London Borough of Ealing (202224334)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202224334

London Borough of Ealing

24 April 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 reports of bathroom repair issues.

2.             The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Background

3.             The resident is 82 years old and has occupied the property, a one bedroom first floor flat, since 1998. The landlord is a local authority.

4.             The resident raised a number of other issues in her complaint to the landlord, but has confirmed to the Ombudsman that she would like to limit this Service’s investigation to the issues detailed above.

Summary of events

5.             On 17 October 2021 the landlord attended the property following a report there was an issue getting hot water in the bathroom. It noted the isolating valve under the sink needed replacing. The resident continued to report issues with the hot water pressure in the bathroom on 15 and 26 November 2021. On 14 January 2022 she reported that 2 metres of skirting around the bath panel needed to be replaced following previous works.

6.             The resident complained to the landlord on 12 April 2022 that there were issues of disrepair it was not addressing. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 18 May 2022, when it upheld the complaint about repairing the bathroom. It said a job had been created in January 2022, but no one had attended and it apologised for that. It said it would arrange for someone to attend and offered £50 compensation for the inconvenience caused.

7.             A contractor attended on 8 September 2022 and the landlord recorded that the bathroom tap needed to be replaced due to its low pressure. It called the resident on 9 September 2022 to arrange for a plumber to attend to repair the sink, but it was unable to contact her. A job was created on 22 September 2022 for a plumber to attend.

8.             On 12 October 2022, the resident’s MP contacted the landlord and explained the resident had asked for help with issues at her property, including how she was unable to get hot water from the tap in her bathroom. The landlord sent an update to the MP on 20 October 2022.

9.             An internal landlord email of 20 October 2022 said the boiler had been checked and was working, but the mixer tap was not, so it was going to be replaced. The work to replace the tap is recorded as having been completed on 28 November 2022.

10.        Following contact from the resident, the Ombudsman contacted the landlord on 30 January 2023, asking it to respond to the resident’s outstanding concerns. The landlord replied that it had already responded to the resident’s complaint in May 2022 and updated her MP in October 2022.

11.        The landlord records that skirting in the bathroom was replaced on 15 February 2023, having been reported on 14 January 2022 and the resident having chased for a response on 31 May 2022. However, the landlord has confirmed this job was actually cancelled and the work was not carried out.

12.        Following further intervention by the Ombudsman, the landlord confirmed on 27 March 2023 that the resident’s complaint had been moved to stage 2 and an acknowledgement had been sent on 20 March 2023.

13.        The resident told this Service on 26 April 2023 that she had not received a response to her escalated complaint. She was told the landlord would be chased and asked to respond within 5 working days.

14.        The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 12 May 2023, when it partially upheld the complaint and said, in terms of the outstanding bathroom repairs, a surveyor was booked to visit on 22 May 2023 in order to assess the work.

15.        The resident told this Service on 22 May 2023 that she had not had a response from the landlord, to her stage 2 complaint.

16.        On 5 June 2023 the resident made this Service aware that a surveyor had attended and she was told someone would attend to complete outstanding work, but no one attended.

17.        The landlord sent the resident the £50 compensation offered at stage 1 on 26 March 2024. Having been prompted by this Service, the landlord created a job to renew the 2 metres of skirting in the bathroom on 17 April 2024, with a target date of 15 May 2024.

Assessment and findings

Bathroom repair issues

18.        The resident has said that having reported an issue with not getting hot water from her bathroom sink, it took the landlord a long time to fix it; by replacing the unit. She has said the skirting board was removed and, despite raising this as an outstanding repair, the landlord has failed to repair it, and it remains outstanding.

19.        Although the landlord recorded an issue with the bathroom sink tap in January 2022, it was clearly October 2021 when it was first put on notice of a problem. It was January 2022 that the resident first reported that skirting needed replacing. These are the 2 issues being considered here.

20.        It took the landlord 13 months to complete the repair to the tap, which is clearly unacceptable. Its Responsive Repairs Operational Procedure says where remedial action is identified, repairs will be scheduled for the next available date but no later than 15 working days for urgent and routine repairs. It clearly did not meet its obligations in that respect.

21.        Over this period the evidence shows the resident had to chase the landlord on 3 occasions. Despite being told by the landlord at stage 1 that it would arrange for someone to resolve the issue, and it offering compensation for its failings, it still took a further 6 months for that to happen and the resident had to go to the trouble of also involving her MP. This is indicative of the landlord not learning from its mistakes, and as there were further delays and poor communication, the compensation offered was clearly not sufficient in the circumstances.

22.        The landlord knew there was an outstanding job and should have been actively monitoring the situation and keeping the resident informed, until the issue was fixed. Instead, it took a reactive approach and only took action when prompted by the resident.

23.        In terms of the skirting, it is concerning that the job was closed down when the work had not been completed. It should not have taken this Service contacting the landlord for it to rearrange the repair. While the skirting is now due to be replaced by mid-May 2024, it has taken the landlord 28 months to complete this work, which is unreasonable. The delays in addressing both the bathroom tap and skirting board issues amount to maladministration. To make matters worse, having offered to pay the resident £50 compensation in May 2022, the landlord failed to send this to her for 22 months.

24.        The landlord’s communication throughout has been poor and the resident, who is elderly, has had to go to the trouble of chasing on several occasions, involving her MP and this Service. Much of her contact could have been avoided had the landlord actively monitored the repairs, acted promptly and adhered to its Responsive Repairs Operational Procedure.

25.        The £50 compensation paid to the resident does not adequately reflect the delays experienced here and the inconvenience and frustration caused to the resident. While the impact on the resident was not significant, the failings continued for a prolonged period, and the substantive issues were exacerbated by the resident having to chase the landlord for progress. It is accepted that the landlord made some attempt to put things right by offering compensation, but the amount offered was not proportionate to the issues identified. In any event, it then caused further inconvenience by not paying the compensation within a reasonable time period.

26.        In circumstances like this, this Service’s Remedies Guidance recommends compensation of between £100 and £600. The issues themselves did not cause serious detriment to the resident and this is an important factor, but she was inconvenienced for a long time. It follows that the compensation offered by the landlord should be increased from £50 to £400.

Landlord’s complaint handling

27.        The landlord’s Complaints Procedure says a stage 1 complaint will be acknowledged within 4 days and a response issued within 20 working days. A complaint can be escalated to stage 2 within 28 days of getting the stage 1 reply, and a response at stage 2 will be sent within 20 working days. If a complaint will take longer to deal with, the landlord will tell the complainant and provide an expected date for the response.

28.        The landlord issued its stage 1 response 25 working days after receiving the complaint, so it failed to meet its obligations. While it acknowledged its service had fallen short and offered £50 compensation, its service did not then immediately improve. The landlord also failed to acknowledge by way of compensation at the time, the fact it had not adhered to the timescales set out in its Complaints Procedure.

29.        This led to the complaint being escalated approximately a year later. In accordance with its Complaints Procedure, it is arguable whether a new complaint should have been made, or whether it was appropriate to consider the matter at stage 2. As it was, the landlord reviewed it at stage 2 and again partially upheld the complaint. However, it failed to consider whether additional compensation was appropriate in the circumstances due to there being further delays and a failure to pay compensation from the year before.

30.        The landlord sent a timely acknowledgement to the resident, to confirm she had asked for her complaint to be escalated to stage 2. However, having had the complaint escalated on 17 March 2023, it took the landlord 39 working days to issues its response, which is unacceptable as it did not comply with its Complaints Procedure. There is also no evidence of the landlord having managed the resident’s expectations in terms of when a response would be sent.

31.        Although the complaint was upheld, the landlord again failed to recognise the additional delay both in terms of repairs and in relation to issuing its stage 2 response, by increasing the compensation offered. The further delays are indicative of the landlord not learning from its mistakes which is disappointing, and contrary to the Ombudsman’s dispute resolution principle of ‘learning from outcomes’.

32.        The Ombudsman has noted the landlord’s Complaints Procedure is not in line with this Service’s Complaint Handling Code (either the 2023 Code or the new Code which took effect from 1 April 2024). All landlords must ensure they adhere to the Code and provide evidence of compliance to the Ombudsman, in accordance with the terms of the Scheme. The landlord is therefore encouraged to review the Code and take immediate steps to ensure its obligations have been met in that regard.

33.        Overall, as the landlord’s complaint handling amounts to maladministration, it is appropriate for the frustration and inconvenience caused to the resident to be acknowledged by way of compensation in the amount of £200.

Determination (decision)

34.        In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in relation to the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:

1. Reports of bathroom repair issues.
2. Formal complaint.

Reasons

35.        There were communication issues over the repairs needed to the bathroom and this led to a delay in dealing with the matter. The landlord offered compensation, but it delayed sending this to the resident, and it did not adequately reflect the impact of the poor service experienced.

36.        There were delays responding to the complaint at stage 1 and stage 2 and the landlord failed to consider increasing the compensation offered to recognise the impact its failures had on the resident.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

37.        Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord should:

1. Apologise to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
2. Pay the resident £550 compensation made up of:
   1. £350 for its handling of the resident’s report of repairs to the windows (this is in addition to the £50 already paid to the resident).
   2. £200 for the delays addressing the complaint and issuing compensation.

38.        Review its processes to ensure repair jobs are actively monitored until they are resolved.

39.        The landlord must provide evidence of compliance with these Orders to the Ombudsman within 4 weeks.