Wandle Housing Association Limited (202100167)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202100167

Wandle Housing Association Limited

23 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 response to the resident’s reports of:

1. Communal lighting being connected to her electricity meter.
2. A delay in carrying out remedial work including installation of a new meter.   

Background and summary of events

2.     The resident is an assured tenant of a property owned and managed by the landlord. The property is a first floor three bedroom flat in a building containing two flats.

3.     The resident became aware of the electricity supply problem on 29 October 2020 after the landlord sent a letter saying that her neighbour had reported a lack of light in the communal hallway and advising that since the light was run from her meter she would be reimbursed at a rate of £10 per quarter upon receipt of her electricity bill as proof of payment.

4.     The resident had moved to the property in 1984 but had never received any reimbursement for the communal lighting running from her electricity meter.

5.     On 25 February 2021, following contact from the resident, this service contacted the landlord asking it to investigate the communal light charge at stage one of its complaints process.  

6.     The landlord sent a stage one complaint response on 4 March 2021. The response confirmed that the communal lighting was linked to the resident’s meter. This was due to the way the block had been converted. The landlord acknowledged that the resident was being charged for this lighting and so would receive reimbursement. The resident was asked to provide proof of payment with an electricity bill and bank statement. The landlord said they could check for any payments made for previous years on request by the resident and advised that payments were made a year behind. 

7.     On 7 April 2021, this service requested that the landlord also consider a similar request about a communal smoke alarm which the resident said was also running from her meter.

8.     On 20 April 2021, the landlord sent a stage two response to the resident. In this response, the landlord said:

1. The tenant should normally be reimbursed for the communal usage on a yearly basis.
2. It apologised for the failure to pay a reimbursement in the resident’s case.
3. It had been agreed to disconnect the lights in the communal area and the fire/smoke alarm from the resident’s personal electricity account.
4. Once a date for the necessary work was known, the landlord would advise the resident accordingly.
5. Calculations were made to backdate reimbursement for the communal light and the landlord agreed to pay £4,687.20 which it said was for use since 1987. This payment was based on the communal lighting being on for 15 hours a day.
6. Further payments for the same period were offered of £189 for the smoke alarm as well as an additional £1,000 for distress caused.
7. The total amount offered to the resident was £5,876.20 which included an extra year of payments in case of delay in the installation of the new meter. 

9.     On 1 June 2021, the landlord responded to a query from the resident about the fire and smoke alarms she was paying for. The landlord said it would check whether the resident was paying for the cost of any alarms not linked to her own property and consider reimbursement if needed.

10. On 28 July 2021, the landlord completed a complaint review but its position outlined above did not change and the landlord said it had already factored in possible delays in to its compensation payment.

11. In August 2021, the landlord carried out an inspection of the electricity and utilities and said everything was running safely and correctly.

12. Following further contact in August 2021, this service clarified the outstanding issues of the resident’s complaint to the landlord. The resident remained concerned about the cost of the smoke alarm in her kitchen, the resident said she had not received compensation for all fire alarms running from her meter in addition to the hallway light, and that no date had been given for the installation of the meter. On 24 August 2021, this service sent a letter to the landlord saying that the resident had agreed to take part in mediation to resolve the outstanding issues of her complaint.

13. On 9 September 2021, the landlord declined the mediation offer and explained it was ‘currently working on’ preparations for the meter to be installed. It said there was a six to eight week waiting time for the installation and was unable to provide a firm date at that stage.

14. On 4 October 2021, the landlord provided a final stage response. The letter explained that

1. A pre-site visit by the electricity provider would take place on 14 October 2021
2. Excavation at the site would take place by the electricity provider on 18 October 2021.
3. All new supply works were to be completed on 20 October 2021.
4. A new landlord meter would be installed following this and would be completed by April 2022 (which was when the compensation package provided for)
5. The landlord would not provide compensation or reimbursement for the smoke alarm in the resident’s flat because it was installed for legitimate safety reasons. The landlord said it could look at other alarm options if the resident still had concerns following installation of the new meter.

15. In October 2021, this service requested clarification from the landlord on whether it would consider additional compensation on the basis of 24–hour communal lighting over a 34-year period instead of 15 hours but the landlord did not provide clarification of this, only the amount that had already been paid.

16. The resident advised in June 2022 that the new meter had not yet been installed, and the landlord had not provided compensation for this.

Assessment and findings

Reimbursement to the resident

17. The resident’s tenancy agreement says that “The association (landlord) will keep in good repair and working order any installations provided by the association including…electric wiring including sockets and switches.”

18. The landlord also has an electrical policy which says that “As owners and managers of homes, (the landlord) has a duty of care to ensure that residents, staff and visitors can use our buildings and facilities safely. This extends to taking all reasonable steps to mitigate any risks associated with electrical installations and appliances.”

19. It is not in dispute that that the communal lighting system and fire alarm systems have been working correctly and safely over the period of the complaint. The resident has made no report of these being faulty. Similarly, the landlord has accepted that reimbursement is payable. The issue in dispute is rather the cost of these utilities and the amount of reimbursement received by the resident.

20. For the communal lighting, the landlord made the following calculations when considering the amount of reimbursement.  

“The electricity is charged in kWh hours, highest cost is 24p per 1 kWh, so 100W is 0.24kWh equalling 2.4p per hour per light.

2.4p per hour x 15 hours which you advise the light is on for = 36p per day

36p x 31 days = £11.16p

£11.16 x 12 months = £133.92

£133.92 x 34 years = £4,553.28

+ £133.92 additional payment for 2022 in case the work is delayed

Total = £4687.20”

21. This assumes that the communal light is on for 15 hours a day while the resident has said the electricity is on for 24 hours a day. In the letter sent on 29 October 2020, the landlord refers to a ‘push-button’ light and this implies that the light is not on constantly. No other evidence has been seen regarding the number of hours the light is on per day, but the calculation of 15 hours per day is not unreasonable and represents normal light usage for a residential block of this size.

22. The residents’ concerns about the communal electricity being on 24 hours a day rather than 15 are also mitigated by the way the landlord has calculated the reimbursement. The cost of electricity has not been constant and has increased significantly over the last 34 years. The method of calculation (in using current electricity costs backdated 34 years) therefore favours the resident. It is reasonable to conclude that the £4687.20 offered at least covers the resident’s actual incurred costs in paying for communal electricity during this period.       

23. The landlord has offered £189 as reimbursement for the communal smoke alarm using a similar calculation method. This is a reasonable method providing a suitable means of reimbursing the resident for the additional electricity charges she had paid since moving in to the property.

24. In addition, the £1,000 payment for distress and inconvenience caused to the resident is further evidence that the total compensation offered provided reasonable redress for the 34 year period when the resident was paying additional communal electricity charges.   

Smoke Alarm

25. The resident has complained about the cost of the smoke alarm in her own flat since this is a wired unit with extra cost relative to a simple battery operated smoke alarm. The landlord responded to these concerns appropriately in its final stage complaint response of 4 October 2021 when it said that the resident was expected to pay for the electricity used by the smoke alarm within her own flat.

26. The landlord’s electricity policy says that “as owners and managers of homes, (the landlord) has a duty of care to ensure that residents, staff and visitors can use our buildings and facilities safely. This extends to taking all reasonable steps to mitigate any risks associated with electrical installations and appliances.”

27. Under the Electrical Equipment (Safety) Regulations 1994, the principal statutory requirement on Landlords is to ensure that any appliances provided as part of a tenancy are safe when first supplied. Since safety is a legitimate and primary concern, it is not unreasonable for the landlord to maintain a wired smoke alarm in the resident’s flat. There is no evidence that the costs associated with this unit are highly onerous or causing significant financial detriment to the resident relative to a normal smoke alarm.

Timescale for Replacement Meter

28. The landlord was slow to provide the resident with an exact date for installation of the replacement electricity meters. This was a communication failure which the resident raised legitimate concerns about during August and September 2021.

29. The timescale was set out in the landlord’s response of 4 October 2021 which said that ‘all new supply works’ were due to be completed by 20 October and then the landlord would then be able to install a new meter. The landlord said that its compensation offer to the resident included an extra year’s payment which covered the period until April 2022 and the communal meter would be installed by that time, within six months.

30. There was also delay in carrying out the preparatory work since the landlord had been aware of the issue since 25 February 2021 when it was raised by this service. It therefore took the landlord approximately seven months to complete preparatory work needed for the upgrade to the electricity meters which was done at the end of October 2021.

31. The resident has advised that the new meter has not yet been installed despite the preparatory works being completed. The resident has also said that the landlord has not yet verified if she is paying for fire alarms of other residents in the block. An order about these issues has been made below.

32. While this does represent a delay in upgrading the electricity meter systems, no evidence has been seen that the resident has been without electricity during this time or significantly inconvenienced by the delay in upgrading the meters. Similarly, the absence of these new meters does not constitute a breach of the landlord’s repair obligations, since it is an upgrade rather than a lack of service over this time period. Also, the landlord cannot be held solely accountable for the delay since the remedial work needs to be co-ordinated with the electricity provider, a separate organisation. 

33. The landlord has acknowledged its failures and tried to put things right with a compensation payment. However, the landlord needs to ensure that the new meter is installed as promised in its final stage complaint response. The landlord should also verify if any other electrical devices are running from the resident’s meter. 

Determination (decision)

34. In accordance with paragraph 55b of the Housing Ombudsman scheme, the landlord has offered reasonable redress for the communal lighting being connected to her electricity meter.

35. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman scheme, there was service failure for delay in carrying out remedial work including installation of a new meter.

Reasons

36. The landlord failed to notify the resident communal utilities were running from her electricity meter and did not provide reimbursement for 34 years. The landlord calculated a suitable reimbursement for this which included an additional years payment as well as £1,000 for the distress caused to the resident. The total offer of £5876.20 provided reasonable redress for the inconvenience caused to the resident.

37. However, the landlord has not yet installed a new meter or provided the resident with clarity on which communal utilities she is paying for.

 Orders

38. It is ordered that the landlord pay the resident a further £100 in compensation for the delay in upgrading the electricity meters.

39. It is ordered that the landlord write to the resident within four weeks with an update on the timescale for the meter installation works and clarifying what services are running from her meter.

Recommendations

40. It is recommended that the landlord re-offer the resident the previous compensation award of £5876.20 if this has not yet been paid.