London & Quadrant Housing Trust (202105440)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202105440

London & Quadrant Housing Trust

2 April 2022

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 concerns the landlord’s handling of:
   1. The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of no hot water or heating in the property.
   2. The associated formal complaint into the matter.

Background

2. The resident is a leaseholder of the landlord, which is a housing association. The property is a flat in a new build communal building.
3. The resident moved into the property on 22 December 2020. Upon moving in, the resident was without heating and hot water in the property as a result of the energy account not yet being set up and a repair required to the heating system. All issues were resolved by the landlord by 30 December 2020.
4. On 13 January 2021 the resident wrote to the landlord and requested to raise a formal complaint into how it handled the matter. She explained that there were delays in resolving the issues, which were the result of her not having her energy account set up and not being added to the landlord’s system. This resulted in the landlord not being able to assign its contractor to attend the property when the resident first reported the issue with the heating.
5. As a resolution to the complaint, the resident requested compensation in recognition of the time it took to resolve the matter, that she was left temporarily homeless between 22 and 30 December 2021, and for the poor service she received in pursing the matter.
6. The landlord acknowledged the complaint on 15 January 2021 and sent a stage one complaint response on 29 January 2021. It informed the resident that:
   1. It had started an investigation into what checks were done to the property prior to the resident moving in.
   2. It had checked its records and found that its energy team had not been advised that that resident was moving in and had not set up her energy account. The landlord refunded the resident the standing charge for the period she was without hot water and heating and added an £11 credit to the energy account in view of this.
   3. It had listened back to the call the resident made to its helpdesk. It explained that as the resident had not been added to its system, this caused delays in its operative bringing up the resident’s information. The resident was also given incorrect information about the cause of the issue.
   4. It apologised for the poor customer service the resident had received and offered £130 compensation. The landlord explained that it would also look to learn from the complaint and would take steps to:
      1. Ensure all properties are properly checked before a resident moves in.
      2. Improve communication between its departments, so all teams are notified when a new resident is moving in, and that the necessary systems are updated.
      3. Examine if further training is required for its frontline staff in dealing with customers.
7. The resident wrote to the landlord on 25 February 2021 and requested an escalation of the complaint on the grounds that:
   1. The level of compensation offered was inadequate considering the effect the issue had on her mental health and that she was left temporarily homeless.
   2. Not all issues she had raised in her complaint were addressed in the stage one complaint response.
   3. It was still not clear what checks the landlord made to the property prior to her moving in.
8. The landlord confirmed on 9 March 2021 that the complaint had been escalated. The resident wrote to this Service on 22 May 2021 and stated her dissatisfaction that she had not received a stage two complaint response from the landlord. This service passed on the resident’s concerns to the landlord and a stage two response was sent on 7 June 2021.
9. The landlord first apologised for the delay in providing the response and then provided a summary of its position set out at stage one. While the landlord accepted that the resident had received a poor level of service, it disputed that she was left homeless and that the property was uninhabitable during the period she was without heating and hot water. However, the landlord noted that it should have offered to provide her with temporary heaters when she first contacted it and apologised for not doing so. It offered the resident an additional £20 compensation for the delay in providing the stage two complaint response.
10. In an email sent to this Service on 11 November 2021, the resident described the outstanding issues of the complaint as the level of compensation offered by the landlord was inadequate as it had not taken into account the effect on her health the situation had caused and that she was left homeless as a result of having no hot water or heating in the property. As a resolution to the case, the resident requested that the landlord increase its compensation offer to £500.

Assessment and findings

Policies and procedures

11. The landlord’s repairs policy states that it will attend emergency repairs within 24 hours and that it will arrange a mutually convenient appointment to attend all other repairs. Emergency repairs are defined as a repair where there is “an immediate danger to the occupant or members of the public”.
12. During the period of the complaint, the landlord was operating a restricted service due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This resulted in repairs that were deemed non-urgent being postponed. The landlord continued to respond to repairs deemed critical during this period. It defined a critical repair as “an emergency or very urgent works that should be completed ‘in days’ and that cannot be safely left for any longer than that”.
13. The landlord operates a two-stage complaints policy. When a complaint is raised, the landlord will provide a complaint response within ten working days. If the complainant remains dissatisfied with the response, they can request an escalation to the next stage. The landlord will then undertake a review of the complaint and send a stage two response to the complainant within 20 working days. This will be the landlord’s final response to the complaint.
14. The landlord’s compensation policy states that it will consider compensation when it has failed to follow its policies, procedures or guidelines; for loss of facilities or amenities in the home; failure to respond to a complaint within its target time; or failure to complete repairs within its agreed response time. The policy also states that the landlord will consider discretionary payments that recognise individual household circumstances.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of no hot water or heating in the property

15. In its complaint responses, the landlord acknowledged the resident had received a poor level of service when she informed it that she was without hot water and heating when moving into the property. The landlord apologised, explained what steps it had taken internally to improve its procedures and offered £130 compensation for its service failures.
16. Where there are admitted failings by a landlord, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this the Ombudsman takes into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
17. The landlord acted fairly in acknowledging its mistakes and explaining what it did wrong. incidents. It looked to put things right by apologising to the resident and awarding compensation. It looked to learn from its errors by making changes to its procedures for when a new resident moves into the property.
18. The landlord has provided this Service with its internal correspondence during the complaint process. This showed that the landlord identified several areas where its internal process had broken down. It then looked to make changes to its current procedures in how its energy team were notified when a new tenant was moving in, how different teams involved in helping new residents communicated which each other, and how heating systems were checked in properties before they are handed off to a new tenant; particularly in reference to properties that had been empty for several months. The landlord also looked to implement new procedures relating to when new residents were moving into a property during the Christmas holiday period.
19. The landlord’s compensation policy does not provide any recommended levels of payments for discretionary compensation. The Ombudsman’s own remedies guidance (which is available on our website) suggests a payment of £50 to £250 in cases of service failure resulting in some impact on the complainant but which was of short duration and may not have significantly affected the overall outcome for the complainant. As examples for when this level of payment should be considered, the guidance suggests “failure to meet service standards for actions and responses but where the failure had no significant impact”.
20. In this case, the resident experienced significant inconvenience due to the lack of heating and hot water in her property over the Christmas period but the problem was of short duration and should not have a lasting impact on the resident’s ability to use her property fully. Therefore the landlord’s offer of compensation is reasonable as it is in line with the compensation the Ombudsman would have offered if the landlord had not already made an offer.
21. The resident has expressed her dissatisfaction that the medical issues caused by not having hot water and heating were not considered by the landlord when calculating its compensation offer.
22. The Ombudsman does not doubt the resident’s comments regarding her health, but this Service is unable to draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. Matters of personal injury or damage to health, their investigation and compensation, are not part of the complaints process, and are more appropriately addressed by way of the courts or the landlord’s liability insurance as a personal injury claim.
23. This is in line with paragraph 39(i) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, which states that “The Ombudsman will not investigate complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion concern matters where the Ombudsman considers it quicker, fairer, more reasonable, or more effective to seek a remedy through the courts, a designated person, other tribunal or procedure”. Nonetheless, consideration has been given to the general distress and inconvenience which the situation may have caused the resident and how the landlord responded to her concerns.
24. The resident has also requested further compensation should be given to take into account that she was made homeless during the period she was without hot water and heating. While the resident’s frustration and dissatisfaction that she moved into a new property without heating is completely understandable, the property would not automatically be considered to be uninhabitable because it was without heating and hot water. No evidence has been provided to show that the property was in an uninhabitable state. It was therefore reasonable for the landlord not to consider this aspect when making its compensation calculations.

The landlord’s complaint handling

25. The landlord did not follow its complaint policy at stage two of the complaints process. The resident requested an escalation on 25 February 2021. However, it was not until the intervention of this Service that a stage two complaint response was provided on 7 June 2021, a period of 70 working days.
26. In its stage two response, the landlord apologised to the resident and awarded £20 compensation. Whilst the Ombudsman notes that the landlord has acknowledged its failing in complaint handling and attempted to put things right for the resident, this level of redress is not sufficient when considering the length of time it took for the response to be provided and the time and trouble taken by the resident in chasing the response with both the landlord and this Service.
27. Therefore, and in taking into account this Service’s remedies guidance as set out above, the landlord is ordered to pay the resident an additional £80 to make the total compensation awarded for this element of the complaint £100.

Determination

28. In accordance with paragraph 55 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the landlord has made an offer of redress prior to our investigation which in the Ombudsman’s opinion resolves the complaint about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of no hot water or heating in the property.
29. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in respect of the associated formal complaint into the matter.

Order

30. For the service failure and reasons set out above, the landlord is ordered to pay the resident and additional £80.
31. This payment should be made within four weeks of the date of this report. The landlord should update this Service when payment has been made.

Recommendation

32. The compensation awarded by the Ombudsman is in addition to the £150 compensation already awarded by the landlord in its complaint process. The landlord should now pay this compensation to the resident if it has not done so already.