Platform Housing Group Limited (202118249)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202118249

Platform Housing Group Limited

7 December 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns about:
1. The level of insulation in the property.
2. The condition of the external brickwork.
3. The condition of the heating system.
This Service will also assess the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. He holds a joint tenancy with his partner at the property, which began on 6 September 2021. Their 2 children live with them at the property.
The property is a 3-bedroom semi detached house built in the late 1940s. The house has a pitched roof with a loft space beneath it. There is a single storey ‘annexe’ attached to the house which has a flat roof.
The landlord provided the resident with a copy of the energy performance certificate (EPC) for the property as part of the lettings process. This was dated 14 January 2013 and gave the property a rating of ‘D’. The EPC rated the pitched roof as “poor”, noted that it only had 50mm of loft insulation and suggested increasing this to 270mm.

Policy, procedures and regulations

The landlord has a “Lettable Standard” document which sets out “details of the minimum standard it would adopt in respect of safety, cleanliness and repair before the re-let of any property”.
This includes:
1. “Solid fuel fires to be checked and left in working order.”
2. “All properties to be structurally sound, free from damp, black mould, nicotine staining, wet/dry rot, and timber infestation i.e. woodworm etc.”
3. “Lofts will be visually inspected to assess the presence of pests, rodents, suitable ventilation and loft insulation.”
The landlord operates a 2 stage complaints process. This is made up of a “formal complaint investigation” (hereafter referred to as stage 1) which should be completed within 10 working days. If they remain dissatisfied, complainants can escalate their complaint to a “final review” (hereafter referred to as stage 2), with the response due 20 working days later.
The landlord also adopts a “quick resolution” process under which it manages complaints where it “feels that the issue is something that can be resolved by the relevant service team within 2 working days”. Issues logged under quick resolution which are not able to be resolved in the required timeframe are escalated to stage 1 of the landlord’s complaints process.
Current building regulations require all properties constructed since 2003 to have a minimum of 270mm loft insulation. The regulations do not require buildings constructed prior to this date to be brought up to this standard.
The government’s Decent Homes Standard states that dwellings with “programmable solid fuel central heating” are required to have “at least 200mm of loft insulation (if there is a loft) and cavity wall insulation (if there are cavity walls that can be insulated effectively)”.

Summary of events

The resident contacted the landlord on 24 September 2021 to query the fact that the loft insulation was below what he said was the “legal requirement” of 270mm.
On 4 October 2021, the resident phoned the landlord to chase a response to his query. The landlord told him that it would add his insulation to a “work list” and contact him within 6 months to assess what work was needed. The resident expressed his dissatisfaction at this and said it was an unreasonable length of time.
The resident made a complaint using the landlord’s online complaint form on 13 October 2021. He said the landlord’s position on the insulation was unreasonable as it was wasting energy and putting his household at risk of fuel poverty.
The landlord closed the resident’s complaint under its quick resolution process on 15 October 2021. The landlord’s notes provide details of a resolution for another complaint (also raised by the resident on 13 October 2021) concerning a missed repair appointment but nothing in relation to the insulation.
On 24 November 2021, the resident contacted the Ombudsman for assistance. He said he had made a complaint to the landlord on 8 November 2021 but received no response. The Ombudsman wrote to the landlord asking it to log and investigate the resident’s complaint.
The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 15 December 2021. It said that the loft insulation in place complied with legal standards at the time that it was installed. It confirmed that the insulation would be renewed under its “annual programme of works” but that “there are no specific timescales that this work should be completed in, and it is viewed as an improvement to the property”. The landlord apologised for its “poor” communication with the resident which resulted in him chasing it for updates.
On 17 December 2021, the resident asked the landlord to escalate his complaint to stage 2 as he felt the matter had not been resolved.
The landlord emailed the resident on 23 December 2021. It told him that its offices would be closed from 24 December 2021 until 4 January 2022 – at which point it would begin its review of his complaint.
On 31 January 2022, the landlord emailed the resident to say it needed more time to review his complaint. It said it would respond by 16 February 2022.
During an email exchange with the landlord, the resident said on 10 February 2022 that the property “does not look to have been maintained to a good standard in terms of loft insulation, exterior brick condition and pointing (multiple large gaps in bricks), and the infestation of flies and other insects in the loft area”. He requested that the landlord seal and insulate the loft space and have it cleaned to remove all insects. He also asked for an inspection of the external brickwork.
On 11 February 2022, the landlord asked for a further extension to provide its complaint response – due to the new matters raised by the resident.
The landlord sent a contractor to inspect the property on 7 March 2022. The contractor found that the loft had 100mm of insulation (rather than the 50mm noted on the EPC) “so requires 200mm top up”. The contractor also noted that the cavity wall insulation had been “installed very badly” and recommended that it was extracted and renewed. However, it identified areas of external brickwork which it said needed to be repointed before this could be done.
On 20 March 2022, the resident emailed the landlord to express concerns about the solid fuel heating system in the property. He said he believed that this was over 30 years old and so did not meet the government’s ‘Decent Homes Standard’. He requested that the landlord replace it.
The landlord’s contractor returned to the property on 24 March 2022 to install the new loft insulation. The contractor found wasps and mice droppings in the loft space and informed the landlord that it was unable to proceed with the work until pest control had been arranged.
On 5 April 2022, the landlord carried out a full inspection of the property. It recommended that it:
1. “Remove existing roof fabric and replace, including bracing timbers if required”.
2. “Remove, clean and replace the loft insulation to current Building Regulations”.
3. “Clean roof timbers of cobwebs and check for rodent access point and rectify”.
4. “Rake out and repoint brickwork”.
5. “Hack off the existing mixed finish render” to the rear ground floor and consider reinforcing a “dropped area”.
6. “Uplift and replace the flat roof covering” including upgrading the insulation.
7. “Propose removal of the solid fuel system and replace with ASHP (air source heat pump) system or similar”.
The landlord arranged for a contactor to inspect and test the heating system at the property on 6 June 2022. On 16 June 2022, the contractor fed back to the landlord that the heating system “works but is not as efficient as it once was”.
On 27 June 2022, the landlord provided its final complaint response. It said that:
1. The property should have a minimum of 200mm loft insulation – in keeping with the Decent Homes Standard. Whilst the previous occupant of the property had refused access for it to carry out this work, it acknowledged that it should have been completed when the property was empty.
2. Due to this it would compensate the resident for additional heating costs from the beginning of his tenancy until March 2023 (the latest point by which it anticipated the insulation would be upgraded). It offered £19 per month for this making a total of £324.
3. It would also offer a further £250 for the inconvenience caused by its service failure.
4. It would be carrying out repointing to areas of the brickwork and repairs to the rendered area on the rear ground floor.
5. It would be removing and replacing the failed cavity wall insulation. This would be done once all other works had been completed – which it anticipated as being “within 3-6 months”.
6. The property’s boiler had been installed in 1994 and the heating system in 2009, both of which met the Decent Homes Standard. However, the property had been identified as “high priority for a system replacement due to the age and type of heating” and replacement would be carried out by March 2024.

Events since landlord’s final complaint response

On 30 September 2022, the landlord arranged for pest control to be carried out in the loft space and the insulation upgraded. On 1 October 2022, the resident emailed the landlord to express his dissatisfaction with the works. He said that no cleaning had been carried out in the loft space and that 100mm of new insulation had been laid on top of the existing insulation in what he described as a “bodge job”.
On 30 June 2023, the resident emailed the landlord confirming that the repointing of brickwork and repairs to the rendered area of wall had been completed.
During this investigation, the landlord advised this Service that the solid fuel heating system was replaced with an ASHP system on 17 November 2023. It said that the loft insulation was due to be completed on 23 November 2023 with cavity wall insulation installed by 1 December 2023. The landlord said the flat roof to the annexe would be renewed in spring 2024.

Assessment and findings

Level of Insulation

The landlord acknowledged in its final complaint response that it should have identified that the property had insufficient loft insulation prior to the resident moving in. It’s failure to do so indicates that the loft was not appropriately inspected as required by its Lettable Standard.
After the resident brought the matter to its attention, the landlord added the property to its annual programme of works and advised him it would be assessed within 6 months. This position was maintained in its stage 1 complaint response which referred to upgrading the insulation as “an improvement”. This description was inappropriate considering the insulation was below the requirements of the Decent Homes Standard. Due to this it would have been appropriate for the landlord to treat the case exceptionally and look to prioritise it.
There is some evidence of such prioritisation, which shows that the landlord contacted its repairs contractor on 29 November 2021 requesting that it “act quickly” to top up the insulation “before Christmas”. Whilst the landlord may have been trying to manage the resident’s expectations, the fact that it did not inform him of this action in its initial response would likely have given him the impression that his complaint was not being managed with the appropriate level of urgency.
The landlord has provided further evidence that it chased the contractor, in both January and February 2022, before approaching a sub-contractor directly in March 2022 due to the lack of engagement. The sub-contractor attended to inspect the property on 7 March 2022 – which was within the 6 month timeframe the landlord had specified in its complaint response.
The sub-contractor returned on 24 March 2022 to attempt to complete the works to the loft but was unable to due to pest issues. These had been previously raised by the resident in his email of 10 February 2022, but had been overlooked by the landlord. This resulted in an unnecessary delay in the work being carried out and a wasted appointment for which the resident had to give access.
After this the landlord sought the agreement of the resident to inspect the property itself and “revisit the potential solutions”. This was reasonable considering the resident had recently raised further issues around the brickwork and heating system which required appropriate assessment.
In its stage 2 complaint response, the landlord appropriately said it would complete the work to upgrade the insulation to the flat roof and insulate the loft (“to current Building Regulations standard”).It also agreed to renew the cavity wall insulation.
It offered the resident compensation of £342 for increased heating costs – based on a figure of £19 per month from September 2021 to March 2023. The £19 figure was one that had been proposed by the resident based on his own calculations and so was reasonable for the landlord to use. The landlord also offered the resident £250 compensation for inconvenience caused by it failing to notice the inadequate loft insulation before the property was let.
However, the landlord declined to offer a further £4.75 per month compensation for heating costs which the resident had requested due to the cavity wall insulationbeing found to be insufficient. The landlord’s basis for declining was “the wall insulation meets the decent homes standard and is not a requirement…to upgrade the aging insulation”.
In light of the fact that its sub-contractor described the cavity wall insulation as a “very poor install”, rather than having deteriorated over time, this was not a reasonable position. The resident had incurred extra heating costs as a result of poor workmanship for which the landlord was ultimately responsible, and it would have been appropriate to compensate him for this.
The landlord’s stage 2 complaint response also said that it expected the loft insulation to be upgraded “within the next few months” and the cavity wall insulation – which would be the last of the works, to be “delivered within 3-6 months”.
Although additional insulation was installed to the loft on 30 September 2022 – far sooner than the landlord’s ‘latest point’ estimate of March 2023, this was placed on top of the existing insulation despite this being over 30 years old and contaminated by mice droppings and “fragments of lime mortar” according to the landlord’s inspection of 5 April 2022. The loft space was not cleaned as the landlord had agreed and the loft hatch was not insulated at all.
The landlord’s inspection report also recommended providing insulation “to the current Building Regulations” – that being 270mm, however the work carried out on 30 September 2022 only brought the insulation up to a total of 200mm. It is unclear whether this discrepancy was due to an error on the landlord’s part, or the job not being completed to specification.
Although the landlord appropriately upgraded the insulation to above 270mm on 23 November 2023 (following a roof replacement) this still represents a further 14 months in which it failed to deliver the work as specified in its final complaint response. The resident has provided evidence that he continually chased the landlord for updates and progress throughout this period, which it failed to provide in a timely manner.
The landlord told this Service that the cavity wall insulation was due to be renewed by 1 December 2023 – almost a year on from its final complaint response’s upper estimate of 6 months to complete this. This meant that the resident faced many months of increased heating costs due to the landlord’s unreasonable delay.
In summary, the landlord attempted to appropriately prioritise assessing the loft insulation – and managed to do so within the 6 months it had communicated to the resident. However, it took almost a full year from the point he raised his complaint to upgrade the insulation, and this was then not completed to the specifications listed in its stage 2 complaint response or to the resident’s satisfaction.
The landlord failed to acknowledge that poor workmanship left the property without sufficient cavity wall insulation, and to appropriately compensate the resident for the increased heating costs caused by this. It then failed to renew the insulation in keeping with the time frame it had committed to in its final complaint response. This combination of failures represents maladministration.

Condition of brickwork

The resident first raised his concerns about the brickwork with the landlord on 10 February 2022, identifying “large gaps” which he said would be letting heat out of the property and felt needed repointing. He asked the landlord to have the exterior brickwork “reviewed”, and later suggested its condition could represent a breach of the Decent Homes Standard.
The landlord confirmed on 17 March 2022 that it had requested a “general inspection” of the property – which was carried out on 5 April 2022. The landlord has failed to account for this unreasonable delay of nearly 2 months for it to inspect the brickwork from the point the resident made his request.
The landlord’s inspection recommended repointing an area of brickwork, and also removing render to the rear wall which was “breaching” the damp proof course. The timescale the inspection report estimated for this to be completed was “1-3 months”.
In its stage 2 complaint response, the landlord confirmed that repairs to the brickwork and render had been “specified” but failed to provide any details about when these would be done. The stage 2 response was provided on 27 June 2022, nearly 3 months after the landlord’s inspection. It would have been reasonable to expect the landlord to have progressed the works in this time and be able to provide at least an estimate of when they would be completed – as it had with the insulation.
The stage 2 complaint response asserted that the brickwork met the Decent Homes Standard as “the amount of repointing was below 50% of the property”. Whilst this is correct, it is not in the spirit of dispute resolution. It does not explain why the landlord failed to identify and resolve the failed pointing at the earliest opportunity. Nor does it recognise any impact on the resident or mean that a resident is not entitled to compensation for this failure.
The landlord’s Lettable Standard requires it to ensure the property is “structurally sound” and issues with brickwork would naturally form part of this. It would be reasonable to expect that the landlord’s representative who assessed the structural stability of the property would have identified the failed pointing on inspection. The fact the landlord did not identify the issues when the property was empty therefore indicates a failure to appropriately inspect the property to ensure it met the lettable standard.
The brickwork was not repointed, and render not removed, until nearly 12 months after the landlord’s final complaint response. This is likely to have caused difficulty, and additional expense, in the resident sufficiently heating the property and left it at increased risk of damp and mould over this prolonged period. This, coupled with the landlord’s failure to identify the issues prior to the resident’s tenancy commencing, represents maladministration.

Condition of heating system

After escalating his complaint to stage 2, the resident raised concerns about the age and condition of the solid fuel heating system. The landlord advised the resident that “based on the age of the back boiler, the anticipated next survey date to consider renewal is 2024”.
The landlord appropriately surveyed the heating system as part of its property inspection on 5 April 2022. It acknowledged that the system appeared to be “ineffective and dated” and was “supplemented with a number of electric, oil heaters supplied by the customer”. It recommended “the future planned removal of the solid fuel system” to be replaced with an ASHP, with the timescale for this “depending upon sustainability programme of works”.
Following this, the landlord reasonably arranged for a specialist contractor to inspect and test the heating system on 6 June 2022. The contractor found that “the system works but is not as efficient as it once was” and did not identify any repair issues which could improve this.
In its final complaint response, the landlord informed the resident that the contractor had also carried out the annual service of the system, which it had passed. It advised that an annual service had also been completed in 2021 and the system was “maintained and working” at the start of the resident’s tenancy – in keeping with its Lettable Standard. The landlord concluded that the heating system “performs in line with its age, continues to work and is serviceable and functionable”. This was a reasonable assessment based on its contractor’s feedback.
The final complaint response also confirmed that the back boiler had been installed in 1994 and therefore, in keeping with the Decent Homes Standard, the heating system would be replaced in the 2023/24 financial year. It said this had been identified as “high priority” due to the age and type of system.
The landlord replaced the heating system with an ASHP system on 17 November 2023 – meeting its commitment to do this by March 2024. Although it is acknowledged that the resident would have wished for this to be done sooner, this Service is unable to determine that the landlord could have achieved this without causing detriment to other residents – who would likewise be awaiting replacement of inefficient heating systems nearing the end of their lifespan.
In summary, the landlord carried out a reasonable investigation in response to the resident’s concerns, including the use of a specialist contractor. This led it to determine that the heating system was still serviceable and functional. The landlord appropriately recognised replacement of the system as high priority and completed this within the timeframe its final complaint response had specified. There is no evidence of maladministration.

Complaint handling

The resident first made a complaint about the property’s loft insulation, using the landlord’s online complaint form, on 13 October 2021. This was closed under the landlord’s quick resolution process 2 days later, despite the fact that the landlord’s notes referred to a separate matter and provided no update or outcome on the insulation issue.
The resident told this Service that he made a second complaint about the matter on 8 November 2021, which was acknowledged by the landlord 2 days later after which it failed to provide a response. The landlord has provided no records in relation to this, however the resident has supplied a copy of the landlord’s acknowledgement dated 10 November 2021. It is therefore reasonable to determine that the landlord failed to appropriately log his complaint on this second occasion.
Despite this Service contacting it on 24 November 2021, the landlord took until 1 December 2021 to acknowledge the complaint to the resident. Within this email it provided a target date for its response of 15 December 2021 – 10 working days from that point. This was not in keeping with the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code), which specifies that a stage 1 complaint response should be provided “10 working days from receipt of complaint”.
After receiving the landlord’s initial complaint response, the resident asked to escalate his complaint on 17 December 2021. The Code states that a stage 2 response should be provided “20 working days from request to escalate”. The landlord failed to comply with this by first making enquiries about the areas of the complaint the resident felt were outstanding, and then advising him it would investigate his complaint when its offices reopened after the holiday period. This meant it did not acknowledge his complaint until 5 January 2022, and set its target as 20 working days from this date.
The landlord did not provide its stage 2 complaint response until 27 June 2022 – over 6 months after the resident had requested to escalate his complaint. It is noted that the landlord was in contact with the resident throughout this period and sought his agreement to extend the timeframe for its response on multiple occasions. It is also acknowledged that the resident introduced several new areas of complaint in February and March 2022- which would have required additional time for the landlord to investigate and respond to.
However, the Code allows for a maximum extension of a further 10 working days at stage 2 of a landlord’s complaints process. A complaint response should be sent to a resident when the answer to a complaint is known, not when outstanding actions required to address the issue are completed. It would have been appropriate for the landlord to provide a response within the timeframe contained in the Code, even if this served only to outline its position at that time and the further actions/investigations that it intended to undertake.
Instead, the landlord unreasonably prolonged the complaints process, obstructing the resident’s ability to bring his complaint to this Service for investigation and failing to commit to a final position and clear set of ‘next steps’ with the resident.
The landlord’s failure to appropriately log the resident’s first 2 complaints combined with its failure to manage his complaint in keeping with the timescales of the Code represents maladministration.

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns about:
1. The level of insulation in the property.
2. The condition of the external brickwork.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s concerns about:
1. The condition of the heating system.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Reasons

The landlord acknowledged that it failed to identify the insufficient loft insulation before the resident’s tenancy began and offered compensation for this. However, it failed to acknowledge that poor workmanship in installing the cavity wall insulation was also its responsibility and that redress for this would have been appropriate. The time taken to upgrade the insulation far exceeded the timeframes given in the landlord’s final complaint response and was unreasonable.
The landlord failed to identify issues with the brickwork before the resident’s tenancy began and then delayed unreasonably in inspecting it after the resident raised concerns. The time taken to complete remedial repairs was unreasonable and left the property at risk of damp and mould and additional heating costs for a prolonged period.
The landlord carried out a reasonable investigation in response to the resident’s concerns and established that the heating system was “serviceable and functional”. It appropriately committed to prioritising replacement of the system due to its age and type and completed this within the timeframe its complaint responses established.
The landlord inappropriately closed the resident’s first complaint under its quick resolution process despite not offering a resolution for this. The timeframes for its complaint responses were not compliant with the Code, and the stage 2 response was repeatedly delayed obstructing the resident’s right to bring his complaint to the Ombudsman.

Orders

Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord is ordered to:
1. Pay the resident £1,717.50 composed of:
  1. £617.50 compensation for increased heating costs due to the insufficient loft and cavity wall insulation. This is based on the figure of £23.75 per month between September 2021 and November 2023. Any compensation already paid towards heating costs under the landlord’s final complaint response may be deducted from this amount.
  2. £600 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its maladministration in handling his concerns about the level of insulation in the property. The £250 compensation offered in the landlord’s final complaint response may be deduced from this amount if already paid.
  3. £300 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its maladministration in handling his concerns about the condition of the external brickwork.
  4. £200 compensation for the time and trouble caused by its maladministration in complaint handling.
2. Apologise in writing to the resident for the maladministration identified in this report.

Recommendation

It is recommended that the landlord reviews its processes when inspecting void properties to ensure all elements of its Lettable Standard are appropriately considered and issues identified and recorded.
It is recommended that the landlord take steps to identify and inspect all properties within its stock which still contain a solid fuel heating system, to ensure the insulation provided meets the Decent Homes Standard.