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The Riverside Group Limited (202012645)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202012645

The Riverside Group Limited

18 October 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 landlord’s response to reports of noise from a neighbour’s Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP).
  2. Reports of no hot water at the property and the associated level of compensation offered.

Background

  1. The resident has held a secure tenancy with the landlord, which is a housing association, since 20 March 2006. The landlord says that it is aware that the resident has a ‘high level of vulnerability’.
  2. On 25 December 2022, the resident contacted the Ombudsman and asked for an update on her complaints. The resident said that she was unable to use her heating system and that she was being disturbed by the neighbours heating system.
  3. On 6 January 2023, the resident emailed her landlord and said that she ‘had no hot water still’ and had complained about it months ago. Following contact from the Ombudsman to ask if the email on 25 December were new issues, the resident responded that she had no hot water, her complaint about the noise from the heating had been ongoing since 2011 and that she was unhappy with the service she received from the landlord.
  4. On 9 January 2023, the landlord responded to the resident and said that it had raised a repair and she would receive a text message confirming the appointment date.
  5. Between 9 and 22 January 2023, the resident and landlord continued to communicate via email. An appointment was booked for 19 January 2023 and the resident emailed on 22 January 2023 to thank the operative for fixing the issue.
  6. On 26 January 2023, the resident raised a formal complaint with the landlord. The resident said that she had no hot water, no heating and a damp and mouldy home which was making her ill. She had complained months ago about no hot water and nothing had been done. The resident also said that she wanted compensation as she had no hot water since last year apart from 2 days and she had been complaining to the landlord since 2011 about the neighbours heating system. The resident said that she wanted the landlord to fix her heating system, stop the noise from the neighbour’s heating system, stop the damp, replace her windows and insulate her home so she could use her heating.
  7. On 27 January 2023, the landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint and confirmed that it would be investigating the handling of the resident’s report of no hot water.
  8. On 1 February 2023, the resident sent multiple emails to the landlord which detailed her dissatisfaction with the landlord’s service throughout the years.
  9. Later that day, on 1 February 2023, the landlord sent its stage 1 response, where it said that:
    1. It had identified that the repair had been raised incorrectly and it should have raised the job as a priority.
    2. There was mitigating circumstances as neighbourhood managers do not routinely raise repairs, and it is best to log future repairs with the call centre.
  10. On 2 February 2023, there was further email communication between the resident and the landlord. The resident explained that she wanted compensation and an apology. The landlord said that as well as the apology it had offered in its stage 1 response, it could also offer a £49 voucher which could be used towards the cost of heating. The resident confirmed she would accept this.
  11. On 4 February 2023, the resident emailed the landlord and said that she wanted to escalate her complaint to stage 2. The resident said that she was unhappy that the landlord had stopped environmental health from monitoring the noise coming from a neighbour’s heating system.
  12. On 6 February 2023, the landlord informed the resident that it would escalate her complaint regarding the handling of the repair, but it would not address the other issues as these had been dealt with previously.
  13. The landlord formally acknowledged the resident’s complaint on 8 February 2023. The landlord explained that it had progressed the complaint to stage 2 based on the resident’s dissatisfaction with the apology and level of compensation. It again explained that it would not investigate the noise from a neighbour’s heating system as this was an historical issue.
  14. On 1 March 2023, the landlord assigned the complaint to a new stage 2 investigating officer, and on 2 March 2023, the investigating officer contacted the resident and apologised for the delay in responding to her complaint, explaining that this was due to staff illness. The landlord explained that it had tried to contact the resident to discuss the outstanding issues and asked her to confirm. The resident responded to the landlord and suggested it look back through the last 12 years of contact.
  15. On 10 March 2023, the landlord provided its stage 2 response, where it said that:
    1. It had upheld the resident’s complaint and that the £49 energy voucher it has offered was a sufficient offer of compensation.
    2. It was unable to investigate complaints that had been previously investigated but offered to contact environmental health on the resident’s behalf to ask them to conduct an independent investigation.
  16. On 15 March 2023, the resident informed the Ombudsman that she remained dissatisfied with the level of compensation that the landlord had offered as it did not reflect the amount of time she was without heating or hot water.
  17. Following the resident’s request for this Service to investigate her complaint, she continued to email the landlord regarding her dissatisfaction with the service it had been providing her. In April 2023, it is noted that the landlord arranged for an inspection to be carried out at the property to investigate ways in which it could improve the energy rating of her home.

Assessment and findings

The Ombudsman’s approach

  1. The Ombudsman’s role is to determine complaints by reference to what is fair in all the circumstances and decide if the landlord is responsible for maladministration or service failure.
  2. 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:
    1. be fair – treat people fairly and follow fair processes
    2. put things right, and
    3. learn from outcomes.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of noise from a neighbour’s ASHP.

  1. There are some complaints the Ombudsman is unable to investigate. These are set out in our scheme rules, called the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (‘the Scheme’). Specifically, paragraph 42(b) of the Scheme states:

“The Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion: (b) were brought to the Ombudsman’s attention normally more than 12 months after they exhausted the member’s complaints procedure”.

  1. In this case, the resident raised a number of complaints about the landlord. Specifically, these related to its handling of, amongst other things, the noise coming from a neighbour’s ASHP. The landlord responded to these issues at the final stage of its complaint procedure on 4 January 2022.
  2. The resident raised a new complaint with the landlord on 6 January 2023 about the handling of the hot water repair, and on 14 March 2023 asked the Ombudsman to investigate the final response, dated 10 March 2023.
  3. In line with the Scheme, the resident had until 5 January 2023 to refer the complaint set out above at 1(a). This is outside of the scope of this Service’s jurisdiction in accordance with paragraphs 42(b) of the Scheme as while the resident contacted this Service on 25 December 2022, she did not ask the Ombudsman to investigate this final decision. Therefore, any subsequent request to investigate this aspect of the complaint was referred to us too late and will not form part of this investigation.

The landlord’s handling of a report that the property had no hot water and the level of compensation offered.

  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’.
  2. The resident’s tenancy agreement states that the landlord will keep all fixtures and fittings for water, gas and electricity in good repair and working order. It further states that it will carry our all reported repairs within a reasonable time period.
  3. The landlord’s webpage regarding repairs, confirms that if a resident has an emergency it is important that they call immediately to report the problem, which can be done 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It confirms that emergency repairs will be dealt within 4 to 12 hours and may include:
    1. heating, ventilation and plumbing
    2. loss of heating, hot water or mains water supply.
  4. The Ombudsman would reasonably expect that on receiving reports of any repairs, the landlord should respond, arrange an inspection, and if necessary, carry out remedial repairs within a reasonable timescale. While the resident raised a number of issues about her property in her numerous emails to the landlord, it was appropriate, given the content of the resident’s complaint, for the landlord to make it clear that the complaint investigation would focus on the landlord’s handling of the report of no hot water.
  5. After reviewing the information provided, the resident informed the landlord that she had no hot water via an email to her housing officer at 19.32pm on Friday 6 January 2023. As this was outside of normal working hours, the landlord did not acknowledge the email until Monday 9 January 2023 at 9.14am, where it confirmed that it would raise a repair. There is no indication that the resident had reported the issue to the landlord’s out of hours service, and therefore the resident was without hot water over the weekend period.
  6. As part of the landlord’s stage 1 and 2 response, it acknowledged that the repair was raised incorrectly, which resulted in the wrong priority code being used. In line with the landlord’s repair policy, the repair should have been classed as an emergency and a visit should have been completed within 12 hours of it being informed, in this case by 9.14pm on 9 January 2023. As a result of the landlord’s actions, the repair was not completed until 19 January 2023, which was 11 days after the landlord was first aware of the issue.
  7. In order to try to ‘put things right’ for the resident, the landlord explained that the housing officer did not normally raise repairs and had made a mistake and recommended that the resident contacts the call centre for future repairs. It also apologised for its failings within the stage 1 response. Following the resident’s request for compensation, it also offered a £49 voucher to help towards her heating costs.
  8. The resident said that she would accept the £49 voucher but felt that she was entitled to more compensation as she had been without hot water through the coldest months of the year. In the landlord’s final response, it confirmed that it had appropriately acknowledged its failings and that the amount offered was a sufficient offer.
  9. In order to determine whether the amount offered by the landlord was reasonable, the Ombudsman must first determine the period of time in which the resident was without hot water. The resident said she informed the landlord on multiple occasions that she had been without hot water for a number of months, and therefore this Service asked the landlord to provide its repair records from September 2022 until the first record on 6 January 2023, which may show any repairs where the resident may have been without hot water. The landlord said that it did not have any reports from the resident that it had no hot water prior to 6 January 2023.
  10. Whilst this Service acknowledges that the landlord made an attempt to try and put things right for the resident by offering compensation, the Ombudsman does not feel that the amount reflects the detriment the resident experienced. The landlord has failed to provide the Ombudsman with a its compensation policy, and its complaint response did not outline how it determined the level of redress offered.
  11. The Ombudsman’s guidance for remedies suggests that where there has been service failure which the landlord has acknowledged and made some attempt to put things right but failed to fully address the detriment to the resident, payments of above £100 are recommended.
  12. The Ombudsman has determined that the resident was without hot water for a total of 11 days as a result of the landlord’s failure to raise the repair as an emergency. The time of the year would have made it increasingly uncomfortable for the resident to carry out everyday tasks without hot water and furthermore the landlord was aware of the resident’s vulnerabilities, and that at the time, had also suffered a bereavement of a close family member.
  13. Furthermore, when the resident emailed the landlord to express her dissatisfaction about the lack of hot water on 10 and 17 January 2023, it failed to identify that repair should have been raised as an emergency and therefore missed 2 opportunities to put things right for the resident sooner, which further exacerbated the distress the resident was experiencing.
  14. In light of the above, it is ordered that the landlord pay the £275 compensation in recognition of the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s handling of the property having no hot water.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 42(b) of the Scheme the complaint about landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of noise from a neighbours Air Source Heat Pump (ASHP) is outside of jurisdiction. This is because this complaint was referred to the Ombudsman more than 12 months after the landlord’s final response.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in respect of the landlord’s handling of a report that the property had no hot water and level of compensation offered.

Orders

  1. The Ombudsman orders that the landlord pay the resident a total of £275 compensation with 28 days of the date of this report. This does not include the £49 voucher which has already been offered.

Recommendations

  1. It is recommended that the landlord works with the resident to inform her of how to report any future emergency repairs.
  2. It is recommended that the landlord produces a compensation policy in order to assist with future complaints.
  3. It is recommended that the landlord contact the resident and agree a suitable time to carry out a full inspection of the property, identify any repairs/remedial works and if necessary, agree a schedule of works and timescales for work to be completed.