on remedies as a guide to calculate compensation payable. Where the Ombudsman makes a maladministration determination, we would normally order a landlord to pay compensation between £100 to £600. As a total of £425 (£175 at stage 2 for the substantive issue and further offer of £250 in September 2024) was offered by the landlord, it would not be proportionate to make further awards of compensation. However, it does not prevent the maladministration determination because the landlord’s additional offer was only made after the matter became one this Service could consider.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s guttering repair and wall damage.

Orders and recommendations

  1. Within 4 weeks of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Apologise in writing for the failings identified in this report. The apology should be in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance on apologies, published on our website.
    2. Pay the resident £425 it offered, which is £175 offered at stage 2 and the further £250 offered in September 2024, if it has not done so already.
  2. It should provide evidence it has made the payment within 4 weeks of the date of this report.