Regenda Limited (202421753)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202421753

Regenda Limited

9 July 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
1. Works to a wet room at the resident’s property.
2. The resident’s concerns about the quality of works completed to the wet room.

Background

The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The resident has limited mobility and also has a low immune system, which the landlord is aware of.
On 11 October 2023, the landlord carried out an inspection of the resident’s wet room to identify which works were required.
On 29 November 2023, the landlord’s contractor attended the resident’s property and fitted a new shower screen. On the same day of the repair, the landlord’s contractor identified a lump on the bathroom floor and confirmed further works were required to re-level the floor.
On 27 February 2024, the resident submitted a complaint to the landlord. She explained the repair issue had been ongoing for several months and stated she had been travelling to her family and friends’ homes to use their bathing facilities due to the shower screen being faulty and water overflowing when she used the shower.
The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 4 March 2024. It apologised for the delay in completing the works to renew the shower screen and repair the wet room floor. The landlord also explained throughout the duration of the works, it offered to decant (temporary move) the resident. It offered the resident £1,000 compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by the works to her wet room.
On 24 June 2024, the resident contacted the landlord and asked to escalate her complaint to the next stage of the landlord’s complaints process. She explained she was unhappy with the quality of works completed to the wet room floor.
The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 18 July 2024. It acknowledged that there was a delay in raising a repair for the reported issue of the quality of the completed floor works, and it apologised that the works to resolve the issue with the flooring was still outstanding. The landlord offered the resident £3,900 compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by the quality of works to the wet room and the delays in completing the works. The £3,900 included:
1. £750 for the landlord’s delay in raising the repair.
2. £1,000 for the quality of work.
3. £150 for the cleaning of resident’s property after the completion of the works.
4. £500 for the condition of the resident’s property following the work at her home.
5. £1,500 for distress and inconvenience.
The landlord also confirmed it would cover the cost of a specialist clean for her sofa and carpet. Its compensation offer was in addition to the £1,000 the landlord offered in its stage 1 complaint response.
On 6 September 2024, the landlord’s contractor completed the works to resolve the reported issue with the quality of the wet room floor. The works included removing the wet room floor and installing new flooring. In addition, the local authority also arranged for the contractor to install a specialist toilet in the wet room.
On 5 December 2024, the resident submitted an additional complaint to the landlord. She explained she was unhappy with the landlord’s decision about the further issues she raised about the quality of works completed to the wet room floor.
The landlord provided its stage1 complaint response to the resident on 5 December 2024. It explained to carry out further works to the wet room floor, it would need to remove the toilet, so the resident would need to be decanted for the works. The landlord confirmed it planned to complete the works at the start of 2025. It also explained it would compensate the resident appropriately for the distress and inconvenience caused when it had completed the works.
On 12 December 2024, the resident contacted the landlord and requested her complaint to be escalated to the next stage of the landlord’s complaints process. She stated she had ongoing issues with repairs to the wet room and had long periods of time out of her property.
The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 13 January 2025. It explained it would complete the following works to resolve the issues:
1. Removal and reinstating of the specialist toilet to facilitate the shower tray installation.
2. Installation of a tray with the existing bi-folding shower doors and rails being utilised.
3. Replacement of the poly-safe flooring and re-screeding the wet room floor.
It confirmed it would move the resident into temporary accommodation whilst the works were carried out. In addition, it reconfirmed it would discuss an offer of financial compensation with the resident once the works had been completed.
The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and submitted a further complaint to the landlord. She stated she wanted the landlord to provide her with compensation based on rent for the period when the works were outstanding.
The landlord completed the works to resolve the further issues with the wet room floor on 21 March 2025.
On 29 April 2025, the landlord wrote to the resident and explained it was contacting her to offer her a compensation offer as it previously agreed during its complaint process to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays in the works. The landlord offered the resident £5,000 compensation, which included:
1. £750 for the issues the resident experienced during her stay in temporary accommodation.
2. £1,500 for distress and inconvenience.
3. £2,750 in consideration of the resident’s complex medical needs, vulnerabilities, and impact.
The landlord apologised for the disruption, distress, and inconvenience she had experienced.

Assessment and findings

Scope of Investigation

The resident has mentioned as part of her complaint that the ongoing works to the wet room caused her stress and resulted in her collapsing and attending hospital. We acknowledge this has been a very difficult time for the resident. However, it is outside the Ombudsman’s role to determine whether there is a direct link between the landlord’s actions or inaction and any specific impact on the resident’s health. It would be more appropriately suited for a court or liability insurer to investigate this as a personal injury claim. Courts can award damages in a different way to the Ombudsman and review medical evidence. We can consider the distress and inconvenience caused by any errors by the landlord as well as the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about her health.

Policies and Procedures

The landlord’s repairs policy states that the landlord is responsible for the internal structure of the building, including internal walls, floors, and ceilings. The policy also explains that the landlord is responsible for repairing bathroom sanitaryware.
In addition, the landlord’s repairs policy includes the following response timescales for the following repair categories:
1. Emergency repairs – the landlord will respond within 4 hours.
2. Non-emergency repairs – the landlord will arrange an appointment based on availability and within 60 days.
The landlord’s decant policy explains a temporary decant might be appropriate where works are required to a property, which means that the resident cannot live there. It explains its asset management team will make this decision, based on the type of work required and the family circumstances.
In addition, the decant policy explains that the landlord will provide a hotel or bed–and–breakfast accommodation for short–term decants, which is usually less than 2 weeks. It also states as an alternative to the landlord supporting, arranging, and directly paying for a move, a resident can choose a one-off payment, to cover all disturbance costs. However, it states in these circumstances, residents would need to make all their own arrangements for moving, including any costs associated with returning to the property. It explained the one-off payment would normally be £1,500, but consideration would be on a case-by-case basis.

Works to a wet room at the resident’s property.

In October 2023, the landlord’s contractor inspected the resident’s wet room to identify which works were required due to the resident experiencing issues with the wet room. The contractor identified the shower screen required replacing and shortly after completed the works to replace the shower screen on 29 November 2023. The landlord took appropriate steps by carrying out an inspection of the wet room and completing the necessary works to the shower screen.
After the shower screen was replaced, the landlord’s contractor identified a lump on the wet room floor and confirmed that works was required to re-level the floor. In order to re-level the floor, the landlord’s contractor needed to remove the toilet and shower, which resulted in the resident not having access to a toilet or bathing facilities whilst the works were carried out. The landlord acted appropriately by offering the decant to the resident whilst it completed the works. However, the resident decided to use her family member’s facilities. The works to the wet room were completed on 7 February and 8 February 2024. There was a slight delay in the landlord completing the works. However, we recognise the landlord would have required a specific contractor to complete the works to the wet room.
Shortly after the works to the wet room floor were completed, the landlord paid the resident a £500 one off decant allowance payment, which was in line with the landlord’s decant policy. In addition, after the completion of the works, it identified a gap between the re-fitted shower screen and the floor which resulted in water escaping from the bathing area. The landlord responded appropriately to the identified repair issue and carried out the necessary repairs to resolve the issue at the end of February 2024.
The landlord apologised in its stage 1 complaint response for its delay in completing the works to the resident’s wet room. It also offered the resident £1,000 compensation, which was sufficient to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays up until this point.
Following the stage 1 complaint response, the resident contacted the landlord on 26 March 2024 and reported an issue that the newly fitted flooring in the wet room was starting to peel. The landlord responded appropriately by confirming it would arrange its contractor to inspect the issue with the wet room flooring. However, there was a delay in the landlord’s contractor carrying out the inspection, which was not completed until 10 May 2024. The delay by the landlord was unreasonable.
The landlord agreed to complete the works to the wet room in June 2024 and agreed to use a different contractor to complete the works, as per the resident’s request. It also offered to decant the resident to a hotel whilst the works were carried out. However, the resident declined and confirmed she would make her own arrangements. The Ombudsman is not questioning the resident’s reasons for making her own arrangements, but it was appropriate for the landlord to offer a hotel, and it was not obliged to pay additional compensation further to the decant allowance because the resident declined this offer. The landlord paid the resident a further £500 decant allowance payment on 14 June 2024 due to her making her own decant arrangements. This was in line with the landlord’s decant policy. The works to the wet room floor were completed between 18 June and 20 June 2024.
Following the completion of the works to the wet room floor, during the post inspection of the works in June 2024, the resident raised concerns about minor bubbling to the floor and the condition her property was left in after the works, including general cleanliness. The landlord took reasonable steps to resolve the resident’s concerns and confirmed it would resolve the snagging issues and cover costs for the resident’s property to be cleaned. However, during this time, the local authority agreed to replace the resident’s specialist toilet. Therefore, due to this, the landlord confirmed it would carry out the works to resolve the snagging issues during the installation of a new specialist toilet by the local authority’s contractor. It was reasonable for the landlord to do this to prevent duplicate repairs to the flooring. Also, we recognise any delays relating to the ordering of the specialist toilet and installation would have been outside the landlord’s control as it was not responsible for this, it was arranged by the local authority.
It is positive that the landlord apologised for the delay in resolving the snagging issues to the wet room and for the condition the resident’s property was left in. It also offered the resident £3,900 compensation, which included £150 for the cleaning of the resident’s property. The compensation offered was in addition to the £1,000 the landlord offered in its stage 1 complaint response. Therefore, the total compensation the landlord offered during its complaints process was £4,900. We have reviewed the landlord’s compensation offer against the Ombudsman’s approach to compensation set out in our remedies guidance (published on our website). The remedies guidance suggests awards of £1,000 or more where there have been serious failings by the landlord, which had a significant long-term impact on the resident. The compensation offered was more than reasonable and more than the Ombudsman would have awarded in this instance.
The landlord decanted the resident to a hotel for 3 nights from 3 September 2024, so it could complete the snagging issues on the flooring. Also, prior to the decant, the landlord paid the resident a £500 decant allowance. The works to flooring were completed on 6 September 2024, at the same time the local authority installed the new specialist toilet. The landlord acted appropriately by completing the necessary works to resolve the issues with the wet room floor and decanting the resident during the works.
Overall, the landlord took the appropriate steps to eventually complete the necessary works to the wet room floor. In addition, it apologised and offered the resident £4,900 compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays and the issues with the wet room floor. The compensation proportionately reflects the impact of the delay and inconvenience on the resident, and it amounts to reasonable redress for this aspect of the complaint about works to a wet room at the resident’s property.

The resident’s concerns about the quality of works completed to the wet room.

In October 2024, the resident raised concerns about repair issues with the sections of the wet room floor following the works completed in September 2024. The landlord responded appropriately and booked an appointment for 1 November 2024 to inspect the repair issues. It also confirmed with the resident whether she could still use the bathing facilities in the meantime, and she confirmed she could.
Following the inspection, the landlord’s contractor recommended the following works:
1. Removal and reinstating of the specialist toilet to facilitate the shower tray installation.
2. Installation of a tray with the existing bi-folding shower doors and rails being utilised.
3. Replacement of the poly-safe flooring and re-screeding the wet room floor
In November 2024, the landlord stated due to the resident requesting to be decanted during the completion of the works, it would complete the works at the start of the year 2025. It was reasonable for the landlord to carry out the works in the new year as the resident still had full access and use of bathing facilities whilst the repairs were still outstanding, and it needed to organise the decant.
The landlord confirmed in its stage 1 and 2 complaints response that its director would inspect the works once following their completion. In addition, it apologised that it had to carry out further works to the resident’s property. The landlord also confirmed it would consider compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused after the completion of the works. The landlord’s response was reasonable, and it acted appropriately by confirming it would consider compensation after the completion of the works.
The works to the wet room floor started on 17 March 2025. The landlord’s contractor replaced the wet room floor instead of installing a tray, as this was not possible. The works were completed on 21 March 2025 and whilst the works were carried out, the landlord decanted the resident to a hotel along with her carer and paid them a decant allowance. The landlord took appropriate steps by carrying out the required works to resolve the issues with the resident’s wet room.
Following the completion of the works, the landlord wrote to the resident and apologised for the distress and inconvenience caused by the further works and also offered the resident £5,000 compensation. The Ombudsman recognises the offer made by the landlord in April 2025 was after the resident had exhausted the landlord’s complaints process. However, the landlord had previously agreed during its complaints process to calculate and offer a compensation amount after the completion of the works. The landlord offered a considerable amount of compensation, and more than the Ombudsman would have awarded in this case.
We recognise the resident requested the landlord to provide her with a rent refund for the period the works to the wet room were outstanding. We acknowledge the repairs to the wet room would cause distress and inconvenience to the resident. However, the landlord offered the resident a decant each time when the works to the wet room would restrict bathing or toilet facilities. Normally, a resident would still be required to pay rent when they have been decanted whilst repairs are completed, as they have the use of an alternative property during the repairs. Although landlords should usually pay a disturbance allowance to recognise the disruption of residents not having use of their home during a decant. In addition, the landlord paid the resident a decant allowance when applicable and also offered the resident a considerable amount of compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused when the works were outstanding. Therefore, we would not ask the landlord to refund the resident the rent she paid during the period the wet room works were outstanding.
The compensation offered to the resident is compliant with the Ombudsman’s Remedies Guidance referenced above. The compensation proportionately reflects the impact of the delay and distress and inconvenience on the resident, and it amounts to reasonable redress in this case.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 53 (b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress prior to investigation, which in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the concerns about works to a wet room at the resident’s property.
In accordance with paragraph 53 (b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress prior to investigation, which in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the concerns about the quality of works completed to the wet room.

Recommendations

We recommend the landlord pay the resident its original offer of £9,900 compensation offered during its complaint process if it has not already done so. The Ombudsman’s finding of reasonable redress for the complaint is based on the understanding that this compensation will be paid.