Housing Ombudsman issues two severe maladministration findings over significant failings in eight-year roof leak case

The Housing Ombudsman has made two severe maladministration findings in a case about a housing association’s failings in dealing with a resident’s reports of a roof leak.

The resident, a shared owner, had reported a roof leak many times over several years.

The Ombudsman said it took Shepherds Bush Housing eight years to correctly identify the cause of the leak. When the resident made a formal complaint it took more than two years to reach the end of the landlord’s complaints process.

The Ombudsman’s investigation found that the landlord delayed in carrying out repair works, did not resolve the leak and did not provide redress to the resident which resolved the complaint satisfactorily. It had caused ongoing detriment to the resident for several years.

Shepherds Bush had apologised for the delays and had offered compensation but had not resolved the leak. It said it would revisit the compensation offer once the issue was resolved.

The Housing Ombudsman said there was also evidence of poor record keeping by the landlord, which limited the Ombudsman’s ability to thoroughly investigate and consider whether the redress offered by the landlord was fair and put things right.

Shepherds Bush failed to manage the resident’s complaint reasonably taking two years to issue its final complaint response, the Ombudsman said. “This caused the resident time and trouble in pursuing his complaint and delayed him from being able to refer his complaint to the Ombudsman for investigation.”

Richard Blakeway, Housing Ombudsman, said: “It is appalling and unacceptable that any resident should live with a serious problem with their home for eight years. The prolonged distress and disruption could have been avoided. We recognise that the landlord took some action. However, poor communication, lack of records and failure to take reasonable steps to put things right, undermined the landlord’s response and exacerbated the disruption experienced by the resident. 

“The poor record keeping was deeply unsatisfactory and limited our ability to thoroughly investigate the complaint. By agreeing to revisit the compensation offered once the issue was resolved, the landlord acknowledged that the compensation was not proportionate, however its response did not put matters right and works remained outstanding.

“Following our decision, I welcome the landlord’s response on its learning from this case and the changes being made to improve its service. I would encourage other landlords to consider the learning this case offers for their own services.”

In a statement Shepherds Bush Housing said: “We apologise unreservedly for the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident directly impacted by this incident. The case in question dates back a number of years and should have been resolved much sooner.  

“Recently, our Executive Team have committed to completing a number of actions to ensure preventative measures are in place, in order to avoid a similar situation occurring again.”

The housing association said these actions included:

  • Case Management: Complex case and block management frameworks have been established to allow improved multi-team working and case resolution.
  • Complex Works Team: A new team has been established to lead the resolution of reactive major works. 
  • Management of Contractors: For complex cases, if the housing association is unable to use its inhouse team, it must use appointed contractors. A new contract management framework will be established to ensure the quality of delivery.
  • Communication: “The need to improve communication is always at the forefront of every management decision and in December 2021 we established dedicated points of escalation for residents to report any concerns or issues.”
  • Complaints Handling: The ‘Resolutions’ team was established in January 2021 and there are now two dedicated officers responsible for complaints investigation and resolution. “Identifying levels of resident dissatisfaction and responding early is now built into the service.”

The housing association added: “Once again, we would like to apologise unreservedly to our customer who was impacted in this case. The roof replacement is currently being mobilised for completion this year and we have complied with the Housing Ombudsman's orders.”

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