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Amplius Living (202318202)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202318202

Longhurst Group Limited

28 November 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:
    1. The landlord’s handling of and response to the resident’s concerns about repairs following a structural survey.
    2. The landlord’s complaint handling. 

Background

  1. The resident is a secured tenant of the landlord. The tenancy started on 15 April 2013. The property is a 3-bedroom house. The landlord confirmed it had no vulnerabilities recorded for the household.
  2. The landlord undertook a structural survey of the resident’s home on 12 January 2022. The survey reported cracking and movement to the external and internal walls. It recommended the following:
    1. Displaced brickwork at the apex of the left-hand gable wall should be taken down and rebuilt.
    2. The timber first floor ceiling joists should be further inspected and further investigation of the first-floor structure should be carried out.
    3. Restraint straps could be installed between the external wall and first floor, but his would be confirmed following completion of the works to the drainage.
    4. Due to reported historical drainage issues, a CCTV survey of all the drainage should be carried out.
    5. Depending on the outcome of the report it may be prudent to excavate a test pit to the front left-hand corner of the property.
    6. Following any remedial works to the drainage or foundations the concrete hardstanding was taken up and replaced with the inclusion of suitable new drainage.
    7. Following the completion of the drainage survey, test pits and the remediation of any defects found it was advised that the external cracking to the property was accurately monitored over a minimum period of 12 months.
    8. There remained a possibility that a degree of the cracking to the front elevation could be due to thermal movement. It advised that if the cracks were to be sealed that this was with a suitable compressible filler material.
    9. The concrete canopy over the external access door was investigated to establish if there is a potential for collapse and the canopy replaced if necessary.
  3. The resident raised a complaint on 8 July 2022. The resident said she had not received an update from the landlord on the works recommended in the structural survey.
  4. The landlord provided its stage 1 response to the resident on 27 July 2022. It said the following:
    1. A structural survey was completed in January 2022. It had not provided any updates to the resident regarding the work needed. The resident contacted it on numerous occasions requesting call backs but this had not happened.
    2. Following the resident’s complaint, it had spoken to the resident about the report. A surveyor would contact the resident within 2 weeks and agree an action plan for the repairs.
    3. It would contact the resident on 10 August 2022 to ensure that she had been provided with an action plan and was happy with it.
    4. It was sorry that it took for the resident to raise a complaint to get the information needed. The communication had been poor and not the level of customer service it expected.
    5. It offered the resident £50 of compensation for the poor communication.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint on 17 November 2022. She said work had been completed to the gully but no further works had been booked in.
  6. The landlord responded at stage 2 of its complaints process on 3 May 2023. It said the following:
    1. The resident was unhappy with its suggestions for work to be carried out at her property. She had requested it review the suggested work.
    2. There had not been any further action following the structural report. It was sorry that it failed to act on concerns as quickly as it should have.
    3. Its insurers had agreed to assess the damage on 25 April 2023.
    4. It apologised for the delay inconvenience and distress caused.
    5. It would continue to monitor the repairs. It would contact the resident within 10 working days of her appointment on 25 April 2023 to agree an action plan for the work required.
    6. It would ensure that all work was completed to the resident’s satisfaction
    7. It offered the resident an additional £700 compensation broken down as:
      1. £150 for the late acknowledgement and not resolving the complaint sooner.
      2. £100 for the continued lack of communication.
      3. £450 for the distress and inconvenience this caused.
  7. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and contacted this Service in August 2023. The resident said she had chased up the works with the landlord but had not received a schedule of the works following the structural inspection report in January 2022. The landlord confirmed to this Service that works to drains at the front of the property were completed on 18 September 2024 and works to the gable wall were completed on 13 October 2024. It said further works were required to take down and rebuild the canopy.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation.

  1. The resident raised during the complaint process that she had been reporting issues to the landlord for a period of around 4 years. The resident raised a stage 1 complaint to the landlord in August 2021 about outstanding repairs to brickwork. The resident raised a further stage 1 complaint in December 2021 about a delay to the structural survey being carried out. This Service has not seen evidence of these complaints having exhausted the landlord’s complaints process. Paragraph 42.a. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that: “The Ombudsman may not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, are made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaints procedure. Because of that this investigation focuses on the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports from January 2022 onwards, which were considered during the landlord’s final complaint response on 27 July 2023.
  2. The resident referred to the situation impacting upon her health. While this Service is able to assess the response the landlord provided, and any overall distress or inconvenience this may have caused, it is unable to draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on the resident’s health and wellbeing. This is in line with paragraph 42.f. of the Scheme which explains the Ombudsman may not consider matters which are fairer and more effectively dealt with by the courts. The Ombudsman does not have the required expertise to establish whether there is a direct link between the landlord’s handling of the issue and the resident’s health.

The landlord’s handling of and response to the resident’s concerns about repairs following a structural survey.

  1. The landlord’s compensation procedure says if it feels that there has been a failure in service then it will consider awarding compensation. The policy states that compensation for impact of a service failure on a resident can be awarded as follows:
    1. £50 to £100 –for instances of service failure resulting in some impact on the complainant.
    2. £100 to £600 –for cases where there has been considerable service failure or maladministration, but there may be no permanent impact on the complainant.
    3. £600 and above are used in recognition of maladministration / severe maladministration that has had a severe long-term impact on the complainant.
  2. The landlord received the survey report on 20 January 2022. It appropriately shared this with the resident on 28 January 2022. The report recommended a number or works and investigations to be completed.
  3. In its final response on 3 May 2023, the landlord stated there had not been any further action following the report. However, its records show that some work had been done. It completed a full CCTV survey of the drains in August 2022. Following this it created a works order to carry out a test pit on 26 August 2022. The landlord’s repair notes stated this was completed on 18 October 2022. Following this, it raised a job to visit and install adequate draining to external footpaths on 19 October 2022. A repair to the gully was completed on 15 November 2022. The landlord’s repair records noted its contractor had attended on 7 December 2022 to install draining to external footpaths, but the resident had declined the works as she did not believe this would rectify the issue.
  4. Nonetheless, at the time of its final complaint response on 3 May 2023 a large amount of work remained incomplete or unresolved. The landlord acknowledged its poor handling of the repairs and the significant delays. It apologised for the distress caused to the resident, explained it would monitor progress on the remaining work and would contact her within 2 weeks to discuss its work plan. These were appropriate and relevant remedies in line with the expectations set out in the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
  5. The landlord offered the resident £550 compensation, which was in line with its compensation policy for failings and impact of a similar scale to those in this complaint. If the landlord had subsequently managed the outstanding work and completed it within a reasonable timescale the remedies it offered in its complaint responses may have been considered an appropriate resolution to the complaint. However, that has not happened.
  6. The landlord’s internal records show it completed drain installation work on 18 September 2024. The landlord confirmed to this Service that works to the gable wall were completed on 13 October 2024. Works to take down and rebuild the canopy, inspect the timber first floor joists, investigate the first-floor structure, and install straps to connect the external wall to the first floor remained outstanding.
  7. The resident did not receive a full update from the landlord about the actions it was taking until 26 September 2024. This included its plan to monitor the external cracks and regularly visit to check for movement. That meant the resident did not know what repairs were going to be completed, when to expect them to be completed by, or an explanation of proposed actions for more than a year after the landlord’s final complaint response. The resident has told the Service that at the time of this report, she does not know when the remaining works will be completed.
  8. The remedies offered by the landlord in its complaint responses showed good practice in trying to resolve complaints and learn from outcomes. However, they were not sufficient to remedy the lack of information and significant delays which have occurred subsequently, or the resident’s ongoing inconvenience and frustration. These delays may be partly or wholly outside the landlord’s control, but if so no evidence of it has been provided.
  9. Overall, the evidence shows the landlord’s poor handling of the repairs prior to the resident’s complaint continued after her complaint, despite the landlord’s assurances. As such, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of and response to the resident’s concerns about repairs following a structural survey. A further amount £600 compensation is ordered for the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident. This is in line with the landlord’s compensation policy, and the Ombudsman’s own remedies guidance.

The landlord’s complaint handling.

  1. The landlord’s complaint policy at the time of the resident’s complaint says at stage 1 it aims to respond within 10 working days. Residents who are still unhappy with the formal complaint process at stage 1 may request an appeal review (known as stage 2). The appeal review is completed within 20 working days.
  2. The resident asked to escalate her complaint on 17 November 2022. The landlord acknowledged the escalation request the following day. The landlord provided its stage 2 response on 3 May 2023. This was a timeframe of 114 working days. This did not meet the timescales in the landlord’s complaints policy or the Code. The landlord contacted the resident on 12 December 2022 to explain it needed to extend its response deadline due to the complexities of the work. It said it would respond by 5 January 2023. There is no evidence of further updates to her before it issued the response in May.
  3. In its final response, the landlord offered the resident £150 compensation for the late acknowledgement and not resolving her complaint sooner. On its own, this compensation did not go far enough to reflect the significant delay in the stage 2 response and poor communication about it. In line with the Code the landlord should also have considered explaining how the failing occurred, and how it intended to learn from it in order to avoid a reoccurrence. It did not do that, which means it did not reasonably remedy its poor complaint handling. Therefore, there was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handing. This Service has ordered the landlord pay the resident an additional amount of compensation of £50 for the time, trouble and inconvenience caused to the resident.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of and response to the resident’s concerns about repairs following a structural survey.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

  1. The Ombudsman orders the landlord to apologise in writing to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
  2. Within 4 weeks of this report the landlord is ordered to pay the resident compensation of £1400. This is comprised of:
    1. £1200 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the repairs. This amount is inclusive of the £600 it previously offered during its complaint responses.
    2. £200 for its poor complaint handling. This amount is inclusive of the £150 it previously offered during its complaint responses.

Compensation should be paid directly to the resident and not offset against any arrears.

  1. The landlord is to provide evidence of compliance with the above orders to this Service within four weeks of the date of this report.
  2. Given that multiple repairs and related issues appear to still be unresolved or incomplete, the landlord is ordered to create an action plan setting out how it intends to complete the work and by when, how it will maintain oversight so that its deadlines are met, and how it will ensure the resident is kept informed of its progress. The report should be shared with the resident and the Ombudsman within 6 weeks of this report.