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CASE STUDY

Agreed works not carried out

A landlord’s response to a complaint about remedial works was unreasonable because it failed to complete all the works that had been agreed and did not return the property to its condition prior to the works

Ms L complained that, following the landlord’s initial bathroom, kitchen and rewiring works at her home, there were outstanding remedial works and that her carpets had been damaged.  She reported that, although the landlord subsequently agreed to carry out the remedial works to address most of the issues, it did not then complete any of the agreed works.

We found the landlord’s failure to carry out all of the agreed remedial works at Ms L’s home or to satisfactorily return the property’s external lighting to its condition prior to the start of the initial works to be unreasonable. Although it may not have originally been obliged to complete all of the remedial works, it was not fair that it failed to carry out all of the works after agreeing to do so. It was also not fair that the landlord did not reinstall a light at the side of the property to restore its exterior to the position that it was in before the initial works had started.

In the absence of a compensation policy it was reasonable that the landlord explained to Ms L that it had obtained a £240 quote for replacing her damaged carpets so offered her £240 compensation.

However, the landlord’s failure to carry out all of the remedial works that it agreed was detrimental to maintaining a good landlord and tenant relationship and contrary to its customer service standards.  This also meant that she lost confidence in its ability to rectify her concerns and caused her unnecessary time and trouble in progressing her complaint when this could have been avoided.

Outcome:

We determined that the landlord was responsible for service failure in respect of Ms L’s complaint about remedial works and ordered it to pay her £75 compensation for failing to carry out the works in a timely manner, to complete the previously agreed works and to install a replacement light at the side of her home. We also recommended that the landlord consider developing a compensation policy.

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