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Failure to make reasonable adjustments

MOPaudit

I'm currently going through a complaints process with my housing association and was hoping to get some advice.

For an in the nutshell paragraph for context, I have disabilities of autism and chronic anxiety. I have been in temporary accommodation since 2022 because of my severe distress at experiencing noise disruption in properties and have moved between different temporary accommodation locations several times due to this. I'm currently in a semi-detached bungalow in a village in an estate with other bungalows and flats.

Between late 2023 and early this year, contractors visited the bungalow adjoined to my property several times to get it ready for a new tenant who moved in there several weeks after. I became distressed and very anxious when this happened, as when I heard the first bangs/knocks, I didn't know when the next noise would come, how loud it and other noises would be or how long they would be there. All of this created a lot if anticipatory anxiety and disrupted my quiet enjoyment of my home.

I explained this to the housing association and asked if as a reasonable adjustment, they could liaise with me to arrange works to be carried out when I was away visiting my support network, which was something I did weekly, so it would happen when I wasn't there and therefore it would remove the disadvantage placed on me.

They said they would ask contractors to keep noise to a minimum. I asserted that this was not a reasonable adjustment because it would not do enough to remove the disadvantage, that's because pragmatically, It would be overwhelmingly likely I would still hear the works with little to no reduction in disruption, because various actions like hammering or using machinery make the noise they make and this cannot be done quieter.

I was ignored and contractors continued to come and do work without any reasonable adjustments being put in place. I made a complaint to the housing association earlier this year, but visits and works have happened many times now despite my complaints and making them aware of the disadvantage to me. And not just next door, but other works in the neighbourhood within close proximity to my property, works that produce excessive and/or prolonged sound loud enough to penetrate into my living area and disrupt me to great distress without being given notice or reasonable adjustments.

The thing I am asking for advice on, is that as part of the housing association's stage 1 reply, they told me:

"In the case of Landlords or Building Managers, there is a requirement to make a reasonable adjustment but this is only applicable to your property and does not cover where work is being undertaken to the next-door property."

As part of my response, I pointed out to them that the housing ombudsman's website says this on reasonable adjustments:

"To make an adjustment means to make a physical change to premises or to change work practices to avoid or correct the disadvantage to a person with a disability."

In their reply to me, they stated usual guidance on acceptable noise during sociable hours. I pointed out though that in these circumstances, there is an aggravating factor of a disabled person being placed at a disadvantage by the working practices which means that under the equality act, changes to work practices could and should have been applied to "avoid or correct the disadvantage to a person with a disability."

I do not believe that this only applies to my property and that things going on in the immediate surrounding area would not be subject to reasonable adjustments. I also told them, I do not believe there is any legislation that supports their claim that reasonable adjustments only apply to practices inside my home. I pointed out that next door (number 13) shares an adjoining wall to me and that the noise disruption arising from the works penetrate through that and place me, a disabled person at a disadvantage in my property and therefore is subject to reasonable adjustments.

So, considering all the information, circumstances and the position of both parties, am I correct in my belief that the reasonable adjustment expectation could extend to practices happening not exclusively in my property, but that this duty could extend to practices in an adjoining property and/or in the immediately surrounding area as well, if they still place me at a disadvantage? Thank you

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Comments

MOPaudit

https://forum.scope.org.uk/discussion/comment/911492#Comment_911492

I think you're confused, first of all, what a horrible, blunt, uncompassionate and nasty reply. The reasonable adjustment legislation still applies no matter what's been done for me in the past, the council have actually treated me horribly until this point and your assumption that they haven't is baseless. The local government ombudsman investigated them and found them to have made service failures in their handling of my homelessness. The law states that a reasonable adjustment must remove the disadvantage placed on me. The housing ombudsman's website says this on reasonable adjustments:

"To make an adjustment means to make a physical change to premises or to change work practices to avoid or correct the disadvantage to a person with a disability."

This means they need to change practices to remove the disadvantage placed on me which is extreme distress from noise disruption.

The suggestion that I need to adapt how I deal with it instead of reasonable adjustments being put in place to remove the disadvantage placed on me, is absurd, as is the suggestion for me to use noise cancelling headphones. I do have them, I use them to block out noise on bus journeys, but this does not equate to this being an appropriate method to use for noise disruption in the home. First of all, I only wear ear buds on the bus if I absolutely have to, it's much more comfortable to not wear them and I don't if no one is talking on the bus. I experience discomfort after wearing them on a 50 minute bus journey. This is one reason why although they are effective in certain very temporary and limited situations, they are not a suitable for several hours or days worth of use. Other reasons are that wearing them for extended periods is impractical due to battery life limitations and ear health risks, but also it would impede my enjoyment of my home, to watch TV, to sit in silence, to have free movement and usability of my home.

They know the extent of my distress from noise disruption and the severity of my disabilities. I shouldn't have to change my behaviour because they aren't considerate enough to give me notice of when works will be taking place around me so that I can then make a request for a reasonable adjustment, either for them to move the date of when the work takes place to a day when I'll be away, which would be a change to practice as stated by the legislation, or for the council to put me up in a hotel room (top floor end of corridor) while the works take place.

The legislation backs up my expectations of reasonable adjustments, because the law says the adjustment must remove the disadvantage placed on me, are you able to quote any guidance or legislation to substantiate your assertion that reasonable adjustments don't apply to practices occurring outside my property when they are in close proximity to me and therefore cause me significant distress?

Luchia

Hey

So what @vikki66 has said is pretty much spot on.

The council can’t be expected to only perform work in the property next door or in the nearby area based on your schedule, This would be legally classed as unreasonable.

The property next door currently has a tenant waiting to move in, work needs to be done on the property to make it suitable for the new tenant, it would be unreasonable to delay the work based on your schedule, they could give you warning so you could make plans for when the work is been done which would be reasonable but you can’t expect them to stop work because you will be home.

This would also be the case for any work been performed in the nearby area, you can’t expect all work that would make noise to stop because you will be home this would be unreasonable to the other tenants in the area and the council would likely face favouritism or discrimination complaints against them for this.

You also have to remember a new tenant is moving in next door so noise will happen, moving day can be quite noisy, hoovering, visitors(possibly with children), TV/Music etc

The council can’t be expected to pay for a hotel for you every time they plan to do work in the area this again would be classed as unreasonable as work is frequently required and funding for things like that is usually reserved for the most extreme cases(fire, flood etc) as it’s very limited.

It might be worth speaking with your GP to try and find some coping mechanisms that would work for you while this is happening if that’s something you would be comfortable with.

I know this isn’t what you want to hear but unfortunately this is how the system works, The council can’t be expected to make adjustments like you have said above for 1 person when it affects all tenants in the nearby area.

Albus_Alumni

Hey there @MOPaudit unfortunately Vikki is correct, reasonable adjustments can only be taken into consideration if they don't cause undue problems to others. So if the builders were going to work in your dwelling, you could ask them to come at certain hours, but if that isn't possible for whatever reason, they'd be within their rights to not accept that particular reasonable adjustment.

An organisation or employer may legally refuse an adjustment if it was too expensive or would disrupt other people or the business. This is not discrimination. Refusing to make an adjustment that is cheap and easy to implement could be discrimination.
There's a bit of information regarding what can be seen as a reasonable adjustment for landlords here. Hope it helps.

poppy123456

@MOPaudit I don't think that vikki66's comment was blunt at all, I think she was spot on.

You can't expect people to tip toe around you because you can't deal with everyday noise. Life still happens unfortunately. Asking them to only do the work while you're out each week is rather a big ask and doesn't seem a very reasonable thing to ask for in my opinion. Work needs to be done for other tenants to move in.

I agree with the advice to look for noise cancelling headphones or earplugs to help you cope with the extra everyday noises that occur and hopefully they help you cope a little better. Or speak to your GP about your health conditions and inability to cope with everyday noises.