Waltham Forest Council (202318206)
REPORT
COMPLAINT 202318206
Waltham Forest Council
5 March 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
- The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
- Repairs to the resident’s bathroom.
- The resident’s request for a walk-in bath.
Background
- The resident holds a secure tenancy with the landlord. The resident is disabled and has issues with mobility. The landlord is aware of this. Both the resident and a family member who lives at the property have reported repairs to the landlord. For ease of reference both the resident and his family member will be referred to as ‘the resident’ in this assessment.
- The landlord’s repair records show that on 19 August 2022, the resident reported that the toilet was wobbling, and water had been leaking heavily from the back of the toilet for 2 months. On 31 August 2022, he reported the issue again and said that water was leaking out of the toilet each time he flushed it.
- On 14 April 2023, the resident complained to the landlord. He said he needed a walk-in bath as he could not get in or out of his bath safely. He said his current bath was rusty which caused rashes to his skin. There was no non-slip surface in the bath and his toilet had been leaking for 6 months.
- The landlord raised the leak from the toilet as a repair with its contractor on 24 April 2023. However, appointments scheduled for 24 and 27 April 2023, were cancelled due to the operative being unwell.
- The resident complained to the landlord again on 28 April 2023. He said there was also a leak from the bathroom sink. The leaks from the toilet and the sink were causing the bathroom floor to lift. He had to clean leaking toilet waste away daily.
- On 2 May 2023, the resident contacted the landlord again. He said its operative had applied mastic around the waste pipe on 29 April 2023, but did not test the leaking toilet before leaving. He said the landlord should replace the toilet, the waste pipe and the bathroom floor. The landlord installed a new toilet on 3 May 2023.
- The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 15 May 2023. It acknowledged that the resident had reported the leak from the toilet twice in August 2022. It apologised to the resident for the cancelled appointments and delays in it completing the repair. It said however, it had not considered the leak from the toilet to be an emergency repair as the leak was minor in nature. It asked the resident to contact it, if he would like a surveyor to inspect the lifting bathroom floor.
- The landlord’s repair records of 18 May 2023, show that an appointment to repair the leak from the bathroom sink was cancelled. The records do not state why this appointment was cancelled but show that the resident told the landlord he would contact it to rebook the repair.
- On 26 May 2023, the resident escalated his complaint to stage 2 of the landlord’s complaint procedure. He said that the landlord had not responded to his complaint about needing a walk-in bath.
- The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 28 June 2023. It said the photos and videos the resident had sent, showed the leak from the toilet was not an uncontainable or uncontrollable leak, therefore it did not warrant the 24-hour response that he had requested. It said it was not clear however, why it had not taken any action to repair the toilet when he had first reported the issue in August 2022. It offered him compensation of £175 broken down as £25 per month for the 7 months delay in it repairing the leak from the toilet.
- On 29 June 2023, the resident contacted the landlord. He said it had once again not responded to his request for a walk-in bath. He said that the new toilet the landlord had installed was smaller than the old one and therefore the flooring did not reach the new toilet. He said the landlord had tried to disguise the issue by putting mastic round the new toilet. There was still a smell of toilet waste coming from underneath the bathroom floor and the landlord should replace it.
- The resident reported on 2 July 2023 that the leak from the bathroom sink had flooded the bathroom floor. The landlord repaired the leak to the sink the same day. On 7 July 2023, the resident reported that the bathroom floor was lifting due to a leak from the sink. The landlord inspected the bathroom floor on 13 July 2023.
- On 23 July 2023, the resident contacted the landlord. He raised the issues of the bathroom floor lifting and his request for a walk-in bath again. The resident referred his complaint to the Ombudsman on 24 July 2023.
- The landlord’s records of 10 August 2023, show that an asbestos report was needed before it could start the repair of the resident’s bathroom floor.
- The landlord advised the resident on 8 September 2023, to contact occupational health in relation to his request for a walk-in bath.
- On 25 September 2023, the resident complained to the landlord that it had failed to provide him with copies of surveys and damp reports it had carried out at his property.
- The landlord completed repairs to the bathroom floor on 13 October 2023.
- The resident submitted a complaint to the landlord in November 2023 about a leak coming into his property from above.
- On 27 February 2025, the resident told the Ombudsman he was having difficulties navigating the communal stairs leading to his property.
Assessment
Scope of investigation
- As noted above, on 25 September 2023, the resident complained to the landlord that it had failed to provide him with copies of survey and damp reports. In November 2023, the resident submitted a complaint to the landlord about a leak from a water tank. On 27 February 2025, the resident told the Ombudsman that he was having difficulties navigating the communal stairs leading to his property. These issues are outside the scope of this assessment. This is because the Ombudsman is not able to consider complaints that are made prior to having exhausted a landlord’s complaint procedure. This is so that landlords have the opportunity to respond to complaints and resolve issues before the Ombudsman becomes formally involved. If the resident wishes to pursue these matters further, he can complain to the landlord. He may be able to refer his complaint to the Ombudsman for a separate investigation if he remains dissatisfied once it has exhausted the landlord’s complaints process.
Policies and procedures
- Under the resident’s tenancy agreement, the landlord is responsible for maintaining the structure of the property in good repair. This includes installations such as toilets, sinks and floors.
- The landlord’s repairs policy states that it will attend to emergency repairs within 24 hours and to routine repairs within 21 calendar days. The policy states that the criteria for treating a repair as an emergency is a repair that represents a safety hazard, or which makes a property uninhabitable.
- The landlord’s complaints process in operation at the time of the resident’s complaint had 2 stages. The policy states that at stage 1, the landlord would provide a response in 20 working days. At stage 2 it would provide a response in 25 working days.
The landlord’s handling of repairs to the resident’s bathroom
- The resident complained to the landlord on 14 April 2023 about his toilet leaking. In its complaint responses the landlord said it could not treat the leak to the toilet as an emergency repair as from the photographs the resident had provided, the leak appeared minor in nature. This was reasonable and in line with its repairs policy, set out above. It would have been appropriate, however, for the landlord to attend to the leak from the toilet within its timescales for dealing with routine repairs of 21 calendar days. The landlord has apologised for the delay and offered the resident £175 compensation in recognition of this failure. This was a reasonable offer in relation to the delays in repairing the resident’s toilet.
- On 28 April 2023, the resident complained to the landlord that the bathroom sink was leaking. He said that the leaks were causing the bathroom floor to lift. The Ombudsman has not seen evidence that the resident had raised the sink leaking or the bathroom floor lifting with the landlord prior to his complaint about these issues. In housing management, it is reasonable for a landlord to treat issues not previously raised with it, as reports or service requests, and for it to be given a chance to respond to the issues raised, prior to it treating issues as a complaint. However, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to respond to the resident in relation to the leak from the sink and the bathroom floor lifting, to let him know what action it would take to remedy these issues, particularly as he had made it clear that the floor was lifting in part due to the leak from the toilet, an issue he had reported 6 months previously.
- The landlord’s repair records show that the resident reported the leak from the bathroom sink again on 6 July 2023. The landlord repaired the sink the same day. However, this was over 2 months after the resident had first reported the leak to the sink and over a month outside of the landlord’s timescales for completing routine repairs. This was an unreasonable delay.
- In its stage 1 complaint response of 15 May 2023, the landlord told the resident to let it know whether he wanted a surveyor to inspect the bathroom floor. The resident had already reported that the floor was lifting, therefore it would have been appropriate for the landlord to make an appointment to carry out an inspection rather than expecting him to confirm he wanted a surveyor to inspect the issue. This was an unnecessary step which will have likely caused the resident time, trouble, and inconvenience.
- As noted above, an appointment to repair the bathroom floor was cancelled on 18 May 2023. It is not clear whether this appointment was cancelled by the landlord or by the resident. However, on 29 June 2023, the resident told the landlord that the mastic it had applied around the bottom of the toilet was not sufficient in addressing the gap between the new toilet and the bathroom floor and that the floor needed replacing. The landlord acted reasonably in inspecting the bathroom floor on 13 July 2023. However, the need for an asbestos check did not become apparent until 10 August 2023, causing a delay of nearly a month that could have been avoided, had the need for an asbestos check been picked up at the time of the initial inspection. The landlord did not complete repairs to the bathroom floor until 13 October 2023. This was an unreasonable delay.
- The Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, published on our website, sets out our approach to compensation. The remedies guidance states that where maladministration has been identified which adversely affected the resident, £100-£600 compensation, should be considered. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident an additional £100 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its delays in completing repairs to his bathroom. This is in addition to the £175 it offered the resident through its complaints process.
The landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for a walk-in bath
- On 14 April 2023, the resident complained to the landlord. He said his disability meant that he could not get in or out of the bath safely and he needed a walk-in bath. He also said that the bath was rusty and causing rashes on his skin. The landlord did not respond to this issue in its stage 1 complaint response. On 26 May 2023, the resident escalated his complaint about his request for a walk-in bath to stage 2 of the landlord’s complaint procedure. The landlord did not respond to this issue in its stage 2 complaint response. This was a failing which may have made the resident feel the landlord was not listening to him. The landlord’s lack of response to the resident’s request for a walk-in bath in its complaint responses, amounts to service failure. The Ombudsman’s remedies guidance states that where service failure has been identified, compensation of £50-£100 should be considered. The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £100 compensation in relation to its failures in its handling of his request for a walk-in bath.
- On 8 September 2023, the landlord advised the resident to contact occupational health in relation to his request for a walk-in bath. This was reasonable. Occupational health are experts in this area and the landlord would not be expected to carry out adaptations without input from occupational health. This is because the landlord and/or the resident may not know which adaptations would be most suitable and occupational health can assist with this. The landlord should consider any recommendations in any occupational health assessment under its aids and adaptation policy. It should then explain the reasons for its decision in writing to the resident. If the resident is dissatisfied with the landlord’s decision he can raise a separate complaint about the decision through the landlord’s complaints process.
Determination (decision)
- In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the repairs to the resident’s bathroom.
- In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s request for a walk-in bath.
Orders and recommendations
Orders
- The landlord is ordered to pay the resident the following compensation within 4 weeks of the date of this report, ensuring that the Ombudsman is provided with evidence by the same date.
- £100 for the time, trouble, and inconvenience caused by errors in its handling of repairs to the resident’s bathroom.
- £100 for the time, trouble, and inconvenience caused by errors in its handling of the resident’s request for a walk-in bath.
Recommendations
- The landlord should consider any recommendations in any occupational health assessment under its aids and adaptation policy. It should then explain the reasons for its decision in writing to the resident.