Hyde Housing Association Limited (202336494)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202336494

Hyde Housing Association Limited

26 March 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
1. Reports of a leak to the roof and the associated repairs within the property.
2. Associated complaint.

Background

The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord at the property, a flat. She lives in the property with her 3 children. The resident is diagnosed with anxiety and depression which the landlord was aware of.
Between 2018 and 2020 the resident reported that there was a leak in the roof of the building. She said water was leaking into the front and rear bedrooms of her property. The landlord carried out repairs to the roof, and the bedroom walls.
In 2022 the resident told the landlord that there was another leak in the roof of the building. She contacted the landlord on a number of occasions throughout that year, asking it to fix the leak in the roof. The resident said that the landlord and its contractors erected 2 lots of scaffolding and carried out 3 inspections of the roof during 2022.
In April 2023 the resident raised a complaint to the landlord about its handling of her reports of a leak to the roof and the associated repairs within the property. She said:
1. The landlord had carried out 3 inspections of the roof, but it had not carried out any repairs.
2. Water was coming through the damaged roof of the building and into the front and rear bedrooms of her property. This had left water marks and stains on the walls in both bedrooms.
The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 2 May 2023. The landlord apologised to the resident for its delays, and that the works to the roof remained outstanding. It awarded the resident £350 compensation. The landlord said it would carry out:
1. Repairs to the roof on 2 May 2023.
2. Remedial works to the resident’s property on 19 May 2023.
Later in May 2023 the resident asked the landlord to escalate her complaint. She said this was because the landlord had not carried out the works to fix the roof.
Between July 2023 and August 2023, the resident said that the landlord’s contractor carried out remedial works to address the stains in both bedrooms caused by the leak. The contractor advised the landlord that the scaffolding it had previously erected was not wide enough. The landlord took the scaffolding down and reinstalled it around the building on 24 August 2023, in line with its contractor’s advice.
On 25 August 2023 the landlord provided its final response to the resident’s complaint. The landlord apologised that it had not completed the works to fix the leak in the roof. It increased its award of compensation to £1,000. The landlord said that £150 of this was for its delays in handling the resident’s complaint. The landlord said it had erected the scaffolding and that it would fix the damaged roof on 28 August 2023. The landlord said it would also carry out an internal inspection of the resident’s property and would complete any outstanding repairs.
Between August 2023 and September 2023 the landlord carried out the repairs to fix the roof. During this time the resident has said she was unhappy with the mess left by the contractors who were carrying out the works.
The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s final response to her complaint. She brought her complaint to the Ombudsman stating that the landlord’s handling of the repairs had affected her mental, and emotional health. The resident wanted the landlord to apologise for its handling of these repairs. She also wanted an increase in compensation to reflect the significant distress and inconvenience she experienced as a result of the landlord’s handling of the repairs.

Assessment and findings

When investigating a complaint, the Ombudsman applies its Dispute Resolution Principles. There are three principles driving effective dispute resolution: Be fair – treat people fairly and follow fair processes, put things right, and learn from outcomes.
The Ombudsman must consider whether a failing on the part of the landlord occurred, and if so, whether this led to any adverse effect or detriment to the resident. If it is found that a failing did lead to an adverse effect, the investigation will consider whether the landlord has taken enough action to ‘put things right’ and ‘learn from outcomes.’

Scope of Investigation

Paragraph 42.c. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that we may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion were not brought to the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period which would normally be within 12 months of the matters arising. The Ombudsman is aware that the resident has said she has had a problem with leaks to the roof, which have caused disrepair to the walls in the front and rear bedrooms of the property dating back to 2018. We have seen records that the landlord carried out works around this period of time to the roof. There was then a significant delay in any further reports about leaks to the roof after this period of time. Given the absence of reporting, it was reasonable for the landlord to conclude that the matter was resolved.
The resident next reported this matter to the landlord in 2022. We encourage residents to raise matters of repairs, and complaints with their landlords in a timely manner. This is so that the landlord has a reasonable opportunity to consider the issues when they occur, or soon after, and the evidence is available to reach an informed conclusion. Therefore in line with the Scheme the Ombudsman has considered the landlord’s handling of the repairs subject of this report between 25 April 2022 to its final response to the current complaint provided on 25 August 2023.
Paragraph 42.f. of the Scheme states that we may not consider matters where the Ombudsman considers it quicker, fairer, more reasonable, or more effective to seek a remedy through the courts, other tribunal, or procedure. As part of her complaint, the resident has said that her health has been affected by the outstanding repairs. We acknowledge what the resident has said. However, it is outside the Ombudsman’s remit to establish whether there was a direct link between the landlord’s actions or inaction and the specific health conditions of the resident.
Matters of liability for damage to health are better suited to a court or liability insurance process to determine. We have considered the distress and inconvenience the resident experienced as a result of any errors by the landlord as well as the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about her health.

The resident’s reports of a leak to the roof and the associated repairs within the property.

The landlord’s repairs policy states it is responsible for the roofs, external and internal walls. The landlord’s repairs policy states that its repairs fall into the following 2 categories:
1. Emergency – This as any repair which is required to sustain immediate health, safety, or security of the resident or that affects the structure of the building adversely. It states it will attend within 4 hours to make the property safe only. It will then complete further works as an anytime repair.
2. Anytime (routine) – This is any responsive repair that is not an emergency. These repairs will be completed within its contractor’s working hours and within 20 working days.
3. Major – This as a non-emergency repair that it considers to be a major or complex repair. There is no timescale included in its response to this type of repair.
The resident said that in 2022 she asked the landlord to fix the leak in the roof. We have not been provided with any evidence from the landlord in the form of repair logs, or records of communication with the resident at that time. However, it is accepted that during the year of 2022 that on 3 separate occasions the landlord sent 2 different contractors, and 1 of its own operatives to carry out inspections to the roof. The landlord also installed scaffolding in 2 parts around the building.
It was reasonable that the landlord carried out an inspection of the roof. However, due to the lack of information provided by the landlord, we are unable to understand why it carried out 3 inspections in 2022 yet completed no repairs. We have also not been provided with any of the inspection reports to ascertain what works were recommended to repair the roof. The resident has said that during this time she made a continuous effort to contact the landlord but that it failed to respond to her messages. We have seen no records from the landlord about its contact with the resident during this time. It is accepted however, that the resident had been reporting this repair throughout 2022. We understand that the lack of action in carrying out the repairs, and the landlord not responding to the resident’s communication have caused the resident a significant level of distress and inconvenience.
The landlord should have set out a schedule of works after it had carried out its inspection of the damage to the roof of the building. We would expect these to be carried out within a reasonable timescale. It is accepted the repairs to a roof can be subject to weather conditions and therefor may take longer than a routine repair of 20 working days. However, we would expect the landlord to keep the resident updated and work with her, setting out a timescale that is reasonable and in line with industry best practice.
On 25 April 2023 the resident told the landlord that the leak to the roof had left water marks and brown stains on the front and back bedrooms of the property. The landlord raised a works order to complete the repairs to the roof, and to make good the bedrooms. It arranged to carry out these works between 2 May 2023 and 19 May 2023. It was appropriate that the landlord raised the works order and communicated this to the resident in its stage 1 complaint response, on 2 May 2023. However, the landlord failed to carry out these works as agreed. From the evidence, it is unclear why.
We have seen evidence that the resident made a number of attempts to call the landlord about it not completing its agreed repairs in May 2023. The landlord did not respond to these calls and messages from the resident. This was not appropriate. We would expect a landlord to respond to a resident’s contact within its agreed timescale, and in line with best practice which would normally be within 5 working days. We understand that this further delay to these repairs, missed appointments, and lack of communication had caused the resident a significant amount of distress and inconvenience.
In July 2023 the contractor and the landlord attempted to make an appointment to inspect the resident’s property. This was for it to carry out the remedial works to the bedroom walls. The resident said that both the landlord and its contractor telephoned her to make appointments for between 24 July 2023 and 26 July 2023, to carry out these works. The resident said she told the contractor she was not available on these dates. She said the landlord called her the same day and attempted to make an appointment for the same dates she had not been available for. The resident said that the landlord duplicating its contractor’s communication left her feeling ‘cornered’ and distressed.
It was positive that the landlord was taking steps to inspect the damage caused by the leak, in the bedrooms of the resident’s property. However, we understand when the landlord and the contractor made the same calls to the resident that this could have been confusing and shows a lack of communication between the landlord and its contractor. The landlord should have systems in place that allow it to work in collaboration with its contractors, by communicating, monitoring, and managing its repair appointments. This would prevent the landlord from making duplicate calls to residents and causing confusion, or distress as felt by the resident in this case.
Records show the resident said she was available after 31 July 2023 for the landlord to inspect the bedrooms in the property. The landlord arranged for an inspection to take place on 17 August 2023. This was 80 working days after the resident told the landlord about the stains to the walls in the bedrooms. This was a significant delay. This would have been considered to be an appointed (routine) repair in line with the landlord’s repairs policy. Therefore it should have carried out this inspection within 20 working days.
The resident has said that it was around this time (August 2023) that the landlord carried out the remedial works to the front and back bedrooms of the resident’s property. We have not been provided with any record from the landlord, so we are unable to comment on the exact date this work was carried out. However, based on the information provided by the resident that the works were carried out in the summer of 2023, around the time of the inspection, we would consider this to have been reasonable.
In August 2023, the contractor advised the landlord its scaffolding around the resident’s building was not wide enough for them to fully scope out and carry out the repairs to fix the damaged roof. It was therefore appropriate that the landlord took the existing scaffolding down and erected it as per the contractor’s advice on 24 August 2023.
The landlord carried out the works to fix the leaking roof of the building between 30 August 2023 and 1 September 2023. We are unable to comment on the exact length of the delay of this repair. However, we do have enough information as referred to above, to infer that its delay in fixing the leaks to the roof was significant which is evidence of poor handling of its repairs.
The resident has said that there was still a leak in the roof after the landlord’s contractor said they had finished the works. She also said that the contractors had left a large amount of mess. The resident has said she was aware that the landlord contacted its contractor, and they returned to complete this repair. The resident has said the contractors completed the repair in September 2023. The roof was then fixed. We have no other information about this further request by the resident to the landlord. However, based on the information available the landlord acted appropriately in requesting the contractor to rectify its initial works within 20 working days, in line with its repairs policy. It is positive that these works were then resolved.
There is evidence of failings, as mentioned above in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a leak to the roof and the associated repairs within her property. This includes the significant delays in the landlord carrying out the works, and the landlord’s poor communication with the resident. The resident spent a lot of time having to chase the landlord repeatedly for it to complete the repairs to the expected standard.
The landlord apologised and awarded the resident £850 compensation within its final response for this aspect of her complaint. We have considered our own remedies guidance (published on our website) in respect of compensation. This amount awarded by the landlord is within the range of compensation the Ombudsman would issue if the landlord had not made this offer. Examples of this level of compensation in the guidance include where the landlord has made errors which had a significant impact on the resident.
Therefore the Ombudsman makes a finding of reasonable redress for the landlord’s errors in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a leak to the roof and the associated repairs within the property.

The resident’s associated complaint.

The landlord has a 2-stage complaints process. It will acknowledge a resident’s stage 1 complaint within 5 working days. It will then provide its written response at stage 1 within 10 working days of its acknowledgement. The landlord will provide its stage 2 response within 20 working days. It will provide a resident with an explanation if it requires more time to respond to a resident’s complaint, at either stage. This will not exceed a further 10 working days without good reason.
We have not been provided with the information of the exact date the resident raised a complaint to the landlord about its handling of her reports of repairs for it to fix the leak to the roof. The resident has said it was around April 2023. Due to the lack of information we are unable to comment if there was any delay in the landlord’s acknowledgement of the resident’s complaint on 25 April 2023. We would expect landlords to have records of when a resident first raises a complaint, and it should be able to provide that information. This is evidence of the landlord’s poor record keeping in respect of its handling of its complaints.
The landlord provided its stage 1 written response to the resident’s complaint 5 working days after it acknowledged her complaint. This was appropriate as it was in line with the landlord’s complaints policy which states it will provide its stage 1 complaint response within 10 working days after it has acknowledged a complaint.
The resident said she asked the landlord to escalate her complaint within no more than a week, after she received its stage 1 complaint response. We have seen records that the resident chased the landlord about it not responding to her in May 2023. We have not seen any evidence that the landlord responded to the resident’s requests to respond to her between 11 May 2023 and 13 July 2023. This is evidence of poor communication.
The landlord acknowledged the resident’s request to escalate her complaint on 14 July 2023. It then provided its final response to the resident’s complaint on 25 August 2023. This was 30 working days after the landlord acknowledged the resident’s request to escalate her complaint. This was reasonable because the landlord had communicated to the resident that it needed extra time before it could provide its stage 2 written complaint response. We would expect a landlord to provide its stage 2 complaint response within 20 working days, in line with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (which sets out our service’s expectations for landlords’ complaint handling). However, where the landlord may need further time to respond to a resident’s complaint, this should not exceed a further 10 working days.
There is evidence of failings, as mentioned above in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s associated complaint. This includes its poor record keeping, and poor communication with the resident.
The landlord apologised and awarded the resident £150 compensation within its final response for this aspect of her complaint. The Ombudsman has considered our own remedies guidance (published on our website) in respect of compensation. This amount awarded by the landlord is within the range of compensation the Ombudsman would issue if the landlord had not made this offer. Therefore the Ombudsman makes a finding of reasonable redress for the landlord’s errors in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s associated complaint.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 53.b. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, satisfactorily resolves the complaint about its handling of the resident’s:
1. Reports of a leak to the roof and the associated repairs within the property.
2. Associated complaint.

Recommendations

The landlord should pay the resident the £1,000 it awarded the resident in its final complaint response unless this has already been paid.