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Haringey London Borough Council (202301724)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202301724

Haringey London Borough Council

19 September 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 the resident’s reports of a leak from the flat above.

Background

  1. The resident is a leaseholder. The property is a 1-bedroom, second floor flat, which she rents out. There are no vulnerabilities recorded for the resident on the landlord’s records.
  2. The resident reported a leak from the flat above on 16 August 2022.
  3. The landlord visited the property on 21 February 2023 and noted the floor tiles on the balcony above were stuck down but there were gaps between them. It said a contractor was required to remove the tiles and check if there was any water ingress.
  4. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 27 February 2023 and said:
    1. A visit was carried out on 19 December 2022, but the operative was unable to establish what property the repair related to, given the job was raised against the communal block.
    2. A further repair was raised on 19 January 2023 after the resident made contact and an appointment was offered for 13 February 2023.
    3. The visit did not take place on 13 February 2023. This was because previous jobs had run over and there was no capacity for the visit to take place. There was no evidence the resident was updated. 
    4. It visited on 21 February 2023 and it was established the tiles on the balcony above needed to be removed to check if there was water underneath.
    5. It would contact the resident once a plan of work was developed.
  5. The resident asked the landlord for an update on a number of occasions in February 2023 and March 2023. She asked for her complaint to be escalated on 6 March 2023.
  6. The landlord issued its final complaint response on 4 April 2023 and said:
    1. It did not progress the resident’s repair following the inspection on 13 February 2023 or provide her with an update.
    2. It had arranged for its contractor to carry out a CCTV survey to diagnose the cause of the leak. It was unable to give a timescale for when this would be done.
    3. There had been a ‘‘catalogue of errors’’ and the delays in repairing the leak were unacceptable. Its communication with the resident could have also been better.
    4. It would offer the resident £413 compensation. This was for the delays in carrying out the work (£113) and for her time and trouble (£300).
  7. A further inspection was carried out on 4 April 2023 and it was established the leak was not due to defective drains. The contractor recommended a further investigation was carried out on the roof.

Post complaint events

  1. The landlord contacted the resident on 13 March 2024 following contact from this Service and it was confirmed the leak had not been fixed.  The landlord wrote to the resident on 19 March 2024 and said it would arrange a further inspection of the resident’s flat and the property above. It also said it would apply a mould wash in her property and carryout any necessary plastering work and decoration once the leak had been fixed.
  2. The resident told this Service on 6 September 2024 that the leak had not been fixed and no one had been in contact with her. She also noted that other properties on the estate suffered from the same problems and an investigation needed to be carried out.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a leak from the flat above.

  1. The housing records confirm the resident reported a leak from the flat above on 16 August 2022. The landlord was placed on notice at this point and had an obligation to repair the leak in accordance with the resident’s leasehold agreement. This says the landlord is responsible for the structure of the building including the roof, gutters, water pipes and external walls. The resident is responsible for internal walls and ceilings.
  2. While the landlord said it visited the block on 19 December 2022, it has not provided this Service with any evidence confirming this to be the case. This was a failure and demonstrates poor record keeping on the part of the landlord. The appointment was outside the target set in its repairs handbook which says it will attend to roof leaks and water running from overflows within 28 days.
  3. The leak was not repaired on 19 December 2022. The landlord said this was because the job was ordered on the communal block rather than an individual property. This again demonstrates poor record keeping on the part of the landlord and meant the operative who attended did not know which property the repair related to. This led to delays. There is no evidence the landlord contacted the resident to ask for clarification or raised a new job. The landlord’s repairs handbook says it will contact residents within 10 working days to confirm the next steps if it is unable to complete the work on the first visit. This was a further failure.
  4. The housing records confirm the resident contacted the landlord on 19 January 2023 and asked for an update. It was appropriate for the landlord to arrange a further visit on the same day and for an appointment to be booked for 13 February 2023 in accordance with its repairs handbook. This says it will attend and carry out repairs within 28 days.
  5. The landlord did not attend on 13 February 2023 or offer the resident an explanation why. This was not in accordance with its repairs handbook which says it will let residents know if it has to reschedule an appointment. This was a further failure and caused the resident inconvenience and distress. It also meant the landlord failed to meet its repairing obligations under the resident’s leaseholder agreement.
  6. The landlord visited the property on 21 February 2023 and noted that the tiles on the balcony above were stuck down but there were gaps between them. It said a contractor was required to remove the tiles and check if there was any water ingress. There is no evidence the resident was provided with an update at this point or the job was passed to a contractor. This was a further failure and led to further delays.
  7. It was appropriate for the landlord to offer the resident an apology on 27 February 2023 for failing to attend the appointment on 21 February 2023. It said this was because other jobs ran over on that day and there was no capacity for the visit to take place. It also said it was reviewing the best way to complete the work and that someone would be in touch once a plan of action had been developed. No timescales were provided to the resident. There is no evidence the resident was provided with an action plan or was kept updated by the landlord. This was a failure and meant she was unclear when the work would be completed.
  8. The resident asked the landlord for an update on a number of occasions in February 2023 and March 2023. She said the repairs were outstanding and the leak was getting worse and causing damp and mould in her home. There is no evidence the landlord responded to these enquiries. This was not in accordance with the landlord’s customer care standard which says it will respond to emails within 3 working days.
  9. The landlord told the resident in its final complaint response on 4 April 2023 that it had arranged for a contractor to visit and remedy the leak. This demonstrated it wanted to put things right for her. It did not, however, address her concerns about other properties on the estate which she said suffered from similar problems. Neither did it provide the resident with a timescale for when the work would be completed.
  10. The contractor attended on 4 April 2023 and established the leak was not due to any defects with the drainage system. While it recommended the roof was inspected, the landlord did not provide this Service with any evidence on the steps it took to resolve the leak. This again demonstrates poor record keeping on the part of the landlord.
  11. The resident confirmed on 27 April 2023 that a surveyor visited on 20 April 2023 and roofers on 27 April 2023, but no records of these visits were provided by the landlord to this Service and the outcome is unknown. Again, this demonstrates poor record keeping and meant the resident was unclear on what action the landlord was planning to take to remedy the leak. It was appropriate for the landlord to note the resident could make a claim for any damages to its insurance team.
  12. The resident contacted the landlord on several occasions in April 2023 and May 2023 and asked for an update. Whilst the correspondence was acknowledged, the landlord did not address her concerns. This was a further failure. It requested a CCTV inspection on 13 July 2023 of the internal downspout, but the outcome is unknown given no information was shared with the resident or this Service.
  13. It was appropriate for the landlord to contact the resident on 13 March 2024 following contact from this Service. The resident confirmed the leak was on going and the roofing repairs were outstanding. It was appropriate for the landlord to arrange for a contractor to carryout an inspection on 10 April 2024 and demonstrated it wanted to put things right for the resident.
  14. It was reasonable for the landlord to confirm on 19 March 2024 that it would carry out a mould wash of the resident’s property, replaster the walls and decorate once the cause of the leak had been identified. It did not, however, provide any timescales for resolving the leak and the outcome of the visit on 10 April 2024 is unknown. This was a failure.
  15. The resident told this Service on 10 September 2024 that the landlord had not contacted her since March 2024 and noted the leak was ongoing.
  16. In summary, the landlord failed to meet its obligations under the resident’s leasehold agreement. It did not order the repair on the correct address, did not attend prearranged appointments and failed to diagnose the cause of the leak. This led to delays and the leak is ongoing 25 months after the problem was first reported in August 2022. Its communication with the resident was also poor, as was its record keeping at times.
  17. The landlord’s offer of £413 compensation was not fair in the circumstances and cannot be considered reasonable redress given the resident is subject to an ongoing leak. The situation caused the resident significant inconvenience and distress. It is evident she had to chase the landlord on numerous occasions about the ongoing leak in her living room which caused damp and mould. She also received complaints from her tenants and attended prearranged repair appointments which the landlord did not turn up for.
  18. In this case, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s reports of a leak from the flat above for which it is ordered to pay an additional £1,250 compensation on top of the amount already offered. This has been calculated at £50 per month for the 25-month delay from August 2021 to September 2024.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s reports of a leak from the flat above.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to apologise to the resident for the failings set out in this report. A copy of the apology letter must be shared with this Service.
  2. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to pay the resident £1,681 compensation. This must be paid directly to the resident and made up as follows:
    1. £1,250 for the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident by its response to her reports of a leak from the flat above.
    2. £431 compensation previously offered, if not already paid.
  3. Within 6 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to carry out an in-depth investigation into the cause of the leak, including using a specialised contractor if required. It must ensure the resident and this Service are notified of the outcome of the investigation, including providing a timebound action plan setting out when the identified work will be completed. The identified work must be completed within 12 weeks of the action plan being developed. The resident and this Service must be kept updated and notified when the works are completed.
  4. Within 18 weeks of the date of this report (or as soon as possible after the leak has been resolved and relevant areas dried out) the landlord is ordered to complete the plastering and decorating work it previously agreed to carry out inside the property or reimburse the resident the reasonable costs of arranging for the work to be done herself.