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Stonewater Limited (202319832)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202319832

Stonewater Limited

23 April 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 handling of the resident’s door and window replacements.
  2. We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord, a housing association. The landlord has no recorded vulnerabilities for the resident but noted that the resident has told them she suffers with her mental health at times.
  2. On 12 December 2022 the resident reported gaps around the frame of her front and back doors and gaps in the 2-bedroom windows. She said that the issues reported were allowing cold air and water ingress.
  3. In February 2023, a surveyor visited the property. He found the windows were in poor condition, with the openers not shutting tightly. He recommended replacing the 2–bedroom windows. Between 9 March and 31 March 2023, the resident contacted the landlord for updates about the doors and windows. The front door was inspected on 4 April 2023.
  4. The resident complained on 30 May 2023. She mentioned that she had reported issues with the front and back doors and windows in January 2023, which caused heat loss in her property. The resident said an inspection had been completed on 23 May 2023 when she was advised that the doors were not on the replacement programme until 2024 which she said was unacceptable. She said she had sent emails that had not been responded to and operatives had not attended appointments, which meant she had lost earnings. In a follow-up email dated 8 June 2023, she requested that the landlord address the water damage to her hallway flooring, which she said was due to gaps in the front door.
  5. The landlord issued a stage 1 response on 22 June 2023 and said that following an inspection of the doors the replacement had been brought forward to 2023. The windows had been put forward for immediate replacement under reactive repairs. It was sorry for the inconvenience caused and offered £100 compensation for poor communication and £100 for the delays and inconvenience.
  6. The resident escalated her complaint on 26 June 2023, saying the landlord had not considered her loss of earnings, loss of heat in the property, or damage to her hallway flooring.
  7. The landlord responded at stage 2 of its complaints process on 1 September 2023. It said that its contractor had been unable to arrange a survey due to the resident’s availability. It aimed to survey the doors on 11 September 2023 and to attend the 2 defective windows on 22 September 2023. It apologised that the works had not been completed but said the timescales were consistent with its window and door replacement programme. Still, the landlord acknowledged that resident should have been made aware of timescales and identified learning from the complaint. It offered £250 compensation, comprised of £125 for poor communication and £125 for the inconvenience.
  8. The resident contacted us on 7 September 2023 as she was unhappy that the replacement doors and windows had not been completed and asked for an increase in the compensation offered to resolve her complaint.

Events following the completion of the landlord’s complaints process

  1. The 2 new windows to the bedrooms were installed on 18 September 2023. The front and back doors were replaced in November 2023. 
  2. On 29 May 2024, the landlord completed a review of the case. It acknowledged that the complaints process did not address some of the points raised by the resident, including loss of heating, damage to the hallway flooring and a loss of earnings. It had reviewed the inspection photos and had not identified damage to the flooring, but said if the resident had any further evidence, it would reconsider. It confirmed it did not usually compensate for loss of earnings but noted that there were occasions when its contractors had not attended. It offered £625 compensation for:
    1. £25 for its failure to follow its repairs and complaints policy
    2. £50 for its failure to respond to all communication
    3. £50 for poor complaint handling
    4. £250 for not considering reports about heat loss and the distress and inconvenience caused
    5. £125 for not including reports of a loss of earnings and damage to the flooring within the complaint response
    6. £125 for the inconvenience caused by its poor communication and the time and trouble spent by the resident pursuing the repairs and complaint

Assessment and findings

  1. On 12 December 2022 the resident reported issues with cold air and water ingress due to gaps around both doors and bedroom windows. The landlord’s surveyor assessed the windows in February 2023 and found that the openers did not shut tightly, so immediate replacement was recommended. The landlord delayed completing the initial assessment.
  2. According to the landlord’s responsive repairs policy, emergency repairs should be addressed within 24 hours, urgent repairs within 7 calendar days, and routine repairs within 28 calendar days. The landlord did not confirm the priority for replacing the windows and did not communicate estimated timescales to the resident. As a result, it did not manage her expectations, which was necessary to recognise as a failure in its stage 2 response.
  3. Despite the recommendation for immediate window replacement in February 2023 and the landlord’s acknowledgement in the stage 1 response of an ‘immediate replacement’, the window replacement was completed on 18 September 2023, approximately 7 months later, deviating significantly from the repair timescales outlined in the policy.
  4. The doors were not inspected until 4 April 2023, nearly 4 months after the initial report. The landlord has not explained the reason for the delay. In May 2023, the landlord advised the resident that the doors were scheduled for replacement in 2024, identifying them as part of programmed works.
  5. However, after the resident’s complaint, the landlord brought forward the replacements to 2023. This was in line with the landlord’s programmed works policy, which allows the landlord discretion to bring forward works where the condition warrants it. While it was reasonable for the landlord to bring forward the replacement, the initial delay lacked clear justification, despite the resident raising concerns in December 2022.
  6. Our Spotlight Report on Knowledge and Information Management (KIM) highlights the importance of keeping residents informed and ensuring that repair histories and reports are acted upon promptly. The landlord’s repair policy confirms it will maintain clear and continuous communication with its residents. However, the landlord did not fulfil this requirement and failed to communicate effectively. The resident consistently requested updates in March, April, and July of 2023, highlighting this failure.  
  7. In September 2023, during its stage 2 response, the landlord apologised for the delays in replacing the windows and doors, offering £250 as compensation for the poor communication and inconvenience experienced. The landlord said that part of the delays was due to difficulty scheduling appointments with the resident. However, the evidence showed that the resident asked for simultaneous appointments for the window and door replacements because of her work commitments which was a reasonable request. 
  8. Overall, the landlord did not follow its responsive repairs policy in promptly replacing defective bedroom windows. The delay of 7 months after the surveyor’s recommendation was inconsistent with its defined response repair timeframes. Although the doors were replaced within the revised timeframe for programmed works, the landlord did not clearly explain the initial deferral to 2024, or keep the resident updated on expected completion timescales. 
  9. In its review of the case in May 2024, the landlord recognised failings in handling the replacements and its complaint responses. It was appropriate for the landlord to apologise and offer £625 compensation and identify learnings to improve its service.
  10. Still, it raises concern that the landlord postponed reviewing the resident’s case, which highlighted other failures in managing the repairs and her complaint. The landlord missed the opportunity to identify all that had gone wrong during the complaints process and offer appropriate compensation for all its failings. While the increased compensation offer proportionately reflected the failures identified, it was 8 months after the completion of the complaints process.  This is a failure.
  11. Therefore, we have found service failure. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £625 as previously offered, if this has not already been paid. The amount offered is more than we would have ordered for the failings found, therefore, we have not ordered further compensation. We have not made additional orders related to this due to the actions and improvements the landlord has already implemented in response to the failures identified in May 2024.

Complaint handling

  1. The resident complained on 30 May 2023. The landlord issued a stage 1 response on 22 June 2023, within the timescales set out in its complaints policy. However, the response did not address key elements raised by the resident, including:
    1. loss of heat and associated impact on well-being
    2. damage to hallway flooring
    3. loss of earnings due to missed appointments
  2. The resident escalated the complaint on 26 June 2023. The stage 2 response was issued on 1 September 2023, 29 days outside of the 20-working day response timeframe. There is no evidence that an extension was agreed.
  3. The landlord did not respond to the complaint in line with the expectations set out in our Complaint Handling Code (the Code), which requires landlords to:
    1. investigate complaints thoroughly and fairly
    2. provide a clear explanation of decisions
    3. address all aspects of the complaint
    4. communicate within published timescales
  4. The landlord conducted a late case review in May 2024, prompted by our involvement. This does not show a transparent approach to investigating complaints or that it conducted an effective or thorough review during the complaints process.
  5. It acknowledged that it had failed to address substantive points and awarded £625 compensation, including:
    1. £25 for failure to follow its repairs and complaints policy
    2. £125 for not addressing heat loss and related distress
    3. £125 for not considering loss of earnings and damage to flooring
  6. The Code stresses the importance of learning from complaints. While the landlord did identify some lessons, this only occurred at a late stage after our intervention. It did not proactively recognise the broader impacts of the delays and the failure to address all aspects of the complaint. It missed the opportunity to resolve the complaint as soon as possible.
  7. Consequently, we have identified a service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling. The £250 offered for the complaint handling failures aligns with what we would have ordered for the identified failures. Therefore, we have not ordered more compensation. Given the actions and improvements the landlord has already implemented in response to the identified failures, we have not issued further orders related to this.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s door and window replacement.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must provide evidence that it has paid £625 compensation, as offered in May 2024.