Plexus UK (First Project) Limited (202208101)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202208101

Plexus UK (First Project) Limited

12 January 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 is about:
   1. The landlord’s handling of repairs to the resident’s heating and hot water systems and the level of compensation offered.
   2. The associated complaint handling.

Background

2. The resident is a tenant of the landlord.
3. The resident moved into her home in April 2020. Her heating and hot water system is comprised of electric storage heaters and an immersion heater. The resident first reported that she had no hot water on 7 July 2020. She continued to report problems with the hot water system throughout 2020 and 2021. The landlord undertook various repairs, specifically to the water cylinder in September 2020, as well as replacing the water tank in October 2020 and the water cylinder in February 2021.
4. During this time, to produce hot water the resident used the ‘boost’ setting. This allowed the water to heat up, however, the resident did not realise that this would lead to an increase in her electricity bills. In February 2021, the resident changed energy suppliers. She was then informed that she was in £1000 arrears on her energy account. The resident continued to report issues with her hot water throughout 2021, with the landlord resetting her immersion heater in April 2021 and undertaking more works to the water cylinder in August 2021.
5. On 20 September 2021, the resident submitted a complaint stating that her hot water had been broken since moving into the property and that she wanted help paying the debt to the electric company. She felt that the landlord was responsible for the debt, as it had failed to resolve her repairs, which had meant she had had to use of the boost function. The landlord responded on 4 October 2021, stating that the resident had refused an inspection of the property and so it would not be able to uphold her complaint. The resident escalated her complaint on the same day, stating that the landlord had failed to respond to her complaint about the excessive bills.
6. In April 2022, the landlord attended the property and replaced the water cylinder again. It was also identified that the resident’s storage heaters were not working properly and were not taking power on overnight. Storage heaters are designed to be used during certain hours of the evening, using lower priced electricity. As the resident was having to boost the heaters during peak times this would be charged at a higher tariff.
7. The landlord issued its final complaint response on 6 May 2022. It acknowledged that the issues with the resident’s hot water had been ongoing for some time. However, it stated that it was not aware until February 2022 that the resident was using the boost function constantly. The landlord also stated that once it was aware, it investigated and replaced the heaters. The landlord offered £700 compensation towards the resident’s outstanding £2,100 debt on her electricity account.
8. The resident has stated in her complaint to this Service that she is dissatisfied that the issues with her heating and hot water were ongoing for a year and a half. She believes that the landlord is responsible for the higher costs of her bill. As an outcome, the resident would like the landlord to cover the remaining debt and to apologise for the delay in fixing the repair issues.

Assessment

Repairs to the resident’s heating and hot water systems and the level of compensation offered.

9.  Under the terms of the resident’s tenancy agreement, the landlord is obligated to keep in good repair and working order any installations it has provided for space heating, water heating and sanitation and for the supply of water, gas and electricity, including water heaters and central heating installations. In the same agreement, it states that residents should pay all charges for gas, electricity, water, supplied to or used at the premises during the tenancy.
10. Emergency repairs are defined by the landlord’s repairs policy as where there is an immediate danger to life or limb. Examples include total heating and hot water failure (during the winter period only). It states that such repairs should be completed within 24 hours. All other repairs should be completed within 20 working days. Post inspections should also be carried out when a resident is dissatisfied with the quality of their repair.
11. The landlord’s tenancy handbook states that when a resident’s signs-up for their home, the landlord will show them how to use the property, including the heating and hot water. The landlord should have ensured that the resident knew how the storage heaters worked so that she would be aware if they were not functioning correctly. It is clear that the resident did not know how to use the heaters effectively and as such was not able to identify that the heaters were not working properly. This is a failing of the landlord. In future, the landlord should ensure that residents understand how to use their heating properly and to ensure that they do not incur any unnecessary additional costs. This is applicable now more than ever, in the current climate of rising energy costs.
12. The resident has stated that the issues with her hot water system have been ongoing since she moved into the property in April 2020. She began reporting the issues from at least July 2020. In line with its obligations the landlord would have been expected to attend the property and provide a lasting solution to the resident’s hot water problems. The landlord’s repairs policy classes a lack of hot water as an emergency repair during winter months, and certainly residents should not be without it for prolonged periods of time. The landlord did attend the property on numerous occasions, mostly within the correct timescales and undertook quite a few different works to try and fix the water heating, such as replacing the water cylinder twice over the course of 2020 and 2021.
13. Some repairs can take several visits to find a correct solution and it is not necessarily a failing that the overall repairs took longer than the maximum stipulated 20 working days to address. However, when a repair is a reoccurring issue, the landlord should take steps to consider the problem holistically, and is obligated to create a lasting solution to the problem. The landlord’s repairs policy explains that it will do a post works inspection if the resident remains unhappy. The landlord did not propose to inspect the issue until October 2021, over a year and a half after the issues first began. This is an unreasonable length of time to have left a reoccurring issue with hot water and heating outstanding, and is a failing in the circumstances.
14. The landlord has stated that in October 2021, the resident expressed disinterest in the landlord carrying out the repairs. However, it has not sent evidence to support this position to this Service, and so this element cannot be assessed as part of this investigation.
15. The debt on the resident’s account is due to a combination of issues. However, it is reasonable to assume that a percentage of that debt can be attributed to the fact that the resident’s water heater and heaters were in a state of disrepair and that the resident did not have sufficient knowledge of how storage heaters worked to identify that they were malfunctioning. Whilst the resident did not specifically explain to the landlord that her heaters were not functioning adequately, she did repeatedly report issues with her hot water system and when the landlord did investigate the system, it found that both her water and storage heaters were broken.
16. It was the landlord’s obligation to fix these issues and to investigate reoccurring problems. It was also the landlord’s obligation to inform the resident of how her heating system worked. Because of the failings identified, it is reasonable that the landlord offered compensation to the resident. It is also reasonable that it did not offer to cover the full amount of the debt on the resident’s electricity account, as some of that debt can be attributed to other issues for which the landlord is not responsible. Whilst the landlord’s offer to pay for 30% of the debt on the resident’s electricity account (£700) was reasonable, it is the opinion of this Service that this amount is not sufficient to also cover the extent of the failings identified in its handling of the repairs to the resident’s heating and hot water system, which the landlord itself had acknowledged had been ongoing for some time.

Complaint handling

17. The landlord’s complaints policy states that it has a two stage complaints process. At stage one, the landlord will aim to respond within ten working days. If the complaint is escalated to stage two, the landlord will aim to respond within 20 working days. If it is unable to meet this timescale, it will inform the resident and keep them updated on its progress.
18. The resident complained on 20 September 2021, with the landlord responding within its policy timescales on 4 October 2021. However, whilst the resident escalated her complaint on the same day, the landlord did not send its final response until 6 May 2022.
19. A delay is not always a failing, if the landlord managed the resident’s expectations effectively in the meantime. However, the landlord’s failure to respond within timescales was due to an internal error, as it had misplaced the resident’s complaint. It picked up the complaint again in January 2022, after the resident had followed up with the landlord for a response.
20. According to this Service’s Complaint Handling Code, landlords should identify, acknowledge, and try to put right their failings. Landlords should also endeavor to learn from their mistakes, and create new systems of working to prevent the same errors occurring in future.
21.  In its first complaint response the landlord stated that the resident had expressed disinterest in having anything in the repair completed and did not uphold her complaint. It neglected to take ownership or apologise for the reoccurring issues to her heating and water system. In its final complaint response, the landlord acknowledged that the resident’s repairs were outstanding for a significant amount of time, but did not explain what steps it intended to take to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.

Determination

22.  In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of repairs to the resident’s heating and hot water systems and the level of compensation offered.
23. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the associated complaint.

Orders and Recommendations

Orders

24. Within four weeks of the date of this report the landlord is ordered to pay the resident a total of £1,200 compensation, made up as follows:
    1. The £700 previously offered by the landlord, if this has not already been paid.
    2. An additional £300 for the failings identified in its handling of the repairs to the resident’s heating and hot water system.
    3. An additional £200 in recognition of the stress and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling.
25. The landlord is to confirm to this service that is has complied with the above orders.

Recommendations

26. The landlord should consider providing resident’s with information packs about the heating equipment it provides and advice on how to reduce the cost of heating their homes.