London Borough of Ealing (202121301)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202121301

London Borough of Ealing

26 June 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

The complaint is about:
1. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of repairs to the kitchen worktop, an electrical socket, the bedroom windows and the bathroom ceiling.
2. The landlord’s handling of the related communications and complaint.

Background and summary of events

Background

The resident lives in a three-bedroom first floor flat on a secure tenancy with the landlord that began in 1984.
The landlord’s records show that the resident has mobility issues and struggles with stairs.
The Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (section 11) and the tenancy agreement place obligations on the landlord to maintain the property. These are in relation to the structure, exterior of the building, common parts and all installations for the supply of water, gas, electricity, heating and sanitation.
The landlord’s repair and maintenance policy (draft provided dated August 2021) states that it will respond within the following timescales:
1. Emergency repairs – within the same working day.
2. Urgent and routine repairs – no later than 15 working days.
3. Planned works – within 60 working days.
It does not give specific examples of the types of repairs categorised within each response time but in its policy of 2017, it does allow an element of discretion and further adds that the resident must be informed of timescales for the job.
The landlord has a complaints policy that includes guidance on when compensation will be payable. This includes failure to complete repairs within target times of £10 for the first day and then £2 for every working day up to a maximum of £50. It also offers compensation of £10 for failure to keep to target times when dealing with a complaint.

Summary of Events

On 21 May 2021, the landlord’s repairs history shows a job was raised for the worktop around the kitchen sink, noting that it was rotten. The job shows a completion date of 22 February 2022. However, it did not detail the completed works.
On 13 December 2021, the landlord’s records show that the resident made contact with it. Firstly, he reported that he had been on hold on the telephone for up to one hour and then he had tried to make a complaint online on a couple of occasions but when the details were entered, the session had expired. The resident reported that this situation had caused unnecessary stress.
During the same correspondence of 13 December 2021, the resident said that on 6 December 2021, he had reported an electric socket that was tripping the electrics, and this had to be reported out of hours. The electrician went out but could not find a fault and they said this would be reported back to the ‘day team’.
The resident went on to mention that the repair was not getting resolved and, at that stage, it had been outstanding for a week. He added that he felt that the landlord should consider offering him compensation for the poor service and the stress this had caused him.
On 15 December 2021, the resident sent an email to the landlord, confirming his frustrations with the situation and explaining the poor service he had received, in particular about not being able to easily contact it and having to chase up repairs.
On 30 December 2021, the resident contacted the landlord, asking for the matter to be escalated as he said that he had still not heard anything about the outstanding repair.
On 7 January 2022, the resident contacted this Service for advice as he had not heard anything from the landlord, and he was getting extremely annoyed with the situation.
On 10 January 2022, the resident contacted the landlord again stating that he had still not heard anything and requested a response.
On 25 January 2022, the landlord’s repairs history shows a job for an electrician to attend the property. A completion date has not been provided.
On 8 February 2022, the landlord’s repairs history shows the following work orders recorded:
1. Repair windows in three bedrooms that were not locking – a completion date of 23 June 2022 was given.
2. Bathroom ceiling had paint flaking off – a completion date of 24 June 2022 was given.
On 9 March 2022, the resident contacted the landlord again by email and supplied his previous email from 13 December 2021, requesting a response.
On 14 March 2022, the resident emailed the landlord, explaining that repairs were outstanding and that, despite him making contact with the landlord on many occasions, nothing had been resolved. He advised the landlord that he wanted to make a formal complaint.
On 20 April 2022, the landlord sent its formal stage one complaint response. It confirmed that the complaint was about:
1. The length of time taken to rectify the electrical fault.
2. Issues with its customer service call line.
The landlord advised of the following findings:

Electrical fault

No power to the sockets was reported out of hours on 6 December 2021.
The contractor attended and reported that a thorough electrical test was required.
The contractor delayed in reporting this back and it did not receive this report until 24 January 2022.
A job was ordered on 24 January 2022 and the contractor returned on 26 January 2022. They reported that a single socket in the bedroom had water present in it and the wall was slightly wet.
The socket was disconnected and a test on the remaining sockets was carried out and no trips were reported.
No information was reported back to the landlord as the operative stated that he had advised the resident to contact the landlord.
A job was ordered to trace a leak in the bedroom/socket for 25 April 2022.
It confirmed that once the water issue had been resolved, it would repair the socket.

Customer Service call line

It apologised for the inconvenience caused when the resident attempted to call.
It confirmed there had not been any faults with the call line and that there was a call back service available.

It confirmed that it had upheld the complaint.

On 28 April 2022, the resident emailed the landlord requesting that a manager call him to discuss the outstanding repairs.
On 29 April 2022, the landlord’s repairs history shows a repair was logged to trace a leak in the bedroom. There is no completion date against this repair.
The same day, the resident contacted the landlord to request that his complaint was escalated. He also contacted this Service to express his dissatisfaction with the landlord. He explained that the complaint was not about one repair issue but there were five outstanding issues. However, these were not fully itemised at that point.
The landlord registered a new stage one complaint on 28 April 2022 and the resident advised the landlord of its error, as this should have been a stage two complaint. The landlord closed the stage one complaint and opened a stage two complaint. The landlord has confirmed that it did not acknowledge this stage two complaint; it apologised for this and later sent a letter to the resident to advise him that it would answer the stage two complaint by 27 June 2022.
The resident contacted this Service a number of times throughout May–June 2022 as he had not heard from the landlord. On 16 June 2022, this Service issued the landlord with a final request for action, giving it until 26 June 2022 for a response to the resident.
On 27 June 2022, the landlord issued its stage two complaint response. It apologised for the delay in responding and advised of the following:
1. It had discussed the poor wait times for repair reports and said that it was looking at alternative routes for reporting repairs to make it easier and quicker for residents.
2. It acknowledged that the electrical socket in the bedroom was first reported in December 2021, and it was still outstanding six months later. It explained that the initial attendance by the contractor recommended that the source of the water in the socket was investigated but, following an error, this message did not reach the landlord until the complaint was received.
3. Dissatisfaction had been raised about the window replacement handles that did not match the existing windows and that they could not be locked. It acknowledged that these had not been completed to satisfaction.
4. It noted the resident’s comments about the overall condition of the windows and the seals.
5. It acknowledged the resident’s dissatisfaction with the standard of work carried out to the bathroom ceiling and the kitchen worktop repair.
6. It asked its surveyor to inspect the repairs on 29 June 2022 and it accepted that the repairs had not progressed within its repair targets.
7. It confirmed that the first report about the bedroom window was in November 2019 and the handle was replaced. It confirmed that it could find no other issues being reported until 1 March 2022 and an operative attended on 23 June 2022, when a surveyor inspection was recommended to assess the condition of the windows.
8. The resident had requested compensation to be paid for the delayed repairs and the increased heating costs in the winter months due to the draughts and the stress experienced chasing up the repairs.
9. It confirmed that it would not consider compensation for the increased heating costs as the resident had not provided evidence to support an increase.
10. As several repairs had fallen outside of the repairs target times, it awarded £50 compensation.
11. It recognised that the delayed repairs, the late complaint responses and repeated instances of having to chase up the repairs caused unnecessary stress and inconvenience and it awarded £75.
12. In total, it confirmed the compensation offer of £125.
On 4 August 2022, the resident contacted the landlord to chase up the repairs, explaining that a surveyor had been sent out, but he had not heard anything else.
On 15 August 2022, the resident contacted the landlord again with concerns that he was still waiting for repairs. The landlord responded the following day to confirm that it had copied its repairs team into the email so that they were aware that he was awaiting an update.

Summary of Events after landlord’s complaints process

On 16 August 2022, the resident contacted the landlord, expressing his dissatisfaction at the situation and advising that he would not be contacting its repairs team as he had already been through the complaints process.
The resident contacted this Service from September 2022 to January 2023, expressing his dissatisfaction with the landlord about the outstanding repairs.
As part of this investigation, this Service gave both parties the opportunity to give an update on the current situation. The resident responded on 23 May 2023 to explain that he had been chasing the landlord since the surveyor inspected the property. He explained that there was recurring mould at the property which was the main cause of the water in the bedroom electrical socket and despite the socket being replaced, the water ingress had not been resolved.

Assessment and findings

The Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles are to:
1. Be fair;
2. Put things right; and
3. Learn from outcomes.

These principles are applied in this assessment and findings.

The landlord’s handling of repairs

Kitchen worktop

In May 2021, a job was raised for the kitchen worktop and the landlord’s records show that the completion date was not until February 2022 – nine months later. This was an excessive period for this type of repair and the landlord failed to comply with its repair and maintenance policy timeframe of completing routine repairs in no later than fifteen working days.
Further, it is unclear what work was completed and whether the repair has been resolved. This indicates that the landlord’s record-keeping was insufficient and that it failed to effectively follow up on the concerns the resident raised at least as early as June 2022 about the quality of these works.

Electrical socket

In December 2021, the resident reported a faulty electrical socket in the bedroom. The landlord acted appropriately when the operative attended quickly, out of hours. Tests were carried out and the socket was later disconnected. However, the contractor delayed in reporting back to the landlord that follow on work was required.
The electrical report was not received until January 2022 when it was confirmed that there was water present in the socket and a thorough electrical test was required. An appointment was not arranged to re–attend until late January 2022, when the socket was disconnected and a test on the remaining sockets was carried out and no trips were reported.
At this point, the landlord advises that the operative told the resident to report back to it for a further visit. Technical information from the contractor to the landlord should be relayed directly for accuracy purposes and to ensure follow on works can be identified and ordered promptly. It was unreasonable to expect the resident to do this and it further caused inconvenience to him on what was already a frustrating situation.
The job to trace the potential leak was not raised until April 2022 and no completion date or notes have been provided so it is unclear if this has been rectified.
These delays of four months were inappropriate, especially given the nature of the fault and a potential leak that required further investigation. It is of concern that it is not known if the damp wall issue has been resolved or whether the electrical socket has been repaired.

Bedroom windows

On 8 February 2022, a job was raised to repair three-bedroom windows that could not be locked. The landlord’s records are limited, and no notes of works carried out have been supplied except for a record of the job being completed in June 2022. There was therefore an inappropriate delay of four months in the landlord attending to these works. This fell outside of the landlord’s repair and maintenance policy timeframe of completing routine repairs in no later than 15 working days.
The landlord confirmed that it recommended a surveyor inspection to assess the condition of the windows. This should have happened in June 2022 and the resident confirmed that an inspection took place but that he had not heard anything since, and he had to continue to chase the landlord. It is of further concern that there are no records of the inspection, so it is unclear what work was recommended and whether this has been completed. The Ombudsman expects landlords to record key events such as inspection outcomes and this lack of record keeping is inappropriate.

Bathroom ceiling

A job was raised to attend to the bathroom ceiling in February 2022 and the job was completed in June 2022 – four months later. Again, the landlord has provided limited information and it is unclear what work was carried out. These delays do not comply with the landlord’s repair and maintenance policy timeframe of completing works within 15 working days.
The landlord acknowledged fault in its repairs handling in its final complaint response. It recognised non-compliance with its repair timeframes, apologised for the delayed repairs and offered compensation of £50 for this element of service failure. However, given the five repeated service failures over a period of between four months (for the windows and bathroom) and a year (kitchen worktop) and the potential serious impact of water ingress into electrics, this level of redress was insufficient.
When the landlord identified the delayed repairs, it appropriately arranged for a surveyor to attend to assess any outstanding work. However, it has failed to demonstrate the outcome of the inspection and whether follow on works were required or completed. It has therefore not demonstrated that it put things right in accordance with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles. Further, the apparent continued delays and lack of records since June 2022 indicate that the landlord failed to learn from the outcome of this complaint.

The landlord’s handling of the related communications and complaint

The resident started to report his difficulties getting through to the repairs telephone line and making a complaint online in December 2021. There is also evidence of numerous resident chasers to the landlord throughout the period December 2021 to August 2022, in an attempt to get repairs completed.
The landlord provided limited communications with the resident during this period and did not demonstrate that it proactively responded to him to keep him up to date with the delayed repairs. This no doubt added to the resident’s frustrations of not being able to resolve the outstanding work at his home and will have left him uncertain as to how the landlord intended to resolve what he described as long-standing repairs.
Initially, the landlord concentrated on responding to the resident about the delayed work to the electrical socket. This was reasonable as it is unclear when the resident began reporting the other outstanding repairs as there is no evidence to show that it was an issue until he raised concerns after the stage one complaint had been responded to.
The resident made a formal complaint to the landlord in March 2022 and on 20 April 2022 the landlord issued its stage one complaint response. This concentrated on the electrical fault and issues with the customer service calls. The response was issued slightly outside of the landlord’s 20 working day target. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code refers to a 10-working day target for stage one complaints. The landlord has advised that it obtained independent advice and agreed a 20-working day target due to complaint volumes. However, the resident had already made various submissions to it during December 2021 to January 2022 that made it clear that he was dissatisfied with the service and the landlord missed an opportunity to log the complaint at this point.
Within the stage one complaint response, the landlord did respond to the resident about the call handling wait times and apologised, stating that it had investigated and there was no issue with the phone lines, and it advised of the call back facility. It also said that it was looking at alternative routes for residents to report repairs to make it easier and quicker.
The resident requested to escalate the complaint in April 2022, but it appears that instead a new stage one complaint was registered. Although the landlord changed this when the resident raised concerns that it should be a stage two complaint, there is a lack of evidence to support whether or not this was the right course of action given new issues had apparently been raised by the resident.
The landlord did not acknowledge the stage two complaint, but it later sent a letter to the resident to apologise for this and advised him that it would respond by 27 June 2022.
This Service had to intervene to chase up the landlord in issuing its stage two complaint and on 27 June 2022, the landlord issued its response. It responded to each of the outstanding repairs and recognised the delays and requested a surveyor inspection. Nevertheless, the period of two months between the complaint escalation request and final complaint response was excessive and not in keeping with the landlord’s complaint policy or the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
The landlord upheld the complaint and offered compensation of £75 that included the access to service failure, along with other failings such as the late complaint responses (in addition to the £50 for repairs handling failure). Although it was appropriate that the landlord offered compensation, this amount is what the Ombudsman would recommend for a short-term minimal service failure. Given the failure of the landlord to respond to the resident’s concerns between December 2021 and March 2022 (including a failure to log a complaint) and delays at both stages of its complaints process, this level of compensation was insufficient.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in relation to the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of repairs to the kitchen worktop, an electrical socket, the bedroom windows and the bathroom ceiling.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration with the landlord’s handling of the related communications and complaint.

Reasons

The landlord delayed unreasonably in completing repairs to the kitchen worktop, an electrical socket, the bedroom windows and the bathroom ceiling. Its records did not set out what repairs it had carried out, what follow on repairs were needed and whether it determined that the quality of repairs was satisfactory or not.
The landlord also failed to adequately communicate with the resident, acknowledge the stage two complaint response and provide its responses within appropriate timeframes.
Given the circumstances of the case, the landlord failed to offer sufficient redress for the failings in its handling of repairs, communications with the resident and the related complaint.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

Within four weeks of this report, the landlord is to:
1. Write to the resident to apologise for the service failures identified in this report.
2. Provide written confirmation of when the full extent of works was completed at the property, whether it is satisfied with the quality of these works and an action plan, including timescales, for any remaining outstanding works.
The landlord is ordered to pay the resident compensation of £600 (including its offer of £125, if it has not already done so) within four weeks of the date of this report, made up of:
1. £400 in recognition of the distress and inconvenience caused to him by the service failures in its handling of repairs;
2. £200 in recognition of the time and trouble caused to him by its communication and complaint handling failures.
Within eight weeks of this report, the landlord is to:
1. Provide this Service with its action plan on how it intends to improve its repairs service, particularly with reference to reports of water ingress into electrics.
2. Provide this Service with its action plan on how it intends to improve its record keeping in relation to its repairs service.
3. Provide this Service with its action plan on how it intends to improve its customer service and communications with residents in relation to access to its service to report repairs, monitoring of outstanding repairs and updating residents on progress of completing outstanding repairs.
The landlord should reply to this Service with evidence of compliance with these orders within the timescales set out above.