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Stonewater Limited (202338700)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202338700

Stonewater Limited

13 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 handling of:
    1. reports of a leak causing damp and mould.
    2. the complaint.

Background and summary of events

  1. The resident has tenancy with the landlord, which began on 13 June 2022. The landlord is a housing association. The resident lives in a 3-bedroom, mid-terraced house. The household has vulnerabilities, which the landlord is aware of. The resident and their partner have mental health problems, and 2 of their 3 children have disabilities.
  2. On 17 February 2023, the resident complained about a leak in their bathroom. In summary, they said:
    1. Every time someone had a shower, water leaked into the lounge, their son’s bedroom and onto the landing.
    2. A contractor failed to repair the leak on 4 occasions.
  3. The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint on 22 February 2023 and issued a stage 1 complaint response on 9 March 2023. In summary, the landlord said:
    1. It acknowledged the issue with a leak had been ongoing since attending on 12 January 2023.
    2. It located and repaired the leak on 27 January 2023.
    3. It raised an emergency work order on 20 February 2023, which a contractor attended the same day but found no leaking pipework. It said the bath needed removing followed by tiling and plasterboard works, which the contractor was due to complete on 22 March 2023.
  4. The resident remained unhappy with the work completed and length of time the matter was ongoing. The resident asked to escalate the complaint to stage 2 on 21 November 2023. In summary, the resident said:
    1. The water leak remained – the shower screen leaked, there was mould and damp in the bathroom, no side panel on the bath and paint peeling off the ceiling.
    2. They needed a completely new bathroom suite as well as compensation for the length of time this matter had been ongoing.
  5. The landlord acknowledged the escalation request on 24 November 2023 and issued a stage 2 response on 22 December 2023. In summary, the landlord:
    1. Apologised for the length of time that the resident had been waiting for an update and acknowledged the frustration caused.
    2. Confirmed there had been multiple visits and that the delays in resolving the issue had caused upheaval. It said the works required ended up being a lot more complicated than first diagnosed but that the next visit on 9 and 10 January 2024 would be the final one needed.
    3. Explained that a contractor would arrange an appointment to fix the bathroom extractor fan and complete a mould wash to alleviate the problems over the festive period.
    4. Offered £210 compensation comprised of £60 for repair service failure, £50 for poor communication and £100 for inconvenience, time and trouble.
    5. Signposted the resident to the Ombudsman if they remained unhappy.
  6. The resident referred their complaint to the Ombudsman on 17 January 2024. The complaint became one this Service could consider on 14 October 2024.

Events Post Internal Complaints Process

  1. On 10 April 2024, the landlord offered £475 compensation in response to a new stage 1 complaint raised due to the continued failure to resolve the issue.
  2. On 1 November 2024, upon reviewing the complaint when preparing evidence for this investigation, the landlord offered a further £480 compensation comprising of £15 for multiple repair visits, £15 for failing to follow its repairs policy and £450 for distress and inconvenience caused.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident says this complaint has impacted their mental health as well as the physical health of the household. The Ombudsman cannot conclude the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. This is outside our jurisdiction, but consideration has been given to the general distress and inconvenience that may have been caused to the resident.
  2. This investigation considers matters up to the landlord’s stage 2 response dated 22 December 2023. Reference to more recent events is to provide context only.
  3. In accordance with paragraph 42(a) of the Scheme, the Ombudsman is unable to consider complaints about matters which have not yet exhausted the landlord’s internal complaints procedure. For this reason, the Ombudsman has not considered the resident’s reports that the landlord was responsible for damage caused to their flooring. If the resident is unhappy with the landlord’s response to their recent reports, they can raise this as a new complaint to the landlord. If the resident remains dissatisfied with the landlord’s final response to their new complaint, they may be able to refer the matter to the Ombudsman to investigate as a separate complaint.

Landlord’s obligations, policies and procedures

  1. The landlord’s responsive repairs policy says it will complete emergency repairs within 24 hours, non-emergency repairs within 28 days and major repairs within 42 days.
  2. Clause 5.21 of the landlord’s vulnerable persons policy states, ‘We will prioritise repairs according to their urgency and customers’ particular needs or vulnerabilities’.
  3. Clause 6.3 of the landlord’s compensation policy states, ‘When considering impact on the customer, we will consider vulnerabilities and identify whether the impact is worsened through disability, old age, or the presence of young children’.

Landlord’s handling of reports of a leak causing damp and mould

  1. The landlord does not dispute that there were failings in its handling of the resident’s reports. Where the landlord admits failings, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether the landlord resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances and offered appropriate redress. In considering this, the Service assesses whether the landlord’s actions were in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: Be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
  2. The resident first reported an issue with the bath leaking on 30 July 2022. The landlord attended 55 days later, on 23 September 2022, after it had cancelled the initial appointment for 19 August 2022 due to a flat tyre. The length of time taken to make this initial visit falls outside the timeframes stated in the landlord’s repairs policy. We consider the length of time taken to attend represents a failing, which inconvenienced the resident and resulted in them waiting an excessive period for the landlord to begin to take any action.
  3. While a resident is expected to make themselves available for contractors’ visits, 12 visits without reaching a satisfactory outcome between 30 July 2022 and the landlord’s final complaint response on 22 December 2023 will likely have caused the resident inconvenience and frustration. The landlord was aware of vulnerabilities in the household, but it does not appear to have considered these when deciding on the actions it would take and how soon it would take them. The failure to consider the household’s vulnerabilities and prioritise repairs does not fall in line with the landlord’s vulnerable persons policy. We consider the landlord’s failure to carry out the necessary repairs sooner and to an acceptable standard no doubt adversely impacted the household causing upset and discomfort. The landlord’s failure to resolve the issues also meant the resident had to keep chasing resolution, causing additional and unnecessary distress.
  4. The resident has since explained that, although it eventually fixed the leak, the landlord didn’t finish the job properly. For instance, the resident says the landlord applied stain blocker to the lounge ceiling but didn’t repaint this. Therefore, an order has been made for remedy of any outstanding issues resulting from the leak.
  5. While it was reasonable for the landlord to rely on their contractor’s assessments of the reported issue, that the landlord and contractor visited 12 times to try remedy the issue was not acceptable. These visits took place over an excessive period, between 30 July 2022 and 22 December 2023. The landlord has acknowledged that it repeatedly and unsuccessfully tried to remedy the leaks reported and the resulting issues caused. While the landlord has since reassessed the situation and increased its offer of compensation to £1165 brining it in line with the Services remedies guidance, this appears to have been in response to a further complaint and this Service’s request for information and has therefore not prevented a finding of maladministration with an order made for remedy.

Complaint handling

  1. The resident logged a formal complaint with the landlord on 17 February 2023.
  2. In accordance with its complaints policy, the landlord should have acknowledged the complaint within 2 working days and provided its stage 1 response within a further 10 working days.
  3. The landlord acknowledged the complaint on 22 February 2023 and issued a stage 1 response on 9 March 2023. Although it both acknowledged the stage 1 complaint and issued its stage 1 response one working day later than expected, we do not consider that these slight delays unduly affected the resident.
  4. The resident asked to escalate the complaint to stage 2 of the landlord’s complaints process on 21 November 2023.
  5. In accordance with its complaints policy, the landlord should have acknowledged the stage 2 escalation request within 2 working days and provided its stage 2 response within a further 10 working days. Where it is unable to respond within 10 working days, the landlord should contact the resident to agree an extension.
  6. The landlord acknowledged the escalation request on 24 November 2023 and issued a stage 2 response on 22 December 2023. There was a slight delay of one working day in the landlord acknowledging the escalation request. It then issued its stage 2 response within a further 21 working days, which is 11 days more than set out in its policy and a failing on the part of the landlord. The landlord has not provided any evidence to show it agreed an extension with the resident, which is a further failing and will have caused the resident further inconvenience and frustration.
  7. The resident experienced slight delays in the landlord acknowledging the stage 1 and stage 2 complaints as well as responding to the stage 1 complaint. Although we do not consider that the slight delays unduly affected the resident, we consider that the 11 working days’ delay in issuing the stage 2 response represents a service shortfall for which we have made an order for remedy.
  8. The landlord has demonstrated that it has learned from its complaint handling. It has explained that staffing issues affected its ability to respond to complaints. It says it began restructuring its complaints team in June 2023 and increased its number of complaint handlers, which has helped improve its complaints handling process. It has therefore not been necessary to make orders relating to this issue.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration regarding the landlord’s handling of reports of a leak causing damp and mould.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was a service failure regarding the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this determination, the landlord must:
    1. Provide a written apology for the failings identified.
    2. Contact the resident to establish an action plan aimed at resolving any outstanding repair issues resulting from the leak in the bathroom.
    3. Pay compensation totalling £1,215, comprised as follows:
      1. £210 offered on 22 December 2023, if it has not already done so
      2. £475 offered on 10 April 2024, if it has not already done so
      3. £480 offered on 1 November 2024, if it has not already done so
      4. £50 for its complaint handling failures
  2. The landlord is to confirm compliance with these orders within the timeframe set out above.