Southern Housing Group Limited (202221472)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202221472

Optivo (now Southern Housing)

16 May 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:
   1. The resident’s reports of repair issues, particularly involving damp and mould at the property.
   2. The resident’s requests for replacement windows and doors.
   3. The associated formal complaint.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant of the property, which is owned by the landlord.
3. The property is a 3-bedroom semi-detached house. The resident moved into the property in May 2021. She later carried out improvements at the property including redecoration upstairs and the installation of radiators.
4. The resident first reported damp and mould at the property to the landlord in late August 2022.  It inspected the property in September 2022and confirmed that there were problems which would require further investigation.
5. The resident complained formally about the landlord’s failure to address her reports of damp and mould and other repair issues at the property on 25 October 2022. She said the property was so mouldy that she had had to move out Her builders had told her the roof was not sound, explaining that water ran down the chimney when it was raining. She added that the landlord had measured the property for new doors and windows in 2021 but had not installed them. There was no cavity insulation at the property, and she wanted the landlord to attend to these issues.
6. The landlord inspected the property in November 2022. It devised a plan to deal with the issues found including carrying out a heating audit, inspecting the walls to see if there was cavity insulation and checking the ground floor floors to see if these were adequate. A further inspection of the property in December 2022 showed that the kitchen plumbing was poor and the kitchen sink drained directly onto the ground near the external wall. The landlord also confirmed the presence of a leak which caused water to run down the chimney.
7. In its stage 1 response on 16 December 2022, the landlord stated that it continued to investigate the causes of the damp but considered that some, at least, was caused by condensation. It had raised works orders for surveys of the roof insulation, the cavity wall insulation and the kitchen. It would plumb the kitchen sink into the drains. It had asked for quotes for other works including the installation of extractor fans, internal doors, and to reseal external doors. It apologised for its delayed response and offered the resident £630 in compensation. This comprised a rent reduction for the mouldy bedroom and a payment for distress and inconvenience.
8. The resident was not satisfied with this response and requested the escalation of her complaint to stage 2 on 24 January 2023. She said the landlord had not carried out any works and that the damp was getting worse. She also wanted the property roof to be repaired and a rent rebate as she was not able to live at the property.
9. The landlord originally said it would provide a stage 2 complaint response by early April 2023, but later told the resident this would be delayed until May. It carried out a heat audit at the property on 14 April 2023. This recommended installing larger radiators and increasing the thickness of loft insulation. On 3 May 2023 the landlord provided an action plan for completion of the required works. It provided a stage 2 complaint response on 12 May 2023. In this, it said it had already carried out some works while other works were arranged and would go ahead shortly. It apologised again for delays, said it could not provide her with a final compensation figure for now but offered her £50 for poor complaint handling.
10. The resident was unhappy with this response and referred the matter to this Service. She said she was disappointed with the landlord’s attempts and that the repair issues had worsened. She wants compensation for the problems and delays she had suffered, and a refund of all the rent she had paid at the property since August 2022.

Assessment and findings

Repair issues at the property

11. The landlord is responsible under the tenancy agreement for repairing the structure and exterior of the property. At the time of the events set out in this report, its repairs policy had no set deadlines for addressing reports of repairs.
12. This Service issued a report, Spotlight on Damp and Mould in 2022 in which the Ombudsman stated that landlords should take a “zero tolerance” approach to damp and mould. The landlord has responded to this report and says it treats damp and mould as a priority.
13. On receiving the resident’s initial report of damp and mould in late August 2022, the landlord arranged for a contractor to survey the property on 12 September 2022. The survey was delayed when the resident was not present on that date. The resident later reported that there had been no survey. The landlord discovered later that, having missed the appointment, the contractor did not contact the resident to arrange a new appointment nor did it inform the landlord. This failure caused an unacceptable delay in the repairs process.
14. Having received a further report from the resident, the landlord arranged for a survey which took place in November 2022. It issued a report on 30 November 2022. This was a prompt and appropriate response to the resident’s further report of damp and mould. This initial inspection showed that further analysis into the necessary repairs was required.
15. The resident complained in late October 2022 about a lack of progress in dealing with her concerns. The landlord, in its complaint response of 16 December 2022, accepted that there had been delay and offered her £630 in compensation, £350 of which was for the impact of the failure to act more swiftly. It offered a further £225 because it accepted a bedroom had been uninhabitable for 120 days. However, internal emails written at the time show that there was no consensus that any part of the property was, in fact, uninhabitable. Staff also pointed out that she had moved out of her own accord and there had been no finding that the property was uninhabitable. The evidence, therefore, suggests that the compensation award was appropriate to compensate her for any failures up to that point and the impact they caused.
16. The landlord carried out a further inspection in November 2022. This confirmed the presence of mould at several points around the property. It found there were various causes of it. These included condensation from the kitchen and bathroom, a leak around the chimney, underpowered radiators at various points throughout the property, as well as the exposed position of the property. The report said that further investigation of cavity walls and a heat report would be necessary.
17. In the stage 1 complaint response, the landlord said it had issued orders for further surveys. It also said it would reglaze the patio door, install a waste pipe to the kitchen sink, fit a door to the kitchen and fit extractor fans in the kitchen and bathroom. It would also request quotes for the repair of the roof, investigate installing a new boiler and inspect to see if cavity wall insulation was present or should be installed.
18. The landlord arranged to visit the resident in late January 2023. On 21 February 2023 the resident requested the escalation of her complaint to stage 2, stating that the planned works had still not taken place and the damp in the property was worse. She listed a range of problems which had not been dealt with. These included the leaking chimney, damp in a bedroom, the roof, and various other repair issues. She said she should not have to pay rent for a property in that condition as she could not live there.
19. The evidence shows that there was a delay of more than a month before any further works were done on the property. During this time, there is no evidence that the landlord communicated with the resident to explain the reason for any delays. The failure to progress the case more quickly or to communicate about delay was poor service on the landlord’s part.
20. In April 2023, the landlord carried out a heat survey, installed fans and repaired some brickwork. It also arranged for other works to be done in May 2023. In its stage 2 complaint response, it stated that it was intending to carry out the roof repairs in May 2023, but was awaiting required legal documents. It would also carry out the cavity wall inspection and top up the loft insulation in May 2023. It apologised for further delays and said it would calculate a further compensation figure in future.
21. Delaying payment might have been a reasonable action, if the landlord had subsequently calculated the appropriate level of compensation and then made a suitable offer to the resident. However, in this case, there is no evidence that it made any further offer since. Therefore, its statement that it would delay compensation effectively delayed completion of the complaint. This prevented the timely resolution of the complaint and was a breach of the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code which says landlords should set out the details of any remedy offered in the complaint response.
22. In June 2023, the resident informed this Service that she was unhappy with the repairs which she considered had made things worse. She also said she had told the landlord she would no longer allow its workmen access to the property. The landlord, on the other hand, stated that the works had been effective. This Service is unable to ascertain the actual situation of the works due to the differing accounts by the parties.
23. Overall, the landlord responded appropriately to the resident’s concerns except for during September 2022 and March 2023 when it failed to progress repairs appropriately. During these periods, it also failed to keep her informed, which was unreasonable. In recognition of these failings, as well as the attendant distress and inconvenience to the resident, an additional sum has been ordered in compensation.
24. This Service has recently completed an investigation into the landlord’s processes. We have made recommendations as a result including into its handling of repairs. For that reason, we have not made any recommendations for service improvements in this report.

Requests for replacement windows and doors.

25. The landlord’s windows and doors replacement policy sets out the procedure for the replacement of windows and doors. Most windows, which do not require urgent repair are replaced as part of a programme of planned works. 
26. The resident says that the landlord measured the property for new windows and doors in 2021 but failed to replace them. She raised the matter in her stage 1 complaint in October 2022. The landlord did not address the question directly in its stage 1 response. The resident repeated her complaint at stage 2 in February 2023. The landlord stated, in its 12 May 2023 complaint response, that the windows and doors had been replaced in April 2023.
27. The available evidence shows that the landlord replaced these windows as part of a planned programme of replacement and that the windows and doors were not in need of repair before they were replaced. For that reason, the landlord’s actions were appropriate and in line with its policy.

The associated formal complaint.

28. The landlord’s complaints policy says it will respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days. If unhappy with the stage 1 response, a complainant must escalate their complaint within 20 working days though it may consider requests for escalation made later. It says it will acknowledge a request within 5 working days and respond, where possible, within a further 20 working days. If, this is not possible, it will inform the resident of the timeframe for the response. 
29. At the time covered by this complaint, the landlord assembled a review panel to consider review requests. The Ombudsman’s recent special investigation into this landlord found that this process often led to delays.
30. The resident first complained to the landlord on 28 October 2022 and it responded on 16 December 2022. The response took 35 working days and was, therefore, outside the landlord’s policy commitment. It apologised for the delay. The landlord replied to the resident’s escalation request on 12 May 2023, 55 days after the escalation request. It did inform the resident in April 2023 that its response would be late, and apologised again for its delay in its response. Nonetheless, the response was late. It was also incomplete in that it stated that the landlord would offer redress at a later date, but as previously stated, it did not do so. There were, therefore, failings in the complaint process and its response fell below the required standard.  
31. This Service’s investigation into the landlord also made recommendations about the landlord’s handling of complaints. For that reason, while we have considered its complaint handling and found it to have been inadequate, we have not made any recommendations for improvements in this report.

Determination

32. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of:
    1. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of repair issues at the property.
    2. The resident’s associated complaint.
33. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s requests for replacement windows and doors.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

34. Within 4 weeks of the date of this decision, the landlord must:
    1. Write to the resident and apologise for the failures identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident £900, inclusive of the £680 already offered to the resident, broken down as follows:
       1. £800 for failures in the landlord’s handling of resident’s reports of repair issues at the property.
       2. £100 for the landlord’s handling of the complaint. 
    3. Write to this Service and provide evidence that it has complied with the above.

Recommendations

35. As stated above, our special investigation report of May 2024 made recommendations for the improvement of the landlord’s processes some of which are relevant for the issues identified in this report. For that reason, we have not made recommendations for service improvements in this decision.