Camden Council (202125295)
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REPORT
COMPLAINT 202125295
Camden Council
2 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 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
Background
- The resident is a tenant of the landlord of a flat.
- The landlord’s records indicated that it previously agreed to renew the resident’s toilet seat in October 2019, as the toilet seat was a non-standard one that, together with the toilet, was adapted for disabilities that was difficult for her three children to use. A standard soft closer toilet seat was instead installed by it at that time, and she was provided by it with the model number for this, so that she could renew the seat herself in future.
- The resident then asked the landlord for her toilet seat to be replaced by it again in July 2021. An appointment was arranged for 15 July 2021, which was attended by it, however no work was carried out to replace the toilet seat. The resident was instead informed by the landlord in August 2021 that toilet seat replacements did not form part of its listed repairs service and that she would need to renew this herself, as toilet seats fell under residents’ responsibility to maintain.
- The resident therefore raised stage one and final stage complaints in August 2021, as she believed that the landlord “broke” an agreement to remove the disabled toilet or be willing to replace the toilet seat when this was needed. She advised it that she currently had a disabled toilet, but that no one in her family was disabled. The resident added that her three children had been struggling to use the toilet without a replacement seat. She also said that two replacement toilet seats had been ordered in October 2019, but that only one of these had been used so that there was one seat remaining that could be used at her property. As a result, the resident wanted the landlord to act in accordance with its previous agreement to use this to replace her toilet seat again.
- In response to the resident’s stage one and final stage complaints in August and November 2021, respectively, the landlord confirmed that its records from 2019 showed that she was told by it at the time that she would be responsible for replacing her toilet seat following its October 2019 replacement of this. It added that the toilet seat in place was currently fit for purpose and that changing this would be an improvement, which it was not obliged to undertake. The landlord apologised if the resident was given different information in 2019, but it confirmed that toilet seats fell under residents’ responsibility to maintain.
- The resident then referred her complaint to this Service, as she remained dissatisfied that the landlord “broke” the agreement that it had made with her regarding the replacement of her toilet seat in 2019. She said that it had agreed to replace the previous non-standard toilet seat twice using the two replacement seats that it had ordered her at that time, but that only one of the replacement seats had been installed to date. The resident maintained that she still had a disabled toilet, and that her children had been struggling to use this, so that she needed the toilet seat to be replaced by the landlord as soon as possible. Although it subsequently told us that this was a standard soft-close seat that she could cheaply replace herself.
Assessment and findings
The landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for her toilet seat to be replaced by it
- The landlord’s tenants’ guide and website confirm that residents are responsible for replacing toilet seats, as well as stating that it can refer them to a handyperson service for small repairs that they would otherwise struggle to do on their own.
- The landlord’s records showed that it agreed to replace the resident’s toilet seat in October 2019 as a goodwill gesture because this was a non-standard disabled seat. She has raised concerns, however, that it had previously agreed at that time to replace the toilet seat again in the future when needed following the replacement in 2019, instead of carrying out a more costly replacement of her property’s disabled toilet, but that it had since “broke” the agreement. The resident added that two replacement toilet seats were ordered by the landlord for her property in 2019, and that only one of these was used by it at the time, meaning that there was a spare seat available to it to replace hers again.
- In conducting our investigations, the Ombudsman relies on contemporary written documentary evidence from the period investigated to decide whether the landlord’s actions were fair and reasonable in all the circumstances of the case. In this case, there is no written evidence that the landlord had agreed to replace the resident’s toilet seat again following the previous replacement of this by it in October 2019. Its records instead indicated that she was given the model number for the replacement seat, which was a standard low-cost soft-close seat, so that she could replace this herself in future, in line with her repair responsibilities.
- The resident has advised that the existing toilet seat is in a disabled toilet, which her three children are struggling to use. However, the landlord’s records suggested that the standard soft-close toilet seat could be cheaply replaced by her, and she has not explicitly stated that she would be unable to do so, although her requests for it to replace the seat might suggest this.
- The landlord nevertheless acted appropriately by explaining its position and apologising if the resident had been advised that it would replace the toilet seat again in future in 2019. It is not disputed that she believed that there was an agreement in place for it to do so, however there is ultimately no evidence to support this. The landlord was also not otherwise obliged to replace the seat again, as the responsibility for replacing toilet seats would be the resident’s in line with its tenants’ guide and website.
- The landlord therefore acted appropriately by confirming that the resident would need to replace the toilet seat herself in line with her repair responsibilities. It was not obliged to undertake improvements to the property, or to replace the seat on her behalf, and so there is no evidence to suggest that it acted unreasonably in its handling of the matter.
- However, given the resident’s requests that the landlord replace her toilet seat due to her children’s difficulty in using the disabled toilet at her property, her understanding that it had previously agreed to do so again, her reports that it may have a spare seat for her property, and the availability of a handyperson service to it, it has been recommended below to do the following. To try and resolve her complaint with her, it has been recommended to contact her to provide her with details of its handyperson service for assistance with replacing her toilet seat, and confirmation as to whether it has a spare seat for her to do so or details of low-cost replacement toilet seats if not.
Determination
Recommendation
- It is recommended that the landlord contact the resident to provide her with details of its handyperson service for assistance with replacing her toilet seat, and confirmation as to whether it has a spare seat for her to do so or details of low-cost replacement toilet seats if not.