The Guinness Partnership Limited (202318175)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202318175

The Guinness Partnership Limited

21 October 2024

 

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:
    1. The resident’s reports of trees blocking her window.
    2. The resident’s complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is the leaseholder of the property, which is a 1 bedroom flat within a block. The landlord is a housing association.
  2. The resident has reported the issue with overgrown trees touching her window to the landlord for over 2 years. She made the first report on 23 July 2021 of branches from the trees touching her windows. She continued to make multiple reports up until her stage 1 complaint in June 2023.
  3. The resident raised a stage 1 complaint on 28 June 2023. The landlord acknowledged the complaint the same day. She raised the following matters in her complaint:
    1. She stated that she was unable to open her window due to branches encroaching and pests sitting on her window sill. She said she had chased this up multiple times for nearly 2 years and kept being told the landlord was waiting for the contractor. She stated that the landlord had not returned her calls and emails. She wanted the trees cutting back.
    2. She stated there were damp and mould issues in the property due to her not being able to open the window.
    3. She wanted service charges paid over the last 2 years to be reimbursed as the trees had not been cut back.
  4. The landlord raised a purchase order on 4 July 2023 to cut back the trees.
  5. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 24 July 2023, in which it:
    1. Stated that she had contacted it numerous times since July 2021, and it had not been able to provide any satisfactory updates in this time.
    2. Agreed it had failed her due to not providing timely updates.
    3. Stated that contractors had not turned up as agreed during the week commencing 10 July 2023 to cut back the trees and apologised for this.
    4. Made further arrangements for the contractor to carry out the work on or before 30 July 2023. It agreed to contact her on 31 July 2023 to ensure the work had been completed.
    5. Apologised for the delay in responding to the complaint.
    6. Made an offer of £375 compensation, which it said was made up of £250 for time and trouble, £100 for poor communication and £25 for the delay in responding to the complaint.
    7. Gave advice on how to escalate the complaint if she remained dissatisfied.
  6. The landlord contacted the resident on 25 July 2023 to advise her it had been told by the contractor that the work had now been carried out. She told it that it had not been. She said that work had been carried out to cut trees back on a neighbouring block.
  7. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 1 August 2023 due to the issues being unresolved. The landlord called her back the same day and she stated she wanted the level of compensation reviewed, and the tree cut back as promised. It said it aimed to provide a full response within 20 working days.
  8. The landlord contacted the resident on 4 August 2023 to discuss the complaint. It noted the impact this situation was having on her and that it was “really getting her down.” It noted that she could just about open 1 window of 4 but then she needed to be vigilant for pests and pigeons. It said it would chase up the required work as soon as possible.
  9. The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 9 August 2023, in which it:
    1. Upheld the complaint from stage 1.
    2. Apologised for not being able to resolve the complaint at stage 1 and acknowledged the impact this has had on the resident.
    3. Stated she had to chase the issue numerous times herself and acknowledged this was not good enough.
    4. Acknowledged there were numerous occasions where it failed to return her phone calls and provide updates and provided wrong or conflicting information.
    5. Stated it only arranged for works to be completed after the resident had made a formal complaint.
    6. Stated that the lack of clarity it provided around the work to the trees caused her to have an “unreasonable level of involvement in progressing the case.”
    7. Stated it had failed to keep promises that work would go ahead on certain dates.
    8. Apologised again for the delay in responding to her stage 1 complaint.
    9. Offered a further £50 compensation for failing to do what it said it would following the stage 1 complaint response. This brought the total compensation offer to £425.
    10. Stated the trees were due to be cut back on 14 August 2023 and that it would contact her no later than 18 August 2023 to confirm the work had been completed.
  10. The resident contacted the landlord on 14 August 2023 to report she was not happy with the work carried out to the trees. She stated that not enough had been cut off the trees.

Events after the end of the landlord’s complaints process

  1. The resident continued to contact the landlord throughout August 2023 stating she was not happy with the level of work carried out. It said it would chase this up with the contractor and get back to her. In an internal email of 15 August 2023, the contractor confirmed it had cut the trees back to an acceptable level.
  2. The resident continued to chase the landlord for a response in September 2023. On 26 September 2023 it stated that it believed a “sufficient and satisfactory” reduction to the trees had taken place. It stated that it was required to take 2.5m away from the building under regulations. It apologised that this response was so delayed and advised her that the complaint was now closed. It stated that if she remained dissatisfied with the outcome, she could contact this Service.
  3. The landlord reviewed the resident’s complaint after she brought it to this Service. It sent her a letter on 9 May 2024, in which it:
    1. Stated it failed to address the impact the situation was having on the resident during its complaints process and apologised for this.
    2. Stated the compensation offered did not reflect the time, trouble and inconvenience caused.
    3. Acknowledged numerous occasions following completion of the work where it failed to keep her updated.
    4. Offered a further £450 compensation to reflect the failings mentioned. This was made up of £50 for poor communication and £400 for time, trouble and inconvenience. This amount was in addition to the £425 already offered during its complaints process.
    5. Stated it has set up a new training programme for staff dealing with complaints and provided new guidance on offering remedies that reflected the personal impact on the resident.
    6. Said it had reviewed its complaints policy and procedure in April 2024.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of trees blocking her window

  1. The resident pays a service charge to the landlord, part of which includes a charge for grounds maintenance. Paragraph 12 of its service charge policy states that the charges cover the maintenance of communal areas.
  2. The landlord’s estate and neighbourhood management policy sets out its approach to the management of communal areas, both internal and external. Paragraph 7 states it will keep estates and neighbourhoods well maintained. It will do this by inspecting its estates on a regular basis to check the quality of services it provides, and to identify any maintenance issues. It states it will provide this service reliably to all residents. Paragraph 12 states that the purpose of the estate inspections is to ensure standards have been met, and to identify and manage health and safety issues and other risks.
  3. Paragraph 27 of the landlord’s estate and neighbourhood management policy deals with the maintenance of trees. It states that it is responsible for the maintenance and pruning of trees in communal gardens it owns.
  4. The landlord has a tree procedure which involves the management of trees on land it owns or manages. It sets out the principles in relation to pruning trees on open spaces it owns. Paragraph 4.1 states it will take responsibility for all trees in communal areas and ensure that trees are maintained and in a safe condition. Paragraph 6.1 states that work is identified by routine estate management visits and that work will generally take the form of pruning. This work will ensure that trees are in a safe and healthy condition and address issues such as overhanging branches. It states it will not consider pruning trees back if the concerns reported are loss of light or because of squirrels gaining access from branches. Paragraph 6.7 states that it will not cut back branches that are overhanging a property unless they pose a “particular risk.” It lists the risks in paragraph 6.9, including dangerous tress and trees likely to cause damage to property.
  5. The landlord has customer service standards which it publishes on its website. It states that when a customer contacts it by telephone it will return the call within 2 working days. It states that it will respond within 5 working days to requests in writing, and 2 working days following the completion of an online form.
  6. Numerous failings were made by the landlord in respect of its tree procedure. The landlord carried out several site inspections between 6 October 2020 and 26 May 2022 which failed to identify an issue with trees. These inspections were an opportunity for it to address the matter and resolve the issue sooner. It informed the resident in August 2021 that it was not its policy to cut trees back that were not dead. This was a miscommunication of its procedure, namely paragraphs 4.1 and 6.1 which states it will ensure all trees in communal areas are well maintained, and that it will address issues such as overhanging branches.
  7. The resident first reported the issue with overgrown trees to the landlord on 23 July 2021. She stated the trees were touching her windows and needed pruning back. Although the landlord noted that it attempted to call her back twice and received no response, it is not clear exactly when these attempts were made. She called back on 3 August 2021 for an update. It was unreasonable that the landlord did not keep records as to when the call back attempts were made to demonstrate whether it was meeting its customer care standards. Therefore, this Service cannot confirm if its standards were met on this occasion, but this demonstrates a record keeping failing by the landlord.
  8. The landlord’s overall communication with the resident was poor. In October 2021 it said a site inspection was scheduled but did not state when this would take place. When the resident chased the matter, it told her the inspection would take place during the week of 22 November 2021. This inspection did not go ahead, and it did not update her. In early 2022 it advised her that it had no updates to give. In the middle of 2022, it advised her that it was still looking into the matter. In late 2022 it advised her that it was waiting for the contractor to say when the work would take place. It did not update her until May 2023 when it said it was still waiting for a quote from the contractor. It informed her on 7 July 2023 that the work would be completed the following week, however this did not go ahead. It told her on 19 July 2023 that the work would now take place the following week. This work however was again not completed when promised and work to cut back the trees was eventually carried out on 15 August 2023. The landlord acted unreasonably by repeatedly failing to respond to the resident’s update requests or to complete actions that it had promised.
  9. There were multiple failures over an extended period by the landlord in respect of complying to its customer service standards. It failed to respond within 2 working days to numerous communications from the resident about the trees. This happened from 3 September 2021 and continued as late as 19 July 2023, with multiple examples in between. This caused her to incur time and trouble to get this matter resolved.
  10. The landlord acknowledged numerous failings in its complaint responses. It acknowledged that the resident had to chase the issue numerous times, and it repeatedly failed to return her calls. The landlord stated that it had provided wrong or conflicting information and that it had failed to keep promises it had made. Its failings caused the resident to incur inconvenience, time, and trouble in pursuing the matter. Where a landlord has acknowledged failings, we will consider whether the redress offered by the landlord (compensation and an apology, agreement to cut back the trees) put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this, we take into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with the Ombudsman’s dispute resolution principles: be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
  11. The landlord acted fairly by acknowledging its failings and apologising. It made apologies in both stages of its complaints process for its failures and offered £400 compensation at stage 2. This amount however was not proportionate to the impact of the failings set out above over a considerable period of time. It was also not within the range of awards set out in our remedies guidance for situations, such as this where there was a failure which had a significant impact on the resident.
  12. Although the landlord carried out work to the trees the resident has informed us that she is unhappy with the work, and we have made an order that the landlord contact the resident concerning this.
  13. The landlord acknowledged in its stage 1 response that the resident had said she could not open the window because of the trees, and this was causing damp and mould in the property. However, it did not respond to this aspect of the complaint. We have addressed this further in the complaint handling assessment below. We have also made an order below that the landlord inspect the property for damp and mould.
  14. Within its complaint responses the landlord did not demonstrate that it had learnt from the outcome of the complaint. We note that when it made its revised compensation offer in May 2024 it set out various learning from the complaint and therefore, we have not made any orders concerning this.
  15. It is noted that 8 months after the landlord’s final response to the complaint it revisited the question of compensation and increased the level of compensation offered from £400 to £850. Whilst this is welcome, it is evidence of the landlord’s failings in adequately assessing the level of redress required and this is addressed further in the assessment of the landlord’s complaint handling below. Therefore, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of trees blocking her window.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint

  1. The landlord operates a 2 stage process. It will respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days unless it agrees an extension with the resident. It will respond to a stage 2 complaint within 20 working days unless it agrees an extension with the resident.
  2. The Housing Ombudsman Complaint Handling Code (the Code) in use at the time sets out how a landlord should respond to complaints. Under paragraph 5.1 a landlord should respond to a stage 1 complaint within 10 working days. If it needs a further 10 working days in exceptional circumstances, it must contact the resident to explain this. Any further delay beyond this must be agreed with the resident. It should escalate the complaint if asked to do so by the resident (paragraph 5.10) and should respond within 20 working days (paragraph 5.13).
  3. The landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 24 July 2023. This was 18 working days after the complaint was logged, 8 working days later than the 10 working day complaints process timescale. This was a falling under its complaints process and the Code in use at the time. The landlord did not fully address all aspects of the complaint such as the issue of damp and mould which was a failing under paragraph 5.6 of the Code.
  4. The landlord failed to adequately address the level of compensation required to resolve the complaint satisfactorily and only did so 8 months after the complaint had exhausted its internal complaints procedure.
  5. The landlord acknowledged its delay at stage 1 of the complaints process and offered £25 compensation. However, the landlord did not acknowledge its other complaint handling failings. Therefore, we have found service failure and made an order that the landlord pay the resident a further £50. This amount is in accordance with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance and reflects a minor failure in the service provided that the landlord did not appropriately acknowledge.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of trees blocking her window.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Pay to the resident compensation of £925 made up of:
      1. £875 previously offered by the landlord, if it has not already been paid.
      2. A further £50 for the time and trouble incurred by the resident as a result of its complaint handling failings. This amount should be paid direct to the resident and not used to offset any monies she may owe the landlord.
      3. Contact the resident to confirm whether she is currently experiencing any concerns as a result of the trees and if so, within a further 2 weeks to confirm to the resident and this Service what action it will be taking.
      4. Carry out an inspection of the property for damp and mould, and within 2 weeks of the inspection confirm to this Service and the resident what action it will be taking.
  2. Confirm compliance with these orders to this Service.