Stonewater Limited (202400111)

Background

1. The resident lives in an apartment. The landlord is responsible for cleaning the communal areas within the building. To cover the cleaning costs, the resident pays rent which includes a fixed service charge. He complained that the landlord was not regularly cleaning the communal areas and asked it to refund the service charges for the missed visits.
2. The landlord issued its final complaint response in January 2024. It explained why the cleaners had not been and agreed to monitor their attendance. The landlord offered the resident compensation for its delayed response. The resident referred his case to us as the landlord did not address all his issues in its final complaint response. However, the landlord later realised and increased its compensation offer. It also refunded half of the service charges for the missed cleaning visits. The resident said he was satisfied with the communal cleaning in the 12 months after his complaint.

What the complaint is about

3. The complaint is about the landlord’s cleaning of communal parts and the associated service charges.

Our decision (determination)

4. The complaint was resolved with our intervention.

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

Summary of reasons

5. The landlord has provided evidence it paid the resident £475 compensation at the end of the complaints process and in its follow-up offer in September 2024. The landlord also provided evidence it refunded £41.57 in service charges for 4 missed cleaning visits.
6. We contacted the landlord and provided a summary of our understanding of events. This included comments on what the landlord could have done better and what it could do to resolve the resident’s complaint.
7. We found that the landlord missed 8 cleaning visits between March 2023 and September 2023 but only refunded the service charges for 4 missed visits. After our intervention, the landlord agreed to refund the charges for the remaining 4 visits and to apologise. It also agreed to explain to the resident how it monitors cleaning services. The resident said the landlord did not appear to record issues properly, as he had to repeat himself each time he contacted it. The landlord agreed to explain how it will improve its services to stop this happening. Both parties accepted this as a resolution to the complaint.
8. We are therefore satisfied that, following intervention, the landlord has agreed to take action to remedy the matter.
9. Subject to the landlord refunding the relevant service charges, apologising and explaining, we are satisfied the landlord will resolve the complaint satisfactorily.

Putting things right

Recommendations

The complaint has been resolved with intervention on the basis the landlord follows our recommendations.