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Sanctuary Housing Association (202224731)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202224731

Sanctuary Housing Association

10 May 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 response to the resident’s repair requests for a shower.
  2. This Service has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The property is a 4-bedroom house. The tenancy agreement allows no more than 6 people to live in the property.
  2. On 27 September 2022, the resident reported that the downstairs shower was not working and that there were 5 adults and a baby living in the property with only access to an upstairs bath. She chased the repair again on 4 October 2022 and was advised that the target date for repair was 31 October 2022.
  3. On 17 October 2022, the resident complained to the landlord that the issue remained outstanding. She said that an operative replaced a light switch cord but did not fix the issue and they remained without a shower. She said that the shower in the upstairs bathroom had not been working for the past 4 to 5 years because of low water pressure. She wanted the landlord to fix the downstairs shower as a resolution to her complaint. On 18 October 2022, the landlord told the resident that because she had only reported the repair on 11 October 2023, it had not failed in its service to her so it would not accept a complaint.
  4. The resident raised another complaint on 10 November 2022. She said that she reported the repair on 27 September 2022 and there has only been 1 attendance from the landlord, but no repairs were carried out. She said the property had limited water in the bath upstairs due to reduced water pressure. The household were unable to wash every day due to a lack of water and as a resolution the resident wanted the repairs completed immediately.
  5. On 13 November 2022, the landlord acknowledged the complaint and on 23 November 2022, it provided a stage 1 interim response. It advised that it was liaising with the contractor to get the works completed. On 9 December 2022, the landlord emailed the resident and advised that it had received a quote from its contractor and awaited approval due to the costs. On 16 January 2023, the resident emailed this Service because the repair issue remained outstanding. This Service contacted the landlord on 30 January 2023 and requested that it escalate the complaint appropriately.
  6. On 6 February 2023, the landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response. It upheld the complaint. It apologised for the delay in its repairs and in its complaint response. As a resolution to the complaint, it advised that it would arrange a repair appointment before 15 February 2023 and it offered £300 compensation for its delay in the complaint response, overall time, trouble, inconvenience, and increase in water usage.
  7. On 10 February 2023, the resident refused the offer of compensation because the landlord had not confirmed a repair date. She said that if she accepted the offer, she felt that the landlord would delay further in addressing the repairs. On 8 March 2023, the landlord confirmed that it had arranged dehumidifiers for the property on 14 March 2023. On 13 March 2023, the resident escalated the complaint because the repairs had not been completed and she had little faith that the landlord was taking the issue seriously.
  8. On 5 April 2023, the landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response. It upheld the complaint. It advised that it had completed the repair on 21 March 2023 however the repairs had exceeded a reasonable timeframe. It identified that its monitoring of the repair initially fell below expected standards and there was a delay in its approval process. There were significant delays with contractor attendance and providing a quote. It offered compensation of £521 for time, trouble and inconvenience for repairs delay, increased water usage and use of dehumidifiers for 1 week.
  9. On 18 April 2023, the resident contacted the landlord and advised that the work had not been completed. She sent images showing that the work remained outstanding, and that the contractor had only collected the dehumidifier and removed tiles on 23 March 2023. She rejected the offer of compensation until the landlord completed the work.
  10. After the stage 2 complaint response, but before the complaint was duly made with this Service, the landlord completed the repair on 17 May 2023. It provided a further complaint response on the same date and acknowledged that the repair had not been completed and apologised for this error. It offered increased compensation of £666 broken down as: 
  1. £400 – Time, trouble and inconvenience for repairs delay
  2. £175 – Delay in complaint handling
  3. £70 – Water usage
  4. £21 – use of dehumidifiers for 1 week
  1. When the resident brought her complaint to this Service, she remained unhappy because the time taken to organise the repair was unreasonable and the repairs were not complete to a reasonable standard. The shower door had been damaged and the step from the shower was too steep. The resident said that the landlord had not listened to her, and the compensation offer was not sufficient considering the distress and frustration caused to the family. As a resolution, she wanted the repairs completed within a reasonable timeframe to a good standard. She wanted the landlord to provide regular updates, and improve its compensation offer.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The landlord completed repairs to the shower on 17 May 2023, on the same day that it provided its stage 2 complaint response. The resident has advised this Service that although the shower was replaced, she was unhappy with the step up to the shower and reported an issue with the door handle. She confirmed that these remedial repairs were since completed in December 2023. After careful consideration, this element of the complaint has not been included in this investigation. This is because the landlord should have an opportunity to address any issues through its repairs process. Should the resident remain unhappy she should consider raising a further complaint if appropriate. 

The landlord’s response to the resident’s repair requests for a shower.

  1. The resident’s tenancy agreement states that the landlord is obligated “to keep in good repair and proper working order any installations… for water heating and sanitation and for the supply of – water, gas and electricity, including basins, sinks, toilets, flushing systems and waste pipes.” It was therefore appropriate that the landlord raised works to repair the shower.
  2. The landlord’s repairs procedure sets out that it is responsible to repair any installations it provided to the property. Responsive repairs will be allocated a distinct priority category to ensure that its response is proportionate to the urgency of the repair. It will respond to emergency repairs within 24 hours and appointed repairs within 28 days.
  3. The landlord’s compensation policy sets out that it will compensate for room loss if appropriate. It will ‘assess the habitability of a property and use of rooms at the point that a repair request has been requested.’ It allows a maximum of 30% rent for loss of a bathroom. If only part of the room is unusable the percentage will reflect this. 
  4. Personal hygiene is a potential health hazard to either be avoided or minimised in line with the Government’s Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS). Health effects include stress and depression resulting from poor maintenance, particularly where the occupant has little control over the situation. A cause of this hazard is deficiencies within the facilities themselves which increase in excessive sharing of the facilities. A preventative measure includes ensuring there are sufficient numbers of properly connected/fitted baths/showers for (potential) occupants. Landlords should be aware of their obligations under HHSRS and are expected to carry out additional monitoring of a property when potential hazards are identified.
  5. The repair was initially reported by the resident on 27 September 2022, and it was not completed until 17 May 2023, almost 8 months later. This was an unreasonable amount of time for the resident and the other occupants of the property to be without sufficient washing facilities. Although the resident had access to 1 bath, this was not practical given the number of occupants in the household. With this information, the landlord should have prioritised and completed the repair at the earliest opportunity.
  6. After the resident’s initial complaint on 17 October 2022, the complaints team emailed the repair team to confirm if the resident had any other bathing facilities. There is no evidence that the landlord followed up with this enquiry. The landlord should have investigated the resident’s circumstances and considered any actions it could take to improve the resident’s property conditions in line with its tenancy obligations and HHSRS guidance. This failure represents maladministration.
  7. The resident’s repair request was for the downstairs shower. She also reported that the shower in the upstairs bathroom had not been working for 4 to 5 years because of low water pressure, therefore, 2 showers in the property were not working. In line with the landlord’s repair obligations, it should have also repaired the upstairs shower. This repair remains outstanding. The landlord’s failure to identify its repair obligations was significant. If it had repaired the other shower this could have significantly improved the resident’s living conditions.
  8. A considerable cause of the delay was by the contractor appointed by the landlord. The landlord’s contractor was appointed on 3 October 2022 but did not provide a quote for the repair until 6 December 2022. Repair works were then approved on 19 January 2023 but not complete until 17 May 2023. It is ultimately the landlord’s responsibility to manage the repairs and it should have systems in place to effectively manage its relationship and escalate issues appropriately with its contractor. Given the urgency of the repair requirement, and the ongoing delays, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to consider an alternative contractor.
  9. After the landlord received the quote from its contractor, it did not approve the works for 6 weeks, which further delayed the repair. Given the urgency of the repair requirement, the landlord should have systems in place to prioritise approvals for urgent repairs. 
  10. In its complaint’s response the landlord advised that complaints of this nature will be used to improve the level of service it provides in the future. It is not clear to this Service how the landlord used the errors identified in this complaint to improve its services. Given the failures identified and the significant repair delay, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to have carried out a review of the resident’s case to identify and implement improvements to its repair procedures to reduce the likelihood of the same failure reoccurring. The landlord has not demonstrated what learning it took from this case.  
  11. This Service finds that there was severe maladministration with the landlord’s response to the resident’s repair requests for a shower. This is because it failed to appropriately respond to the repair request within its own repair timeframes, failed to reasonably consider the resident’s circumstances, and failed to appropriately prioritise the urgency of the repair. When it became aware of a potential hazard, it failed to assess its obligations in line with HHSRS guidance. Significantly, the landlord failed to identify and address a further repair obligation when the resident pointed out that the upstairs shower had not been working for a significant period of time. Despite identifying failures, it did not demonstrate any learning from the complaint.
  12. The landlord’s failures had a significant impact on the resident. She reported that the household could not wash every day because of the lack of water. She said that constant use of the hot water and running water for longer increased her utility bills. Not having sufficient washing facilities affected her mental health and health in general and caused stress and a strain on her whole family. She advised this Service that her distress was exacerbated when she continuously contacted the landlord who she felt was ignoring her. 
  13. In its complaint response the landlord accepted that the repairs had exceeded a reasonable timeframe. It offered £400 for the time, trouble and inconvenience caused by its delays and £70 for increased water usage. However, the offer of redress did not put things right and was not sufficient in the circumstances. An order has been made below in line with the Housing Ombudsman Remedies Guidance to reflect the distress caused to the resident.
  14. The resident lost use of shower facilities which affected her enjoyment of the property, directly attributable to the landlord’s failure for a period of 28 weeks from 31 October 2022, when it should have completed the repair, until 17 May 2023 when it completed the repair. An order of compensation has been made below representing 10% of the resident’s rent to reflect the loss of enjoyment of the property for this period.  

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord operates a 2 stage complaints procedure. It will acknowledge and confirm the scope of the complaint within 3 working days. It will respond to the stage 1 complaint within 10 working days. If the resident remains dissatisfied and escalates the complaint, it will provide a stage 2 complaint response within 20 working days. If the landlord decides not to accept a complaint, this will be explained to the resident, setting out the reasons why the matter is not suitable for the complaints process. It will advise the resident of their right to contact the Housing Ombudsman Service to challenge this decision. These practices are in line with the Housing Ombudsman Service’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
  2. The landlord unreasonably refused to accept the resident’s initial complaint of 17 October 2022. It was refused on the basis that she had only reported the repair on 11 October 2022. However, the evidence shows the repair was reported on 27 September 2022. Furthermore, the landlord did not provide the resident with this Service’s details should she have wished to challenge it.
  3. This response was inappropriate and unreasonable in the circumstances. When the resident raised another complaint on 10 November 2022, she expressed frustration that she had to raise a second complaint. When the landlord reviewed its complaint handling as part of its stage 2 complaint investigation, it failed to identify and acknowledge this initial complaint handling failure.
  4. The evidence shows that the landlord accepted the complaint at stage 1 on 10 November 2022, and provided an interim stage 1 complaint response on 23 November 2022. It advised that it would contact the resident within 10 working days to provide an update on the complaint and, if she remained unhappy, she could escalate the complaint to stage 2. It is recognised that in exceptional circumstances a landlord may extend its stage 1 complaint response by 10 working days, but there were no clear reasons as to why a stage 1 complaint response could not have been provided at that point. This was inappropriate and not compliant with its policy or the Code.
  5. The landlord should have provided a stage 1 complaint response at that point setting out the position of the repair and provided a timeframe as to when it expected to complete the repair. It should have considered what would put things right for the resident at that point in time, (in the form of an apology and compensation if appropriate) and provided a reasonable timeframe as to when it would complete the repair. If the resident remained dissatisfied, she could then escalate the complaint to stage 2. 
  6. After the interim stage 1 complaint response, the landlord provided an update on the repair 12 working days later. It did not provide a stage 1 complaint response and it did not explain how the resident could escalate her complaint or signpost her to this Service. After the intervention of this Service on 30 January 2023, it provided a stage 1 complaint response on 6 February 2023.
  7. This was 49 working days beyond its policy and the Codes timeframe of 10 working days. This failure significantly delayed the resident in bringing her complaint through the landlord’s complaints procedure and ultimately to this Service. Furthermore, it is reasonable to conclude that the landlord would not have escalated the complaint but for the intervention of this Service.
  8. On 10 February 2023, the resident emailed the landlord and refused the compensation offered at stage 1. She was unhappy with the progress of repairs and did not feel the complaint had been appropriately dealt with. Although the resident did not specifically request a complaint escalation, she was expressing ongoing dissatisfaction with the repairs and complaint handling. As such it would have been appropriate for the landlord to escalate the complaint or make further enquiries with the resident to confirm if she wished to escalate her complaint. This caused a further delay of 16 working days for the resident to bring her complaint through the landlord’s complaints process.
  9. On 13 March 2023, the resident requested for her complaint to be escalated. The landlord appropriately acknowledged the complaint on the same day and advised that it would provide its stage 2 complaint response within 20 working days and provided a stage 2 complaint response on 5 April 2023. It is acknowledged that there was a miscommunication from the landlord’s contractor which meant that it believed the work was complete at this point. As such, the landlord provided a further complaint response with an updated compensation offer on 17 May 2023 when the repair works were complete. In these circumstances, this was a reasonable action for the landlord to take.
  10. This Service finds that there was severe maladministration with the landlord’s complaint handling. This is because its complaint handling did not adhere to its own policy and did not comply with the Code. Initially, it unreasonably refused to accept a complaint from the resident, it failed to signpost this Service appropriately in that correspondence, and it did not acknowledge that complaint handling error. It delayed significantly in providing a stage 1 complaint response, and it is reasonable to conclude that it would not have done so but for the intervention of this Service. There was a further delay at stage 2 when it failed to escalate the complaint despite the resident’s ongoing dissatisfaction.
  11. There were 119 working days from when the resident first complained on 17 October 2022, until the landlord provided a stage 2 complaint response on 5 April 2023. This investigation found that considerable delays in bringing the complaint through the complaints process were directly attributable to the landlord’s complaint handling. The landlord acknowledged the delay in providing a stage 1 complaint response and offered compensation of £175. However, the offer of redress did not put things right and was not sufficient in the circumstances.
  12. The landlord’s delay in its complaint handling had a considerable impact on the resident. She reported to this Service that that the landlord was ignoring her, and it is evident that there has been a breakdown in the relationship with her landlord. The landlord’s poor complaint handling caused considerable time and trouble to the resident in bringing her complaint through its process. The poor complaint handling also contributed to the distress and inconvenience caused by the repair delay. An order has been made below to reflect the time and trouble caused to the resident.       

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was severe maladministration with the landlord’s response to the resident’s repair requests for a shower.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was severe maladministration with the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. It is ordered that a senior director for the landlord apologise in person to the resident for the failures identified in this report.
  2. It is ordered that a qualified person attend the property to survey the upstairs shower to assess if it requires repair in line with its obligations. It should set out an action plan with timescales of when the work will be completed and set a communication plan with the resident to ensure she is provided with regular updates.
  3. It is ordered for the landlord to pay the resident compensation of £1565, compromising:
    1. £465 based on 10% of the resident’s rent for 28 weeks, for the loss of enjoyment of the property, as set out in paragraph 28.
    2. £600 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its failures in responding to the resident’s repair requests.
    3.  £500 for time and trouble caused by the failures identified in its complaint handling.
  4. If the landlord has already paid £666 offered in its final complaint response, this can be deducted from the amount. 
  5. It is ordered that the landlord provide complaint handling training to its complaints team with particular focus in identifying and escalating complaints appropriately.
  6. The landlord should provide evidence to this Service that it has complied with the above order within 4 weeks of the date of this report.