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Orbit Group Limited (202307509)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202307509

Orbit Group Limited

19 February 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

  1. This complaint is about landlord’s handling of repairs related to leaks at the resident’s home.

Background

  1. The resident was an assured tenant of the landlord, a housing association. He was a resident at the property from July 2019 until August 2024.
  2. On 15 December 2022, the resident reported water leaking from his ceiling. He said his ceiling was likely to fall. The landlord attended the same day and fixed a leak on a water tank. The resident reported a further leak on 11 January 2023. The landlord inspected the leak the same day. On 29 January 2023, the resident reported that his ceiling had collapsed. The landlord inspected the leak that day. It then decanted the resident on 31 January 2023. The landlord completed a repair in February 2023. But further leaks occurred in March 2023.
  3. The resident raised a stage 1 complaint with the landlord on 9 March 2023. He explained he was unhappy its handling of the issue. The resident requested a management transfer on 11 May 2023. He explained that he was suffering panic attacks following the ceiling collapse.
  4. The landlord provided its stage 1 response on 18 May 2023. It explained what repairs and actions it had taken during December 2022 to April 2023. It confirmed the leak returned in March 2023. It said that it had raised a work order to complete repairs within 3-months on 18 April 2023. The landlord acknowledged there had been a delay in it starting works, following the leak on 11 January 2023. It apologised and offered compensation of £370. This included £100 for complaint handling failures. The resident escalated his complaint on 2 June 2023. He said that the landlord had not answered his request for a management transfer.
  5. The landlord provided its stage 2 response on 6 July 2023. It explained that it completed repairs between 27 April 2023 to 11 May 2023, with it decanting the resident during this period. The landlord explained that it was reviewing the resident’s request for a management transfer. It said that its management move panel would contact him directly to confirm the outcome. The landlord acknowledged that there had been a delay in it repairing the leak in full. It increased its compensation offer to £620. This included £50 for the delay in its stage 2 response.
  6. The resident asked the Service to investigate his complaint in July 2023. He explained he was unhappy with the landlord’s compensation.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. 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.
  2. The resident advised the Service that he was unhappy with the time it was taking the landlord to agree and arrange a management transfer. The resident raised this as a new stage 1 complaint with the landlord in December 2023. The landlord provided its stage 1 response on 22 January 2024. We have not seen evidence of the resident escalating this new complaint. Because of that the resident has not exhausted the landlord’s complaint process regarding this issue.
  3. In accordance with paragraph 42.a. this issue will not be considered in this report. If the resident’s concerns remain, he has the option of asking the landlord to escalate his complaint, although the time that has now elapsed may mean the landlord declines to do so.

Policy and procedure

  1. The landlord’s repair policy states that for essential repairs, such as when there is a leak from a water pipe, it aims to make these safe within 24 hours. For routine repairs, it aims to complete these with 28 days. However, for major repairs that will take longer than 4 hours, require several different types of trade or requires scaffolding, it will complete repairs within 90 days.

The landlord’s handling of repairs related to leaks at the property.

  1. The evidence shows that the landlord completed emergency appointments for the leaks the resident reported in December 2022 and January 2023. This was reasonable and in line with its policy. The landlord considered it had fixed the leak on 15 December 2022. However, the resident reported a leak on 11 January 2023. This required the landlord to put up scaffolding to check the roof, where the communal water tank was located. In its stage 1 response in May 2023, the landlord acknowledged that there was a delay in it staring repairs after its visit on 11 January 2023.
  2. The resident’s ceiling collapsed on 29 January 2023. This resulted in the resident moving in with family before the landlord decanted him on 31 January 2023. It was reasonable for the landlord to decant the resident while it completed repairs to reduce the disruption caused to him. The evidence shows that the landlord completed repairs to the water tank during February and March 2023. However, further leaks occurred. Following further investigation, the landlord identified that a leak on a freshwater pipe at another property on 28 March 2023. While the resident reported two leaks before his ceiling collapsed, the evidence does not indicate any clear failings in the steps the landlord took.
  3. Due to the ongoing leaks, the landlord cancelled the plastering work it had arranged for March 2023 to repair the ceiling. It was reasonable for the landlord to cancel this work until it had fixed all the leaks, otherwise, this could have damaged the replaced plaster. The landlord completed a damp and mould survey on 22 March 2023. The survey recommended that the landlord dry out the property before completing repairs. It had already installed dehumidifiers by this point to help dry out the property. The landlord acted appropriately in determining what actions it needed to take fix the damage caused to the property by the leaks.
  4. The landlord arranged to repair the damaged caused to the ceiling and walls on 18 April 2023. The evidence shows that it completed this work by 11 May 2023. This was within the timescale of its policy from the date that it could reasonably start the decorative repair work. However, in its stage 2 response in July 2023, the landlord acknowledged that there was a delay in it repairing the leak in full.
  5. The evidence shows that the landlord acted reasonably and in line with its repairs policy in response to the resident’s reports of leaks. Nonetheless, the landlord believed it could have done better. It recognised the impact on the resident from the collapsed ceiling. As such, it was appropriate that the landlord apologised in both of its complaint responses for distress and inconvenience caused by the time it took to complete repairs.
  6. The landlord offered the resident compensation totalling £470 for failures in its repair handling and the distress caused to the resident. This amount reasonably reflected the time the repairs took and demonstrated the landlord’s appreciation of their effect on the resident. In addition, the landlord acknowledged and apologised for the delays in its complaint responses. It compensated the resident a total of £150 for these failures. This was a fair resolution for the landlord’s complaint handling failures.
  7. Overall, the landlord has taken appropriate steps to acknowledge, apologise and put things right. The landlord’s recognition of the impact its failings had on the resident, along with its apology and financial redress, reasonably put things right and resolved the complaint.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53.b. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord made an offer of redress which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion satisfactorily resolves the resident’s complaint about its handling of repairs related to leaks at the property.

Recommendations

  1. If it has not done so already the landlord should now pay the resident the £620 compensation it offered in its final complaint response.