Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council (202203518)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202203518

Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council

19 May 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 concerns:
   1. The landlord’s decision not to compensate the resident for plastering work she carried out in the property.
   2. The associated formal complaint.

Background

2. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord, which is a local authority. The property is a house. The resident took on the tenancy of the property on 15 December 2020.
3. On 19 January 2021 the resident called the landlord to advise that she had removed wallpaper prior to decoration and had found the plastering to be cracked, crumbling and full of holes. The landlord’s notes of the call stated that it had informed the resident that as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and national lockdown in operation at the time, it was only attending emergency repairs. Therefore, it would not be able to book an appointment to carry out the repairs.
4. In May 2022, the resident reported issues with the plastering in the kitchen and a bedroom of the property. A work order was raised by the landlord on 13 May 2022. During their correspondence, the resident informed the landlord that she had completed the plastering she reported in January 2021 herself and asked to be reimbursed for the costs of the work. The landlord wrote to the resident on 17 May 2022 and declined the resident’s request.
5. The resident contacted the landlord on 6 June 2022 to raise a complaint about its decision to decline to compensate her for the plastering work. The landlord sent a stage one complaint response on 24 June 2022 and a stage two complaint response on 8 September 2022. In its responses, the landlord:
   1. Explained that when the resident reported the condition of the plastering on 19 January 2021, it was operating under restrictions put in place by the government and could only attend properties for emergency repairs.
   2. Noted that in her escalation request, the resident had provided photographs of the plasterwork. The landlord accepted that the condition of the plasterwork was “not in the best condition”, but that this condition did not rise to an emergency repair and affected the decoration only. It also noted that it was the resident’s decision to have the plaster rectified rather than wait for the landlord to inspect the property once the lockdown restrictions had been lifted.
   3. Further noted that it had no records of any further contact from the resident about the plastering to the walls since January 2021 report. It noted that in April/May 2022 the resident reported additional areas of plaster that needed work and requested compensation for the original work.
   4. Stated that it was satisfied with its decision to decline the resident’s compensation request on the grounds that it was not given the opportunity to inspect the plastering before the resident arranged to have the work completed herself.
   5. Offered £150 compensation for the delay in providing the stage two complaint response and apologised for the inconvenience that this caused.
6. In referring the case to this Service, the resident expressed that the landlord had not addressed that she was told that by the landlord that it was unable to attend her property due to the national lockdown. She was not advised at the time to wait for an inspection and that she was told “many times” by the landlord’s repair team that she could do the work herself. As a resolution to the complaint, the resident requested that the landlord compensate her for the work she had arranged.

Assessment and findings

Relevant policies and procedures

7. Section 5 of the tenancy agreement sets out the landlord’s responsibilities. This, in part, states that the landlord “will arrange to repair the structure and exterior of your home and the building of which your home may form part. This includes: Internal walls, floors (excluding floor coverings), ceilings, doors, door frames, door hinges and skirting boards”.
8. Section 7 of the tenancy agreement relates to repairs and maintenance. In regard to work undertaken by a tenant, the agreement states as follows:
   1. “Under your tenancy agreement you have the right to carry out improvements to your home, such as fitting a new bathroom suite or replacing kitchen units. Before carrying out any improvements or alterations to your property, you must ask for permission (which, if granted, will be given in writing). There is no charge for seeking this permission and it will not be unreasonably withheld but certain conditions may be imposed. Before undertaking any work, you are responsible for getting the planning and building regulations approval that is required.
   2. You are also responsible for any costs involved with this work. We will have the right to inspect any work that you have done. If permission is refused you will be advised why. You will usually be responsible for the repairs and maintenance of all improvements, fixtures and fittings you have installed at the home.”
9. The landlord’s repairs policy sets out the repairs that are a tenants responsibility to resolve. This list includes “minor cracks in wall plaster” and “Internal decoration, including areas of full plaster skim”.
10. The repairs policy categorises types of repairs as “Emergency” (attend and make safe within 24 hours), “Urgent” (attend within three working days) and “Routine” (attend within 20 working days). An emergency repair is defined by the landlord as a repair “which if not dealt with quickly, could cause injury to the occupants, public or further damage to the home”.
11. The landlord operates a two-stage complaints process. When a complaint is received, the landlord will first attempt to resolve the issue informally. If that is not possible, a formal complaint will be opened and it aims to provide a response at stage one within 20 working days. If the complainant is dissatisfied with the response, they can request an escalation of the complaint to the next stage. The landlord will then undertake a review of the complaint and provide a stage two response within 20 working days. This will be the landlord’s final response to the complaint.
12. The landlord’s compensation policy states that it will consider offering a payment of £50 to £250 in instances of “service failure where the impact on the complainant was of short duration and may not have significantly affected the overall outcome for the complainant. Examples could include: Failure to meet service standards for actions and responses but where the failure had no significant impact”.

The landlord’s decision not to compensate the resident for plastering work she carried out in the property.

13. Once it was informed by the resident of the issues with the plastering in the property, the landlord had a duty to respond to the matter in line with its obligations set out in the tenancy agreement. Also, in accordance with its published policies and procedures.
14. The landlord’s policies state that decoration is the responsibility of the tenant. Therefore, it was reasonable that the work done during the void period prior to the resident moving into the property in December 2020 had not discovered the condition of the plastering, as the wallpaper would not have been removed at this time. Once the condition of the plaster was reported, the landlord would be expected to raise a repair in line with its repairs policy. However, due to the restrictions introduced by the national government the landlord had to change its operating practices and could only enter the resident’s property to respond to an emergency.
15. It is not disputed by either party that the condition of the plastering was not an emergency. Therefore, it was reasonable for the landlord to wait until restrictions put in place by the government had been lifted to allow it to inspect the plastering and raise any necessary repair work. It is acknowledged that living with bare walls in the property would be understandably frustrating to the resident. However, due to the restrictions in place at the time and the type of repair was classified as a non-emergency, it was appropriate for the landlord not to visit the property until the restrictions had been lifted.
16. The resident has stated that staff members from the landlord’s repairs team had informed her that she would be able to undertake the work herself. This advice is correct. There is no evidence that the resident received written permission from the landlord to complete repairs to the plastering. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the landlord agreed to cover the costs of the work prior to the work commencing.
17. If a tenant decides to proceed with work and to incur their own repair costs, this must be based on written confirmation that the landlord agrees to cover these costs in advance. Failing to do this means that they cannot rely on the landlord refunding any of these costs. From what can be seen, the resident did not seek written permission prior to starting the work or that that the landlord was willing to undertake the work once the government restrictions had been lifted. Furthermore, there is no evidence that the condition of the plastering was a health and safety issue which would require it to be treated as an emergency. It was reasonable for the landlord to decline the resident’s request to compensate her for the costs of the work.

The landlord’s complaint handling

18. The landlord did not follow its complaints policy at stage two of its complaint process. Following a request by the resident, the complaint was escalated on 22 July 2022 and a stage two complaint response was sent on 8 September 2022; 15 working days outside of its target timescale of 20 working days.
19. Therefore, it was appropriate for the landlord to apologise to the resident for the delay and offer £150 compensation. This position is in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles of: be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
20. The landlord acted fairly in acknowledging its mistakes and apologising to the resident. It put things right by awarding £150 compensation. It looked to learn from its mistakes by discussing its complaint handling procedures with this Service.
21. The £150 compensation offer was made in line with the landlord’s compensation policy and was also broadly in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance which recommends a payment of £100 to £600 in cases of considerable service failure or maladministration by a landlord. Therefore, a payment of £150 that recognised the delay in providing the stage two response and the inconvenience caused to the resident is appropriate in the circumstances. The measures taken by the landlord to redress what went wrong were proportionate to the impact that its failures had on the resident.

Determination

22. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in its decision not to compensate the resident for plastering work she carried out in the property.
23.  In accordance with paragraph 53(b) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord made an offer of redress to the resident in respect of its complaint handling which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, satisfactorily resolves the complaint.

Recommendations

24. If it has not already done so, the landlord to pay the resident the £150 compensation, awarded in its final complaint handling response.
25. The landlord should confirm compliance with these orders to this Service within six weeks of the date of this report.