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Plymouth Community Homes Limited (202316637)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202316637

Plymouth Community Homes Limited

28 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. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about the condition of the back garden.

Background

  1. The resident has an assured tenancy with the landlord, a housing association. The property is described as a 2-bedroom house. There are no vulnerabilities recorded by the landlord for the resident or her household.
  2. The landlord noted it responded to the resident’s request for an inspection of her garden on 13 June 2023. It said the resident wanted works done to her garden, as the landlord had carried out similar works for other tenants.
  3. The resident raised a formal complaint on 27 June 2023. She said the landlord had refused her request for the garden to be levelled even though it was unsafe for her children. The landlord acknowledged in its stage 1 response that it was steep, but safe, due to steps and handrails to the top of the garden. It said the safety issue raised by the resident was caused due to works carried out to the front and rear gardens without its permission.
  4. The resident remained dissatisfied and escalated the complaint to stage 2 on 10 July 2023. She said she wanted the garden tiered, so she could make use of it and for her children’s safety. The landlord’s decision remained the same when it responded to the complaint on 31 July 2023. The resident referred the complaint to us on 15 August 2023. She said the landlord should carry out the works due to health and safety issues.

Events after the complaints handling process

  1. The resident advised us on 11 February 2025 that the landlord had since carried out some work to her garden to address a drainage issue.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. From the evidence seen, the resident raised 1 concern about the condition of the garden in May 2021 since moving into the property in 2017. The landlord said it visited and resolved this by removing tree stumps. The resident confirmed this was the case during our telephone discussion on 11 February 2025. We have not seen evidence that she raised other concerns until June 2023 when she asked the landlord to carry out works to make the garden safe. Therefore, this assessment will focus on the landlord’s handling of her concerns from June 2023.

The resident’s concerns about the condition of the garden

  1. The tenancy agreement states that the landlord has responsibility for keeping in repair the structure and exterior of a property. It further states that the resident is responsible for the maintenance of their garden.
  2. The landlord has a responsibility under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, introduced by The Housing Act 2004, to assess hazards and risks within its rented properties. Its health and safety policy states it will respond to customer, tenants, and contractor enquiries promptly and provide sensible risk management solutions. It aims to provide and maintain safe and healthy working conditions and places to live.
  3. The landlord’s alterations policy states that residents are required to seek written consent before making alterations and improvements to their home. Where the landlord is not satisfied with works carried out by residents (where they did not request consent), it will take action to remedy the situation and recharge the resident.
  4. The landlord responded to the resident’s request for works to her garden in June 2023. She said other tenants of the landlord’s advised that it had carried out works to their gardens. She said she wanted the same works to be carried out to her garden. The landlord said 2 repairs supervisors inspected the property on 13 June 2023 and assessed the condition of the garden. It noted the resident had carried out works to the front and rear gardens without asking for permission.
  5. The evidence indicates the landlord refused the resident’s request for works after its inspection. However, we have not seen evidence that it explained the decision to her with reasons. Following this, the resident formally complained on 27 June 2023 that the garden was unsafe for her children. She said her child fell and sprained their ankle while they were in the garden. On receiving the complaint, the landlord phoned the resident on 28 June 2023 and left a message confirming it would not do the garden works. In its stage 1 response sent on 7 July 2023 the landlord acknowledged the garden was steep but explained that it had steps and handrails with a sloping grass bank next to it.
  6. The landlord explained that the resident had dug up a section of the grassed area in the rear garden (creating the reported health and safety hazard) and used the soil for works she was doing in the front garden. It said she should have asked for permission for the works in line with its tenants’ alterations to homes policy.
  7. The landlord further explained that if the proposed works were approved, all costs would have to be met by the resident, including rectifying any health and safety hazards they had created by alterations they had carried out without permission. It said where permission for any works they had carried out so far is refused, they would be required to reinstate the garden to its original condition, at their own cost. The landlord’s response was in line with its policy.
  8. Though we have not seen evidence of this, the landlord informed us that its repairs supervisors discussed their findings with their health and safety team. It said this was done over the phone to assess the pictures taken during the inspection. It said following their assessment they advised there were no safety concerns. The landlord further advised in its complaint responses that it would consider retrospective permission if the resident submitted the relevant information for the works. However, the landlord should have kept a record of the discussion and any comments made by its health and safety team.
  9. The resident explained to us on 11 February 2025 that she:
    1. Decided to carry out works to the front garden to create some outdoor space.
    2. Could not afford to do the back garden but later found out from other tenants that the landlord had done similar works for them.
    3. Dug out some soil from the back garden to stop her washing from getting dirty in the mud.
  10. While we acknowledge the resident’s concerns, the landlord’s policy is quite clear that permission should be requested before commencing any works. Although it has an obligation to carry out repairs to the property, it did not find any fault with the condition of the garden.
  11. However, the resident flagged up concerns in her stage 1 and stage 2 complaints (on 27 June and 10 July 2023) that her child sprained their ankle while they were in the garden. She said the child’s injury was as a direct result of the safety issues with the garden. We have not seen evidence that the landlord dealt with this in line with its health and safety policy.
  12. The landlord told us on 17 February 2025 that its health and safety team did not deem the slope a safety concern. As noted earlier, we have not seen evidence of its discussions with the health and safety team, and if particular attention was drawn to the injury the resident said her child sustained in the garden. From the information seen it did not address this concern in its responses to the resident or consider any risk management solutions (where necessary) in line with its policy. This was not appropriate.
  13. For the above reason the Ombudsman has found service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about the condition of the back garden. An order has been made to address this.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about the condition of the garden.

Orders and recommendations

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Apologise for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident the sum of £100 for the inconvenience due to its response to her concerns about the condition of the garden.
    3. Revisit and carry out a thorough documented inspection and write to the resident setting out its decision and the evidence it relied on.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord indicated in its complaint responses that the garden poses a health and safety concern due to unauthorised works. It should follow its alterations policy and determine if further works are required to bring it to the right standards.