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Yorkshire Housing Limited (202343268)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202343268

Yorkshire Housing Limited

10 July 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 repairs to the front door and to address gaps around the bedroom window.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord which is a housing association. The resident’s complaint relates to a 3-bedroom house under an agreement dated 25 January 2022. The resident moved house in March 2025 to a different address with the same landlord. The resident has Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), heart disease and arthritis. The resident’s disability was known to the landlord from at least 8 May 2024. She lived in the property with her grandson.
  2. On 14 February 2024 the resident reported to the landlord that the glass in her front door had not been replaced following an antisocial behaviour incident that caused the glass to break. She said the landlord had promised her on 29 December 2023 that it would be completed within 10 days. She also said that she reported that her front bedroom window was not catching properly but there was nothing about this repair on her account. The landlord’s auto-response to confirm receipt of the message was sent to the resident on the same day.
  3. On 19 February 2024 the resident raised a complaint to the landlord over the phone. The landlord’s record of the complaint states that the resident reported that a repairs check had been completed but no repairs had been raised at that time and that they were still outstanding.
  4. The landlord responded at stage 1 on 8 March 2024. It said:
    1. The door had been reported on 31 December 2023 and made safe the same day. However, the resident had called for updates, sent messages but the repair had not been booked in.
    2. During the landlord’s home visit on 19 January 2024, the resident had reported repairs required to the door and the window. There had been miscommunication, and the repair request was sent to its repair team on 28 February 2024.
    3. It would update progress and let the resident know when the repairs would be completed.
    4. It awarded £65 in Love2Shop vouchers to say sorry for the stress and inconvenience, following the issues with the appointments and communication. It would also order a blanket with sleeves due to the “colder nights, while your window doesn’t shut properly”.
  5. The resident was dissatisfied with the landlord’s response to the repairs and escalated her complaint on 28 March 2024. She said that a repair had been booked in for 21 March 2024 to replace the glass in the front door. When the joiner attended the glass was not big enough even though it had been previously measured. The repair was booked in again on 28 March 2024, but the glass was not ready.
  6. The landlord sent its final response on 8 May 2024. In this, the landlord:
    1. Apologised, acknowledging a mistake had been made with the measurements to the front door. It should have re-ordered the glass and fitted it as a priority.
    2. It recognised that there were delays with the repairs as it did not report them during the 19 January 2024 visit.
    3. It would visit on 9 May 2024 and would oversee the repairs to ensure completion.
    4. It offered a further £150 Love2Shop vouchers, in addition to the earlier award of £65, along with the blanket as it appreciated that it would be uncomfortable sleeping next to a cold window, “especially with disabilities”.
  7. The resident was unhappy with the landlord’s response, and she referred her complaint to us on 15 May 2024. As an outcome, the resident wished for her bedroom window to be repaired.

Assessment and findings

The scope of the Ombudsman’s investigation

  1. The resident referred to the impact of the landlord’s actions regarding the draughts around the windows affected her health. We do not doubt that the resident’s statement. However, the Ombudsman is unable to draw conclusions on specifically how the resident’s health may have been affected by any errors made by the landlord. Claims of personal injury ultimately, are better suited for courts or liability insurers to decide. The Ombudsman can however consider the overall detriment, inconvenience and time and trouble experienced by the resident due to a landlord’s failings as well as the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about her health.
  2. The resident told us that she had reported repairs needed to the window from June 2022. However, there is no evidence she raised a formal complaint with the landlord at this time about the issues in 2022. The formal complaint was raised on 19 February 2024, during a call to the landlord. A complaint needs to be raised within a reasonable time, which is normally within 12 months of the matter arising.
  3. For the avoidance of doubt, the Ombudsman’s investigation will focus on the incidents which occurred from 31 December 2023 until the landlord’s final complaint response on 8 May 2024.

The landlord’s handling of repairs to the front door and to address gaps around the bedroom window

  1. The landlord’s records evidence that the glass in the resident’s front door was made safe on the same day it was broken during an incident of antisocial behaviour incident that occurred on 31 December 2023. This was reasonable and in line with the landlord’s policy which says it will make safe within 4 hours and complete emergency repairs within 24 hours.
  2. The resident subsequently reported on 14 February 2024 that the follow-on work to replace the glass in the front door and that the window repair had not been completed. She stated that she had previously reported the window repair during the landlord’s home visit on 19 January 2024 but that there was nothing on her record about it.
  3. The landlord did not dispute the resident’s statement that she had reported the window and door repairs during the landlord’s home visit on 19 January 2024. It confirmed this in its final complaint response of 8 May 2025. At stage 1 of the complaints process, the landlord recognised that there had been miscommunication issues. That was indicative of poor record keeping leading to a lack of follow up action. Further evidence of this was that after the resident reported the outstanding work in her message of 14 February, the landlord did not send the repair request to its repairs team until 28 February 2024.
  4. It is not clear from the landlord’s records why it waited until 28 February 2024 to report the repairs to the door and window or progress the issue internally. There is no evidence that suggests that the landlord updated the resident on progress as promised in its complaint response. This again indicated that the landlord’s communication to the resident was insufficient. At this point, the door repair had been outstanding for 46 days. Though the window repair was still within the 28-day period of the landlord’s policy.
  5. As set out in our Spotlight report on Knowledge and Information Management (May 2023) and follow up report (January 2025), without good information management, a landlord cannot adequately understand its own housing stock and proactively monitor the completion of repairs. The landlord should review its self-assessment of its knowledge and information management if it has not already done so.
  6. The landlord’s repairing responsibilities are set out within the written tenancy agreement and the implied terms in Section 11(1)(c) of the Landlord and Tenant Act.
  7. What is a reasonable time will depend on all the circumstances of a case. The landlord’s repair policy states that non-emergency repairs should be completed within 28 days. At the time of the resident’s complaint escalation to stage 2 of 28 March 2024, the door and window repair was still outstanding. This was a delay of 70 days from 19 January 2024 for the window repair and 89 days from 31 December 2023 for the door repair. This was an unreasonable delay for both repairs, and considerably outside of the landlord’s repair policy obligations.
  8. Furthermore, this was during the winter period, where the lack of a properly fitting window and lack of door glazing will have made it harder for the resident to keep the property warm. This will have caused unnecessary distress and inconvenience to the resident in having to chase up the landlord on several occasions about the same issues. It was important for the resident to keep warm due to her medical needs. Whilst the landlord considered the fact it was cold in its stage 1 complaint response by ordering the resident a blanket with sleeves, there was no sense of urgency to complete the work sooner. Timely completion of the required work would have avoided the need to order the blanket with sleeves.
  9. The other issue that was causing the resident stress was the perceived security risk of having a boarded front door for this period of time. The resident described the inconvenience and worry of not being able to leave the house overnight for fear of a potential break in and that her grandson was distressed by this and wasn’t sleeping well. This was an understandable concern under the circumstances and considering that during the winter it gets darker earlier. The fact that the door was broken due to an antisocial behaviour incident will have caused the resident and her grandson a great deal of concern.
  10. The landlord only mentioned the impact on the resident’s disabilities in its stage 2 complaint response on 8 May 2024. It is not clear from the landlord’s records when it recorded the resident’s disabilities, but it must have known this from at least 8 May 2024. Otherwise, it would not have specifically referred to the resident’s disabilities in its stage 2 complaint response. However, the landlord told us that it had only updated its records after reaching out to the resident on 14 April 2025. It is not clear why it took the landlord over a year to update its records, again evidencing poor record keeping practice.
  11. The landlord’s repairs policy clearly states that the landlord will “take the needs of each individual customer into consideration when arranging and providing services”. The evidence provided does not indicate that this has happened in this case which was inappropriate.
  12. There were clear errors made when the landlord’s emergency operative made an error in measuring the glass in the door when they attended on 31 December 2023. This was discovered when the landlord’s operative attended the property on 21 March 2023 to fit the glass and found that the glass was not big enough. Then when the work was booked in again on 28 March 2023, the glass was not ready.
  13. This was when the resident escalated her complaint clearly expressing frustration with the landlord’s management of the repairs. There is no evidence that the landlord appropriately communicated with the resident to keep her updated about the delayed repairs, or that it was waiting on the glass to arrive which was inappropriate. Nor was there evidence that it was monitoring completion as it suggested it would in its stage 1 complaint response of 8 March 2024. 
  14. In the landlord’s final complaint response of 8 May 2024, the landlord recognised that it had let the resident down, ordered the wrong size glass for the front door and that it should have got the measurements right in the first place. It said it should have then fitted this as a priority. It also recognised that it should have repaired the gap around the bedroom window when it first attended. It offered an apology and further compensation in the form of Love2Shop vouchers totalling £150 on top of the £65 it had previously offered. The total compensation offered was therefore £215.
  15. It was appropriate that the landlord apologised and recognise that it had got things wrong. The compensatory offer was broadly in line with its compensation policy that says it could award £250 in respect of moderate service failures. Given the length of the delays and the impact on the resident, it would have been appropriate for the landlord to consider whether it should review the amount of the compensation awarded. The landlord’s complaint handling was generally reasonable other than a small delay in issuing an acknowledgement at stage 2 of its complaints process. It took 10 working days to issue the acknowledgement as opposed to the 5 working days required by the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code. However, its stage 2 response was issued within the required 20 working days from the date of the acknowledgement.
  16. The appointment to repair the door was completed on 31 May 2024. The landlord also requested in its internal email of 24 May 2024 that the window repair be completed at the same appointment. However, the resident has informed us during the investigation that the window repair was not completed prior to her new tenancy starting on 14 March 2025. The landlord’s evidence does not detail any work that was completed on the window repair at this time. This again demonstrates poor record keeping practice and was inappropriate.
  17. It took the landlord 153 days or 29 weeks to repair the door which was unreasonable. The landlord’s records do not evidence what work, if any was completed to fix the window. At the time the resident’s new tenancy started, the window repair had been outstanding for 395 days or 56 weeks which again was unreasonable. For both repairs, the landlord failed to follow its policy, and its repairing obligations as described above. It failed to recognise the detriment caused to the resident, who was disabled. This included the worry and stress, along with the time and trouble in getting the landlord to complete the work.
  18. The Ombudsman considers that the failings did amount to maladministration. Whilst the landlord offered some compensation in the form of Love2Shop vouchers, and a blanket with sleeves, it is the Ombudsman’s opinion that this does not adequately reflect the failures and delay, nor how this impacted on the resident who the landlord knew was disabled and that the failures occurred during the winter period.
  19. Having carefully considered the guidance on remedies, a fair level of compensation would be £700 (inclusive of the £215 previously offered). This comprises £400 in respect of the delays and errors made and £300 to recognise the distress and inconvenience, and time and trouble caused to the resident recognising the greater impact on her due to her disability.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs to the front door and bedroom window.

 

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks from the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to pay the resident £700 (inclusive of the £215 previously offered during the internal complaints process. This comprises:
    1. £400 in respect of the delays in completing the repairs.
    2. £300 in respect of the detriment caused to the resident because of the delays including the distress and inconvenience, time and trouble.

Recommendation

  1. It is recommended that the landlord should review its self-assessment of its knowledge and information management if it has not already done so, to improve its record keeping practice.