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Basildon Borough Council (202447527)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202447527

Basildon Borough Council

23 July 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 repairs to flooring in the property.

Background

  1. The resident has been a secure tenant of a 3-bedroom house since September 2023. The landlord’s records say the resident has 2 children with disabilities in the household.
  2. The landlord’s surveyor and an occupational therapist inspected the property on 20 December 2023. The surveyor recorded parts of the flooring needed to be replaced.
  3. The resident complained to the landlord on 6 November 2024 as it had not repaired the flooring at the property.
  4. The landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 13 November 2024. It apologised for not addressing the issue with the flooring. It said the repairs were scheduled for 10 February 2025.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint on 17 November 2024.
  6. On 28 November 2024 the landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response to the resident. It reiterated the response it gave at stage 1.
  7. The resident contacted us on 24 February 2025 as she remained unhappy with the landlord’s handling of her complaint.

 

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident has told us her children have been caused injuries due to the condition of the flooring in the property. Whilst we are an alternative to the courts, we are unable to establish legal liability or whether a landlord’s actions or lack of action have had a detrimental impact on a resident’s health. Matters relating to personal injury or damage to health are likely better suited to consideration by a court or via a personal injury claim. However, we will consider any general distress and inconvenience caused where there has been a failing by the landlord.

The landlord’s handling of repairs to flooring in the property

  1. The landlord’s records say the resident raised concerns regarding the condition of the wooden floorboards at the property when her tenancy started in September 2023.
  2. On 20 December 2023 the landlord’s surveyor inspected the property. They were accompanied by the resident’s family’s occupational therapist to identify if adaptations were required due to the resident having 2 children with additional neurodiverse needs. The surveyor informed the landlord sections of the floorboards in the property needed to be replaced as there were parts missing which could cause injury. The landlord recorded on 21 December 2023 it would arrange for sections of the floor to be replaced. The landlord’s records say the occupational therapist wrote to it on 28 December 2023 and said the wooden floorboards needed to be repaired.
  3. The landlord’s repairs policy states it is responsible for repairing damaged floorboards. The policy says repairs to floorboards should be completed within 28 days.
  4. The resident’s occupational therapist wrote to her on 22 April 2024 and said the landlord had told them there had been delays in carrying out works at the property due staff shortages. The landlord has not provided any evidence to confirm the reasons the repairs were delayed. The resident replied to the occupational therapist on 29 April 2024 and said the floor had not been repaired and it was a safety risk for her children.
  5. The evidence provided by both the landlord and the resident does not show when the resident next raised the flooring issue with the landlord. On 29 August 2024 the landlord inspected the property. It recorded there were holes in the floorboards, and it would require 2 engineers to carry out the required repairs.
  6. The repairs were scheduled for 6 November 2024. However, only 1 engineer from the landlord’s contractor attended the property. They did not carry out the repairs as they said it required 2 engineers. 
  7. The resident complained to the landlord on 6 November 2024. She said it had not repaired the floor. She said she had 2 disabled children in the household and the floor was dangerous due to the holes and chips in it. The landlord acknowledged the complaint the same day.
  8. On 13 November 2024 the landlord sent the resident a response at stage 1 of its complaint process. It acknowledged she had raised the issue with the floor when she moved into the property. It apologised for the inconvenience caused by not resolving the matter. The landlord said it had scheduled its contractor to carry out the repairs for 10 February 2025, which was the earliest date available where 2 engineers could attend.
  9. Analysis of the landlord’s complaint response shows although it apologised for not carrying out the repairs, it did not offer any redress to the resident for its failings. This was not in line with its compensation guidance policy, which states an award of compensation can be made when the landlord does not complete repairs within its policy timescale. The evidence shows the date the landlord arranged for the repair to take place was far outside of its policy timescale. There is no evidence the landlord attempted to outsource the repairs to alternative contractors or take any additional measures to arrange the repairs to occur within its policy timescale.
  10. The occupational therapist wrote to the landlord on 14 November 2024. They said the children in the property had additional needs because of neurodiversity and they had hurt themselves on the gaps and holes in the floorboards. They asked for the works to be prioritised.
  11. On 17 November 2024 the resident asked the landlord to review her complaint. She said she was not happy the floor repairs were delayed and not scheduled until February 2025.
  12. The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 28 November 2024. It apologised again for the delays in carrying out the repairs to the floor. It reiterated the earliest its contractor could attend to do the repairs was 10 February 2025.
  13. It was appropriate for the landlord to apologise for the delays it acknowledged. However, it failed to offer redress beyond this apology or demonstrate it had considered whether there were any alternatives available to fix the issue sooner in the circumstances.
  14. The landlord called the resident on 5 February 2025 and confirmed the floor would be repaired on 10 February 2025. However, the landlord’s contractors did not attend as scheduled. The landlord’s records say the repairs to the floor were completed on 28 March 2025.
  15. The evidence shows by the end of the landlord’s internal complaints procedure the resident was still waiting for the landlord to fix the issue that she reported some 14 months previously. The landlord’s delays were far beyond its repair policy timescale and were unreasonable. The landlord’s handling of the issue comprised of several undertakings to conduct the necessary works, followed by inaction, non-delivery and service failure.
  16. Following the landlord’s stage 2 complaint response, it still failed to take prompt and effective action. There is no evidence the landlord sought to try and find an alternative way to arrange the repairs within its policy timescale. It took a further 4 months to complete the works.
  17. In summary, it took the landlord 18 months to fix an issue identified by a surveyor and occupational therapist which posed a risk to a family with vulnerabilities. It took the landlord far longer than set out in the timescales within its repairs policy to fix the flooring at the property. The landlord also failed to demonstrate it considered the additional risks present whilst the delays continued where there were children with vulnerabilities in the property. The lack of action taken to support vulnerable residents was unreasonable and will have caused further distress to the resident and her family.
  18. Although the landlord apologised for the delays during its complaint responses, it did not offer any additional redress to the resident for the distress and inconvenience caused by its failures. The failure to offer compensation in these circumstances is unreasonable, and not in line with its compensation policy. The issue was also compounded by the delays to complete the work after its complaint responses, which caused further distress to the resident.
  19. The landlord’s failings amount to a determination of severe maladministration. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £1,200 compensation. This amount is calculated in line with our remedies guidance and reflects that there has been a significant failure over a prolonged period which was exacerbated by the landlord’s failure to fully recognise this in its internal complaints process.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was severe maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs to flooring in the property.

 

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord must:
    1. Provide the resident with a written apology from its chief executive for the failures outlined above.
    2. Pay the resident £1,200 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s failures. The compensation must be paid directly to the resident and not offset against a rent or service charge account.
  2. The landlord is to provide this Service with evidence of compliance with the above orders within 4 weeks.