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Sovereign Network Homes (202313628)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202313628

Sovereign Network Homes

7 May 2024

 

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 resident’s reports concerning:
    1. The landlord’s handling of repairs to the boiler.
    2. The pressure from the bath taps following their replacement.

Background

  1. The resident lives in the property, owned by the landlord, under an assured tenancy. The property is a 4-bedroom second floor flat, and the resident lives there alone. The landlord has acknowledged her as vulnerable due to her age.
  2. The resident first reported problems with the boiler on 11 July 2022, and the landlord repaired this within 24 hours. After several further reports of problems and repairs, the landlord installed a new boiler on 2 November 2022. The landlord also replaced the bath taps in the property on 22 November 2022.
  3. The resident raised a complaint to the landlord via a letter sent on 17 January 2023. She said that since the new taps were installed, the water only came out in a trickle and she was unhappy with the time it took to repair and replace her boiler. She requested a refund of the service charge she paid whilst the boiler was not working.
  4. The landlord sent its stage 1 response on 10 February 2023, in which it said that it needed more time to investigate the reason for delays with repairing and replacing the boiler. It said it would investigate the issue with the bath taps.
  5. Following this response, the resident experienced further problems with her heating, related to the thermostat, which the landlord attended to fix. The landlord’s contractor inspected the bath taps on 20 February 2023 and found that the pressure was working as it should be for the system in place.
  6. On 9 May 2023 the resident wrote to the landlord asking for the complaint to be escalated. She said that the stage 1 response was not satisfactory and she was having problems with the newly installed boiler.
  7. The landlord sent its stage 2 response on 22 June 2023. It apologised for its stage 1 response not meeting the expected standard and thanked her for her patience whilst it had fully investigated matters. It acknowledged that there had been some delays and periods where the resident had not had hot water and offered compensation of £220.
  8. The resident remained unhappy with the landlord’s response and contacted this Service on 14 July 2023 to ask us to investigate the complaint.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of repairs to the boiler

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy sets out its obligations in relation to heating and hot water. It classifies no heating and/or no hot water as an emergency repair, which should be carried out within 24 hours.
  2. The resident initially reported that she had no hot water or heating on 11 July 2022 and the landlord attended within 24 hours. Parts were needed, and a repair was carried out on 13 July 2022, which was within a reasonable timescale.
  3. The resident reported no hot water again on 31 August 2022 and parts were needed, delaying the repair until 5 September 2022, leaving her without hot water for 5 days. She again reported no hot water on 11 September 2022 and the immersion heater not working on 13 September 2022. The landlord’s contractor was unable to gain access to the property when they visited on 13 September 2022 and the repairs were carried out on 15 September 2022.
  4. The resident reported no heating or hot water on 19 September 2022 and the landlord attended the same day to repair. It visited again the next day, when it was determined that the system was dirty and needed a powerflush. It is not clear from the evidence provided by the landlord when it was identified that the boiler needed to be replaced, however it delivered fan heaters to the resident on 28 September 2022 and installed a new boiler on 2 November 2022.
  5. As there had been a large number of problems with the boiler within a short space of time, it was a reasonable step for the landlord to take to install a new boiler. Its policy does not set out a specific timescale for this installation, however it would be reasonable for this to be carried out within its timescale for routine repairs, which is 28 days. As it is not known when the decision was made to replace the boiler, it cannot be determined whether, once it reached this decision, it did so within this timescale. However, the landlord acknowledged delays in its stage 2 response.
  6. On 14 November 2022, when the landlord’s contractor visited to install the new bath taps, the resident said there was a problem with the heating and hot water. The contractor found there was no issue with the boiler, however there was an issue with the electric shower which was fixed immediately.
  7. On 29 November 2022, following a further report of a problem, a contractor visited. They turned the cylinder up and bled the bathroom radiator, which resolved the problem. The resident reported a further problem with the bathroom radiator on 18 January 2023, which was repaired the same day.
  8. On 16 February 2023 the resident reported no heating or hot water. A contractor visited the same day and reconnected the thermostat to the receiver. A further issue with the heating was reported on 16 March 2023 and a contractor visited on 17 March 2023, and replaced a faulty part.
  9. On 17 April 2023 the resident reported that she had hot water but no heating, and this was fixed the next day by venting the upstairs radiators and replacing the batteries in the thermostat. The resident did not report any further problems with the boiler and the annual service was completed on 24 July 2023.
  10. Whilst this Service appreciates that the resident must have found it frustrating to experience a number of issues with the heating and hot water following the installation of a new boiler, the landlord’s records show it attended each time within its timescale of 24 hours and carried out repairs.
  11. In its stage 2 response the landlord recognised that there was some delay in dealing with the boiler repairs, prior to its replacement. In recognition of the distress, time and trouble, the landlord offered £220 compensation, which it said would be credited to the resident’s rent account.
  12. The Ombudsman is of the view that the compensation offered by the landlord in its stage 2 response was proportionate to the distress and inconvenience caused. It is to be expected that boilers will break down from time to time, and some inconvenience is unavoidable. It is recognised that the landlord did provide temporary heaters, and whilst there was a small delay to this, this occurred in September, which was early autumn, and not the coldest time of year. The landlord mostly acted promptly in carrying out repairs, and the compensation is reasonable to recognise the short delay in installing the new boiler.
  13. The resident feels she should receive a refund of her service charge for the period, however, as the landlord has taken action to resolve the boiler issues the Ombudsman does not consider that it is required to refund any service charge to the resident. The amount of compensation the landlord has offered was reasonable to take into consideration all impacts of this issue0on the resident.
  14. Taking all matters into account the Ombudsman finds reasonable redress in relation to the landlord’s handling of repairs to the boiler.

The pressure from the bath taps following their replacement

  1. The landlord’s records indicate that the bath taps were replaced on 22 November 2022, after the resident reported a problem with the hot water tap on 6 October 2022. She first raised an issue with the water pressure in her complaint letter of 17 January 2023.
  2. In its stage 1 response of 10 February 2023, the landlord said it would look into the problem, and it raised a job on 15 February 2023. Its contractor visited on 20 February 2023. They reported that the pressure from the bath taps was working as it should be for the system. The resident told the contractor that someone had told her she could have a pump fitted and she wanted one to be fitted to her taps. There is no evidence that a pump was fitted to the previous taps, therefore installation of a pump would be betterment. There is no provision in the landlord’s policy or the tenancy agreement for betterment, therefore the landlord is not required to install a pump if the taps are working as they should be.
  3. The Ombudsman does not consider that there has been maladministration by the landlord in relation to the pressure from the bath taps following their replacement. It arranged for a contractor to inspect the taps, and they found that the pressure was as expected for the type of system. There is no evidence that the pressure from the taps is inadequate.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53(b) of the Scheme there was reasonable redress by the landlord in relation to the landlord’s handling of repairs to the boiler.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in relation to the pressure from the bath taps following their replacement.

Recommendation

  1. The landlord to pay the resident compensation of £220 offered in its stage 2 response, within 28 days of this report. If it has not already credited this to the resident’s rent account, this amount should be paid directly to the resident.