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Peabody Trust (202203833)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202203833

Peabody Trust

11 July 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:
    1. response to a request for boiler repairs, and;
    2. failure to provide the resident with requested policies and practices.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of a two-bedroom flat.
  2. The resident made a request for a repair to her boiler. The landlord inspected the boiler and ordered parts but did not obtain access to the property to complete the repair. The resident complained that the landlord did not contact her by email to arrange the repair and that the repair remained outstanding.
  3. In its complaint response, the landlord advised that it made reasonable attempts to access the property but accepted that it was responsible for a delay of 20 days and offered the resident compensation of £110 for the loss of heating and inconvenience.
  4. The resident advised this Service that the landlord was aware that all contact should be by email, which the landlord failed to do. This caused a delay in repairing the boiler. The resident also advised this Service that the landlord failed to provide her with requested policies and practices.
  5. As a resolution, the resident wanted the landlord to be accountable for the delay, acknowledge its failure in communication, acknowledge the impact this delay has had on the resident’s family, and provide compensation to reflect the impact.

Assessment and findings

  1. When investigating a complaint, the Ombudsman applies its Dispute Resolution Principles. These are high level good practice guidance developed from the Ombudsman’s experience of resolving disputes, for use by everyone involved in the complaints process. There are only three principles driving effective dispute resolution:

a.         Be fair – treat people fairly and follow fair processes;

b.         put things right, and;

c.         learn from outcomes.

  1. The Ombudsman must first consider whether a failing on the part of the landlord occurred, and if so, whether this led to any adverse effect or detriment to the resident. If it is found that a failing did lead to an adverse effect, the investigation will then consider whether the landlord has taken enough action to ‘put things right’ and ‘learn from outcomes’.

Scope of investigation 

  1. Paragraph 42(a) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme sets out that we will not consider complaints which are made prior to having exhausted a member’s complaints procedure. After considering the evidence, this Service has decided that we cannot consider the landlord’s failure to provide requested copies of policies and practices, as the resident’s request was made after the stage 2 complaint response.

Landlord’s response to a request for boiler repairs

  1. This Service previously investigated this resident’s complaint about the landlord’s handling of the capping (switching off) of a gas meter. As part of this investigation, this Service has considered that complaint, and referred to it for context, because both occurred in the same period and similar issues were identified. When the complaint was brought to this Service, the landlord could not repair the boiler as the gas was capped.
  2. The landlord’s repair policy states that it is the resident’s responsibility to tell the landlord promptly about any repair for which it is responsible. Repairs can be reported by website, phone, and email. The landlord’s repair policy states that it will give reasonable notice if it needs to access the property for inspection or repair.
  3. The landlord’s compensation policy states that it will pay compensation of £3 a day for the loss of heating after the initial 24 hours between the winter months of 1 October and 30 April. It allows discretionary compensation for time, trouble and inconvenience up to £400.
  4. The resident has provided this Service with evidence that her preferred method of contact was by email. This Service’s previous investigation found that the landlord was aware that the resident preferred email contact.
  5. On 20 December 2019, the resident reported her boiler was not working. The next day, the landlord inspected the boiler and confirmed new parts were required. The landlord noted that the resident had hot water through an immersion heater. After this, the landlord’s repair notes show that it made several calls, left voicemails, and sent text messages to the resident with no response. It closed the work order on 10 January 2020. The landlord should have considered if it was appropriate to close close a work order for a boiler repair in winter and explored other methods of contact.
  6. On 15 January 2020, the landlord raised a further work order to repair the boiler. It made several calls to arrange access but could not get through to the resident and closed the work order on 5 March 2020. At this stage, the landlord should have considered alternative methods of communication. It would have noted from previous repair requests that email was the resident’s preferred method of contact.
  7. The landlord made reasonable efforts to contact the resident and repair the boiler. After its first failed work order, it raised another and did not close the work order until 05 March 2020. This was a reasonable timeframe before closing the repair. However, the landlord could have done more, and it should have checked its records and emailed the resident to arrange the repair.
  8. On 06 June 2020, the landlord capped the resident’s gas supply as it could not access the property. On 11 February 2021, the resident emailed the landlord to raise a stage 1 complaint for the delay in the boiler repair along with a complaint that it capped her gas. Based on the evidence, this is the first contact from the resident to the landlord about the boiler repair since it was initially reported. This Service does not find that the landlord should be responsible for this duration, as it would be reasonable to expect further contact from the resident.
  9. This Service finds that there was service failure in the landlord’s response to a request for boiler repairs. This is because it did not consider alternative methods of communication before closing the repair order, and it should have.
  10. In its complaint response, the landlord offered the resident £60 for 20 days loss of heating up until 10 January 2020 when it closed the first work order. It also offered the resident £50 for inconvenience caused. However, the landlord should have considered if it was appropriate to close a boiler repair order at this stage and explored other methods of contact.
  11. Although the landlord closed the second work order on 05 March 2020, without exhausting all methods of communication, it would have been reasonable to expect contact from the resident after this time frame. As such, this Service finds the landlord responsible for the resident’s loss of heating up until 05 March 2020 and orders it to pay the resident compensation in line with its policy and to pay the resident compensation for the inconvenience caused.
  12. If it has not already done so, it is ordered that the landlord repair the boiler.
  13. This Service recommends that the landlord provide training to its staff to ensure that it exhausts all methods of communication before closing a repair order.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its response to a request for boiler repairs.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. It is ordered that the landlord pay the resident, within 28 days of the date of this determination, compensation of £278, inclusive of its previous offer of £110, compromising:
    1. £228 for 78 days loss of heating, at £3 per day, between 21 December 2019 and 5 March 2020.
    2. £50 for inconvenience caused to the resident.
  2. If it has not already done so, it is ordered that the landlord repair the boiler.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord provide training to its staff to ensure that it exhausts all methods of communication before closing a repair order.