Onward Homes Limited (202223253)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202223253

Onward Homes Limited

13 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of sewerage repairs and the level of compensation offered to the resident.
The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

The resident is a leaseholder of the landlord, under a shared ownership scheme. The resident moved into the property on 29 August 2019. The property is a new build 3 bed end terraced house.
The resident reported household physical health issues to the landlord.
The resident reported problems with her drainage to the landlord in October 2019 and again in August 2020.
The defects period ended on 8 October 2020.
The resident submitted a stage 1 complaint to the landlord on 15 April 2022. This was acknowledged on 19 April 2022.
The resident complained that there was an ‘awful’ smell coming from the drains and that her child was receiving hospital treatment with symptoms of what could be related to sewer gas exposure. The resident advised that she was also unwell and asked the landlord to fix the sewerage drains immediately.
The landlord engaged a contractor to jet the drains on 19 April 2022.
The landlord carried out a CCTV survey of the sewerage drains on 21 April 2022. The report found multiple defects in one section of the drainage: in particular an open joint and displaced joint in the foul drainage pipes.
The landlord responded to the resident’s stage 1 complaint on 29 April 2022. It stated the following:
1. It apologised for not responding in a more timely manner. It advised that, as the resident submitted her complaint on a bank holiday when the office was unattended, it had acknowledged this on the next working day, which was 19 April 2022.
2. It had arranged for the drains to be jetted and cleared on 19 April 2022, and this was completed the same day.
3. It had carried out a CCTV survey on 21 April 2022, which showed issues with the drains on the front and side of the property.
4. It had been in touch with a specialist contractor with dates to meet onsite to review the options available.
5. It needed to establish if the works were within the entirety of the property’s boundary. It would take longer to complete if any works were outside of the property’s boundary as it would need to submit notices to the local authority to approve and grant permission for works to be completed on their highway.
6. It would inspect the drains when it visited the property and would clear them again if needed and would review this until the remedial works were completed.
7. It advised the resident to contact it within 10 days if she was not satisfied with the response.
The resident responded to the landlord on 29 April 2022, stating she had reported the drainage issued when she moved into the property over 2 years ago. She said she was living with a sewage smell both inside and outside the home and would be awaiting the landlord’s response before contacting environmental health, a solicitor, and this Service.
The landlord attended the resident’s property on 4 May 2022. It wrote to the resident on 6 May 2022 with a stage 1 complaint response review letter. It advised of the following:
1. It thanked the resident for allowing it to review the issues she had raised, including the emails she had sent following its stage 1 response.
2. It had checked its repair history and with the developer to see if the resident had raised issues with the drains during handover or prior to her complaint. It could not find anything logged about the drains until the resident’s complaint of 19 April 2022.
3. Following its visit on 4 May 2022, it had reviewed the results of the CCTV drainage survey and it had sent this information out to contractors for them to review and provide prices to resolve the issues. The survey had identified issues with a misplaced joint on the drainage line. As such, it had asked a drainage contractor to check the drains and jet the drains on a weekly basis if required, until the remedial works were completed.
4. It was awaiting proposals for remedial works and would then be able to look to appoint a contractor. It would update the resident as to progress on 20 May 2022.
The resident responded to the landlord on the same day. She stated she had alerted contractors to the smell from the sewage drains within weeks of moving in (August 2019). She said that other neighbours had also complained and that contractors had been out on numerous occasions to try to unblock the drains.
The resident also said that contractors had told her upon moving in that there were problems with the drains as there was a ridge in the pipework. Further, she had informed the landlord of the ridge in the sewerage pipework, 2 weeks prior to the landlord carrying out the CCTV survey. She stated that it was very concerning that the contractors knew about the ridge but did nothing, leading to her having to inhale sewage for 33 months, and not being able to enjoy her home.
The resident contacted the landlord on 23 May 2022, to inform it that the drains had not been checked the previous week. She asked the landlord why the contractor had not attended and asked for further updates.
The resident contacted the landlord again on 13 June 2022 and 24 June 2022 to advise that there was a smell coming from the drains and that she did not believe anyone had come to clear them on either week. She asked when the remedial repairs to the drains would commence.
The resident contacted the landlord again on 1 July 2022 and 8 July 2022 to chase the drainage works.
The landlord visited the resident’s property again on 13 July 2022.
An internal email sent by the landlord on 13 July 2022, shows that it had attempted to contact the developer who originally undertook the scheme and had not received any response. It had then approached 2 further external contractors to see if they would be willing to quote and complete the works.
The resident contacted the landlord again on 29 July 2022, to inform it that the drains had not been cleared for a few weeks. The landlord responded on 5 August 2022, to inform the resident that it had passed the concerns onto the relevant manager and would contact the resident as soon as it received a response.
The resident contacted the landlord again on 12 August 2022 and 15 August 2022 to let it know that the drains had not been cleared since 28 June 2022 and there was a very bad smell which was ‘making people ill’. She also stated she had received no reply to her question regarding the contractors knowing about the ridge in the sewerage pipe when she moved into the property.
She contacted the landlord again on 16 August 2022 to advise that the drains had been cleared that day.
The landlord contacted the resident on 17 August 2022 regarding the regular drain clearing. It stated that it had spoken to the drain clearing company who had confirmed attendance on a weekly basis. It told the resident that when attending, if the drains were clear it may not have needed to jet any blockage.
It also informed the resident that it had spoken to a contractor who would be likely to carry out the remedial works to the drains. It was finalising details of pricing the works and when it received this, it would arrange a further visit to talk through logistics, time scales and a start date.
The resident contacted the landlord again on 11 October 2022, to chase the remedial works to the sewage drainage, which had been due to be fixed at the end of August/beginning of September 2022. She chased this again on 12 October 2022, 13 October 2022 and 19 October 2022.
The resident chased the drainage repair works again on 20 October 2022, 21 October 2022, 25 October 2022, 1 November 2022 and 3 and 4 November 2022.
The landlord responded via email on 4 November 2022. It apologised for the delay and informed the resident that due to unforeseen circumstances with the original contractor, it had had to engage another company who had been onsite and inspected and were pricing the works. It informed the resident that it expected a quote the following week and once it received this, it would contact her immediately with an update on a date for the works to start.
The resident responded to the landlord on 7 November 2022. She asked for compensation for years of distress as the drains had not been fixed. She reiterated that it was known there was a fault within the pipe works within a week of her moving into the property. She said that she had contacted the landlord on numerous occasions and that it had sent contractors round to clear the drains in the first 12 months and then had done nothing to fix the drains until April 2022. She stated she had paid over £13000 in rent and could not enjoy her home as she could not eat in the house, open the windows, or sit outside due to sewage gas inhalation.
The landlord responded on the same day, informing the resident that contractors would be carrying out the drainage works the following week.
The drainage works started on 17 November 2022 and were completed in November/December 2022. This Service has not had sight of the specific completion date.
The resident contacted this Service on 3 January 2023. She complained that the works to the sewerage drainage had taken 3 years and that there was a constant smell, which made the household unwell. She also complained that when the landlord repaired the sewerage drainage, it dug up the garden and did not return it to its original condition.
This Service advised the resident that we can only investigate complaints which have exhausted the landlord’s internal complaints procedure.
This Service wrote to the landlord on 19 January 2023, asking it to either respond to the resident’s stage 1 complaint or to respond at stage 2 of its internal complaints process.
The resident raised a Stage 2 complaint with the landlord on 30 January 2023. She stated that she wanted compensation as she had lived in a house with faulty sewerage drains for over 3 years. She said she had paid over £13000 in rent over this period for a house that she could not live in, due to the sewerage gas.
The landlord responded to the resident’s Stage 2 complaint on 9 March 2023. It stated the following:
1. It had reviewed all call logs and complaints management system and it could see that the resident raised concerns that the drains may be blocked in October 2019 and then again via email in August 2020. There were no further records of this issue until her Stage 1 complaint of April 2022.
2. It had acted on the drainage issue on 19 April 2022 and jetted the drains to clear any blockages.
3. The drainage had been replaced, following the CCTV survey and the resident had reported no further issues regarding this after the works were completed.
4. It re-laid turf in the resident’s garden following the drainage works. As a gesture of goodwill, it would erect a temporary fence and relay any turf that had been walked on by passers by. It would also replace the resident’s tree in her front garden, with a like for like replacement.
5. It offered the resident £100 compensation payment and identified learning opportunities from the resident’s complaint.
The landlord provided the resident with a further Stage 2 complaint response on 10 May 2023. It increased its offer of compensation to £1000 as redress for the service failure. It also identified further learning from the complaint.
The resident contacted this Service on 11 June 2023. She was unhappy with the landlord’s final response as she stated it took the landlord 3 years to fix the drains. She stated she had been unable to enjoy her home, as she could not eat in the house, open windows, or sit outside due to the bad smell and sulphur gas inhalation.
As an outcome to her complaint, the resident would like an explanation as to why the sewerage drainpipes were not repaired for over 3 years, when she states that the contractors were aware of the issues when the houses were built. She would also like an apology and compensation for the distress, inconvenience, time and trouble and the impact on the enjoyment of her home. She would also like compensation for the impact on her household’s physical health.

Assessment and findings

Scope of Investigation

Although the resident mentions the impact on her health, and we understand the resident’s frustration, this Service is unable to investigate issues which concern health and/or medical matters. It is not our role to assess or investigate the impact gas or fumes may have had on persons living in the property. Section 42 (f) of the Scheme states “The Ombudsman may not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion: concern matters where the Ombudsman considers it quicker, fairer, more reasonable or more effective to seek a remedy through the courts, other tribunal or procedure.” Given this, any assertion about health impact on a person is a question of liability and causation. Such matters can only be considered by the courts.
Nevertheless, this Service can investigate the adverse effect to the resident in terms distress, inconvenience and time and trouble.
The resident said that she first reported issues with her sewage drainage in 2019 and then again in August 2020. Paragraph 42 (c) of the Scheme states that we may not consider complaints which were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period, which would normally be within 6 months of the matters arising. The resident formally complained to the landlord on 15 April 2022, 1 year and 8 months after she reported issues with the sewerage drainage. Although it is a concern that the landlord did not attend to the repair at the time and this Service appreciates the resident’s frustration, this investigation will focus on events from 15 April 2022, onwards.

Landlord Obligations/Policies and Procedures

The landlord’s website information for shared owners states that new homes are covered by the National House Builders Council’s (NHBC) warranty or equivalent. This usually covers homes for defects in the building or workmanship for the first 12 months after residents move in and for structural problems for 10 or 12 years.
Schedule 2 (Easements, Rights and Privileges ) of the leasehold agreement states that there is to be ‘free and uninterrupted passage and running of water sewage, gas, electricity and other services over, through and along all sewers, drains, watercourses, gutters, downspouts, pipes, wires, cables and all other installations in or over or under the Estate and Adjoining premises’.
The lease (Section 3.6) goes on to say that the landlord will carry out all works within a reasonable time and in case of emergencies, to carry out such works as may be needed to deal with the emergency.
The landlord’s website confirms that it has 3 categories of repairs:
1. Emergency repairs – (repairs which have an immediate or potential health and safety risk) which it will respond to within 4 hours.
2. Urgent repairs – which it will respond to within 5 working days.
3. Routine repairs – which it will respond to within 20 working days.
The landlord has a 2 stage complaints policy. It offers early resolution initially when it tries to resolve a complaint informally within 1 working day. If this is not possible it moves to:
1. Stage 1 – the landlord aims to respond within 10 working days, outlining what actions it will take to resolve the issue. The complaint outcome will be in writing, clearly setting out its understanding of the complaint, findings, and details of how it intends to put things right.
2. Stage 2 (review)- The review will be carried out by a director. The resident will receive a response within 20 working days, outlining what actions the landlord will take to resolve the complaint.
The landlord’s remedies and financial redress guidance policy states that in cases of service failure causing a high impact on residents, it will consider financial compensation of over £700. It classes a long-term delay in the completion of a repair as a high impact service failure.

Dispute Resolution Principles

When investigating a complaint, the Ombudsman applies its Dispute Resolution Principles. These are high level good practice guidance developed from the Ombudsman’s experience of resolving disputes, for use by everyone involved in the complaints process. There are only three principles driving effective dispute resolution:
1. Be fair- treat people fairly and follow fair processes.
2. put things right, and;
3. learn from outcomes.
The Ombudsman must first consider whether a failing on the part of the landlord occurred, and if so, whether this led to any adverse affect or detriment to the resident. If it is found that a failing did lead to an adverse affect, the investigation will then consider whether the landlord has taken enough action to ‘put things right’ and ‘learn from outcomes’.

The landlord’s handling of sewerage drainage repairs and the level of compensation offered to the resident.

The resident referenced telephone calls which took place with the landlord from October 2019 as well as speaking to contractors who were on site from September 2019 regarding the smell from the drains at the property. Although, the landlord confirmed within its stage one response review correspondence dated 6 May 2022, that it was unable to find any concerns raised regarding the drains until the formal complaint dated April 2022, the landlord later retracted this in its stage two response dated 9 March 2023, confirming upon review of its call logs and complaint management systems, it was able to identify the concerns were raised in October 2019 and again via email correspondence in August 2020. Although there is no documentary evidence from October 2019 I find that it is reasonable to assess the actions of the landlord from October 2019. This is because the landlord has accepted this version of events and ultimately the statements the resident had made.
I note that between August 2020 and April 2022 there is no evidence of correspondence or communication between the resident and the landlord, however it is evident the resident’s concerns were not addressed until they were raised again in April 2022, which was a significant period of time and a failure of the landlord
As such, an order of compensation for the distress and inconvenience on the resident between October 2019 and April 2022 is required. I have considered the impact of COVID-19 on both the resident and the landlord and acknowledge due to the national lockdown the landlord was unable to complete core duties and responsibilities, with resources heavily impacted between March 2020 and August 2020, as such this period has been disregarded, as the landlord could only attend to emergency repairs and this was not classified as such. Although the landlord’s resources were potentially still impacted between September 2020 and April 2022 at various stages due to further lockdowns in November 2020 and January 2021, I acknowledge the drains were external and restrictions were eased by the government in August 2020 which gave the landlord sufficient opportunity to address the matters from September 2020. As such, it is reasonable to compensate the resident £50 per month from October 2019 to March 2020 equating to 5 months, and between September 2020 and April 2022, disregarding the additional lockdown periods, thus equating to a further 16 months.
This means compensation of £1,050 is ordered for the distress and inconvenience caused by the repairs not being addressed between October 2019 and April 2022, and the impact this had on the resident’s enjoyment of the property at a period where people were largely confined within their properties.
Following this, the resident reported the issue with the sewerage drains to the landlord on 15 April 2022. As the resident sent this report to a personal email address (which was not monitored due to the public holiday) rather than the Service, centre it was reasonable that the landlord responded on 19 April 2022, the next working day. The landlord arranged for the drains to be jetted on the same day of 19 April 2022, which was reasonable and within its policy.
It also arranged for a CCTV survey of the drains, which was undertaken on 21 April 2022. This was again reasonable and within the landlord’s repairs policy. It also demonstrates a proactive approach in trying to ascertain the reason for the fault and any remedial works needed.
Further, the landlord arranged for the drains to be jetted on a weekly basis pending the results of the survey and any remedial works. This was also appropriate and shows that the landlord attempted to deal with the situation.
However, it was not reasonable that the drain works were not completed until November 2022. It is also not appropriate that the drains were not always jetted on a weekly basis. This caused the resident significant time and trouble in chasing the repair and distress and inconvenience in living with the smell for many months. It also significantly impacted on the enjoyment of her home, particularly in the summer months.
Although this Service understands that there were issues between the original developer and the landlord, the resident was not advised of this in a timely manner and it would have been reasonable to update her progress and issue a revised timeline for repairs.
The landlord was aware of that the resident had expressed concerns about the impact of the sewage gas on her health and that of her daughter, and that her daughter was undergoing hospital treatment. This caused the resident significant distress and anxiety. It would have been reasonable for the landlord to expedite a full and final repair under the circumstances.
The landlord informed the resident that it would update her on works progress by 20 May 2022, but the resident chased the landlord on at least 10 occasions between May 2022 and November 2022. This caused her additional distress and frustration, time and trouble and inconvenience. Further, the delays in works caused significant impact on the enjoyment of her home.
In its final complaint response, the landlord has fully acknowledged that there were service failures in respect of repairs to the sewerage drains. It has offered the resident £1000 compensation and identified learning from the resident’s complaint. It has also repaired the sewerage drainage.
As such, there is no dispute that there were failings on the part of the landlord in its handling of the matter.
The landlord provided financial redress to the adverse effect on the resident in line with its own policy and this Service’s remedies guidance. However, although the landlord identified learning from the complaint and provided financial compensation, commensurate with this Service’s remedies guidance, and completed the repair, it did not apologise to the resident for the failings. Additionally, the landlord did not increase its offer of compensation until its Stage 2 review response in May 2023, which was 13 months after the resident’s original complaint. Therefore a further order of £250 is warranted for the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays in its handling of the sewerage repairs and compensation offer between April 2022 and November 2022.
In addition to the order of £1050 for the distress and inconvenience cause by the delays in responding to the initial report of a drainage issues in October 2019 to April 2022, this totals compensation of £1300 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays in its handling of the drainage and sewerage repairs. And a further £250 for the time and trouble the resident incurred in pursuing the sewerage repairs and compensation offer.
Due to the fact that the landlord has made some redress to the resident, a finding of maladministration is made, rather than the more serious severe maladministration, along with orders for redress.

The landlord’s complaint handling

Although the landlord operates a 2 stage complaints policy, it did not abide by its own policy. After the landlord’s stage 1 complaint response of 29 April 2022, the resident advised that she was not satisfied with the response. The landlord carried out a stage 1 review on 6 May 2022, which is not part of its policy and not in line with this Service’s Complaint Handling Code (The Code).
It would have been appropriate for the landlord to deal with the resident’s dissatisfaction as a stage 2 complaint. The fact that the landlord did not escalate to a stage 2 complaint, would have caused the resident time and trouble in continuing to pursue the complaint. It also impacted on her ability to escalate the complaint to this Service sooner. Furthermore, it may have impacted on the time that the substantive issue was dealt with.
The landlord only accepted a Stage 2 complaint from the resident on 30 January 2023, after intervention from this Service. This is not appropriate and caused the resident frustration and time and trouble in pursuing the complaint.
Additionally, although the landlord provided a Stage 2 response to the resident on 9 March 2023, when it informed the resident that the complaint could now be escalated to this Service, it then provided a further stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 10 May 2023. This is further inappropriate and would have impacted on the resident being able to approach this Service to have the matter addressed. Further, it caused her additional time and trouble and frustration. Although the landlord acknowledged its failings and offered £1000 compensation and advised of lessons learned in the complaint response of 10 May 2023, this is 2 months after its original stage 2 complaint response and 13 months after the resident’s original complaint. This is an inappropriate delay which caused the resident further distress, inconvenience and time and trouble.
As such, a finding of maladministration is made, along with orders for redress.

Determination

In accordance with Paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of sewerage repairs and the level of compensation offered to the resident.
In accordance with Paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

Within four weeks of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
1. Apologise to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
2. Pay the resident £1000 compensation offered, if it has not already done so.
3. Pay the resident an additional £1950 for the following:
  1. £250 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays in its handling of the sewerage repairs and compensation offer between April 2022 and November 2022.
  2. £1050 for the distress and inconvenience cause by the delays in responding to the initial report of a drainage issues in October 2019 to April 2022.
  3. £250 for the time and trouble in pursuing the sewerage repairs and compensation offer.
  4. £400 for the complaint handling failures identified in this report.
4. Review the complaint handling failures in this case to determine what action has been or will be taken to prevent a recurrence of these.
5. Keep a robust record of contact and evidence in relation to each casefile to ensure that the Ombudsman is provided with the a full and relevant casefile upon being called upon.
6. The landlord should provide this Service with evidence of compliance with the above orders.