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Tower Hamlets Homes (202217515)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202217515

Tower Hamlets Homes

20 December 2023


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 internal air vents at the resident’s property which resulted in condensation in the property.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord.
  2. The resident first reported an issue with the internal air vents on 19 July 2022. The landlords records show the resident reported on 9 August 2022 that the bathroom and kitchen fans were not working
  3. An inspection on 11 August 2022 identified that the unit was not providing any extraction at any of the outlets. A job was booked for 18 August 2022 to repair the unit.
  4. The resident submitted a complaint to the landlord on 18 August 2022. She explained that she raised a job for internal vents at her property to be repaired and not for an extractor fan. She stated that she did not have windows in the kitchen and bathroom and the vents had not been working for around 2 months. The resident explained that she reported the issues on several occasions and a job was booked, but the contractor did not turn up to the appointment.
  5. The landlord provided its stage one complaint response to the resident on 24 August 2022 It apologised for its missed appointment on 18 August 2022 and explained that parts had been ordered, and an appointment had been arranged for 7 September 2022 for the repairs to the vents to be carried out. The landlord offered the resident £50 compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience pursuing the repair and an additional £30 for the missed appointment.
  6. The landlord’s contractor did not attend a booked appointment on 7 September 2022.
  7. The landlord’s contractor visited the resident’s property on 9 September 2022 but was unable to complete the repair because the ventilation unit had tamper-proof screws. Therefore, the contractor was unable to remove the unit. There were also a further 3 missed appointments in September 2022 by the landlord’s contractors.
  8. On 26 September 2022, the resident requested her complaint to be escalated to the next stage of the landlord’s complaints process. The resident stated that she was told by the landlord’s contractor that a different operative would be attending the next day. However, she explained that this did not happen.
  9. There was 2 missed appointments by the landlord’s contractor in October 2022. The landlord’s contractor attended the resident’s property on 25 October 2022 and installed the ventilation unit. However, the unit would not work. Therefore, it stated that it was recommended that the manufacturer attend the resident’s property to carry out the installation.
  10. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint to the resident on 2 November 2022. The landlord apologised to the resident for her experience in trying to get the ventilation in her property prepared. It acknowledged that there had been an unacceptable number of missed appointments and offered the resident £210 of vouchers for the missed appointments she experienced, which were sent to the resident by the landlord’s contractor.
  11. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s response and submitted her complaint to the Ombudsman. She stated that her desired outcome was to receive compensation which acknowledges the impact and time taken.
  12. The landlord and the resident have confirmed that the internal vents were repaired in January 2023.

Assessment and findings

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy explains that the landlord is responsible for repairs to extractor or ventilation mechanisms. The policy also states that the landlord has two main categories for repairs which include emergency repairs and normal priority repairs. The repairs policy explains that the landlord will attend to an emergency repair within 24 hours and a normal priority repair within 20 working days.
  2. The resident reported on 9 August 2022 that the internal vents in her bathroom and kitchen were not working and required repair. Shortly after the repair issue was reported, the landlord’s contractor visited the resident’s property on 11 August 2022 and inspected the ventilation unit. The contractor identified that the motor to the unit had stopped working and recommended that a new fan control unit should be installed. The landlord responded appropriately by carrying out an inspection in line with the timescales referenced in its repairs policy.
  3. The landlord booked its contractor to visit the resident’s property on 18 August 2022 and 7 September 2022 for repairs to be carried out to the vents. However, the contractor missed both appointments. The landlord’s contractor missing 2 appointments was unreasonable and would have contributed to the delay in the internal vents at the resident’s property being repaired. In addition, there was no prior notice given to the resident regarding the missed appointments, which would have resulted in the resident waiting for the contractors who didn’t turn up to the appointments. This would have added further inconvenience to the resident.
  4. Following the missed appointments, the landlord’s contractor attended the resident’s property on 9 September 2022 and 22 September 2022 and attempted to remove the existing ventilation unit. However, the contractor was unable to remove the ventilation unit because it had been installed with tamper–proof screws.
  5. During September 2022 there were a further 3 missed appointments by the landlord’s contractor. The reason for the missed appointments was due to sickness and an issue with the contractor’s database. Although the landlord’s contractor provided reasons for the missed appointments, the total number of missed appointments was unreasonable and would have further contributed to the delay in the resident’s ventilation unit being replaced.
  6. On 28 September 2022, the landlord’s contractor successfully removed the existing ventilation unit and installed a new unit. However, the new ventilation unit was defective and did not work.
  7. The landlord’s contractor had appointments arranged to attend the resident’s property in October 2022. However, the contractor missed 2 of the appointments which would have caused further delay and inconvenience to the resident.
  8. On 25 October 2022, the landlord’s contractor attempted to re-install the new ventilation unit as per the manufacturer’s instructions. However, the contractor was unable to get the ventilation unit working. As the contractor was unable to get the ventilation unit working, it was recommended that the manufacturer should complete the installation of the unit.
  9. During November 2022, there were further missed appointments from the landlord’s contractor. The landlord’s contractor visited the resident’s property on 1 December 2022 and explained to the resident that they were waiting for a new unit from the manufacturer. There were no further visits to repair the ventilation system until January 2023. The additional delays would have caused further inconvenience to the resident.
  10. The landlord has confirmed that the resident’s ventilation system was eventually repaired on 30 January 2023. The resident has also confirmed that the ventilation system has been repaired.
  11. It is acknowledged that the landlord’s contractor did attend the resident’s property on several occasions to attempt to repair the ventilation system. However, the large number of missed appointments and the length of time it took the landlord to repair the resident’s ventilation systems was unreasonable and resulted in the resident having no ventilation in her kitchen and bathroom for around 5 months.
  12. The landlord acknowledged and apologised in its stage one and 2 complaint response sent to the resident in August 2022 and November 2022 for the delays in it carrying out works to repair the internal vents at the property. The landlord offered the resident £80 compensation in its stage one complaint response, which was £50 to recognise the distress and inconvenience the resident experienced and £30 for a missed appointment. In addition, the landlord offered the resident £210 worth of vouchers in its stage 2 complaint response for the other missed appointments by its contractor. Although the landlord offered the resident compensation for the missed appointments and the distress and inconvenience, it is evident that there were further delays and missed appointments shortly after the landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response. Therefore, the level of compensation offered by the landlord did not adequately reflect the distress and inconvenience the resident would have experienced. There has been maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs to internal vents at the resident’s property which resulted in condensation in the property.
  13. It would be appropriate for the landlord to pay the resident additional compensation of £200 to recognise the delay and inconvenience she experienced, due to the landlord’s delay in repairing the vents at her property. The Ombudsman’s approach to compensation is set out in our remedies guidance (published on our website). The remedies guidance suggests awards of £100 to £600 where there has been a failure by the landlord which adversely affected the resident, but there was no permanent impact. In this case, although the delayed repair to the ventilation system would have caused distress and inconvenience, there may be no permanent impact on the resident from this as the ventilation system was eventually replaced. In this case, the landlord offered the resident compensation to recognise the delay and missed appointments. However, the amount of compensation offered was not proportionate to the level of distress and inconvenience the resident would have experienced.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of repairs to internal vents at the resident’s property which resulted in condensation in the property.

Orders

  1. The landlord to pay the resident £200 compensation for its handling of repairs to internal vents at the resident’s property which resulted in condensation within the property.
  2. The landlord should provide evidence of compliance with the above order within five weeks of the date of this report.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord should review the number of missed appointments in relation to its recent repairs cases and, depending on the outcome of any review, consider what steps may be required to reduce them through improving communication and record keeping with its contractors.