Thames Valley Housing Association Limited (202119209)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202119209

Thames Valley Housing Association Limited

22 July 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 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:
  1. The landlord’s handling of renewal works to the resident’s bathroom.
  2. The landlord’s complaint handling and record keeping.

Background

  1. The resident is tenant of the landlord of a flat.
  2. The landlord started a scheduled renewal of the resident’s bathroom on 5 August 2020. He reported that he was advised by it that the work would take between seven to ten days to complete. The landlord’s records showed that the work was initially pushed back due to Covid-19, however, and that this recommenced on 16 November 2020. It also stated that a number of unsuccessful attempts were made to access the resident’s property before and after this, but that its contractor had not kept records of them. The work was then completed on 20 November 2020.
  3. The resident nevertheless made a stage one complaint to the landlord on 15 December 2020, as he was dissatisfied with the standard of the bathroom renewal work. He also wanted compensation for stress and anxiety caused by delays to this. The resident said that he had to take two weeks off work and bathe or shower elsewhere, had no access to his toilet for one night, no bath plug for five to six weeks, a boiler that was making noises, holes behind his toilet and under his sink, a cracked window vent, and an unsecured wire. He therefore did not want the same contractor to attend his property again due to the standard of work. On 19 December 2020, the landlord requested that the contractor be chased up and acknowledged that the work was not up to standard.
  4. The landlord recorded that it contacted the resident and its contractor from 15 January 2021 to seek to arrange for his bathroom renewal works to be made good, updating him on its progress on 16 and 29 January and 21 February 2021, and noting that the contractor had reported booking an appointment with him for this for 23 February 2021. It also issued its stage one complaint response to him on 22 February 2021, apologising for the delayed response and any inconvenience caused.
  5. The landlord acknowledged that there had been significant repair delays and poor service from its contactors. It additionally reassured the resident that any lessons learnt from were being acted upon by it. The landlord therefore upheld his complaint and awarded him £300 total compensation, which was broken down into £150 for service delays and £150 for his time and trouble.
  6. The resident responded on 22 February 2021, however, to explain that he was not happy with the landlord’s compensation offer for its handling of the bathroom renewal works, as he had had to take three weeks off work for this by that time and his rate was £135 a day. It subsequently advised him on 23 February 2021 that the reimbursement of his lost income would have to be claimed through its insurers, for which it provided him with their details.
  7. The resident then advised the landlord on 27 April 2021 that there were still issues outstanding from its contractor’s ongoing works to his bathroom, as the switch to move between the shower and the bath taps was not working correctly. He emailed it again on 12 July 2021 to express his dissatisfaction that work had started nine months earlier and had still not been completed. In response to the email from the resident, the landlord escalated his complaint regarding its handling of the bathroom renewal works to the final stage of its complaints procedure on the same date.
  8. The landlord issued its final stage complaint response to the resident on 19 August 2021. It confirmed that it had carried out a further inspection of his bathroom on 3 August 2021, which had identified some outstanding works to the toilet, bath cover and panel and door trim, and it confirmed that its contractor would be scheduling the works with him directly. Following the inspection, the landlord’s contractor had also noticed that there had previously been leaks through the resident’s bathroom ceiling, which had affected the walls and ceilings. Its contractors had therefore attended the resident’s property and repaired the leak, and they had arranged for the affected areas to be redecorated.
  9. As a consequence, the landlord again upheld the resident’s complaint. It additionally increased its total compensation for its handling of the bathroom renewal works from £300 to £450 compensation. This comprised of £225 for its service failure, and £225 for his time and trouble. Subsequently, the resident contacted this Service and said that he was dissatisfied with the landlord’s handling of his bathroom renewal works and wanted these to be completed.
  10. The landlord then contacted this Service on 29 April 2022, and it advised us that it had noted that the delay in its stage one complaint response was due to the resident sending his correspondence to a different team. It noted that it felt appropriate to award him another £50 compensation for its poor complaint handling, in relation to delays in its stage one and final stage complaint responses.
  11. The landlord subsequently told this Service that its contractor had attended the resident’s property on 25 May 2022 to survey outstanding issues, but that they were unable to gain access. It stated that it then contacted him to ask him to reschedule the appointment, but that he had not yet done so, with it unsuccessfully attempt to both call and visit him on 27 May 2022 to arrange this.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of renewal works to the resident’s bathroom

  1. The landlord’s initial work to renew the resident’s bathroom started on 5 August 2020 and was completed on 20 November 2020, which he reported should have taken seven to ten days to complete. It advised that part of this delay was from difficulties that the contractor had in arranging appointments and inspections with him, while part of the delay was due to lockdowns resulting from Covid-19. As of the date of this investigation, however, the completion of the landlord’s subsequent follow-on works to make good the resident’s bathroom is still outstanding, although it has reported that it has made several unsuccessful attempts to contact him to arrange this.
  2. Considering the lockdowns that were in place due to Covid-19, and that the landlord and its contractor attempted to contact the resident to complete his bathroom renewal on 25 and 27 May 2022, much of the delay in completing this was understandable. It was nevertheless reasonable that the landlord offered him a total of £450 compensation for the time and trouble incurred by him as a result of this, and for its service failure, at the rate of £225 each. This is because this amount of compensation was in line with its tariff of discretionary compensation payments, which recommends up to £350 compensation for high failure of service and time and trouble each.
  3. The length of the delay that the resident experienced in the completion of the renewal of his bathroom from 5 August 2020 to the present meant that he was eligible for the landlord to consider compensating him for high failure and time and trouble under its tariff of discretionary compensation payments. It was appropriate, however, that it did not award him the maximum level of compensation available under this, as it was not responsible for all of the delay and it acted to try to reduce the length and impact on him of this.
  4. This is because the landlord contacted the resident on 15, 16 and 29 January and 21 February 2021 to discuss his case and keep him updated. During this period, it also chased its contractor to survey the outstanding bathroom renewal works on 23 February 2021. This shows the landlord’s intent to keep the resident informed of the progress of works and to complete these at that time. It additionally acted suitably by referring his claim for damages for taking three weeks off work for the renewal works to its insurers on 23 February 2021, as payments for taking leave from work were unavailable under its tariff of discretionary compensation payments.
  5. Once the resident confirmed on 27 April and 12 July 2021 that work to complete the renewal of his bathroom was still outstanding, the landlord took appropriate action by arranging for the work to continue, as well as by arranging its contractor’s inspection, water leak repairs and redecoration there from 3 August 2021. While he was dissatisfied with the standard of work of its contractors and wanted them to be replaced, it was unable to do so but it nevertheless apologised to him, increased his total compensation from £300 to £450, chased the contractors and updated him. This showed the landlord’s desire to resolve the situation for the resident, which was appropriate, and so it has been recommended below to re-offer him the compensation that it awarded to him, if he has not been paid this already.

The landlord’s complaint handling and record keeping

  1. The resident made a stage one complaint to the landlord on 15 December 2020, and it responded on 22 February 2021, which was 36 working days later than the ten working days in its complaints policy. There is also no evidence that it informed him of any delays in its response, nor was a new response time agreed with him, as required by the complaints policy. The landlord subsequently advised that there had been a delay because the compliant had been sent to a different team.
  2. The resident’s complaint was escalated to the final stage of the landlord’s complaint procedure on 12 July 2021, and it responded on 19 August 2021, which was eight working days later than the 20 working days stated in its complaints policy. There was again no evidence that he was advised to expect a delay in its response, nor was a new response time agreed with him, as required by the complaints policy.
  3. However, neither of the landlord’s complaint handling delays affected the outcome of the resident’s complaint and, at both stages of its complaints procedure, his complaint was upheld. It also sought to remedy the situation by apologising to him for its stage one complaint response delay, and by informing this Service that it would offer £50 compensation to him in recognition of its poor complaint handling and complaint response delays. This was reasonable because the landlord’s tariff of discretionary compensation payments recommended that it award up to £150 for poor complaint handling. Therefore, its offer was proportionate to recognise the resident’s delayed complaint responses, which it has been recommended to re-offer to him below, if he has not been paid this already, as well as to review its staff’s relevant training needs.
  4. It is nevertheless of concern that the landlord’s limited record keeping, and that of its contractor, meant that it informed this Service that the contractor had not kept records of a number of unsuccessful attempts to access the resident’s property before and after 5 August to 16 November 2020. Since it partly justified the delay in completing his bathroom renewal works with its contractors being unable to gain access to his property, it should have kept evidence to support this. The landlord has therefore been recommended below to review its and its contractors’ record keeping processes for repairs and works attendances and communications with residents to ensure that records of all of these are kept in every case.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 55(b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has offered redress to the resident prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint about its handling of renewal works to his bathroom satisfactorily.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 55(b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has offered redress to the resident prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint about its complaint handling and record keeping satisfactorily.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord:
    1. Re-offer the £500 total compensation that it previously awarded to the resident in relation to its handling of renewal works to his bathroom and its complaint handling, if this has not been paid to him already.
    2. Review its staff’s training needs in relation to their application of its complaints policy.
    3. Review its and its contractors’ record keeping processes for repairs and works attendances and communications with residents to ensure that records of all of these are kept in every case.