Your Housing Limited (202317744)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202317744

Your Housing Limited

22 August 2024

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:
   1. The level of the service charge and the quality of the communal services paid for through the service charge.
   2. The landlord’s handling of reports of leaks causing a lack of heating and hot water and the associated repairs.
   3. The landlord’s handling of the related complaint.

Background

2. The resident is an assured tenant of a ground floor flat in a sheltered housing scheme. The tenancy commenced in March 2010. All 60 flats at the scheme are served by on-site communal boilers.
3. The landlord told us it has no known vulnerabilities recorded for the resident.
4. On 25 January 2023, the landlord attended to reports of leaks across the scheme. Later that day the landlord wrote to all residents explaining that it was trying to establish the cause of the leaks and it acknowledged they had affected the supply of heating and hot water in all flats. It told residents it had arranged for portable heaters to be delivered and said it would write again the following day to provide an update.
5. The landlord provided updates on 26 January 2023 and on 27 January 2023 when it said it had identified the cause and a solution, and it was now finalising a plan to implement the necessary repairs. It said:
   1. It had arranged a resident’s meeting for 2 February 2023 when it would provide details of the repairs and answer any questions.
   2. It had arranged for a supply of portable oil filled radiators to be delivered early next week, these were more cost effective and efficient and would heat rooms more effectively.
   3. It would provide financial compensation to support the increased costs of electricity to run the portable heaters.
   4. It provided contact details in case residents had any concerns, queries or needed support.
6. The resident wrote a complaint letter to the landlord (dated 2 February 2023) about the lack of any heating and hot water since the boiler stopped working on 25 January 2023. In her letter, the resident said no one from the landlord had been at the scheme since 27 January 2023.
7. The landlord provided an update to all residents on 9 February 2023 informing them that additional oil filled radiators were available if needed. It reiterated that it would provide financial compensation to support with the costs of running these. The landlord asked that residents provided copies of previous utility bills which include the period from January 2022 to April 2022.
8. In its update, the landlord also supplied information regarding the contractors it had appointed to undertake the work needed to resolve water leaks, which it explained had to be notified to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). The landlord said it hoped to have the project approved “this week”.
9. On 10 February 2023, the landlord logged the resident’s complaint at stage 1 of its complaints process and told her it would be in touch “shortly”.
10. The landlord provided an update to all residents on 16 February 2023. This stated that it anticipated the full programme of works would take 4 to 6 weeks but said it would keep residents updated. The landlord explained a contractor would be on site from 20 February 2023 to prepare for the replacement of pipework.
11. On 17 February 2023, the landlord provided a stage 1 complaint response. This stated that her complaint related to the delay restoring heating and hot water following a burst pipe which had caused the communal boiler to break down.
12. The landlord said it had investigated the complaint and found:
    1. On 9 February 2023, all residents received a letter detailing the repairs which explained that due to the nature of the work, it had appointed various contactors and a heating consultant.
    2. The required work needed to be notified to the HSE. Also, all health and safety documents and the design of the new installation and work needed to be approved prior to the work starting.
    3. The first design meeting was held on site on 7 February 2023, and it aimed for the project to be approved that week. Its surveyors would attend the site next week to plan the schedule of work.
    4. Its contractor would also be on site next week (for up to 10 days) to remove tiles in the hall cupboards in all first and second floor flats. Residents in these flats had received a letter advising them of this.
    5. It was working on proposals to install additional bathroom heaters. It would provide an update as soon as approval from the HSE had been obtained.
    6. Overall, it anticipated the full programme of works would take 4 to 6 weeks, in the meantime, weekly updates would be provided.
13. The landlord said the following support was available:
    1. It was important to stay warm in the current weather. Additional oil filled radiators had been delivered to the estate, but additional heaters were available if needed.
    2. It would provide financial compensation to support with the costs of these heaters.
    3. Additional officers were on the estate to provide support and it arranged for all residents to receive weekly welfare calls from one of its team.
14. The landlord stated that it was very sorry for the inconvenience the resident had experienced and thanked her for her patience and understanding. It also said it had taken steps to ensure that it learnt from this to improve its services in the future.
15. On 14 March 2023, the landlord received a letter from residents’ MP regarding the ongoing lack of heating and hot water and asking for details about promised compensation. The landlord subsequently confirmed it would pay residents £20 per day (£960 for the loss of heating/hot water from 26 January 2023 until 14 March 2023).
16. On 16 March 2023, the resident emailed the landlord regarding its compensation offer of £20 per day. The resident was unhappy with its offer as she said her heating cost was £20 per day which left no compensation for inconvenience. She requested that the figure was debated with residents and said as a gesture, the landlord ought to cancel all heating and hot water costs. The resident also said she suspected that the replacement works would continue into June or July 2023.
17. On 28 March 2023, the landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint and told her it had been passed to the relevant team who would review it and contact her to resolve this by 27 April 2023 in line with its complaints procedure.
18. The landlord provided written updates to all residents on 6, 12, 20 and 27 April 2023 regarding the progress of the works.
19. On 4 May 2023, the landlord provided a stage 2 response. This stated it understood the resident’s reason for escalating was because:
    1. The heating replacement was taking too long, and she was concerned works on the estate would continue into June or July 2023.
    2. The resident was unhappy with costs and compensation offered.
20. The landlord said it understood that to resolve her complaint, the resident was seeking for her complaint to be left open until all the work was completed and for the compensation figure to be paid to be “debated with all residents”.
21. The landlord stated that it understood heating in her home was completed on 5 and 6 of April 2023 and it hoped this was now working satisfactorily. It also stated:
    1. It did not believe that works to other flats, would continue into late June or July 2023. It said works were on course to complete as expected.
    2. Making good work (for example boxing in pipework) may take longer as it wanted to “get this right”.
    3. Payments for the extra heating had been made to all residents. This equated to £20 per day. It said it understood that the resident had received this payment (£960) however she should inform it if she had not.
    4. Weekly updates and meetings would continue to take place.
22. The landlord provided a further apology for the inconvenience the resident had experienced, and thanked her for her “patience and understanding”. It reiterated that it had taken steps to ensure that it learnt from this to improve its services in the future.

Post the landlord’s final response

23. The landlord completed “boxing in” works within the resident’s flat in September 2023.
24. The resident told us on 7 August 2024 that the landlord also paid her compensation for the timeframe she was without heating from 15 March 2023 the 6 April 2023.

Assessment and findings

Outside of Jurisdiction

25. Paragraph 42(a) of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman will not consider complaints that are made prior to having exhausted the landlord’s complaints process. On 6 April 2023, the landlord provided a stage 1 complaint response in relation to the resident’s concerns raised regarding the quality of communal services paid for through the service charge including cleaning and grounds maintenance. However, there is no evidence to indicate this complaint exhausted the landlord’s complaint process. Therefore, in accordance with paragraph 42(a), this Service is unable to consider this complaint. The resident has been made aware of this and confirmed to us on 19 October 2023 that she would bring this complaint separately after receiving the final response from the landlord.
26. Paragraph 42(d) of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman will not consider complaints that concern the level of rent or service charge or the amount of the rent or service charge increase. Furthermore paragraph 42(f) of the Scheme states that the Ombudsman will not investigate complaints concerning matters where we consider it quicker, fairer, more reasonable or more effective to seek a remedy through the courts, other tribunal or procedure. Therefore, in accordance with these paragraphs, this Service is unable to consider the resident’s complaint to the landlord regarding the level of the service charge, service charge increases or her liability to pay the service charge. These types of complaints fall within the jurisdiction of the First-Tier Tribunal (FTT) so the resident may need to consider making a claim via the FTT.

Handling of reports of leaks causing a lack of heating and hot water system and associated repairs.

27. The landlord is responsible under the tenancy agreement to keep in good repair and working order heating and hot water installations. Its repair policy explained timescales for repairs including for those categorised as an emergency (24 hours or 4 hours for vulnerable customers).
28. When the landlord received reports of water leaks across the scheme on 25 January 2023, it attended on the same day as per the timescale in its policy. Although it identified that the source of the leaks was from pipework to the communal boiler, it was unable to resolve the issue as it found there were multiple weaknesses throughout the pipework at the scheme. This meant all 60 flats across the scheme were without heating and only had a partial hot water (as most of the flats had an electrical shower).
29. The landlord wrote to residents later that day informing them of the situation and explaining that its contractors would return the following day to continue in their attempts to restore the heating and hot water. The landlord’s prompt attendance and communication with residents was appropriate.
30. However, despite ongoing efforts to resolve the issue, by 27 January 2023, it had identified that a full pipe replacement was required throughout the whole scheme. This included replacing pipework within the communal areas and all 60 individual flats. It is recognised that major works such as these would cause significant disruption for residents, however the landlord had an obligation under the tenancy agreement to take action in order to restore heating and hot water. Therefore, its prompt decision to undertake the pipework replacement was appropriate in the circumstances.
31. In her complaint raised 8 days after the leak reports, the resident stated that she was concerned about the lack of heating and (partial) hot water and about the landlord not having been present at the scheme since 27 January 2023.
32. While major unplanned works such as these can take time to plan and deliver, given the time of year, the lack of any working heating system within the home was a potential health and safety risk to all residents, especially older residents (the scheme was for residents who were 55 years and over). As such, the Ombudsman would expect the landlord to quickly put in place support and services until heating and hot water was fully restored, considering personal circumstances of individual residents, as per its repair policy.
33. Although it is evident the landlord supplied some temporary heaters within a few days of the heating system failing, the resident told us that she was without heating for nearly 1 week as there were no heaters left when she initially went to collect some from the communal area (on site).
34. While the landlord’s repair policy requires it to provide temporary heaters in the event of a loss of heating/hot water, it does not give a timescale. It is recognised that procuring heaters for 60 homes at short notice would have been more of a challenge for the landlord than providing heaters for a single property. However, its failure to take adequate steps to reduce the impact of the situation on the resident meant she had no heating for 7 days which was unreasonable. Fortunately, the resident told us she managed to keep warm by using hot water bottles. Nonetheless, on balance the time taken to provide temporary heaters to the resident was longer than could reasonably be expected indicating a delay on the part of the landlord. While temporary hot water facilities were also offered, the resident opted not to have these installed.
35. It is noted that the landlord’s repair policy does not include any timescales for (unplanned) major works that it found were required on 27 January 2023. However, it is evident that over the next 2 weeks, the landlord took steps to appoint various specialists and consultants to design, plan and deliver the replacement pipework. Therefore, while the landlord may not have been as visible at the scheme after 27 January 2023 as suggested by the resident, this Service is satisfied it has demonstrated that it was working at an appropriate pace to progress and resolve the issue during this timeframe.
36. In its update to residents on 16 February 2023, the landlord stated that the replacement works would start on 20 February 2023 and that it anticipated the full programme of works (to all 3 blocks) would take 4 to 6 weeks to complete. The landlord’s records show the work to replace the pipework started on 20 February 2023 and that by 16 March 2023, works to the first block (22 flats) had been completed. Works to the resident’s block (9 flats) began on 23 March 2023 and the heating and hot water was fully restored to the resident’s flat on 6 April 2023 after which the landlord completed works on the final block at the scheme.
37. Therefore, while it is acknowledged that the lack of heating and works to replace the faulty pipework caused significant distress and inconvenience to the resident, bearing in mind the scale of the works required to address the issue, the overall length of time taken to restore full heating and hot water was reasonable in the circumstances.
38. In its final complaint response, the landlord acknowledged that making good works such as boxing in may take “a little longer”. However, it did not provide any timescale which would have been appropriate to manage the resident’s expectations about when this work would be completed. While this investigation is unable to consider the events after the landlord’s complaint final response, we would expect the landlord to demonstrate it followed through with promises made during its complaints process. The landlord did not complete boxing in works at the resident’s flat until around 5 months later in September 2023. The extended timeframe taken to complete this work was unreasonable. The resident also told us that boxing in works caused damage to the internal decoration to her flat as such an order has been included below for the landlord to contact the resident to arrange to make good any such damage.
39. In terms of its communication with residents, following its initial update on 25 January 2023, the landlord provided further written updates to all residents on 26 and 27 January 2023. This had informed residents of the outcome of its investigations and explained that repairs would be required to restore the heating. The landlord also held a residents’ meeting at the scheme on 2 February 2023 to provide them with further details of the works being undertaken. By providing updates and arranging a meeting with residents within the first few days of finding the issues with the pipework, the landlord’s communication was reasonable.
40. The landlord provided further updates on 9 and 16 February 2023 and in its stage 1 response to the resident dated 17 February 2023, it reiterated details regarding at what stage the works were at and explained what these involved. Within this response, the landlord also said weekly updates would be provided going forward and set out support that was available to residents including a weekly “welfare call”. As well as written updates throughout the 2-to-3-month timeframe the works were being delivered, the landlord held regular onsite “drop-in” sessions and told residents the communal lounge at the scheme was fully heated and available for residents to use. During this timeframe, the landlord also responded to communications it received from the local MP regarding the progress of works and the services put in place to support residents. During a resident’s meeting on 16 April 2023, the landlord also agreed an action plan with the MP and residents indicating a willingness by the landlord to work with and support residents.
41. Therefore, as the landlord provided different channels through which residents were able to communicate with it regarding the progress of the works and available support (and vice-versa), the landlord acted reasonably in this regard.
42. At an early stage the landlord committed to providing financial support for the additional electricity that would be used to run the heaters supplied to residents. This was in line with its repair policy however, the landlord did not confirm any details of the compensation it intended to pay residents for another 6 or 7 weeks. The landlord only did so after the resident’s MP chased it asking for further details regarding this commitment. The delay by the landlord in providing clarity around the compensation figure it intended to pay was inappropriate and would have caused additional distress and inconvenience.
43. In summary, the landlord promptly investigated the leaks reported in the communal area and appropriately committed to replace pipework throughout the scheme when it was unable to resolve the issue. It then scoped and began delivering works around 4 weeks later with full heating and hot water restored to the resident’s flat approximately 10 weeks later. Bearing in mind these were major unplanned works, the length of time taken to complete them was reasonable. Its communication with residents during the timeframe investigated was sufficient. However, there was some delay by the landlord in providing temporary heaters to the resident and in confirming details of compensation to be paid to cover the additional cost of running heaters, which it promised at the outset. The landlord also failed to complete works to box in pipework at her property within a reasonable timeframe.
44. The landlord initially paid the resident £960 in compensation based on £20 per day from 26 January 2023 to 14 March 2023, it then made a second compensation payment to cover the timeframe up to 6 April 2023 when the resident’s heating and hot water was fully restored (at the same rate). In her escalation request the resident said while this figure covered the additional cost of electricity, it did not include an amount for stress and inconvenience. The landlord’s compensation policy states it will pay residents £5 per day for (full) loss of amenities including heating and/or hot water and £2.50 for a partial loss plus £2.00 per day for proven additional electricity used. Therefore, this indicates the landlord was required to pay the resident up to £9.50 per day for the loss of heating and hot water (partial) as well as the cost of additional electricity used. As such, the amount provided exceeded amounts stated in its policy. Having reviewed the evidence, including the landlord’s calculations of the compensation awarded to residents, this Service is satisfied that the amount provided by the landlord included a reasonable amount for stress and inconvenience caused by the loss in heating and hot water.
45. However, as this investigation found additional failings that the landlord did not acknowledge or provide redress for during the complaints process, on balance the amount of compensation failed to put right all the failings found. This is indicative of maladministration by the landlord. In the circumstances, an order has been included below for the landlord to pay additional compensation of £350 for distress, inconvenience, time and trouble caused to the resident. This amount together with the compensation already provided is proportionate to the failings found and falls within the range recommended for maladministration in the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance.

Complaint handling

46. The landlord operated a 2-stage process whereby it will acknowledge a complaint within 5 days and provide a stage 1 response within 10 working days. Its policy states that at stage 2, the landlord will provide a stage 2 response within 20 working days of escalation.
47. The resident raised her stage 2 complaint by email on 16 March 2023 and the landlord provided its stage 2 review response on 4 May 2023. This was 33 working days later indicating the landlord did not provide its response within the timescale stated in its policy.
48. The landlord had told the resident it would resolve her complaint by 27 April 2023 indicating it also missed this deadline it gave and there is no evidence of it informing the resident of the delay. This is evidence of the landlord not doing what it said it would do. The landlord failed to acknowledge or offer redress for this delay in its stage 2 response. This is evidence of service failure by the landlord while handling the resident’s related complaint.

Determination (Decision)

49. In accordance with paragraphs 42(d) and (f) of the Scheme, the complaints about the level of the service charge and the quality of the services paid for through the service charge are outside of our jurisdiction to consider.
50. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord when handling reports of leaks causing a lack of heating and hot water and the associated repairs.
51. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord when handling the related complaint.

Orders

52. The Ombudsman orders that the landlord within 4 weeks:
    1. Provides a written apology to the resident for the failings identified in this investigation.
    2. Pays total additional compensation of £400 made up of:
       1. £350 for distress, inconvenience, time and trouble for failings while handling reports of leaks causing a lack of heating and hot water and the associated repairs.
       2. £50 for distress, inconvenience, time and trouble for failings while handling the related complaint.
    3. Contacts the resident regarding making good any damage caused to her internal decoration because of works to box in pipework.
    4. Provides evidence of compliance with the above orders to the Ombudsman.