Hyde Housing Association Limited (202322059)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202322059

Hyde Housing Association Limited

5 June 2025

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 the balcony door repair.
2. The Ombudsman has also looked at the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

3. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord’s since 2012. She lives in a 1-bed flat in a low-rise block.
4. The resident raised a repair with the landlord on 30 June 2023. She said she was unable to close the balcony door at her property. On 4 July 2023 the resident complained to the landlord. She said she was unhappy the repair had not been completed.
5. The landlord replied at stage 1 of its internal complaints process on 12 July 2023. It offered her £100 compensation for the delay in completing the repair.
6. On 13 July 2023 the resident escalated her complaint. She said she was unhappy the repair had still not been completed.
7. The landlord replied at stage 2 of its internal complaints process on 31 August 2023. It confirmed a new repairs appointment with the resident. It reoffered the £100 compensation to the resident.
8. The resident remained unsatisfied and brought her complaint to us. She requested £4,000 compensation from the landlord. This was for the impact the draught from the balcony door had on her health and damage to her property. The resident also wished to be compensated for the increase in her energy bills during the time she waited for the repair. The landlord told us it completed the repair in December 2024.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

9. In the resident’s correspondence with the landlord, she said she had raised balcony door repairs since 2012. We encourage residents to raise complaints with their landlords in a timely manner. This is so the landlord has a reasonable opportunity to consider the issues while they are still ‘live’, and the evidence is available to reach an informed conclusion on what occurred. Our Scheme states we may not consider issues which were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint, within a reasonable period of the matters arising. As such, this report will deal with the landlord’s handling of issues from 30 June 2023. This was when the resident raised the need for a balcony door repair, and which then led to her making a formal complaint on 4 July 2023. Any reference to events before this time are for context only.
10. The resident has told us of the impact the draught from the balcony door has had on her health. Whilst we are an alternative to the courts, we are unable to establish legal liability. Or, whether a landlord’s actions or lack of action have had a detrimental impact on a resident’s health. Matters relating to personal injury or damage to health are likely better suited to consideration by a court or via a personal injury claim. However, we will consider any general distress and inconvenience caused where there has been a failing by the landlord. 

The landlord’s handling of the balcony door repair

11. The resident raised a repair with the landlord on 30 June 2023. She said she was unable to close the balcony door at her property. The landlord attended but did not complete the repair.
12. On 4 July 2023 the resident complained to the landlord. She said she was unhappy the repair had not been completed. The resident said the landlord had also cancelled a follow up repairs appointment.
13. The landlord’s repairs policy states it is responsible for external doors and frames at the resident’s property. The landlord’s repairs policy states it will attend a responsive repair within 20 working days.
14. The landlord replied at stage 1 of its internal complaints process on 13 July 2023. It said the following:
    1. It noted the resident had reported problems with her balcony doors “several times over the years”.
    2. It had no record of the follow up repairs appointment the resident said it had cancelled. A new repairs appointment for the balcony doors had been arranged for one weeks’ time.
    3. It offered £100 compensation to the resident broken down as:
       1. £50 for the distress and inconvenience caused.
       2. £50 for the repair delay.
15. The landlord’s compensation policy states no compensation will be offered for the first missed appointment. For any further missed appointments for the same repair £15 will be offered to the resident. It also states it can award the following for impact on a resident after failures by the landlord:
    1. £100 for a low impact.
    2. £250 for a medium impact.
    3. £500 for a major impact.
16. The landlord’s stage 1 response was 8 working days after the resident had raised the repair. A review of the response shows it offered her compensation that was in line with a low impact as per its complaints policy. This was reasonable as the consequence of its failing to this point was there had been a short delay to the repairs taking place.
17. On the same day the resident escalated her complaint. She said she was unhappy the repair had not been completed. The resident said there was rainwater coming into her flat due to the fault with the balcony doors.
18. The resident chased the landlord on 17 and 20 July 2023 about the repairs appointment it confirmed in the stage 1 response. She said it had not contacted her about the repair.
19. On 24 July 2023 the resident contacted the landlord again. She said it had not attended the repairs appointment or been in touch with her regarding the repair. The resident said the rainwater coming through the balcony door had damaged her furniture and flooring. The resident chased the repair with the landlord again on 1 August 2023.
20. The landlord replied at stage 2 of its internal complaints process on 31 August 2023. It said the following:
    1. A new repairs appointment for the repair had been raised for 31 August 2023.
    2. It reoffered the £100 compensation from the stage 1 response. The landlord did not uphold the resident’s complaint.
21. A review of the stage 2 response shows the resident had been waiting around a month longer than the timeframe stated in the repairs policy. The landlord failed to recognise the inconvenience caused from the repair delay, missed appointments and its lack of communication in its response it did not address her concerns that rainwater had damaged her belongings. It was unreasonable of the landlord not to recognise these failings. It did not consider whether its delay was contributing to the damage reported by the resident and investigate this further.
22. The landlord also failed to offer her further compensation for its missed repairs appointments as per its policy. It’s failure to follow its compensation policy was inappropriate.
23. The offer of £100 compensation could have amounted to a reasonable offer of redress if the landlord had conducted the repair within a reasonable amount of time and as per its commitments in its stage 2 response.
24. The landlord did not complete the repair at the appointment booked for 31 August 2023. It told us the repair to the balcony door was completed over 15 months later, in December 2024. It did not offer an explanation for the delay.
25. When a failure is identified, as in this case, our role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord 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. As well as our own guidance on remedies.
26. In summary the resident waited around 1 year, and 5 months longer than the timeframe stated in its repairs policy for the landlord to complete the repair. There was a lack of communication from the landlord which meant the resident had to chase the repair. It also failed to follow both its repairs and compensation policy.
27. The landlord’s offer of £100 compensation to the resident did not fully address the distress and inconvenience caused. The landlord failed to act on the information from the resident that her property was being damaged as a result of its failure to conduct the repair. It’s failure to follow its repairs policy and offer appropriate redress to put things right leads to a determination of maladministration. An order total of £1,000 compensation has been made below. This award of compensation has been calculated in accordance with our remedies guidance where there has been a significant impact on the resident. And they have been adversely affected by the landlord’s inability to acknowledge its failings. The landlord’s offer of compensation was not proportionate to the failings identified in our investigation.

The landlord’s complaint handling

28. The resident complained to the landlord on 4 July 2023. It replied 4 working days later on 12 July 2023. This was within the landlord’s complaints policy which states it will reply within 10 working days at stage 1.
29. On 13 July 2023 the resident escalated her complaint. The landlord responded around 35 working days later at stage 2 of its internal complaints process. This was around 15 working days more than the time stated in its complaints policy. In its stage 2 response the landlord did not recognise the delay.
30. The evidence shows the landlord took too long to reply at stage 2 and didn’t acknowledge this as part of its response. This leads to a determination of service failure for its complaint handling. An order for £50 compensation to reflect the inconvenience caused by the delay is set out below.

Determination

31. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the balcony door repair.
32. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders & Recommendations

Orders

33. Within 4 weeks of this report the landlord must:
    1. Provide the resident with a written apology from a senior manager for the failures outlined above.  
    2. Pay the resident the following compensation:
       1. £1,000 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of repairs to the balcony doors. It may deduct £100 previously offered to the resident if this has been paid to her.
       2. £50 for its complaint handling.
34. The compensation balance must be paid directly to the resident and not offset against a rent or service charge account.
35. The landlord is to provide evidence of compliance with the above orders to this Service.

Recommendation

36. The resident has not provided the details of the damage caused to her property. We recommend the landlord provide the details of its liability insurer to the resident should she wish to pursue a claim for the damage to her personal property, if she has not already recovered the loss through her home and contents insurer.