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Birmingham City Council (202106300)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202106300

Birmingham City Council

14 February 2022


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 the resident’s reports of problems with the heating system in the property.

Background and summary of events

  1. The resident is a tenant of the landlord’s property, which she moved into in 2010.
  2. The resident has reported that she has had issues with the heating system in her property since moving in.
  3. The landlord raised a repair on 15 March 2021 for the resident’s shower, which it noted was reported as broken and unusable. This repair appears to have been cancelled, and the landlord re-raised a three-day repair for the shower on the same day.             
  4. The resident wrote to the landlord on 20 March 2021 and advised that she had been unable to use her shower since 12 March 2021 because she was not getting hot water. She confirmed that on 15 March 2021 she was told that the landlord would attend on the same day as an emergency, and she pursued the repair on 17 March 2021 to be told that the repair was “a three-day call out”. The resident said she pursued the repair further on 18 and 19 March 2021 and the repair was outstanding. The landlord replied that it would seek an update.
  5. In a further email, dated 23 March 2021, the resident advised the landlord that she did not believe its contractor would attend her upcoming appointment, or if they did they would only inspect. She said she could only have either hot water or heating and not both at the same time, and she had to keep boosting the hot water. She added that her space and water heating bills were very expensive.
  6. The landlord’s records show that it attended the property on 1 April 2021. It reraised a repair on 1 April 2021, noting that the heating and hot water had failed for all rooms. The landlord attended on 6 April 2021, according to the its records. It re-raised the repair for the resident’s heating and hot water on 7 April 2021 and its records show that it attended on 12 April 2021.
  7. On 13 April 2021 the landlord internally corresponded that it needed to “review the scripts with regards to this heating type” because the jobs were being incorrectly allocated, contributing to the repair going to the wrong team and delays in resolving the issues.
  8. The local member of parliament wrote to the landlord on 14 April 2021 and reiterated the resident’s concerns in relation to her heating system, including having little or no hot water, excessive billing and water leaks that she was being billed for.
  9. According to the landlord’s records, an operative attended the property on the same day and reported that the heating system required a part to repair, which had been ordered.
  10. The landlord internally corresponded between 16 and 22 April 2021 that the resident had raised concerns regarding the landlord’s servicing of the system. It internally confirmed that the system was last serviced in January 2020, and it had been unable to gain access to the property on 20 January 2021, 21 January 2021, and 4 February 2021 to service the system. The landlord noted that it had booked another appointment to service the system on 26 April 2021.
  11. The landlord raised further repairs on 26 April 2021 for the resident’s heating and hot water system failing.
  12. On 15 June 2021 this Service wrote to the landlord and confirmed the resident complained about: delays in the landlord repairing her heating and hot water system, the cost of operating the system, and the landlord not having serviced the heating and hot water system for several years or carried out any safety checks. We asked the landlord to respond to the complaint by 29 June 2021. The landlord replied that it would respond to the complaint by 15 July 2021.
  13. The landlord raised an emergency repair for the resident’s heating and hot water system failing on 15 June 2021, and its records show that it attended on 16 June 2021.
  14. According to the landlord’s internal correspondence:
    1. Its contractor informed it that it attended on 23 June 2021 but left due to feeling uncomfortable with the resident’s attitude.
    2. Its contractor attended on 16 July 2021 to provide a quotation. And it arranged an appointment to repair the system on 2 August 2021.
  15. The landlord responded to the complaint on 16 July 2021. It confirmed that specialist contractors were required to maintain the heating system and the resident reported defects several times, the last being on 15 June 2021. The landlord confirmed that specialist engineers attended and inspected the system, which was not on, but the resident advised the operative of the error code. It confirmed that the operative made a repair, tested, and ran the system and both heating and hot water was working. The landlord advised that additional repairs had been identified and would be undertake. It concluded by advising the resident that she may ask to escalate her complaint by calling its contact centre.
  16. Following contact from the resident, this Service wrote to the landlord on 28 July 2021 and advised that the resident reported that when she called the landlord it told her that she was not able to escalate the complaint and the complaint had been closed. We asked the landlord to provide a stage two complaint response by 25 August 2021.
  17. The landlord wrote to the resident on 4 August 2021 with its final complaint response, however it did not clarify that this was its final response at the time. It confirmed that its contractor arranged to change the system on 2 and 4 August 2021, and it trusted that the heating system now functioned to the resident’s satisfaction. The landlord advised that it would only pay compensation if there was evidence of legal liability and for it to decide regarding this, the resident would need to complete a claim form.
  18. Between 6 and 13 August 2021:
    1. The resident completed the landlord’s complaints form on more than one occasion, advising that she remained unhappy with the landlord’s delay in repairing her system. She explained the distress that she experienced and time and trouble she spent on pursuing repairs and said that she had incurred additional costs for heating. The resident also requested compensation and asked why the landlord kept closing her complaints.
    2. The resident complained on 9 August 2021 that she did not have hot water or heating for two days since a new system was installed on 4 August 2021. The landlord acknowledged the complaint and said it would respond within 15 working days.             
    3. The resident contacted the landlord’s councillor regarding issues with the new system, confirming engineers had attended three times since its installation to get her some hot water and heating. She also said the landlord refused to get the manufacturer to inspect the system due to costs.
  19. On 12 and 13 August 2021 the landlord internally corresponded, confirming its contractor had attended on several occasions since the new system was installed, and had attended on 13 August 2021 to speak with the manufacturer regarding the settings while on site.
  20. According to the landlord’s further correspondence, the system was working when its contractor left on 13 August 2021 but, because the resident reported that the system went down again, it had to reattend to get the system running again and would arrange for the manufacturer to attend.
  21. On 20 August 2021 the landlord wrote to the resident, acknowledging that she had made several complaints regarding the heating system and also contacted her local member of parliament. The landlord confirmed the actions taken since 13 August 2021 and that the manufacturer of the system would attend.
  22. On 24 August 2021 a representative of the manufacturer of the resident’s heating system attended the property. In their report, they confirmed that the new system was well installed, and most settings were in line with the manufacturer’s guidance. The manufacturer also confirmed that the collected data gave no cause for concern and demonstrated that in August 2021 the system was cost efficient, and the recorded data gave no cause for concern. They confirmed they made minor adjustments to improve performance and reduce energy consumption. Finally, the manufacturer’s representative confirmed that the resident asked to be supplied the manufacturers guidance for service to include details of task and frequency.
  23. This Service wrote to the landlord on 6 September 2021 to advise that it was unclear whether its letter of 4 August 2021 was its final response to the complaint. The landlord wrote a follow up letter to the resident on 7 September 2021 to apologise that it did not include the information about the status of the complaint in its response of 4 August 2021 and confirmed this was its final response. It added that if the resident was still unhappy, she could ask this Service to review her complaint. It also noted that the resident complained to its Councillor on the same subject, and further response was sent this matter on 20 August 2021. Finally, the landlord confirmed that it had not received a completed public liability form from the resident and that on 24 August 2021 it installed replacement components and left the system operational.

Assessment and findings

  1. Considering the timescales involved, and that the resident had not made a formal complaint regarding the landlord’s handling of the repairs until March 2021, this Service will investigate the landlord’s handling of the resident’s most recent report of issues with her heating system, from March 2021. Our position is in accordance with paragraph 39(e) of the Scheme which states as follows:
  2. ‘The Ombudsman will not consider complaints which, in his opinion were not brought to the attention of the member as a formal complaint within a reasonable period which would normally be within 6 months of the matters arising.’ As these have become historical and cannot reasonably be investigated at this time. Any mention of past events in this report would be solely for contextual purposes.

Landlord’s obligations

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy confirms it is responsible for the repair and maintenance of  water and space heating systems. It gives the following timescales for the completion of repairs:
    1. Emergency repairs (where there is a danger of injury or damage to the property) to be responded to within two hours of the instruction being issued to the repairs partner.
    2. Urgent repairs (concerned with protecting the health and safety of the tenant and their family or the security of the property) to be completed within one, three, or seven working days based on the requirements of the Right to Repair.
    3. Routine repairs are targeted to be completed within 30 days of them being reported. There are some larger repairs that may need special materials and arrangements to be completed. In these cases the resident will be advised what timescale to expect.
  2. Where the breakdown of a central heating system or other heating appliance cannot be remedied on the same working day, and the resident has no other form of heating, a temporary loan heater may be provided.

Assessment

  1. The resident remains unhappy with how the landlord handled multiple failures of her space and water heating system. This included delays in repairs and arranging for unprepared operatives to attend. The evidence demonstrates that there were multiple delays in the landlord attending in line with its repairs policy and the guidance in the Right to Repair Scheme, which gives timeframes of: 1 working day to respond to heating or hot water not working between 31 October and 1 May, and 3 working days for heating or hot water not working between 1 May and 31 October.
  2. These delays included the landlord not attending the property until 1 April 2021, despite the resident reporting the issues on 15 March 2021; however, it appears that the subsequent times that the landlord did attend, no meaningful action was taken. The landlord has internally confirmed that on some visits the repair was not allocated to the correct team, resulting in delays. The evidence demonstrates that the landlord has since taken reasonable action to replace the system in August 2021 and confirmed via the manufacturer that it was installed correctly.
  3. The landlord has provided this Service with its policy for compensation claims but has not provided a discretionary compensation policy or procedure. It has appropriately provided the resident details on how she may make a claim in relation to any impact that its handling of the repairs had on her health and wellbeing; however, considering the failures detailed above, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to have provided the resident discretionary compensation for the time and trouble that she spent on pursuing the repair and the distress she reported experiencing.
  4. This Service’s remedies guidance (published on our website) suggests payments of between £50-£250 where there has been service failure which had an impact on the complainant but was of short duration and may not have significantly affected the overall outcome for the complainant. In this case, the delays and poor communication did not affect the outcome of the complaint as the landlord ultimately changed the system on 2 and 4 August 2021 and the manufacturer confirmed it was installed correctly, but the delays and poor communication did have an impact on the resident and compensation is due in view of this.
  5. In line with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code:
    1. A landlord must accept a complaint unless there is a valid reason not to do so. If a landlord decides not to accept a complaint, a detailed explanation must be provided to the resident setting out the reasons why the matter is not suitable for the complaints process and the right to take that decision to the Ombudsman. If the Ombudsman does not agree that the exclusion has been fairly applied, the Ombudsman may instruct the landlord to take on the complaint.
    1. The complaint handler must deal with complaints on their merits and consider all information and evidence carefully. 
    2. Landlords must confirm in writing to the resident at the completion of stage two if this was the final stage, details of how to escalate the matter to the Housing Ombudsman Service if the resident remains dissatisfied.
  6. There were several failings in the landlord’s final complaint response of 4 August 2021, in line with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code. It has not sufficiently acknowledged its delays in completing repairs or fully addressed the resident’s complaint, in particular: her concerns regarding her energy bills as a result of a fault with the system and the landlord’s servicing of the system.
  7. The landlord did not inform the resident about the next steps she could take following its last decision on the complaint. However, she had already been in contact with this Service regarding the issues, thus, was aware that she could contact the Ombudsman for advice if she was dissatisfied with the landlord’s response to the issue. It also sent her a follow up response on being contacted by this Service and apologised for not advising her correctly about the status of the case and her options. The Ombudsman considers the landlord’s apology as having adequately resolved this aspect of the matter in the circumstances.
  8. To put matters right, the landlord should fully address the issues that it failed to address in the complaint response and offer the resident reasonable redress for the distress and inconvenience caused to her.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in way it responded to the complaint about its handling of the resident’s reports of problems with the heating system in the property

Reasons

  1. The landlord has failed to acknowledge or provide reasonable redress for its delays in dealing with repairs to the heating system, and it has not addressed all of the aspects of the resident’s complaint.

Order

  1. The landlord is ordered to, within four weeks of the date of this decision:
    1. Pay the resident £200 for the distress and inconvenience caused by its delays and poor communication in relation to the repairs to the heating system.
    2. Pay the resident £50 for the time and trouble that the resident went to in pursuing her complaint with the landlord and this Service as a result of the landlord’s failure to address the full complaint.
    3. Write to the resident clarifying its position on her concerns regarding her energy bills, requesting further evidence if required, and the servicing of the heating system.