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Barking and Dagenham Council (202108003)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202108003

Barking and Dagenham Council

28 January 2022


Our approach

What we can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction and is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme. The Ombudsman must determine whether a complaint comes within their jurisdiction. The Ombudsman seeks to resolve disputes wherever possible but cannot investigate complaints that fall outside of this. 

In deciding whether a complaint falls within their jurisdiction, the Ombudsman will carefully consider all the evidence provided by the parties and the circumstances of the case.

The complaint

  1. The complaint is about the provision of a heat interface unit (HIU) operating and maintenance safety manual (the manual) when the landlord installed the system in 2012 or afterwards.

Determination (jurisdictional decision)

  1. When a complaint is brought to the Ombudsman, we must consider all the circumstances of the case as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
  2. After carefully considering all the evidence, we have determined that the complaint, as set out above, is not within the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.

Summary of events

  1. The resident is a leaseholder, and the landlord is the freeholder. The property is a flat within a block of flats.
  2. The resident raised a complaint on 11 December 2020. He said that sometime in May 2020 his HIU failed (HIU systems transfer heat from a communal plantroom and provide heating and hot water to an individual property). As a result, the supply of heating to and within his property ceased. He explained that the HIU was installed by the landlord around 2010-2012, and had failed in 2018. He said the HIU failed again in May 2020, and there was water leakage from the unit. He explained that an engineer attended, stopped the leak, but did not repair the HIU. The resident said the landlord did not provide him with the manual when it installed the unit, or when the unit failed in 2018. He said that for the landlord to have transferred responsibility to him it should have supplied all documentation associated with the HIU and other related equipment and appliances.
  3. An internal email dated 18 May 2020 showed an engineer attended the resident’s property to contain a leak. The engineer noted that the cause of the leak was due to the HIU not being serviced, which led to the leak.
  4. Correspondence continued between the landlord and resident throughout 2021 until on 4 June 2021, the landlord advised the resident that it was unable to provide the relevant manual, but that the HIU remained his responsibility as the leaseholder of the property. It advised the resident to seek the services of a private plumber to resolve the issue.
  5. In response, the resident argued that because the landlord did not provide the manual he was not responsible for the maintenance. He suggested that it consider; a new HIU with its manual to replace the existing one, or for the landlord to purchase his property. 
  6. The landlord issued its final response letter on 24 August 2021. It explained that it did not have the information the resident requested (as its records only went back to 2013), and reiterated that the HIU remained his responsibility as the leaseholder.
  7. In his complaint to the Ombudsman the resident explained that he did not dispute his responsibility to repair the HIU. However, he said he needed the manual to invite an engineer with the right credentials to undertake the repairs. He requested that the landlord supply the manual or replace the HIU.

Reasons

  1. Paragraph 39(e) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states that the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which were not brought to the attention of the landlord as a formal complaint within a reasonable period, which would normally be within six months of the matter arising. 
  2. The resident’s complaint is regarding the lack of the HIU manual. It is not apparent when the resident became aware that he lacked the manual, but it is apparent that the system required regular maintenance, which the resident was responsible for. It is therefore not apparent why the missing manual was not raised with the landlord before late 2020. Regardless, the length of time between the issue arising in 2012, and the resident’s complaint in 2020 means that, in line with paragraph 39(e), the Ombudsman will not investigate this complaint.