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Tandridge District Council (202009531)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202009531

Tandridge District Council

30 November 2021


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 landlord’s response to the resident’s assertion that contractors advised him to use both heating switches, which resulted in additional charges.

Background and summary of events

Background

  1. The resident is an assured shorthold tenant of the landlord. His former property is a one-bedroom flat in sheltered accommodation.
  2. The total weekly charges for the property were £109.37 per week, which included £12.27 to cover heating costs.
  3. The landlord has advised that the storage heater was a 12-year-old Dimplex combined storage/convector heater. Both parties agree that the control knob became defective however this was not replaced. The storage heater setting remained on high.
  4. The resident was using the ‘fused spur’ to switch on/operate the heater. The storage heater has two switched fused spurs. One is for the economy off-peak supply (cheap over-night electricity) and the other is for the on-peak supply (normal rate electricity providing a boost facility). Both switches are manually operated and work independently of one another. The off–peak switch was to be left on at all times and is connected to the Landlord’s economy meter. This allows the storage heater to heat up overnight using cheap off-peak electricity between 11pm and 5am. The on-peak supply should always be left switched off. This should only be used as a heating boost facility in an emergency as it is charged at normal rate. The on–peak switch is connected to the resident’s own electricity meter and charged by his energy supplier.
  5. The resident was paying his energy supplier £28 per month (separate to his payment for the landlord’s energy supply) and this had always covered his usage. Following issues with his heater, the resident received an arrears bill of £778.53. The resident advises that his energy supplier confirmed that his usage increased during the period that he explained he was wrongly advised about how to use the heater.
  6. The resident was referred to Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) by the energy supplier. CAB is acting as the resident’s representative in this complaint.

Summary of events

  1. When the resident moved into the property in November 2018, the landlord advised he was shown how everything in the flat worked including the heating. The landlord has confirmed that the heating system used, was the same type of heating in the resident’s previous property. The resident does not dispute this.
  2. On 21 November 2019 the resident contacted the landlord with concerns about his storage heater. The warden has explained that visits were made to the resident to show him how to use the heater.
  3. On 17 and 26 February 2020 the resident spoke again about problems with the heater and advised he had chased the matter but there was no one available to assist.
  4. A variation order was put through by the landlord’s contactor on 10 March 2020 for a new storage heater to be installed.
  5. On 24 March 2020 the energy supplier contacted the landlord to explain that they were having difficulty reaching the resident to complete an electricity consumption checklist.
  6. On 27 March 2020 a new heater was installed, and the landlord explained to the resident how it worked and what he would pay for its use.
  7. On 9 and 12 June 2020 the landlord had conversations with the energy supplier about the resident’s electricity bill. The landlord referred the resident to the energy supplier’s debt management company who then referred the resident to the Citizens Advice Bureau.
  8. The resident raised his complaint on 29 July 2020. The resident stated he was not told how to use the electric storage heater and he received no assistance from the landlord in trying to resolve the problem. That he was advised to turn on both electrical switches for the heater and this had resulted in high arrears from the energy supplier. The resident said he was advised the heater should have been condemned by the landlord’s contractor.
  9. The landlord issued its stage one response on 18 August 2020.The landlord advised that the resident had been in communication with it, he had been shown how to use the heater and that he was told not to use the fan heater element as he would be charged for the on–peak electricity. The landlord also advised that the previous tenant of the property had confirmed that he had also showed the resident how to use the storage heater. The landlord confirmed that its contractor visited the property in February 2020 and ascertained that the storage heater was old, and the manual temperature control knob was defective. An order for a new heater was placed on 10 March 2020 and installed on 27 March 2020. The landlord advised that it had no control over whether the resident switched on both the on–peak and off–peak switches for the storage heater.
  10. The resident was unhappy with the response and sent an escalation request through his representative. The resident believed that he had only had a visit from the warden after he raised concerns about the bill. The resident also disputed that the previous resident showed him how to use the heating and after speaking with the previous resident, advised the previous resident was unhappy with being mentioned in the landlord’s response. The resident also advised that it was the contracted engineer who advised him to put the two switches on.
  11. The stage two response was issued on 22 October 2020. The response confirmed that there had been discussions internally with employees involved. The landlord confirmed that internal notes evidenced that the resident had been in contact with the landlord’s supported living warden since he moved into the property in November 2018 and that the resident was shown how to operate the heating on more than one occasion. The landlord also explained that it had worked with the resident to try and resolve the matter relating to the high electricity bill. It had contacted the contractor who attended the resident’s property who confirmed that the storage heater was working correctly, but needed to be switched on via the switched fuse spur. The contractor advised that it explained how to use the heater, but the resident did not trust that the heater was working as it should do. It also explained that it did not tell the resident to use both switches.

Assessment and findings

  1. The landlord has not provided us with all of the dates and times of the visits made to the resident in which he was shown how to use the heater, however, it has provided us with statements from the warden where it is stated that the resident was visited and was shown how to use the storage heater switches and advised about the additional charges with using the second switch on more than one occasion. The landlord has also stated it had spoken with the previous resident, a friend of the resident and he confirmed showing the resident how to use the heater. The resident also states he spoke with the previous resident, but makes no mention of whether or not he was advised on the operation of the heating. As such, the Ombudsman does not prefer one parties version over the other.
  2. The resident has accepted that he had an additional energy bill of £28 per month to that included in his rent. As the resident had a separate energy bill, of which he was aware, it is clear that he accepted he would be responsible for additional charges if he used energy facilities outside of the landlord’s economy off–peak supply. Irrespective of whether the contractor did or did not advise the resident to use both switches, given that the resident had an ongoing payment, it is reasonable that he knew how this additional payment was generated and therefore aware of how the storage heater worked.
  3. The landlord also demonstrated that it tried to assist the resident by speaking directly to the energy supplier to try and understand why the bill was so high. The resident did acknowledge that the landlord did this. Furthermore, following this contact, the energy supplier sought to discuss the matter with the resident.
  4. The landlord was also in contact with its contractor, who confirmed that it did not advise the resident to turn on both switches. Whilst I appreciate the resident advises that he was not told about the switches, there is evidence from different parties involved all confirming that this was explained to the resident on separate occasions. Furthermore, the resident at all times was aware of the additional payments he made and that he was liable for all associated costs. As such, it would not be the landlord’s responsibility to pay the energy bill of £778.53 as the resident was in control of switching the fuse spurs on and off and would have been aware of the additional charges from using the on-peak switch.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was no maladministration by the landlord in its response to the resident’s assertion that contractors advised him to use both heating switches, which resulted in additional charges.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord keep a more detailed and accurate account of all the visits and communication that it has with its residents.