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ForHousing Limited (202111106)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202111106

ForHousing Limited

14 October 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 the resident’s concerns about the safety of her garden.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The resident has vulnerabilities – namely mobility issues and memory loss.
  2. The resident raised an unrelated complaint on 14 June 2021. This was regarding repair work to her bathroom fan, roofing and guttering and a manhole cover being wobbly in her garden. There was no mention of issues relating to her back garden being raised at this stage.
  3. The resident reported to the landlord that a contractor had visited her property to complete unrelated works. The date of this visit has not been provided to the Ombudsman.  The contractor informed the resident that the back garden had sunk by approximately two inches, which had caused cracks and damage to the wall of the property. The resident reported this to the landlord and stated she believed there was a structural issue to the property. Subsequently, her complaint was progressed to stage two of the landlord’s complains procedure.
  4. The landlord issued a stage two response to the complaint on 21 October 2021. The landlord stated that it had held a video call with the resident on 29 September 2021 to discuss the issues she was facing. The landlord stated that it had thoroughly investigated the resident’s claim that there was a structural issue with the building, and that it could find no such issue. The landlord apologised to the resident for having to chase repairs to the garden and for the confusion about whether or not the path would be replaced. It stated that an inspection was held on 14 October 2021 which concluded that repairs to the concreated area in the garden would need to be completed, and a concrete path to be renewed to the new elevation. The landlord informed the resident that it was within its rights to refuse the repair but, upon inspection, it agreed to complete these due to potential damage to the drainage system below. It also agreed to consider repairs to a concrete path at the side of the property, but explained that this would be decided upon at a later date.
  5. At the time of the resident referring this matter to the Ombudsman the repairs had not been completed. As a resolution to her complaint, the resident wanted the repairs to be completed fully, wanted to be informed of the progress of the repairs, and she remained concerned about potential structural issues to the property.

Assessment and findings

Policies and procedures

  1. The tenancy agreement states that the landlord is responsible for repairs to pathways, steps, ramps and handrails.
  2. The landlord’s website states that repairs costing up to £1000 should be completed within 27 calendar days. Repairs costing up to £6000 should be completed within 180 calendar days. It also states that if there are any delays to the repairs, it will keep the resident informed.

Scope of investigation

  1. This Service is aware that the resident complained about a number of issues regarding her bathroom fan, roofing and guttering. From the information provided, it appears these issues are now resolved and, therefore, we have limited our investigation to concerns about repairs to the garden.
  2. Also, there is no evidence that  the resident’s concerns about the bathroom fan, roofing issues and guttering repairs have exhausted the landlord’s internal complaint procedure. As these are separate issues to the complaint raised with the Service, 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 these issues before the Ombudsman becomes involved. The resident will need to contact the landlord and, if appropriate, raise or escalate a separate complaint if these issues are still outstanding and have not yet been resolved.

 

 

Assessment

  1. In accordance with the tenancy agreement, a resident would be responsible for the repair and maintenance of garden areas that are not pathways, steps, ramps or handrails. As such, the landlord’s advice on 21 October 2021, that it generally would not be responsible for such repairs, was in accordance with this obligation. However, due to a drain being underneath the property and the concern that the drain could be damaged, it agreed to complete the repair to the concreted area of the garden. It is in line with good practice that, if a landlord takes ownership of a repair, it should complete it within its repair policy timeframes.
  2. This Service has been informed that on 28 March 2021, the landlord renewed a concrete footpath, erected a small wall and renewed approximately six meters of fencing. This was completed 158 days from the date of which the landlord agreed to complete the repair. As above, the landlord’s repairs policy includes different timescales for repairs based on the estimated cost of the work. In this case, the landlord has completed the repair in line with its prescribed timescales for repairs up to £6000.
  3. It is good practice for a landlord to communicate with residents about the progress of repairs and when the work will be completed, on this occasion the landlord failed to communicate effectively with the resident regarding her repairs. The landlord did inform the resident when the rear-garden repairs would be completed however this was considerably after the landlord agreed to undertake the repairs. The lack of communication could be a contributing factor as to why the resident feels that she is being ‘lied to’ and had ‘lost trust’ with the landlord. Therefore, the landlord did not act in-line with good practice, as there was a breakdown in communication with the resident.
  4. The landlord should pay £100 compensation to the resident in recognition of the inconvenience caused by poor communication regarding the status of the garden repairs. This compensation is in line with the Ombudsman’s Remedies guidance (published on our website). The guidance suggests that the Ombudsman may award between £50 to £250 for cases where the Ombudsman has found service failure by the landlord, but the impact of the failure was short of duration and may not have significantly affected the overall outcome. Examples could include:
    1. Failure to meet service standards for actions and responses but where the failure had no significant impact
    2. Repeated failures to reply to letters or return phone calls.
  5. The resident spoke to this Service on 9 May 2022 to discuss the repairs that had been completed to her rear-garden. The resident stated that she is unhappy with the quality of the paving repairs and had been requesting for the landlord to inspect the work, but nobody had been in touch with her. It is unclear from the evidence provided how much communication the landlord has received regarding this request. However, the landlord should have responded to the resident and enquired about the concerns she has regarding the repair . The landlord should contact the resident to discuss the concerns and arrange an inspection to establish whether any further repairs are required. 
  6. In regard to the drainage system which the resident reported as being unsafe due to it being ‘wobbly’, the landlord would only be responsible for the drain if it only services the property. If the drain services multiple properties, it would be the responsibility of the waterboard in the local area. It is unclear if the drain only serves the property or if it serves multiple properties, therefore, this Service is unable to conclude whether landlord was responsible for maintaining the rain.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s concerns about the safety of her garden.

Orders

  1. The Ombudsman orders the landlord to:
    1. Pay the resident £100 compensation, for its failure in communication regarding the repair works to the rear-garden.
    2. Arrange for a surveyor to inspect the concrete area in the garden to see if any further repairs are required. If the inspection identifies that any repairs are required which fall under the landlord’s responsibilities, the landlord should arrange the repairs in line with the timescales given in its repairs policy.
  2. These actions should be completed within four weeks of the date of this decision.

Recommendations

  1. The Ombudsman recommends that the landlord:
    1. Enquires about the drainage system and if it is responsible for maintaining the drain. The landlord should inform the resident of who is responsible for the drain once this has been established.