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Peabody Trust (202403150)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202403150

Peabody Trust

4 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

  1. The complaint is about:
    1. The landlord’s handling of the residents’ report of a non-flushing toilet.
    2. The associated complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident lives in a two-bedroom flat under an assured tenancy. The property has one toilet.
  2. On 4 July 2022, the resident raised a repair for an issue with her toilet flush. The landlord raised a job for the repair on 5 July 2022. The job was given to one of the landlord’s contractors. The contractors cancelled the job on an unknown date. They said they could not contact the resident to book an appointment for the repair.
  3. The resident complained to the landlord on 5 August 2022. She said the toilet flush had still not been repaired. She said she was due to have major surgery in the coming weeks and her discharge from hospital depended on having a working toilet.
  4. Also, on 5 August 2022 the resident made a separate complaint about a leak from the toilet following repairs the landlord had done earlier. The landlord provided its final response to this complaint on 12 October 2022. While it focused on the leak issue, the landlord also referred to the flush problem and explained its contractors had not been able to contact her about it. The repair had therefore been cancelled. It asked the resident to confirm if the repair was still needed.
  5. The landlord issued its stage 1 response to the toilet flush complaint on 18 April 2023. It explained the history of repairs it had done to the toilet and acknowledged there had been delays while it tried to identify the cause of the flush problem. It said the repair had been completed that month and apologised for the time it had taken. It offered the resident £300 compensation for the inconvenience caused.
  6. The resident escalated the flush complaint on 24 April 2023. She said that because the toilet had not been working properly, she had not been living at the property and highlighted the efforts she had made to chase up the repair. She said she wanted the landlord to explain the repair and complaint delays. She also wanted it to acknowledge that despite not living at the property she had continued to pay full rent and council tax.
  7. The landlord issued its final response on 13 June 2023. It acknowledged its contractor had cancelled the July 2022 flush repair incorrectly and apologised. It explained it had asked the resident in its October 2022 complaint response to confirm if the flush issue was still a problem but had not heard back from her. Because of that it had not taken any further action. It recognised that despite the lack of response to the October letter, it should have followed the matter up when it received the resident’s complaint about the flush in August 2022.  
  8. The landlord apologised for its failings and offered the resident an additional £250 for poor compliant handling.
  9. The resident remained unhappy with the landlord’s response and escalated her complaint to this service.

Assessment and findings

Landlord’s handling of the residents’ report of a non-flushing toilet

  1. The landlord’s responses to the resident’s complaint acknowledged that its contractors had not properly dealt with the original repair flush repair in July 2022, and that it should have been alerted to the unresolved issue after receiving the resident’s complaint in August. It apologised for these two failings and offered compensation.
  2. However, the evidence shows some matters which the landlord did not recognise. These were its lack of appreciation of the urgency of the repair issue, and the date when the resident chased up the matter and informed the landlord it was still not resolved.
  3. In its final complaint response, the landlord noted that the resident had not explained she only had one toilet in her home, and because of that it had treated the repair as routine rather than an emergency. The landlord’s explanation may be correct, but its actions in regard to the earlier toilet leak included providing the resident with a temporary chemical toilet because of the lack of an alternative. This Service would expect the landlord to therefore have recent records showing the property only had one toilet. Furthermore, the resident had explained why there was an element of urgency with the repair because of her post-surgery recovery, and she explained the need for a working toilet. The landlord did not show in its complaint responses an awareness and appreciation of this urgency.
  4. The landlord had asked the resident in October 2022 if she was still having problems with the toilet flush. It explained that it did not receive a response. In her correspondence with the landlord in 2023 the resident refers to having discussed the unresolved issue with one of its officers in October, but no evidence of the actual discussion or correspondence has been seen. Because of that the landlord’s explanation is understandable, and meant it was not aware from October that the issue was unresolved.
  5. The landlord said in its final complaint response that the resident reported the issue again at the end of March 2023 and it completed the repair on 12 April. However, the evidence shows the resident had actually made the landlord aware of the unresolved repair in an email on 13 February. That means the repair which the landlord says should have been treated as an emergency (as there was only 1 toilet in the property) took approximately 41 working days against its repair target of 4 hours.
  6. Neither of these two failings were acknowledged or addressed in the landlord’s complaint responses, meaning they remain unresolved and unremedied. The resident did not explain what specific impact the unresolved repair had on her (apart from deciding not to live at the property), but given the overall importance of this type of repair, the landlord’s incomplete complaint response was a significant failing.
  7. In her complaint to the landlord the resident asked it to acknowledge she had continued paying rent and council tax while the repair was outstanding, even though she had not been living at the property because of the lack of a working toilet. In some repair situations a landlord may offer to decant a tenant, usually when the property is unliveable, but they would still continue paying their normal rent while decanted. Accordingly, it was appropriate for the resident to continue paying rent.

The handling of the associated complaint

  1. In its complaint response the landlord acknowledged it had not handled the resident’s complaints well, especially in not responding to her original complaint about the toilet flush. The evidence also shows it caused confusion with an inaccurate description of the complaint when it acknowledged the resident’s escalation request. It apologised and offered £250 compensation. The landlord’s recognition of its poor complaint handling along with its apologies and compensation were reasonable and appropriate remedies, in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the toilet flush repair.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 53.b of the Scheme the landlord has offered redress to the resident prior to investigation which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, satisfactorily resolves its poor complaint handling.

Orders and Recommendations

Orders

  1. In light of the failings found in this investigation the landlord is ordered to pay the resident compensation of £800 within 4 weeks of this report. This is comprised of:
    1. £500 for its poor handling of the toilet flush repair.
    2. £300 which it previously offered (which should be paid now if it has not already been).
  2. Within 8 weeks of this report the landlord must review this case in the light of these findings and identify lessons it can use to avoid a repeat of the poor service experienced by the resident. The outcome of its review must be shared with the resident and the Service.
  3. Evidence of compliance with these orders must be provided to the Service by their respective deadlines.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord, if it has not already done so, should pay the £250 compensation it offered in its final response for poor complaint handling.