The Riverside Group Limited (202012317)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202012317

The Riverside Group Limited

29 March 2023

 

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 the landlord’s handling of the reinstatement of the resident’s flat number sign to its original location, and the level of compensation offered for this.

Background

  1. The resident is a leaseholder of the landlord, which is the freeholder of a building that is a converted, semi-detached house with two flats. The resident’s property is a first-floor flat and has its own entrance at the side of the building. The neighbour is a tenant of the landlord of the flat above the resident’s, with the entrance at the front of the building.
  2. The resident’s flat number sign was originally on the front of the building, with her flat number and an arrow pointing to the entrance of her property. The sign was previously removed when the landlord completed cyclical redecoration works to the building, which she reported as being approximately seven years ago. The landlord decided at the time not to reinstate the sign, instead placing signs on the front entrance gate to both flats and subsequently on a gatepost.
  3. A separate complaint was previously made by the resident about a 31 December 2019 leaking waste pipe damaging her property. As part of that complaint, she referred to inadequate signs to tell her and the neighbour’s properties apart, which resulted in the utility company going to the incorrect address for the leak.
  4. As part of the redress for the complaint, the landlord’s final stage complaint response of 12 February 2020 confirmed that it should have replaced the resident’s flat number sign once the previous cyclical works had been completed. Therefore, it confirmed that it would arrange for this to be put back to its original position on the front of the building, as well as awarding her £366.31 for her insurance excess, increased electricity costs, expenses, lost wages and distress relating to the leak.
  5. Between February and July 2020, the landlord’s operatives made three attempts at reinstating the resident’s flat number sign on 28 February, 16 March and 3 July 2020. These were unsuccessful due to the neighbour’s objection to where the sign was to be fitted on the front of their flat. In July 2020, the landlord’s internal correspondence discussed addressing this as a potential neighbour dispute, but there was no further contact recorded between the resident and it regarding the matter until this Service chased it at her request in March 2021.
  6. Following the landlord’s subsequent stage one complaint response to the resident in April 2021, which repeated the position in its previous response and apologised for unsuccessfully attempting to install her flat number sign, this was reinstated to its original position at the front of the building on 15 April 2021. This was because the legal advice sought about the neighbour’s objections to the sign had concluded that there were no grounds to object to this, as the landlord owned exterior of the building, including the front of the neighbour’s flat.
  7. The resident nevertheless made a final stage complaint to the landlord in April 2021 about the length of time that it had taken to reinstate her flat number sign to its original location at the front of the building. She requested £400 total compensation from it for this, at the rate of £100 for each of the four years that she had reported that she had spent trying to reinstate sign after it had agreed to install this.
  8. The landlord’s latest final stage complaint response of 20 April 2021 upheld the resident’s complaint for the delay in reinstating her flat number sign, due to the neighbour’s objection to the position of the sign, and it only attending emergency repairs for the majority of the previous 12 months because of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, while it apologised for the resident’s inconvenience and offered her £50 compensation for this, it did not consider that the absence of the sign for four years justified £400 compensation. The landlord added that it had bought and installed the sign on the neighbour’s flat as a gesture of goodwill, and not because it was obliged to, as well as that it had awarded the resident significant compensation in its previous final stage complaint response.
  9. The resident then complained to this Service, as she remained dissatisfied with the compensation amount offered to her by the landlord. She wanted the £400 compensation that she had previously requested from it because she said that she had been trying to get the sign reinstated for four years. The resident felt that the landlord’s offer did not adequately compensate her for the time and effort that she spent trying to resolve the matter, or her difficulties in receiving post and in people finding her property, and she disputed its position that it was not obliged to install the sign.

Assessment and findings

Scope of Investigation

  1. The resident has said that she had been without the flat number sign for approximately seven years, and that the landlord first agreed to reinstate the sign around four years ago. In accordance with the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, however, this Service may not consider complaints that were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period, which would normally be within six months of the matters arising. This is because of the difficulty in obtaining evidence to effectively investigate older issues due to the length of time that has passed since they arose. Therefore, the scope of this investigation is limited to the events in the resident’s case from 31 December 2019 onwards, which was when her complaint about the reinstatement of her flat number sign was first recorded.

Agreement, Policies and Procedures

  1. The resident’s lease obliges the landlord to make reasonable attempts to provide her with services including repairing, decorating, improving, maintaining and renewing the building and common parts there as often as it considered necessary, unless it was prevented from doing so by circumstances beyond its control. Its planned standard for planned maintenance and improvements requires it to attempt to gain access to properties for it to carry out planned works on a minimum of three visits of at least five working days apart. The landlord’s responsive repairs policy states that it aims to complete routine repairs within 28 days, or within 56 days only in extreme circumstances such as the Covid-19 pandemic.
  2. The landlord’s financial redress and compensation procedure states that compensation may be payable when it has failed to provide a service or meet its service standards, depending on the severity. It is recommended to offer compensation from £25 for issues causing minor inconvenience or distress, and compensation from £50 for issues causing inconvenience or distress that may also be repeat incidents.

The landlord’s handling of the reinstatement of the resident’s flat number sign to its original location, and the level of compensation offered for this

  1. While there is no stated obligation in the resident’s lease or the landlord’s responsive repairs policy for it to install or maintain signs to tell the two flats in the building apart, it was reasonable for her to request this from it. This is because the lease obliged it to make reasonable attempts to repair, decorate, improve, maintain and renew the building and common parts there as often as it considered necessary, unless it was prevented from doing so.
  2. Therefore, once the landlord agreed on 12 February 2020 to reinstate the resident’s flat number sign to its original position at the front of the building, it was responsible for completing this in a timely manner, as it had confirmed that it considered this necessary. This was unless there were circumstances beyond its control preventing it from doing so, in accordance with her lease. This would usually be expected to be within 28 days because this would have involved routine works, except where extreme circumstances such as the Covid-19 pandemic required it to do so within 56 days, as per its responsive repairs policy.
  3. In this case, the landlord agreed to reinstate the resident’s flat number sign to its original position on 12 February 2020, however this was not reinstated until 15 April 2021. This was approximately 12 months later than the maximum expected date of completion for such works within its responsive repairs policy’s 56-day extended timescale for extreme circumstances.
  4. Nevertheless, there were difficulties in completing the resident’s flat number sign reinstatement that were beyond the landlord’s control, as the neighbour in the flat above objected to the sign being reinstated at the front of the building on the exterior of their flat. Initially, it acted promptly to attend within 16 days on 28 February 2020 to fit the new sign, which was unsuccessful due to the neighbour’s objection. The landlord then re-attended on 16 March 2020, which was within 33 days and just prior to the first Covid-19 pandemic lockdown on 26 March 2020, but again the neighbour refused for the sign to be secured to the front of the building.
  5. The landlord also made a third attempt to reinstate the resident’s flat number sign on 3 July 2020, which was just after the end of the first lockdown for the Covid-19 pandemic on 23 June 2020, during which it was only able to attend emergency works. Therefore, it followed its planned standard for planned maintenance and improvements by attempting to carry out these works on three visits that were more than five working days apart.
  6. This also meant that the landlord acted appropriately, and in line with the resident’s lease and its responsive repairs policy, by attempting to complete the work to reinstate the resident’s flat number sign from February to July 2020. However, it was prevented from doing so during this period by extreme circumstances beyond its control. Although, the landlord was then expected to adapt accordingly and manage the resident’s expectations in order that a resolution could be found in a timely manner.
  7. While further lockdown measures due to the Covid-19 pandemic legally came into force from 5 November to 2 December 2020 and 6 January to 29 March 2021 with increased restrictions in the meantime, the landlord did not evidence that it contacted the resident about her flat number sign again until March 2021. This is despite the landlord identifying the matter as a neighbour dispute in its internal correspondence in July 2020, for which no further action was recorded by it.
  8. Instead, the resident had to prompt the landlord to respond to her about her flat number sign again, by seeking assistance from this Service to chase it in March 2021, for it to issue its stage one complaint response of 1 April 2021 and install the sign on 15 April 2021. While it was understandable that the situation was difficult to resolve initially, due to the circumstances with the neighbour as well as the Government restrictions, the onus was on the landlord to have continued its proactive approach in getting the matter resolved. As the landlord did not continue with its neighbour dispute resolution approach, keep the resident updated or look at alternative solutions such as legal advice sooner, it did not resolve the matter in a timely manner, which was a failing on its part.
  9. Moreover, there is no evidence that these difficulties prevented the landlord from using neighbour dispute resolution, keeping the resident updated or seeking legal advice to resolve her flat number sign at an earlier date. It was therefore appropriate that its stage one and final stage complaint responses of 1 and 20 April 2021 acknowledged and apologised to her for this delay, and that it attempted to resolve this by offering her £50 compensation in recognition of the delay and her inconvenience.
  10. When failings are identified, this Service’s role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord has put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily, being fair in all the circumstances of her case. This is in accordance with our dispute resolution principles to be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
  11. In this case, the landlord partly put matters right by reinstating the resident’s flat number sign on 15 April 2021, apologising, and offering her £50 compensation, which recognised minor inconvenience or distress.
  12. However, the length of the preventable delay that the resident experienced, and the lack of communication from the landlord about this, from July 2020 to March 2021, was more than minor and involved repeat incidents. This is in addition to the time and trouble spent by her in contacting this Service to prompt a resolution, which meant that its £50 compensation offer to her did not provide proportionate redress to satisfactorily resolve her complaint about this. The landlord’s financial redress and compensation procedure instead recommended that it award the resident a higher level of compensation than £50 for her more than minor distress and inconvenience from repeat incidents, to which its previous award of £366.31 for a leak was unrelated and should not have been cited by it to justify this.
  13. To put matters fully right for the resident, therefore, the landlord has been ordered below to pay her further compensation of £100, in addition to the £50 that it previously awarded her, if she has not received this already. This is in line with its financial redress and compensation procedure, and this Service’s remedies guidance, which recommends compensation from £100 where there was a failure that adversely affected her. This is also recommended when the landlord has acknowledged failings, but the offer of compensation was not proportionate to the failings identified.
  14. The above compensation award has additionally taken into account the fact that the landlord was also unable to reinstate the resident’s flat number sign earlier due to the effect of the neighbour and the Covid-19 pandemic, for which this has been reduced accordingly. It has additionally been ordered below to review its processes and its staff’s training needs in relation to outstanding long-term works to ensure that these are regularly checked, have updates issued for them and have solutions sought to them, in order to try and resolve these at the earliest opportunity. This is because the landlord has not demonstrated that it has fully learnt from the outcome of the resident’s case by taking steps to avoid its failings in the case from occurring again in the future.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of the reinstatement of the resident’s flat number sign to its original location, and the level of compensation offered for this.

Orders

  1. The landlord is ordered to:
    1. Pay the resident £150 compensation within four weeks in recognition of any distress and inconvenience that she experienced from its delay and lack of communication in reinstating her flat number sign, which includes the £50 that it previously awarded her, if she has not received this already.
    2. Review its processes in relation to outstanding long-term works to ensure that these are regularly checked, have updates issued for them and have solutions sought to them, in order to try and resolve these at the earliest opportunity.
    3. Review its staff’s training needs in relation to outstanding long-term works to ensure that these are regularly checked, have updates issued for them and have solutions sought to them, in order to try and resolve these at the earliest opportunity.
  2. The landlord shall contact this Service within four weeks to confirm that it has complied with the above orders.