Southwark Council (202204516)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202204516

Southwark Council

27 February 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 the landlord’s handling of heating issues within the resident’s property, and the subsequent compensation offered.

Background

2. The resident is tenant of the landlord. Her daughter has a health condition that is particularly exacerbated by the cold. The landlord is aware of this. The heating and hot water in the resident’s property is provided via a centralised heating system that then distributes heating and hot water to individual properties.
3. The resident has stated that since moving into her property six years ago, she has experienced intermittent issues with the centralised heating system that resulted in the frequent loss of heating and hot water in her home over the years. The resident submitted an earlier complaint in May 2021 about the ongoing issues with her heating. This was responded to and closed by the landlord in the same month. The resident continued to experience issues with her heating and hot water in June 2021.
4. On 9 November 2021, the resident reported to the landlord that she had lost her heating again. The landlord attended on 12 November 2021, concluding that a further inspection was necessary. On 16 November 2021, the resident made a new complaint, as she was still without heating. She was dissatisfied that the landlord had failed to undertake a lasting repair to the communal heater.
5. On 29 November 2021, the resident reported that she had been without hot water for two days. She also stated that her heating had still not been reinstated. She explained that she needed someone to come out as an emergency, as her daughter was particularly vulnerable to the cold. The landlord declined to attend out of hours, stating that it was not an emergency. On 7 December, the landlord missed an appointment to attend the property to repair the heating issue. The resident contacted the landlord to state that she wished to add several missed appointments, as well as loss of income to her complaint. She requested to be compensated accordingly. 
6. The landlord responded on 13 December 2021.The majority of its response is unclear, as it has not supplied its full stage one response to this Service for assessment. It did however offer the resident £50 compensation for the missed appointment. The resident requested to escalate her complaint on 4 January 2022. She later stated that she wanted to be compensated for the missed appointments, delays to repairs, additional electric costs for running fan heaters, loss of earnings and general distress or inconvenience. In total, the resident requested £3,150 in compensation.
7. The landlord initially failed to escalate the resident’s complaint. It responded on 22 April 2022. It apologised for the delays in handling her repairs and for failing to escalate her complaint. It also acknowledged it had missed an appointment. The landlord offered an additional £204 compensation, made up of £114 for the loss of heating, £40 for the delay and distress, and £50 time and trouble. It explained that the repairs had now been completed.
8. In her complaint to this Service, the resident has stated that the issue with the heating was still ongoing. She wanted a lasting solution to be found to fix the problems with the centralised heating system. The resident would also like to be compensated further.

Assessment

Scope of investigation

9. Under paragraph 42 (c) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which were not brought to the attention of the member as a formal complaint within a reasonable period which would normally be within six months of the matters arising. The resident has stated that the issue with her communal heating has been ongoing for six years. These historic reports will provide important contextual background to the current complaint, to ensure that the matter is considered holistically. However, this assessment will specifically assess the landlord’s actions in response to her more recent repair reports and complaint in November 2021 up until its final complaint response in April 2022.

Assessment

10. The landlord’s repair guide states that it is responsible for repairing and maintaining installations that directly or indirectly bring services like water, gas, electricity or heating into the home. This includes any fittings it has installed such as boilers. It is also responsible for the common parts and communal facilities of the block and estate.
11. Where the landlord is responsible for a repair, the same policy states that it will respond to it as either an emergency, urgent or non-urgent repair. For emergency repairs it will attend within 24 hours. Generally, a repair is categorised as emergency if it poses a serious risk to health and safety, or a serious risk to the structure of the property. Total or partial loss of heating or hot water from 1 October to 31 March is considered an emergency. For urgent repairs the landlord will attend within three working days. An urgent repair is defined as one that can be a serious nuisance if not repaired. Total or partial loss or heating or hot water between 1 April and 30 September is categorised as an urgent repair. If the landlord makes an appointment for a repair or an inspection and it does not turn up to that appointment, the resident is entitled to claim compensation of at least £50.
12. The resident reported a lack of heating on 9 November 2021. The landlord attended on 11 November 2021, concluding that a supervisor was needed to inspect the issue further. On 27 November 2021, the resident lost her hot water. She reported this on 29 November 2021 to the landlord’s out of hours team, asking for an emergency call out. The landlord declined to attend that evening, stating that her daughter’s health conditions were not classed as a medical priority. The landlord subsequently missed its appointment to repair the heating on 6 December 2021, rebooking it for 17 December 2021. The resident was without heating from 9 November to 17 December 2021.
13. According to the above policies, the landlord should have been responding within emergency timeframes, as it was during the winter months. It did not attend any of the resident’s reports within the stated 24-hour timeframes. Additionally, discounting the resident’s request for an emergency call out for the lack of hot water was inappropriate. Again, according to the above policies, the landlord should have been responding to reports of having no hot water between 1 October to 31 March as an emergency. Its response to the resident’s concerns about her daughter’s health was also inappropriate, as it should have considered the impact a loss of heating and hot water would have on a vulnerable individual. Therefore its initial handling of the resident’s reports were not reasonable and amount to a failure in the circumstances.
14. A delay in actual repairs is not always a failing, if the landlord needs time to fix the issue correctly. However, in line with general customer service standards, the landlord is expected to attend within the above timescales to assess the issue. It should then keep in communication with the resident to manage her expectations. It would also be expected to consider interim solutions, as it would not be appropriate to leave the resident without heating for any extended period of time throughout the winter months.
15. The landlord did not keep the resident updated, who had to keep contacting it for information on her repairs. There is also no evidence to suggest that the landlord considered any interim solutions during this time. This is possibly due to the fact that the landlord was already aware that the resident had temporary fan heaters, as it has already compensated her in the past for having to use them. It is concerning that the resident’s heating has broken so many times, that she already had a temporary solution in place, which the landlord also appears to have relied on. The resident consistently contacted the landlord to let it know that the fan heaters were not working sufficiently to heat her home, and were incurring further expense. The landlord should have been managing the situation, and should have been considering appropriate interim solutions to ensure that the resident was not suffering an unnecessary detriment. The fact that it did not was again a failing.
16. The landlord’s complaint responses were appropriate in that it acknowledged that there had been a delay in completing the resident’s immediate repairs, and in escalating her complaint. It also recognised that it had missed several repair appointments. It specified that it thought the repairs had now been completed, and acted reasonably by offering some compensation to acknowledge its failings. However, the resident’s complaint revolved around the continuous and ongoing issue of the heating breaking down. This issue was not actually addressed in the landlord’s complaint response, as the landlord only assessed its immediate response to the repairs to the heating. It is a further failing that the landlord did not consider the substantive part of the resident’s complaint.
17. Although the landlord felt unable to assess the historic reports in detail, it should have considered that the heating was breaking down frequently, and allowed this to inform its response. It is worth noting that the landlord’s repair records show that the centralised heating system had been reported over 25 times for intermittently failing to produce heat and/or hot water over the last six years. This is an excessive number of times for the heating system to have been in disrepair. The landlord should have considered that the heating system was continuously failing, and taken steps to investigate why this was occurring. It should have endeavoured to ensure that a long-term solution was provided for the resident’s heating concerns.
18. From repair records dated after the end of the complaint procedure, it is clear that the central heating system was still being reported as faulty. It is a failing that the landlord has not considered a permanent solution to fix this issue.
19. The landlord offered the resident a total of £254 compensation in its complaint responses. This was in recognition of two missed repair appointments, loss of services, stress and inconvenience and for the delay itself. It was appropriate to offer compensation in acknowledgement of its failings in this regard. However, when considering the length of time this issue has been ongoing, coupled with the repeated reports the resident has had to make, this amount is not proportionate to the impact had on the resident.
20. This Service’s remedies guidance suggests a payment of £100 to £600 in cases of considerable service failure or maladministration. This includes distress and inconvenience, time and trouble, disappointment, loss of confidence, and delays in getting matters resolved. The landlord has therefore been order to pay the resident and addition £346 compensation, bringing the total payable to £600.
21. The landlord has also been ordered to take steps to seek to address the frequency of repairs needed for the centralised heating and hot water system for the resident’s building.

Determination (decision)

22. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of heating issues within the resident’s property, and the subsequent compensation amount offered.

Orders

23. Within four weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to:

1. Create and implement an action plan to investigate and resolve the frequency of repairs needed for the centralised heating and hot water system. This should be done in collaboration and cooperation with the resident, and evidence of the action plan must be shared with this Service by the four-week deadline.
2. Pay the resident a total of £600 compensation, made up as follows:
   1. The £254 previously offered by the landlord, if it has not sone so already.
   2. A further £346 compensation for the distress, inconvenience, and frustration likely to have been caused by the additional failings identified in this report.
3. Confirm to this service that it has complied with the above orders.