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Torus62 Limited (202329890)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202329890

Torus62 Limited

6 May 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 requests for repairs to the bathroom.

Background

  1. The resident holds an assured tenancy with the landlord in a 3-bedroom house.
  2. In June and September 2022, the resident reported that his shower was leaking to the landlord. He felt an inadequate shower screen was the cause of this. The landlord repaired the shower screen on 15 December 2022. In May 2023 the resident reported ongoing issues with the shower screen. On 3 July 2023 he formally complained to the landlord. He said repairs remained outstanding, and the situation was affecting his mental health.
  3. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 20 July 2023. It said it had sealed the shower screen on 15 July 2023 and apologised for any inconvenience this had caused. The resident asked to escalate his complaint on 14 September 2023. He said the shower screen was not fixed correctly and continued to leak when using the shower, causing damage to the bathroom flooring. He added he emailed the contract manager about the repairs, but they had not replied. He asked the landlord to complete these as soon as possible.
  4. On 12 October 2023 the landlord issued its stage 2 final response. In summary, it said the resident first complained about the shower screen in April 2022. It said it would extend the wall tiles around the bath, renew the shower screen and renew the bathroom floor by 21 November 2023. It acknowledged that the contract manager did not reply to his emails in August and September 2023, which it said was a service failure. It also acknowledged that work was still outstanding and apologised for the inconvenience and stress caused. It offered £900 compensation in total. £600 of this was broadly linked to matters relating to the shower screen. This comprised of £200 for the contract manager not replying to emails, £200 for inconvenience and stress, and £200 for damaged bathroom flooring.
  5. In the resident’s referral to us, he said the landlord refused to resolve the leaking shower screen, and it had only tiled half of the bathroom.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The landlord provided this Service with repair logs, which showed historical reports about the shower screen in April 2022. The landlord acknowledged this in its stage 2 final response. However, under the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, we may not consider complaints that were not brought to the landlord’s attention as a formal complaint within a reasonable period (usually within 12 months) of the matters arising. This is in accordance with paragraph 42.c. of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The historical issues provide contextual background to the current complaint. However, our assessment is focused on the landlord’s actions and handling of reports from the end of June 2022 up to the landlord’s October 2023 final response and any commitments it made.

Shower screen

  1. The landlord does not dispute that there were failings in its handling of this matter. Where the landlord admits failings, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether it 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 landlord’s repair policy says it will offer Saturday appointments for repairs. Non-emergency repairs will be carried out as scheduled appointments to suit a resident’s availability. It says it will aim to complete routine repairs within 20 calendar days. It will keep residents informed of any potential delays.
  3. The landlord failed to respond to the resident’s 29 June 2022 report that his shower was leaking again. This caused time and trouble for the resident who reported the same issue again on 1 August 2022. On this occasion, the landlord responded promptly and attended the property on 3 August 2022. However, it was unable to gain access. It subsequently cancelled the repair. This was inappropriate, given that the landlord was aware of the historical issues with the shower screen. It is also unclear whether this appointment was pre-arranged with the resident. Considering the circumstances, the landlord should have kept the repair open and made reasonable attempts to resolve the issue. Instead, it put the onus on the resident to report this matter again. This was unreasonable.
  4. On 29 September 2022 the resident reported the leaking shower screen. The landlord’s records showed that the screen was repaired on 15 December 2022. However, it is unclear what work took place. And this was considerably outside of its repair timescales. While we recognise the landlord was limited on when it could complete these works as the resident had insisted on a Saturday appointment, there was no evidence that the landlord kept the resident informed of any potential delays in line with its policy. Furthermore, its policy clearly states it can offer Saturday appointments. As such, there is no evidence of any good reason for this delay. This caused distress and inconvenience to the resident who had lived with a leaking shower screen for a prolonged period. It also caused time and trouble for the resident who had to chase the landlord to get this repaired.
  5. The resident again reported the leaking shower screen on 3 May 2023. The landlord attended within a reasonable timescale and ‘resealed’ the bath. However, its records showed that the repair had to be recalled. It is unclear why. However, the shower screen was not repaired until 18 July 2023, over 2 months after his May 2023 report. This was again outside of its policy timescales. The landlord’s repair records said that the shower seal on the screen was positioned back to front. This would suggest that it failed to identify this or carry out a long-lasting repair at either its December 2022 or May 2023 visit. This was another failing.
  6. In the resident’s September 2023 escalation request, he said the shower screen was still not fixed properly, and the leaks were causing damage to the bathroom flooring. The landlord’s final response said there was a target date of 21 November 2023 to repair this. This was contrary to its repair policy timescales, and in any case, it failed to keep to its November 2023 commitment. The landlord did not attend to this repair until 3 December 2023. And the evidence indicated that it was unable to repair the screen on this date. It said the screen was still leaking due to the bath being out of level and that this would need to be resolved. Yet the landlord did not appear to follow this up until the resident reported the matter again in January 2024. This caused further distress and inconvenience to the resident, as the landlord again left the onus on the resident to chase the repair.
  7. Since then, the landlord encountered difficulties accessing the property. We acknowledge that in May 2024 the resident refused the repair to the shower screen. It seemed the resident disputed the proposed work that the landlord said was needed to resolve this issue. While we are not assessing this aspect, it is unclear if the landlord has now repaired the shower screen. We have considered this as part of our orders.

Bathroom tiles

  1. Following the resident’s escalation request, the landlord undertook another survey of the bathroom on 12 October 2023. It subsequently raised a repair to extend the wall tiles around the bath to the window area. While it is unclear why this work was not identified or agreed upon sooner, the resident was unhappy that the proposed tiles did not match the colour of the existing tiles and refused the work.
  2. He asserted that the landlord’s contractor told him the landlord would remove all the tiles and replace and renew them in grey. However, there is no evidence to reconcile this. And the landlord’s internal emails showed that it investigated this with its contractor. After its final response, the landlord explained to the resident that it would be unable to find an exact match and would replace the tiles with as close a match as possible. Given the circumstances, this was a reasonable response.
  3. However, following another survey in April 2024, the landlord said it ‘was confident given the size and colour, a match could be found’. Yet it is unclear if it found a match or whether it has completed the tiling work. As such, an order is made below.

Conclusion

  1. The resident was left with a leaking shower screen for a prolonged period due to the landlord’s errors. The landlord did not communicate effectively with the resident and failed to carry out a long-lasting repair and take ownership of the issue. It also consistently failed to keep to its repair timescales. Further, the landlord’s surveyor said in April 2024 that by looking at the shower screen, it was apparent it was not level with the bath and needed adjusting. It is reasonable to conclude this was a routine repair that should have been identified during previous visits and resolved much earlier.
  2. Although the landlord acted fairly by compensating the resident for the damage caused to the bathroom flooring, the compensation for the stress and inconvenience caused was not proportionate to the failings identified in this report. In arriving at this conclusion, we recognise that the landlord failed to meet the anticipated timescales in its final response. And that when it attended in December 2023 it was unable to repair the shower screen. This caused further distress and inconvenience to the resident who had already experienced considerable delays in resolving the matter.
  3. Overall, the compensation awarded did not go far enough to put things right, and the landlord failed to learn from its errors. This amounts to maladministration, and we have ordered additional compensation below.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of its requests for repairs to the bathroom.

Orders

  1. The landlord must do the following within the next 4 weeks:
    1. Provide a written apology for the failures identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident £900 compensation, made up of:
      1. £600 as offered in its stage 2 final response if it has not done so already.
      2. A further £300 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of repairs to the shower screen.
    3. Inspect the shower screen and arrange an action plan to address any repairs. If the landlord identifies any remedial works, they must be carried out within its repair timescales. The landlord must provide a copy of the action plan with proposed timescales to the resident and this Service.
    4. Update the resident on whether it has obtained matching tiles and arrange a suitable time to complete the works if it has not done so already
  2. The landlord must provide this Service with evidence of compliance with these orders within the timescale set out above.