Sovereign Housing Association Limited (202101866)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202101866

Sovereign Housing Association Limited

1 June 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 is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a faulty gas meter.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord.
3. The landlord contacted the resident on 26 February 2020, as it had been reported that he had a gas leak, and his gas supplier was attending to cap the meter. On 28 July 2020, the resident called the landlord regarding the boiler service. The landlord advised that he would need to arrange an appointment with his gas provider to complete the repair to the meter before it could uncap and service it.
4. The resident raised a complaint on 6 October 2020, as he was dissatisfied that the landlord had not taken responsibility for repairing his gas meter. He also said that he had to find alternative accommodation and asked the landlord to reimburse him. In his complaint escalation, the resident said his gas provider had advised they were unable to uncap the gas meter until the landlord had resolved the leak.
5. In its complaint response, the landlord stated that as it did not own the gas meter, it was not responsible for completing any repairs and as such it had advised the resident to contact his gas provider. It also stated that it would not reimburse the resident for the alternative accommodation, as he had not advised the landlord of this prior to leaving the property.
6. In the resident’s complaint to this Service, he said he remained dissatisfied that the landlord had not taken responsibility for the gas meter and that the issue had taken so long to resolve. He stated he had advised the landlord he was seeking alternative accommodation so wanted to be reimbursed for the costs.

Assessment and findings

7. The landlord’s repairs policy states that it will complete gas servicing and that it is responsible for ensuring “that all gas installation pipework, gas appliances and flue systems” it owns are safely maintained. However, as the gas provider owns the gas meter, the landlord would not be able to complete any repairs to it. In an internal email, the landlord stated that the leak was from the meter, rather than the pipework; it would therefore not be responsible for arranging the repair. The landlord promptly advised the resident to contact his gas supplier and explained in its complaint response that it would have been unlawful for it to complete the repairs.
8. The resident was also dissatisfied that the landlord did not contact the gas supplier, however the landlord would have been unable to discuss the repairs on his behalf due to data protection requirements as the resident would be named on the account as the bill payer. The landlord advised the resident of this in its response.
9. The resident stated that he had contacted the landlord several times between March and September to resolve the issue. However, there is no evidence in the landlord’s call logs to suggest that the resident contacted the landlord between 27 February 2020 and 28 July 2020, as such the landlord would not have been aware that the repairs were still outstanding.
10. Once the resident had arranged the repairs with his gas provider, he contacted the landlord on 3 September 2020 to arrange for the meter to be serviced and uncapped. The landlord then arranged an appointment for 17 September 2020. As the repair was not raised during the winter period, it would be classed as a routine repair and have a timeframe of 28 days, which the landlord adhered to, in line with its repairs policy. It was reasonable that in its complaint response, the landlord stated that it was unable to complete the repairs at an earlier date, due to the resident not contacting his gas supplier as advised to complete the necessary repairs and as he was not at the property to provide access, as he had advised the landlord he was isolating.
11. In his complaint, the resident requested to be reimbursed £2250 for the rent he had paid for alternative accommodation. The landlord would only be expected to reimburse the resident for rent if there was clear evidence that the property was uninhabitable, and the landlord was responsible for the required repairs. As the evidence indicates that the landlord was not responsible for the repairs, and provided the resident with the appropriate advice, it would not be liable for reimbursing the costs for alternative accommodation. There is also no evidence to suggest that the resident had contacted the landlord to advise that he was seeking alternative accommodation, until 3 September 2020, so the landlord was unaware he was incurring additional costs.
12. Overall, the landlord provided the correct advice to the resident regarding contacting his gas provider and it then completed the relevant follow-on work, in line with its repairs policy. It also provided a reasonable explanation for why it would not offer compensation for the resident’s alternative accommodation.

Determination

13. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in respect of its handling of the resident’s reports of a faulty gas meter.