Westminster City Council (202126442)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202126442

Westminster City Council

6 September 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 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 repairs following a water leak into the resident’s property.

Background

  1. The resident is a leaseholder of the property which is a flat within a communal building. The landlord is the freeholder of the building.
  2. On 12 July 2021, following heavy rain, the resident reported a leak into her property from a neighbour’s flat above. The landlord’s contractor attended the flat above, the same night, but assessed that further work was needed to access under the neighbour’s flooring to find the blockage. As there was no current asbestos report for the neighbour’s flat, on 15 July 2021 the landlord raised a job for an asbestos inspection, which was performed the following day. The landlord received the results on 29 July 2021 and advised its contractor that day that it could proceed with the work to access the flooring. However, it was only when the resident chased up the landlord on 9 August 2021 that the contractor reviewed the results of the asbestos test. The landlord raised the work again as an immediate priority but the contractor did not pass the job to its drainage subcontractor until 18 August 2021.
  3. The drainage subcontractor attended the neighbour’s flat on 18 August 2021 but the operative was not able to clear the blockage. On 26 August 2021 the subcontractor entered the sub croft of the building but told the landlord it needed access to the resident’s flat to access the communal pipework. The landlord supplied the subcontractor with the resident’s number but they did not call her until 7 September 2021 when they booked the appointment for 15 September 2021.
  4. The resident raised a complaint about the delay in completing the repairs. In its stage one response to the complaint on 16 September 2021, the landlord explained that the delay whilst awaiting the results of the asbestos test was due to following Asbestos Awareness Guidelines. However, it apologised for the delays from the 29 July 2021 (once the asbestos report was back) and for not keeping the resident updated. It awarded compensation totalling £90, for the delays and for the distress and inconvenience this caused. It said its surveyor would inspect the damage caused by the leak, once it had been resolved, to determine what it would rectify.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint on 27 September 2021 as she had not been given an estimated completion date for repairs. The landlord had also cancelled a recent appointment without telling her, or arranging another appointment. She said the landlord and its contractor were giving her conflicting information and the compensation offered had not acknowledged how she had repeatedly chased the landlord for a resolution. She said the stress of the situation was impacting on her health, as she was living in a flood damaged home, and could not rectify the damage until she was able to confirm to her insurer, that the landlord had completed the necessary repairs to the source of the leak.
  6. In its stage two complaint response on 21 October 2021, the landlord apologised for the delays and miscommunication. It said the appointment was incorrectly cancelled and that it had reminded its employees to make appropriate checks before cancelling appointments. It said as it was still unable to find the source of the leak following a visit to the resident’s property in October 2021, it had been trying to contact her neighbour to arrange a CCTV survey for 5 November 2021. It increased its compensation award to £310, which included £70 for the delays and £70 for the stress and inconvenience from 15 September to 5 November 2021, £50 for the lack of communication and £30 for time and trouble.
  7. The resident contacted this Service on 2 March 2022, as she said the landlord had still not completed its repairs or found the source of the leak. She said the affected room in her property was now damp and smelled, as there was mould in the boxing, pipework and flooring and she was concerned that this could affect her health. She said ideally, she would like the pipework to be permanently relocated from her flat as there had been repeated issues with leaks spanning over 25 years. The landlord has since advised the resident on 23 May 2022, that it had completed its repairs and that she could proceed with her insurance claim for the damage to the interior of her property.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident has advised this Service that there have been recurring problems with leaks at the property over the last 25 years. Under paragraph 39(e) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the Ombudsman will 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. Therefore, whilst the historical incidents may provide contextual background to the current complaint, this assessment focuses on the landlord’s actions in responding to the more recent events and, specifically, to the formal complaint made in September 2021.
  2. The resident has told this Service that her health may have been impacted by the delays in completing repairs. The Ombudsman does not doubt the resident’s comments about her health but we cannot draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. This is because we cannot establish whether there was a direct link between the landlord’s actions and/or inaction and the resident’s health. This would be more appropriately dealt with as a personal injury claim through the courts or the landlord’s liability insurer. This is an accordance with paragraph 39(i) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme which says the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which concern matters where the Ombudsman considers it quicker, fairer, more reasonable or more effective to seek a remedy through the courts, a designated person, other tribunal or procedure. However, consideration has been given to the distress and inconvenience the resident experienced as a result of any failings by the landlord.

Assessment

  1. When the resident reported the leak into her property on 12 July 2021, the landlord responded appropriately by sending its contractor out the same day to the flat above the resident, in an attempt to resolve the leak. When the landlord was advised by its contractor that further work was needed under the flooring of the flat above, and that there was no current asbestos certificate for the property, it was reasonable and in line with Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, that the landlord delayed the work until it received the results from the asbestos test. Although it is acknowledged that this delay would have been inconvenient for the resident as her property had been affected by the leak and could not be repaired until the leak itself was fixed.
  2. Once the landlord received the asbestos results on 29 July 2021 it acted appropriately by advising its contractor of the results and asking it to proceed with the work. However, there were further delays following this, and a cancelled appointment which the landlord has appropriately acknowledged and apologised for in its complaint responses. The landlord also took reasonable steps to acknowledge and apologise for its communication failings, which resulted in the resident having to chase up updates from the landlord and being given different responses from different employees. The landlord tried to improve its communication by providing the resident with the repairs surveyor’s email address so that she had one point of contact for updates on the repairs.
  3. Following the landlord’s stage two complaint response in October 2021 it would have been appropriate for the landlord to have resolved the leak and completed its repairs as soon as possible so that the resident was able to make her insurance claim to rectify the damage caused to her property. However, it is noted that the landlord did not confirm to the resident that it had resolved the leak and completed its repairs until 23 May 2022. It can sometimes take more than one attempt to resolve leaks, as it can difficult to identify the cause of issue at the outset and in some case different repairs may need to be attempted before the matter is resolved. However, the ten months (from July 2021 to May 2022) that the resident had to wait for the landlord to confirm it had resolved the leak and completed its remedial repairs was not reasonable by any standards. It is also noted that the impact of the delays on the resident would have included considerable stress and inconvenience as she was not able to rectify any of the damage caused by the leak through her insurer, until the landlord had confirmed that it had completed its repairs.
  4. This Service considers the compensation the landlord offered of £310 to be reasonable for the period of time that it covered from 29 July 2021 to 5 November 2021. However, as there was a further delay of 198 days from 6 November 2021 to 23 May 2022, when the landlord completed its repairs, the Ombudsman considers that a further compensation payment for the further delay and the stress and inconvenience caused by it, would be appropriate. In line with the landlord’s compensation policy, using the same formula that it used previously to compensate for delays and the stress and inconvenience they caused, this Service calculates that the landlord should pay additional compensation totalling £542.46, comprised of:
    1. Delay of 198 days from 6 November 2021 to 23 May 2022 = £271.23 (based on £500 per year pro rata)
    2. Stress and inconvenience of 198 days from 6 November 2021 to 23 May 2022 = £271.23 (based on £500 per year pro rata)
  5. The resident has advised this Service that the landlord’s delay in completing remedial repairs following the leak, has led to damp and mould in her property. It is not clear from the information provided whether the resident has raised this issue with the landlord or whether the landlord has responded through its complaints policy. As the issue of damp and mould was not raised during the landlord’s internal complaints process, this is not something that this Service can adjudicate on at this stage, as the landlord needs to be provided with the opportunity to investigate and respond to this issue. However, this Service will order the landlord to inspect the completed repairs to ascertain what further works, if any, should be undertaken. If, following the inspection, the resident is  not happy with the landlord’s actions she should be given the opportunity to make a separate formal complaint about this through the landlord’s complaints process.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of handling of remedial repairs following a water leak into the resident’s property.

Orders

  1. Within four weeks of the date of this letter the landlord is ordered to :
    1. Pay a further £542.46 compensation to the resident. This in addition to the compensation offered by the landlord previously through its complaints process which should also be paid now, if it has not already been paid.
    2. Contact the resident to arrange an inspection of the completed works to ascertain what further works, if any, should be undertaken.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord is recommended to consider the resident’s request that the pipework be relocated from underneath her flat to outside the property and to provide a written response outlining the reasons for its decision.