Hyde Housing Association Limited (202313313)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202313313

Hyde Housing Association Limited

12 September 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. This complaint is about the landlord’s handling of repair requests in a bin storage room for a broken light and a broken bin.

Background

2. The resident lives in a 1-bedroom, ground floor flat. She holds an assured shorthold tenancy agreement with the landlord. The tenancy started on 10 September 2018.
3. In August 2022, the landlord acknowledged the resident had emailed it about a broken bin.
4. The resident complained to the landlord in May 2023 about outstanding repairs in the bin storage room.
5. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 12 June 2023. It said:
   1. The light in the bin storage room would be repaired on 14 June 2023.
   2. Pest control would attend on 16 June 2023.
   3. The bins were the property of the local council.
   4. It had asked its property managers to chase the council about replacing the damaged bin.
   5. It offered £50 compensation to the resident to reflect her effort in progressing the matter.

6. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 21 June 2023. She said:
   1. The light in the bin store was still out of action despite the landlord’s assurance that it would complete a repair on 14 June 2023.
   2. When she initially reported the damaged bin to the landlord in 2022, the landlord did not tell her that the council were responsible for it.
   3. She had tried to raise this with the council, but the council rejected her request.
   4. Rubbish had been left in the damaged bin for years and she was now seeing rats in the carpark.
   5. She felt the landlord had a duty of care to remove the damaged bin.
7. The resident chased for a response from the landlord on 3 July 2023.
8. Following involvement from this Service, the landlord issued its stage 2 response on 19 October 2023. It apologised to the resident and said:
   1. It did not repair the light in the bin store as previously agreed.
   2. There were failings in its communication with the resident.
   3. It offered £150 compensation (replacing its previous offer). This was comprised of:
      1. £50 for the delay in service delivery.
      2. £50 for the resident’s effort.
      3. £50 for the distress and inconvenience caused.
   4. It had contacted the council about the damaged bin several times and would escalate a complaint regarding this.
   5. In the interim, it had arranged for its contractors to empty the bin and turn it upside down to prevent further use.
   6. It made an appointment for its contractors to deal with the bin on 20 October 2023. Contractors would repair the light on 24 October 2023.

Events after the end of the landlord’s internal complaint procedure.

9. The resident contacted this Service on 25 October 2023 stating the light still had not been repaired and the bin had not been turned over as promised.
10. In January 2024, the resident informed this Service that she obtained the details of the council’s bin contractor from the council and contacted them directly. They subsequently repaired the bin in January 2024. The resident said the landlord fixed the light in the bin store in January 2024.

Assessment and findings

11. Where a landlord admits failings, the Ombudsman’s role is to assess whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. The Ombudsman also considers whether the landlord acted in line with our Dispute Resolution Principles: be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
12. The Ombudsman has recently made several orders in other investigations into this landlord about reviewing its repairs service delivery and complaint handling. The Ombudsman has therefore not made orders or recommendations around these aspects of service but expects the landlord to take all relevant learning from this case into account going forward.

The landlord’s handling of repair requests in a bin storage room for a broken light and a broken bin

13. The tenancy agreement sets out that the landlord will keep shared entrances, halls, stairways, lifts and passageways and other shared areas repaired. It says it will do repairs within a reasonable time of a resident telling it about a problem. The time taken depends on how urgent the repair is.
14. The landlord’s responsive repairs procedure explains that an ‘anytime repair’ should be completed within 20 working days.
15. The resident said she initially reported the broken light and bin to the landlord in August 2022. The landlord has not disputed this.
16. The landlord’s records indicate it raised the lighting repair with its contractor several times. In May 2023, it escalated this with its contracts manager as the work order remained outstanding. This was appropriate in the circumstances, considering the repair was significantly outside of its 20-working day service level.
17. Neither party disputes that there were significant delays repairing the light in the bin store. At stage 1 and stage 2, the landlord committed to repair the light on 14 June 2023 and 24 October 2023 respectfully. The Ombudsman would expect a landlord to follow through with the commitments raised within its complaint response.
18. The landlord provided records to this Service to demonstrate that after the end of its internal complaint procedure, its contractors attended the bin store on 8 November 2023, 27 November 2023 and 29 December 2023 but were unable to access the light.
19. While the Ombudsman is not assessing events that occurred after the stage 2 response, it is a failure that the landlord did not adhere to the commitments made within its final complaint response and it took a further 3 months to complete the repair. This was unreasonable.
20. The Ombudsman is satisfied from the information provided that the council were responsible for the maintenance of the bin. The landlord evidenced that it had contacted the council about this on several occasions and managed the resident’s expectations relating to this within the stage 2 response.
21. In the Ombudsman’s view, the landlord could have done more to resolve the matter with the council, such as raising a complaint at an earlier opportunity, looking at ways to enforce its agreement/contract regarding the bins and keeping the resident updated. The landlord’s poor communication exacerbated the situation and worsened the impact on the resident. It was appropriate for the landlord to recognise and apologise for this within its complaint response.
22. While the responsibility for the bin itself fell to the council, this did not absolve the landlord of its responsibility within the communal bin store. In the circumstances, it would have been appropriate for the landlord to consider interim measures when the resident initially made the landlord aware of the problem the broken bin was causing.
23. At stage 2, the landlord agreed to turn the bin over to prevent other residents from using it. Photos provided by the resident indicate this did not happen – however the Ombudsman notes there were notices on the bin explaining it was not in use. It is not clear from the evidence available why the bin was not overturned as promised.
24. In the resident’s initial complaint, she was concerned about vermin due to the rubbish that had remained in the broken bin for some time. The landlord acted appropriately by appointing a pest control company within a reasonable period. This demonstrates it took the resident’s concerns seriously. Evidence shows that after 2 visits by pest control, there was no evidence of pests in the bin store. The landlord was entitled to rely on the opinion of its appointed experts.
25. Within the landlord’s final complaint response, it offered £150 compensation, comprised of £50 for the delay in service, £50 for the resident’s effort and £50 for the distress and inconvenience caused.
26. The Housing Ombudsman’s remedies guidance (available on our website) sets out what we consider when determining cases. The £150 compensation offered by the landlord falls within our second band of compensation, for circumstances where there has been maladministration but no permanent impact on the resident. This includes factors that are relevant to this complaint such as chasing responses and repair delays.
27. After considering all the circumstances of this case, the financial compensation provided by the landlord was in accordance with our guidance, considering the failures identified and the impact on the resident, up to the date of the final complaint response dated 19 October 2023.
28. While the landlord apologised for its failings and offered redress, a repair remained unresolved for a period after the landlord issued its final complaint response. This raises questions about the effectiveness of the landlord’s complaint procedure and whether it learnt from the complaint outcome, as we expect it to under the dispute resolution principles. As such, the Ombudsman has made a finding of service failure.

Determination

29. Under paragraph 52 of the Scheme, the Ombudsman finds a service failure in the landlord’s handling of repair requests in a bin storage room for a broken light and a broken bin.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

30. Within 4 weeks of the date of this determination, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Apologise to the resident for the failures identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident the £150 compensation it offered in its final complaint response (if it has not yet done so).
31. The landlord must provide evidence of compliance to this Service within 4 weeks of the date of this determination.

Recommendations

32. It is recommended for the landlord to consider if any further compensation is due to the resident to reflect the delay in repairing the light in the bin store from October 2023 to January 2024. The landlord should write to the resident setting out its position.