St Albans City and District Council (202324845)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202324845

St Albans City and District Council

27 March 2025 (amended 4 April 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 works to the resident’s property.

Background

2. The resident holds a secure tenancy with the landlord. She lives in the property with her partner and children.
3. The resident reported multiple repair issues to the landlord’s contractor in the months leading up to her complaint, including problems with damp and mould. In September 2022 she said that her roof, soffits, fascias and gutters were rotten and needed replacing. She said cement was falling off the roof and she was concerned that the roof tiles may also fall off and injure her children.
4. On 24 May 2023 the resident complained to the landlord about its overall handling of the repairs. She said work had been delayed, appointments had been missed, the standard of work was poor, and the contractor had attended jobs with inadequate tools and parts. She listed jobs which were outstanding. They included works to the ventilation, fencing, pipes, fascias, soffits and walls. She also complained about having to report issues via the landlord’s contractor.
5. The landlord responded to the resident’s complaint on 14 June 2023. It said on viewing the repairs records, it had completed most of the repairs within its required timescales and to a good standard. It said it would consider any evidence the resident had to the contrary. It said that it had approved works to her fencing and asked its contractor to call her. It apologised for its delay in arranging this.
6. The resident escalated her complaint to the landlord on 12 July 2023. She disputed its claim that the works had been handled in a timely way and to a good standard. She raised new issues, such as a contractor recently damaging her windows whilst repairing them. She wanted the landlord to acknowledge the delays, recognise the impact on the household’s health and wellbeing, apologise, and to carry out the remaining repairs.
7. The landlord gave its final response to the resident’s complaint on 16 August 2023. It acknowledged the communication problems, apologised, and agreed to review the issues with its contractor. It said its contractor agreed it had damaged the resident’s window frames and it would replace these, and the glass. It said that it was aware that works to the fascias, soffits and gutters were outstanding and it would arrange a quote for these through its contractors.
8. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s complaint response and escalated her complaint to the Service. She repeated the same outcomes she had described as seeking in her escalated complaint to the landlord.
9. The landlord has provided evidence of its recent repair records which show that it has completed the works the resident raised in her initial complaint. However the resident explained that the works to the windows that she raised in her escalated complaint remain outstanding.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

10. The resident has raised concerns about the impact the issues may have had on her family’s health. The Ombudsman is unable to assess the cause of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. The resident may be able to make a personal injury claim if she considers that her health has been affected by the landlord’s actions or inaction. This is a legal process, and the resident may wish to seek legal advice if she wants to pursue this option. In accordance with paragraph 42.f. of the Scheme, this issue is more effectively resolved and remedied through the courts. It will therefore not be considered in this report
11. In her complaint to the Ombudsman, the resident included issues dating from 2018 onwards. There is no evidence of these issues being raised with the landlord as complaints until 2023. Paragraph 42.c of the Scheme says the Ombudsman may not consider a complaint about issues which were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period which would normally be within 12 months of the matters arising. As such, this report will centre on the landlord’s handling of repair issues leading up to the resident’s complaint and its response to these issues.

The landlord’s handling of works to the resident’s property

12. The resident reported a wide range of repair issues to the landlord’s contractor in the 12 months prior to the complaint. The contractor was responsive to some of these repairs, but it is clear that there were substantial delays in its handling of others. This included works to the roof, soffits, fascias and gutters, which the resident reported in September 2022. The records show the contractor carried out repairs to the roof within a reasonable timeframe.
13. However, they failed to explain whether they would renew the rotten soffits, fascias and gutters at that time. It was not until the landlord’s final complaint response almost 12 months later that it committed to undertaking these works, which was an unreasonably delayed response, given there is no evidence explaining the delay, or of the landlord updating the resident about it.
14. The records show that the contractor’s updates to the resident about the progress of the repairs had been inconsistent. This includes instances in February 2023 when she contacted the contractor on several occasions for an update following their visit on 31 January. The contractor acknowledged its delayed response and apologised to her in an email on 1 March. The records show it scheduled some of the works following this communication, such as works to the windows and extractor fan. However, there is no evidence of the contractor, or landlord, attempting to contact the resident about other works. This includes renewing the back fencing, nor is there evidence of it completing works to the windows, something the resident has told us is currently unresolved.
15. The landlord recognised its handling of the repairs had been “inadequate” in its replies to the resident’s complaint. It apologised for this, agreed to discuss the poor service with its contractor, and said the resident could contact it directly if she experienced problems in the future. The landlord’s reply was partially in line with our Dispute Resolution Principles; to be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes. It offered some positive assurances to the resident.
16. However, given the nature of the repairs, the length of the delays, and the scale of the poor or inconsistent communication with the resident, it would have been appropriate, and fair, for the landlord to have considered offering compensation to the resident to acknowledge the overall impact, including the distress and inconvenience the issues had caused her. As it did not do this, and some of the works remain outstanding, it did not appropriately remedy the complaint.

Determination

17. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the works to the resident’s property.

Orders

18. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to pay £500 compensation to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
19. Within 8 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must confirm that all of the works it identified in its final complaint response has now been completed. This includes the works to replace the damaged windows. If they have not been completed, the landlord must provide the resident and Ombudsman with its plan to resolve the outstanding work promptly.
20. The landlord must provide the Ombudsman with evidence of complying with these orders within their respective deadlines.