London Borough of Barking and Dagenham (202304320)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202304320

London Borough of Barking and Dagenham

31 January 2025

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. Roof leaks and roof replacement work.
   2. The associated complaint.

Background

2. The resident lives in a 3-bedroom flat on the top floor of a 3-storey building. She has a secure tenancy which started on 6 January 1997. The resident has no noted vulnerabilities.
3. The resident said she has experienced roof leaks at her property since 2019 which led to her making complaints and the landlord has not disputed this. The landlord said that it completed repairs for these between 2019 and 2022 and told the resident on 24 May 2021 that it aimed to renew the roof of the resident’s block within six to nine months. The resident complained to the landlord on 22 February 2023 and said:
   1. she experienced roof leaks over 5 years and roof replacement work was outstanding
   2. she had a leak in her boiler room that had affected the electrics
   3. she made complaints in 2019 and 2020, and she had a leak in 2019 and 2021 that had affected her living room, and the leaks also affected the communal area
   4. the roof works the landlord had done had not stopped the leaks and her roof needed replacing.
4. The resident reported to the landlord additional leaks in March and April 2023 affecting her bedroom and a communal area.
5. On 27 April 2023 the landlord provided its stage 1 response and said:
   1. it apologised for the delay in replacing her roof and that the repairs were part of a wider refurbishment programme which required full external surveys
   2. although initial preparation works were underway it could not provide a date for it to do these works
   3. it had raised a job to investigate whether it could do further repair work while the resident’s roof was awaiting replacement.
6. The resident told the landlord that she did not receive the stage 1 response until 23 May 2023 when she escalated her complaint. The landlord provided a response on 19 June 2023 and refused to escalate the complaint and said:
   1. the roof replacement work would start in April 2024 and that it made the roof watertight in March 2023 but if further leaks occurred the resident could raise this with its repairs service
   2. it agreed to take this up with its capital programme team responsible for the roof replacement if its repairs team were unable to resolve the repair
   3. it had no authority over how it delivered its capital scheme (roof replacement) programme and therefore could not consider any “dissatisfaction with the timeline” through its complaint process.
7. The landlord has told this service on 16 December 2024 that it completed extensive remedial work to the resident’s roof in May 2024 and that it has planned to replace the roof in 2025 to 2026. The resident told this service that she would like the landlord to replace the roof as other parts of her estate have had roof replacement work done.

Assessment and findings

The scope of the investigation

8. The resident has stated she experienced and complained about roof leaks since 2019. As a general principle, the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which were made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaints procedure. This is under paragraph 42.a. of the Scheme. There is no evidence that the resident’s complaints in 2019 to 2021 completed the landlord’s complaint process or that the resident complained about roof leaks again until February 2023. For this reason, the Ombudsman’s investigation has not considered the landlord’s handling of historical reports of roof leaks prior to February 2023. This is because this was the resident’s most recent complaint that exhausted the landlord’s complaint procedure, and which was referred to this service for investigation.
9. The resident has expressed concerns regarding the impact of the roof leaks and the delays in the roof replacement work on her mental health. When this type of claim arises, the courts rely on expert evidence in the form of a report from an independent medical professional. This will give an expert opinion on the cause of any injury or deterioration. A court will also allow the examination of witnesses and allow the testing of evidence. This process helps the court determine whether a person’s health has been injured by the landlord’s actions or inactions.
10. Therefore, a court is better placed to offer a binding decision on this as it will have the benefit of expert evidence and will be able to allow examination of witnesses. The Ombudsman can consider any distress and inconvenience caused to the resident by the landlord’s handling of the roof repairs and replacement.

The landlord’s handling of roof leaks and roof replacement work

11. Although the resident experienced reoccurring leaks it is unclear whether these leaks were down to a single cause or different ones. Although this service cannot offer an expert opinion on the cause of the leaks it can assess how the landlord responded to them. This investigation will consider the reasonableness of the landlord’s response. The landlord has not provided this service with detailed repair records making it more difficult to establish what happened. Leaks can be difficult to locate and resolve and will often involve diagnostic or investigative work to identify the source. It will not always be possible for landlords to repair leaks or to determine who is responsible for them immediately. However, a landlord should inform residents what work it has done when attending and whether it will need to do further work.
12. The Ombudsman’s spotlight report on complaints about repairs, published in March 2019, outlines that landlords should “Agree actions and timescales for responding in line with… policies and obligations, and confirm these in writing. Inform the resident of any delays and explain why these are necessary.” It also recommends that landlord should “where complex or extensive work is required, acknowledge that there are outstanding repairs. Explain what action will be taken and provide time scales, even if these are provisional.”
13. The landlord was responsible for repairing and keeping in repair the structure of the resident’s property, this included the roof. This was under both the resident’s tenancy agreement and Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, section 11. The landlord was under an obligation to resolve any disrepair it was responsible for within a reasonable time of the resident’s notification. While the landlord has not provided a policy that states when the landlord must respond to roof leaks typically these are treated as urgent repairs as they could lead to damage or injury if not responded to as such.
14. The resident reported a leak in her boiler room on 22 February 2023 and the landlord logged a job for this five days later. The landlord’s repair records state it completed this job on 30 June 2023. When the resident reported a leak in her bedroom on 8 March 2023 the landlord’s repair records indicate that it attended on 10 March 2023. The landlord told the resident on 19 June 2023 that it had made the roof “watertight” in March 2023. The resident told the landlord on 13 March 2023 that she was concerned the leaks may have affected the structural integrity of the property or contributed to damp and mould. While there is no evidence that this was the case it would have been reasonable of the landlord to have inspected the resident’s property structurally to satisfy itself that the leaks had not caused any permanent or structural damage.
15. The resident reported a communal leak on 10 April 2023 that the landlord logged three days later and marked as completed on 3 July 2023. The landlord’s repair records do not state what work the landlord completed to deal with the leaks in the boiler room, bedroom, or communal area. Nor do the landlord’s records show what work it did in March 2023. As the landlord has not provided this service with post completion reports for the work it said it completed, the Ombudsman cannot be satisfied that the landlord acted reasonably or in line with its repair policy.
16. The resident acknowledged that the landlord had undertaken patch repairs to the roof. This involved the landlord recovering the roof. There is no evidence of any leaks since April 2023. The Ombudsman considers it reasonable of landlords to offer patch repairs while awaiting major roof replacement work. There is no evidence of any ongoing leaks following this work and the resident has told us there has been no damage since the landlord provided its stage 2 response (June 2023). The landlord has told the Ombudsman that it expects to include the major roof replacement planned works in its 2025 to 2026 programme.
17. The Ombudsman acknowledges that it can take a long time to agree and organise major work like roof replacements. In these circumstances the Ombudsman expects landlords to keep residents regularly updated on these works. This includes providing residents with timescales, even if provisional, in line with the expectations in the Ombudsman’s spotlight report on repairs.
18. The Ombudsman has not seen evidence of any updates the landlord provided the resident to explain the delays to the roof replacement work. The Ombudsman considers that while the landlord may have been unable to say when it would replace the roof it ought to have updated the resident regularly on the reason for any delays. The Ombudsman understands that the roof replacement is outstanding, and the landlord has not provided this service with evidence of any updates it offered the resident since June 2023.
19. The failure of the landlord to communicate and update the resident caused the resident frustration and meant the landlord failed to manage her expectations. This, along with the failures identified in this report, amounted to maladministration. Therefore, this service has made an order of compensation, in line with our Remedies Guidance, to address the distress and inconvenience the landlord caused.

Complaint handling

20. At the time the resident complained, the landlord had a 2-stage complaint policy. The landlord had 10 working days to respond to complaints at stage 1 and 30 working days to respond to complaints at stage 2. The resident complained to the landlord on 22 February 2023. The resident said she had not received the landlord’s stage 1 response dated 27 April 2023 until 23 May 2023. The Ombudsman notes the landlord addressed the response to another person at the resident’s address who the landlord did not have listed as an occupier. Therefore, the landlord inappropriately addressed the letter and ought to take care to avoid this in future. Furthermore, the landlord’s stage 1 took 44 working days to provide, based on the date on the letter. This was unreasonable as it was not in line with the landlord’s complaint policy.
21. The resident escalated her complaint on 23 May 2023. While the landlord provided a response within the 30 working days (19 June 2023) it failed to tell the resident of her right to refer the complaint to this service. This was unreasonable as it was not in line with its complaint policy or the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code. The resident stated that the delays in complaint handling were time consuming and caused her distress. Therefore, the Ombudsman has made an award of compensation, in line with our Remedies Guidance, to reflect this.

Determination

22. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of roof leaks and roof replacement work.
23. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

24. Within 28 days of the date of this determination the landlord must:
    1. write to the resident to apologise for the failures identified in this report and an explanation of why the replacement is outstanding
    2. provide the resident with a date for when the roof replacement work will start and a provisional date for completion (taking into account any need for funding approvals, surveys, or consultations) together with a plan for keeping her regularly updated, at least every four months.
    3. pay the resident directly £350 compensation made up of:
       1. £200 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of roof leaks and roof replacement work
       2. £150 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s complaint handling, including an element for time and trouble.
25. The landlord must provide the Ombudsman with evidence of compliance with these orders within 28 days of the date of this determination.