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Haringey London Borough Council (202402848)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202402848

Haringey London Borough Council

10 December 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 the landlord’s handling of the resident’s kitchen renewal.
  2. The Ombudsman has also investigated the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident has been an assured tenant of the landlord since 23 August 2010.
  2. The resident reported an issue with her kitchen to the landlord on 12 August 2018. She emailed the landlord on 13 February 2023 to explain that it had not responded to her. The resident said that the kitchen was in a poor condition and a leak from a pipe was causing water to enter her property. In addition, she said there was black mould and damp in her kitchen. The resident requested that the landlord replace her kitchen. The landlord’s operatives fixed the leaking pipe and in April requested that the landlord replace the kitchen units and flooring because of their poor condition.
  3. The resident raised a stage 1 complaint on 29 September 2023 because the landlord had not yet arranged to renew her kitchen. She explained that operatives who had attended her property on 21 August 2023 and 26 September 2023 had told her that the entire kitchen needed to be replaced or renewed.
  4. The landlord provided its stage 1 response on 10 January 2024. It explained that it had inspected the resident property on 21 December 2023 to determine the scope of works. The landlord advised that it would renew the kitchen with the work taking place over 5 days starting on 9 January 2024.
  5. The resident raised a stage 2 complaint on 11 January 2024. She explained that no one turned up for the appointment arranged for 9 January 2024. The resident advised that she could not use her kitchen due to its condition but said she had been told that she now needed to wait until 23 February 2024 for the works.
  6. The landlord provided its stage 2 response on 7 February 2024. It acknowledged that the time taken for the kitchen renewal had fallen below its standards and apologised for the delay. It offered £150 compensation and confirmed that a carpenter completed measurements on 24 January 2024. It said that it had booked the kitchen work for 4 and 5 April 2024.
  7. On 18 April 2024, the resident contacted this Service saying that she remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response. The resident explained that the landlord had replaced her kitchen cabinets, but it had not completed other work.
  8. The landlord advised this Service on 19 November 2024 that it had completed the kitchen renewal works. The resident advised this Service on 25 November 2024 that the landlord had completed the floor replacement on 17 October 2024. However, she said that the landlord had not yet painted the walls, repaired broken tiles, or cleaned black mould from her kitchen tiles.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation.

  1. Paragraph 42.c of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme) says the Ombudsman may not consider complaints, which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion were not brought to the attention of the member as a formal complaint within a reasonable period which would normally be within 12 months of the matters arising.
  2. The resident first contacted the landlord regarding the condition of her kitchen in August 2018. However, there is a gap in contact regarding this issue from 2018 until February 2023. Therefore, in accordance with paragraph 42.c. this investigation centres on the events from when the resident reported the issue in February 2023.
  3. Paragraph 42.a of the Scheme says that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints, which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion are made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaint procedure.
  4. The resident has advised this Service that:
    1. The landlord never reconnected her fridge freezer or cooker following the kitchen repair in April 2024.
    2. She had experienced 6 missed appointments, taking time off for each appointment causing a loss of income.
    3. That electrical sockets were falling off her wall.
    4. That the quality of the flooring installation was “substandard” due to visible dents and lines.
    5. The landlord had not cleaned mould off her kitchen tiles or fixed broken kitchen tiles.
  5. These issues appear to have arisen after the landlord’s final complaint response and the work it did on the kitchen, and relate to the resident’s dissatisfaction with the quality of the landlord’s efforts. While these issues may be connected to the matters considered in this report, they relate to a further time period and must be raised as new formal complaints with the landlord.
  6. Because of that, and in accordance with paragraph 42.a. these issues will not be considered in this report. If the resident’s concerns about them remain, she has the option of raising them formally with the landlord as complaints. If she remains dissatisfied once the landlord has investigated her new complaints, she can then ask the Ombudsman to investigate them.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s kitchen renewal.

  1. The evidence shows that the landlord’s inspection of the resident’s kitchen on 11 April 2023 identified that it was in an overall poor condition, and that some parts, such as the sink, were beyond repair. The operative requested that the landlord arrange a follow up appointment to measure up for a new kitchen and flooring. No evidence of the landlord acting on the request has been seen until it inspected the kitchen again on 23 August 2023 and 26 September 2023. On both visits, the operatives recommended fitting new kitchen units and flooring. The landlord had rejected the operative’s recommendation on 23 August 2023 for an unknown reason. It then instructed a new operative who reached the same conclusion.
  2. The landlord stated in its stage 1 complaint response that its plumber on 26 September 2023 recommended a full kitchen renewal and floor replacement. The landlord referred this to a manager who authorised the works on 21 November 2023. The landlord’s inspection in April 2023 also recommended that a kitchen renewal was required. No evidence has been seen explaining the lack of action following the first inspection, or why the August 2023 inspection recommendations were rejected, and the landlord did not explain why it had not acted earlier in its complaint response. In the absence of such explanation, the time taken between the problem being identified in April and authorised in November therefore was unreasonable.
  3. The landlord started the kitchen replacement work in April 2024, replacing the kitchen units and sink by 11 April 2024. This was 12-months after its operative first identified problems with it. The landlord did not replace the resident’s flooring until 17 October 2024, which was just over 18-months from the initial appointment.
  4. The landlord advised this Service that it had raised a job to renew the flooring, but it had been unable to contact the resident to book an appointment. The landlord has not provided this Service with evidence to show that it made reasonable efforts by different methods to contact the resident to arrange an appointment. Nor has evidence been seen explaining the further time needed to complete the renewal work.
  5. The resident escalated her complaint on 11 January 2024. Her grounds focused on the landlord not attending at the agreed time on 9 January 2024 to start the kitchen renewal work and that she could not use her kitchen due to its condition. The landlord did not address in either of its complaint responses the resident’s concerns that she could not use her kitchen. This Service cannot determine whether the resident could have used her kitchen, but in response to her complaint the landlord was obliged to consider her concerns.
  6. The resident has told the Service that some of the work originally scheduled as part of the renewal remains incomplete. The landlord has told us that it believes the work is complete. It is not apparent from the evidence what work, if any, may currently be incomplete or what may be a new issue. An order is made below to address that.
  7. The evidence shows that there were significant delays in the landlord taking action to fix the issues in the resident’s kitchen. It also shows the delays caused the resident distress, worry and inconvenience. The landlord failed to put things right through its complaint response and its offer of £150 compensation was not proportionate to the scale of the delays and their impact. In the circumstances of the case, the Ombudsman finds maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s kitchen replacement.

The landlord’s complaint handling

  1. The resident raised a stage 1 complaint on 29 September 2023. The landlord did not provide its stage 1 response to the resident’s complaint until 10 January 2024, 70-working days after the complaint was made. This was significantly outside the 10-working day timescale in the landlord’s policy and the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code). During this period, the resident chased the landlord for a response on several occasions in October and November 2023.
  2. The landlord apologised in its stage 1 response for the delay in it responding to the resident’s complaint. It was appropriate for the landlord to provide an apology. The landlord provided its stage 2 response within its published 20-working day timescale.
  3. While the landlord provided the resident with an apology for the delay in its stage 1 response, this does not address the impact this delay had on the resident. There was a significant delay in the landlord’s response with the resident having to chase the landlord on several occasions. This caused the resident inconvenience and frustration and required more than an apology to put things right. In line with the Code, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to have provided compensation to the resident for the impact its delay had on her, explained why the delay had occurred and what steps it was taking to improve its complaint service.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s kitchen renewal.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

  1. The landlord is ordered to do the following, ensuring that it provides the Ombudsman with evidence of compliance by the same date:
  2. Within 6 weeks of this report, pay the resident compensation of £900. This is comprised of:
    1. £750 in relation to the service failures identified with its handling of the resident’s kitchen renewal, inclusive of the £150 already provided.
    2. £150 in relation to the service failures identified with its complaint handling.
  3. Also, within 6 weeks, the landlord must apologise to the resident for the failings found in this report.
  4. The current state of work on the kitchen renewal at the time of this report is not clear. Within 8 weeks the landlord must undertake a post-work inspection to confirm that all of the kitchen renewal work it agreed to undertake, including the painting, is now complete. If it is not complete the landlord must provide a schedule of works by which it will complete the outstanding work within 12 weeks of this report. Evidence of this must be provided to the Ombudsman and the resident by the relevant deadline.