Your Housing Group Limited (202304306)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202304306

Your Housing 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 repairs to the resident’s toilet.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The resident occupies a house with a downstairs toilet.
3. On 5 August 2022 the resident reported that her downstairs toilet was blocked. The landlord arranged a CCTV drain survey which was carried out in November 2022 and identified roots in the drains. A further drain survey was conducted in February 2023.
4. The resident raised a complaint on 10 June 2023 about the landlord’s handling of the toilet repairs. She stated that she had reported the issue several times but it had still not been resolved.
5. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 14 July 2023. The landlord apologised for its handling of the repairs and stated that a job had been raised for a drainage contractor to attend by 21 July 2023. The landlord offered the resident £350 compensation, which was made up as follows:
   1. £150 for inconvenience caused,
   2. £150 for the delay in completing the repair,
   3. £50 for lack of communication.
6. The resident escalated her complaint on 26 July 2023. She stated that she had waited nearly a year for the issue to be fixed and said that the situation had a massive impact on her disabilities. The resident stated that the compensation offered was not sufficient to remedy the health implications that she had endured as a result of the landlord’s handling of the repair.
7. The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 31 August 2023. It stated that its drainage contractor would attend the resident’s property and that any remedial works would be completed by 1 September 2023. The landlord offered the resident £1000 compensation, inclusive of the £350 offered at stage 1. This was made up as follows:
   1. £250 for the inconvenience caused,
   2. £250 for the delay in resolving the complaint,
   3. £250 for time and trouble incurred,
   4. £250 for the delay in completing the repair.
8. The resident referred her complaint to the Ombudsman in September 2023. In June 2024 the resident told the Ombudsman that the issues with the downstairs toilet remained ongoing and that this was affecting her physical and mental health. She stated that the landlord had already identified the cause of the problem and it was therefore unclear why the repair had not been undertaken. She stated that she had been confined to living upstairs so that she could access the toilet as her health issues made it difficult for her to go up and down the stairs.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

9. The Ombudsman is sorry to hear the issues you have experienced have impacted the resident’s health. The Service acknowledges that this is a difficult time.
10. However, it is outside the Ombudsman’s remit to establish whether there is a direct link between the landlord’s actions or inaction and the resident’s specific health conditions. Matters of liability for damage to health are better suited to a court or liability insurance process to determine. This is in line with paragraph 42f of the Scheme which says the Ombudsman may not consider matters where the Ombudsman considers it quicker, fairer, more reasonable, or more effective to seek a remedy through the courts, other tribunal or procedure.
11. The Ombudsman’s investigations primarily consider any distress and inconvenience residents have experienced as a result of any errors by the landlord as well as the landlord’s response to any concerns about the effect on resident’s health.

The landlord’s handling of repairs to the resident’s toilet.

12. The landlord’s repairs policy states that urgent repairs should be responded to within 5 working days, and are defined as those which would be detrimental to the property or customer if they were not attended urgently. The policy states that reactive repairs are repairs that pose no immediate risk and should be completed within 28 calendar days.
13. The evidence reflects that there were various delays in action being taken by the landlord to progress the repairs to the toilet. An operative attended the resident’s property on 16 August 2022 and plunged the toilet however, it was recommended that a drainage contractor was required to resolve the issue. A drainage contractor attended on 31 August 2022. Notes from this visit reflect that the contractor was unable to gain access to the resident’s property, and that the manhole was clear. The resident reported the issue again on 7 November 2022, and a drainage specialist attended on 21 November 2022.
14. Landlords should take a proactive approach to repairs and should not wait for residents to report issues again before it takes required action. The landlord did not ensure all reasonable action was taken following the 31 August 2022 visit when the contractor reported no access. There is no evidence to indicate that the landlord arranged a further repairs appointment so that the blockage could be removed from the drains, and it therefore did not act in line with the timeframes set out in its repairs policy. This indicates a failing by the landlord.
15. The notes of the 21 November 2022 drain inspection indicate that work was carried out and the operative noted that full flow was restored, but that the drain became restricted with the addition of toilet paper. There is no evidence to indicate what, if any, follow-on work was recommended.
16. A second drain survey was carried out approximately 3 months later, on 16 February 2022. This indicates a further unreasonable delay in resolving the issue. The landlord stated that it had requested a copy of the drainage contractor’s report on 22 and 23 February 2023. It is unclear whether the landlord obtained this report and there is no indication that the landlord took any action to repair the issue following this inspection. The landlord should have made further efforts to obtain the inspection report and undertaken the recommended repairs. The evidence indicates that no further action was taken until the resident requested updates on the repairs in April and May 2023, which was unreasonable.
17. Within the stage 1 response, the landlord stated that following the resident’s update request on 4 May 2023, it had raised a job for a drainage contractor to attend by 21 July 2023 to complete the required repairs. However, no evidence has been provided to indicate that a repairs appointment took place on or before 21 July 2023, which indicates a further failing by the landlord.
18. In the stage 2 response dated 31 August 2023, the landlord stated that contractors would attend on 24 August 2023 and that any follow-up remedial works would then be completed by 1 September 2023. It is unclear whether the stage 2 response was incorrectly dated.
19. Repairs notes have been provided which state that an appointment was attended on 24 August 2023 but the resident was not home. The notes say that the manhole was checked and was clear, but that access to the property was required so that attempts could be made to unblock the toilet. However, it is noted that the resident told the Ombudsman that she was at home on 24 August 2023 and no appointment was attended on this date. The repairs notes state that a further appointment was scheduled for 30 August 2023 for roots to be removed in the drains. However, no evidence has been provided to reflect that this appointment went ahead.
20. The evidence reflects that a repairs appointment took place on 15 November 2023. The notes from this visit state that although some roots had been removed from the drainage, there were still roots in the branch line that was serving the resident’s property’s waste facilities. The contractor recommended digging down to the pipework, carrying out a CCTV survey and removing any roots in the line. It said that once these works were completed, access should be installed on the line so that access could be gained if the drain blocks again in future. However, no evidence has been provided to reflect that this work has been carried out.
21. There were significant failings by the landlord to undertake repairs to the toilet, and the landlord did not adhere to the timeframes set out in its repairs policy. The landlord appropriately identified the delays within its complaint responses. However, the evidence indicates that the landlord did not complete all the necessary works by the date set out in its stage 2 response and the toilet has not yet been fixed. The landlord informed the Ombudsman that the only outstanding works were to install an access chamber. However, the evidence provided indicates that this is not the case and the landlord still needs to take action to remove roots from the drains. This represents a further failing by the landlord and a finding of maladministration has therefore been made.
22. Where there are failings by a landlord, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether suitable remedies have been offered in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: be fair, put things right, and learn from outcomes.
23. The resident experienced distress and inconvenience due to the significant delays in repairing the toilet. The resident has incurred substantial time and trouble in pursuing the landlord about the outstanding repairs. While it is noted that there was another toilet within the property and the resident therefore had access to bathroom facilities, it is clear that the resident was impacted due to difficulties using the stairs because of her health issues. The delays in repairing the issue indicate that the landlord did not properly take into consideration the resident’s reports about how the issue was affecting her mental and physical health.
24. The landlord made efforts to ‘put things right’ by offering the resident £1,000 compensation. The Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for financial redress states that compensation amounts of over £1,000 should be paid when there has been a significant failure which has had a seriously detrimental impact on the resident.
25. The amount offered by the landlord was in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance and indicates that the landlord took into account the impact on the resident when offering a remedy. However, the amount of compensation already offered does not take into account that the issue remains ongoing and the resident should be compensated accordingly for this. An order has therefore been made below for an additional £500 to be paid to the resident to remedy the further distress and inconvenience experienced by the resident due to these delays. An order has also been made for the landlord to undertake the drainage repairs.
26. The landlord should also ensure it learns from complaint outcomes. The evidence indicates that there have been several failings regarding the landlord’s handling of the required repairs. The landlord should therefore conduct a review of how it dealt with the repairs and establish whether measures should be put in place to ensure timely and efficient handling of such repairs.

Determination

27. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of its handling of repairs to the resident’s toilet.

Orders

28. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £1,500 compensation, made up as follows:
    1. £1,000 already offered by the landlord.
    2. £500 in recognition of the ongoing delays.
29. The landlord is ordered to carry out the required drainage repairs to fix the toilet. The landlord should ensure that all roots have been removed and that access to the drain is installed. The landlord should confirm to the Ombudsman when the repairs have been completed.
30. The landlord is ordered to conduct a review of its handling of the repairs and identify any measures that can be put in place to ensure such repairs are dealt with in a timely and efficient manner. The outcome of this review should be provided to the Ombudsman.
31. The landlord should comply with the above orders within 28 days of this report and provide evidence to the Ombudsman of compliance.