Irwell Valley Housing Association Limited (202308371)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202308371

Irwell Valley Housing Association Limited

27 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 the landlord’s handling of the:
   1. Resident’s reports of concerns with the communal cleaning.
   2. Resident’s reports of repairs to the communal entrance door.

Background

2. The resident holds an assured shorthold tenancy of the property, a 1 bedroom flat within a block. The landlord is a housing association.
3. The resident made various reports to the landlord about the communal entrance door not working between May and August 2022.
4. On 14 September 2022 the resident reported to the landlord that the communal areas within the block were dirty and not being cleaned properly. The landlord said that a cleaning schedule would be sent to all residents within the block.
5. The resident made a stage 1 complaint to the landlord on 21 October 2022 about the communal entrance door and communal cleaning. This complaint was dealt with and closed to the resident’s satisfaction. The landlord made assurances regarding the cleaning and entrance door. It said that the cleaning was now being done on a 2 weekly basis and that it would closely monitor this. It said that it would inspect the communal entrance door and issue the necessary works as required.
6. The resident reported to the landlord the communal cleaning was not being done on various occasions in November 2022 and January 2023.
7. The resident made a further stage 1 complaint on 12 July 2023 about the same issues and said that promises the landlord had made following the previous complaint had not been followed. The landlord responded on 8 August 2023 and said it had issued work orders for the floors to be cleaned and the communal entrance door to be repaired.
8. The resident made various reports about the broken communal entrance door to the landlord between July and September 2023.
9. Following his escalation of the complaint the landlord sent its stage 2 response to the resident on 12 September 2023. It said that the communal floors had been deep cleaned and a temporary fix had been made to the communal entrance door. It said a permanent fix would be made within 1 week at the latest. The landlord again said that the communal floor cleaning, which had been carried out once every 4 weeks, was now being carried out on a 2 weekly basis. It offered £50 compensation, £25 of which was for the inconvenience caused by the issues with the communal cleaning and £25 for the inconvenience caused by the issues with the main entrance door.
10. The resident referred the matter to this Service on 20 September 2023. He said that the cleaning was not being done on a 2 weekly basis, as the landlord had stated it would be, and the communal entrance door was still not working properly. As a resolution to the complaint, he said he wanted the landlord to:
    1. Make the cleaning schedule public,
    2. Stick to the cleaning schedule with the property manager ensuring the work was done on time and up to the required standard, 
    3. Offer compensation to all the residents of the building.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of concerns with the communal cleaning

11. The resident emailed the landlord on 6 November 2022. He said he was disappointed that the cleaning was not taking place on a 2 weekly basis, as had been agreed. The landlord responded 4 working days later and said it would investigate the matter and then provide a response. It then responded on 17 November 2022 and said that the cleaning had taken place on 11 November 2022. The landlord stated that the communal cleaning was being carried on a 2 weekly basis and it asked the resident to provide examples of when he believed this had not happened. It is clear from block inspection reports provided to this Service that the cleaning was not regularly being carried out on a 2 weekly basis and this is mentioned further below. The resident contacted the landlord again on 27 November 2022 and said the cleaning was not taking place and stated he was referring the case to this Service.
12. The landlord’s neighbourhood management policy states that it recognises that the upkeep of its neighbourhoods and common parts is fundamental to the quality of life for its residents. It states that its aim is to create a clean, safe and desirable neighbourhood in which its residents can take pride and ownership. The resident reported to this Service that he feels embarrassed to have visitors to his flat due to the issues with cleanliness in the building.
13. The resident contacted the landlord on 9 January 2023 to report that the communal areas were dirty, and no cleaning had taken place since the previous year. Inspection reports provided to this Service show that no cleaning took place between 2 December 2022 and 16 January 2023. This was a period of more than 6 weeks and was unreasonable, and not what the landlord had promised and was therefore a failing.
14. This Service has been provided with 20 separate block inspection reports that took place between November 2022 and April 2024. The reports show that almost half of the inspections were not taking place on a 2 weekly basis, as the landlord had previously agreed. The contractor noted, on 23 February 2023, that the floors were in “desperate need of a deep clean”. The landlord had previously stated that the cleaning taking place on a 4 weekly basis was “not adequate” and had arranged for the cleaning do be carried out every 2 weeks. The cleaning was not regularly taking place on a 2 weekly basis and therefore the landlord’s actions were unreasonable. The landlord also did not comply with the provisions of its neighbourhood management policy set out above.
15. The landlord wrote to the resident on 6 September 2023 and acknowledged that the cleaning of the building had not been up to standard. It said it had carried out a deep clean of the communal floors on 17 August 2023. Whilst this was welcome, this was 6 months after the contractor had reported that a deep clean of the floors was required and was therefore an unreasonable delay.
16. Where a landlord has acknowledged failings, we will consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this, we take into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with the Ombudsman’s dispute resolution principles: be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
17. The landlord acted fairly by making apologies within its complaint responses and by acknowledging failures with the communal cleaning. However, its offer of £25 compensation was not proportionate to the distress and inconvenience incurred by the resident or to the length of time the issue had been going on. Although the landlord made several promises to carry out work to rectify the problem within its complaint responses, its actions did not fully resolve the issue and therefore the landlord did not put things right. Therefore, this investigation has found maladministration. We have made an order for the landlord to pay the resident a further £200 compensation in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for situations such as this, where there was a failure which adversely affected the resident and where the landlord has acknowledged failings, but the offer was not proportionate to the failings identified by our investigation. We have also ordered that the cleaning schedule is clearly displayed within the block.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of repairs to the communal entrance door

18. The landlord’s responsive repairs policy states that emergency repairs will be carried out within 24 hours. The landlord issued an emergency job to repair the communal door on 12 July 2023. This was completed 1 day later in line with its responsive repairs policy. It issued a further job to repair the communal door on 2 August 2023 and this was again completed on time and in line with its policy.
19. The landlord issued a further emergency job to repair the communal door on 30 August 2023 and it noted that the building was insecure. This repair was completed on 7 September 2023 and therefore not in line with its policy for dealing with emergency repairs.
20. Despite recording that the door had been repaired on 7 September 2023, the landlord noted an issue with the door on 6 September 2023 concerning an air lock, that it said would require a specialist engineer. This work was completed on 26 October 2023. According to its responsive repairs policy, the landlord states that jobs of this nature are given a routine priority and will be completed within 28 days. This repair took 50 days to complete and was therefore not in keeping with its policy. This Service acknowledges that there are occasions where specialist engineers are required, however this repair was considerably delayed and therefore a failing.
21. The landlord acted fairly by making an apology within its complaint responses. Its offer of £25 compensation however was not proportionate to the distress and inconvenience incurred by the resident or to the length of time the issue had been going on. It made assurances within its complaint responses that the repair would be completed but this was delayed, as mentioned above. Therefore, this investigation has found service failure. We have made an order for the landlord to pay the resident a further £100 compensation in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for situations such as this, where the landlord has made an offer of compensation, but it does not quite reflect the detriment to the resident and is not quite proportionate to the failings identified by this investigation.

Determination

22. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of concerns with the communal cleaning.
23. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of repairs to the communal entrance door.

Orders

24. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Pay the resident compensation of £350 made up of:
       1. £50 previously offered by the landlord, if it has not already been paid.
       2. A further £200 for the distress and inconvenience incurred by the resident as a result of the landlord’s response to his reports of concerns with the communal cleaning. This amount should be paid direct to the resident and not used to offset any monies he may owe the landlord.
       3. A further £100 for the distress and inconvenience incurred by the resident as a result of the landlord’s response to his reports of repairs required to the communal entrance door. This amount should be paid direct to the resident and not used to offset any monies he may owe the landlord.
    2. Display the communal cleaning schedule within the block.
    3. Confirm compliance with these orders to this Service.