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Stonewater Limited (202329440)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202329440

Stonewater Limited

28 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:
    1. The resident’s requests for repairs following a flood.
    2. The resident’s request for compensation for damage following a flood.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord, a housing association. The property is a 2 bedroom flat.
  2. On 29 August 2023 the landlord’s contractor completed a repair to the paving slabs outside the resident’s back door, following the resident’s report that they were uneven.
  3. On 18 September 2023 the resident reported to the landlord that water had flooded into her back door during recent heavy rain. The resident said that the landlord’s contractor had re-laid the slabs sloping towards her door, which allowed water to flow inside. The resident asked for compensation for interior water damage and for the slabs to be fixed.
  4. On 19 September 2023 the landlord told the resident that a surveyor would look into the outdoor drainage. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint at stage 1 of its complaints process.
  5. On 3 October 2023 the landlord issued its stage 1 response. It advised the resident to claim on her home contents insurance for interior water damage. It confirmed that a surveyor had visited the site to make a plan to mitigate similar issues in future.
  6. On 4 October 2023 the resident emailed the landlord requesting that her complaint be escalated to stage 2, and said that a repair to improve the drainage still had not happened. On 6 October 2023 the resident told the landlord that the skirting boards adjacent to the flooded flooring were damp and needed to be removed.
  7. The resident contacted the Service for assistance, including a request for compensation for replacement skirting boards she had purchased due to the landlord’s lack of response. We referred her complaint to the landlord on 15 January 2024.
  8. On 26 January 2024 the landlord provided its stage 2 response, upholding its stage 1 decision not to pay the resident compensation relating to the flood. It said that a surveyor had inspected the property and the slabs would be fixed to stop them butting against the back door. The landlord declined to pay compensation for the replacement of the skirting boards, explaining that skirting boards are the landlord’s responsibility and the resident had not asked it to attend to them. The landlord acknowledged it had delayed its stage 2 response and offered £125 for the time and trouble this had caused the resident.
  9. The resident escalated her concerns to us. The resident wanted the landlord to acknowledge that it was responsible for the interior flood damage, and compensate her for the stress that the flood caused her. The resident also wanted the landlord to compensate the costs she incurred in replacing the skirting boards herself, and for the increase to her home and contents insurance premiums since her claim for flood damage.
  10. On 1 August 2024 the landlord offered the resident an additional £325 compensation for its delays in completing follow-on works to prevent further flooding.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s requests for repairs following the flood

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy states that the landlord is responsible for repairing skirting boards, and that it aims to complete non-emergency repairs within 28 days of when the resident notifies it of damage.

Repairs to the slabs

  1. The resident reported flooding that she believed was due to faulty work by the landlord’s contractor on 18 September 2023. The landlord’s surveyor attended the property on 19 January 2024, and cut a channel in the slab to improve the drainage on 22 January 2024. As the landlord’s policy is to complete non-emergency repairs within 28 days, and we have seen no evidence to show the landlord made any temporary repairs in the interim, this repair was delayed 98 days.
  2. This failure to promptly complete repairs caused the resident distress and inconvenience, as the resident was worried that her home could flood again during heavy rain for the four months it took to complete the repair.
  3. On 1 August 2024 (after its complaints process was completed) the landlord acknowledged its delay in completing follow-on works to prevent further flooding, and offered the resident £325 compensation. This is consistent with the Scheme’s remedy guidance for failures causing distress and inconvenience, without permanent impact. While the compensation is proportionate for the impact and the length of time the resident experienced this, the landlord offered this following the end of its complaint process. It missed an opportunity to provide resolution while the complaint was open and as such put things right in a timely manner.

Repairs to the skirting boards

  1. On 6 October 2023 the resident informed the landlord that she had discovered that the skirting boards were damaged by the flood and needed to be replaced. In this email the resident suggested that she could replace the skirting boards herself but would want compensation. In her email on 27 October 2023, the resident explained to us that the landlord had acknowledged her request on 13 October 2023 and committed to respond within 7 working days. We have seen no evidence to show the landlord addressed this request for repair before its stage 2 response of 26 January 2024.
  2. In that response, the landlord said that the resident had not asked the landlord to attend to the skirting boards, which was incorrect. The landlord should have responded to the resident’s request for repairs, and it should have addressed its initial failure to respond in its complaint response. By failing to do so, it missed an opportunity to investigate its own action or lack of action, and put things right for the resident.
  3. Further, by addressing this issue as part of its stage 2 response only, the landlord only provided one opportunity to the resident to complain about her request for repairs to the skirting boards. The Complaints Handling Code requires that complaints be dealt with in two stages. The landlord should have provided the resident with an opportunity to escalate her complaint about this specific issue, as it had not been addressed during the landlord’s stage 1 response. By failing to do so, the landlord missed another opportunity to put things right for the resident, and take into account its failure to respond to the initial request for repair.
  4. In summary and taking into account all of the circumstances the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for repairs following the flood was unreasonable. It unnecessarily delayed the drainage work to the slabs. While the level of compensation offered in August 2024 was proportionate, it was offered after the end of its complaints process. Additionally, it did not appropriately address the resident’s request for repair to the skirting boards and as such failed to provide a fair investigation and outcome.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for compensation for flood damage

  1. In her initial complaint to the landlord on 18 September 2023, the resident complained that the water entered her residence because of the way the landlord’s contractor had re-laid the slabs during its August 2023 repair, and requested that the landlord compensate her for the water damage to her possessions. The landlord signposted her to submit an insurance claim in respect of these. The Service does not consider issues that have been the subject of an insurance claim, however it will consider the reasonableness of the landlord’s response and the impact on the resident in all the circumstances.
  2. The landlord’s compensation policy states “Where damage to personal belongings has occurred due to alleged negligence on [the landlord’s] behalf the customer should be advised to submit a claim through their own contents insurance; any policy excess amount paid will be recovered as part of the claim. If the customer does not have contents insurance and the damaged goods are available for inspection, then a claim can be submitted to [the landlord] which will be passed onto [its] insurers. [The landlord] will only pay compensation when advised by [its] insurer that [it is] liable.”
  3. The landlord provided this policy excerpt to the resident in full in its stage 1 complaint response on 3 October 2023, and advised the resident to make a claim on her contents insurance for her personal belongings that were damaged in the flood. While this response was in line with the landlord’s compensation policy given the resident had contents insurance, the landlord did not fully address her concerns. It would have been reasonable for the landlord to have responded to the resident’s specific complaint that the repair to the slabs in August 2023 was faulty, in which case it could have considered possible effects on the resident such as the increase to her insurance premiums. The landlord did not do so and as such it missed an opportunity to provide a resolution through its complaints process.

Determinations

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration with regards to the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for repairs following the flood.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure with regards to the landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for compensation following the flood.

Orders and recommendations

  1. Within 4 weeks of this report, the landlord is ordered to pay the resident £525, which includes:
    1. £325 in recognition of the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident by its delay in repairing the drainage in front of the resident’s back door within a reasonable timeframe, if it has not made this payment already.
    2. £100 in recognition of the distress and inconvenience caused by its failure to respond to the resident’s request for repairs to the skirting boards.
    3. £100 in recognition of the time and trouble caused to the resident by the landlord’s failure to fully respond to her reports of damage following a flood.
  2. Within 4 weeks of this report, the landlord is ordered to reconsider and respond to the resident’s request for compensation for the skirting boards, taking into consideration that it failed to respond to her repair request made on 6 October 2023.
  3. The landlord is recommended to pay the resident the £125 it offered in its stage 2 response in recognition of its complaints response delay, if it has not already.