City of Westminster Council (202405147)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202405147

Westminster City Council

27 May 2025

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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of issues with the resident’s heating and hot water.
We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling and record keeping.

Background

The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. She lives in a 2-bed flat with her partner and children.
The property is within a block of similar flats and was a new build when the tenancy began in August 2023. The properties in the block receive heating from a communal air source heat pump.
At the time of the events of this investigation the resident was pregnant with her second child. She also has mobility issues and has mental health issues which the landlord is aware of.
The resident first reported issues with her heating and hot water in December 2023. She said the radiators were not heating up and that the hot water only lasted for up to 20 minutes before going cold.
On 22 January 2024 the resident complained to the landlord (Complaint 1). She said she had been reporting problems with her heating and hot water for over a month but it had not resolved the issue. She said she was struggling financially as she had to have the heating on full all the time and the radiators were not heating the property.
The landlord provided its stage 1 response to Complaint 1 on 1 February 2024. It upheld the complaint and acknowledged it had not carried out “proper checks” to resolve the issue until its last visit. The landlord agreed it should have provided “better communication” and the resident should not have had to keep calling to chase up a resolution. The landlord also offered £425 compensation.
The resident asked the landlord to escalate Complaint 1 on 16 February 2024. She said it had not resolved the heating and hot water issue and she was having to go elsewhere to shower. She said the compensation was insufficient considering her disability, and because she was pregnant and had a young child.
The landlord provided its stage 2 response to Complaint 1 on 9 April 2024. It said:
1. The property was still in its defect period. Therefore, the developer was responsible for carrying out any works. It had assigned a single point of contact (SPOC) to liaise between her and developer.
2. The developer had identified a possible issue with the heating system and had ordered replacement parts. The developer had explained that 20% of her energy bills was for an outstanding debt. The increased bills were not due to the ongoing heating and hot water issues.
3. Its compensation had reflected the impact the issues had had on the resident and her family. This included her disability and pregnancy. However, given the heating and hot water issues were ongoing, it offered a further £175 compensation.
On 7 September 2024 the resident made a further complaint (Complaint 2). She said she continued to experience issues with her hot water. She also raised other issues which are not part of our investigation.
The landlord provided its stage 1 response to Complaint 2 on 18 October 2024. It did not refer to the resident’s hot water issues. It did however explain that the developer had gone into administration. It said at that time it had closed all outstanding repairs and that the resident would need to raise any ongoing issues again.
On 27 October 2024 the resident asked the landlord to escalate Complaint 2 as it had not responded to her concerns about the hot water.
The landlord provided its stage 2 response to Complaint 2 on 12 December 2024. It said:
1. The communal heating centre had flooded due to a drainage issue. This caused a heating and hot water outage to the building. There was a delay in it reinstating the heating and hot water as it had to clean the area first.
2. It had restored service but received reports that the heating and hot water was intermittent. It returned on 16 October 2024 and found issues with the pressure. The resident confirmed the issues were resolved on 16 October 2024.
3. It upheld her complaint due to lack of communication and because it did not provide temporary heating.
4. It apologised and acknowledged the increased impact of the issue due to the family’s vulnerabilities. It offered £665 compensation in relation to its handling of the heating and hot water issues and £25 for complaint handling delays.
After the landlord’s final response to complaint 2, the resident made a further complaint about the heating and hot water issues at the property. While the matters relating to that complaint have not formed part of this investigation, it is important to note the landlord’s response for context. It acknowledged it had not resolved the issues until 2 April 2025 and offered a further £1,820 compensation for its ongoing failings.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

The resident has raised several separate complaints with the landlord. Along with her complaints about the heating and hot water she has also complained about other repairs including to the living room flooring, lighting, and kitchen worktop.
When the resident initially brought her complaint to us, she had not yet complained to the landlord about these issues. As such, we did not request information on these issues from the landlord and have not considered these matters. The Ombudsman will consider these issues in a separate investigation.
The resident made a third complaint to the landlord about the heating and hot water in February 2025. We have not considered this complaint as this has not completed the landlord’s internal complaint process.
If the resident is dissatisfied with the landlord’s stage 1 response to Complaint 3, she can escalate this through the landlord’s complaint process.

Record keeping

It is an obligation of membership of the Scheme for landlords to provide copies of any information requested by the Ombudsman that is, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, relevant to the complaint. In this case we asked the landlord to provide all information relating to the resident’s reports of issues with the heating and hot water.
The landlord has provided extremely scant information in relation to the heating and hot water repairs. Its repair logs only show 2 reports of issues with the heating and hot water. These relate to reports in June 2024 and October 2024.
The landlord’s internal emails and complaint responses demonstrate that the resident was regularly reporting issues with the heating and hot water. These are not reflected in the other evidence provided by the landlord for the purposes of this investigation.
It is unclear whether the landlord failed to obtain records from the developer, failed to keep accurate records itself, or failed to provide the relevant records to the Ombudsman. Regardless, this indicates serious record keeping issues.
Furthermore, the landlord’s failure to provide the required information in this case has impeded our investigation into its handling of the substantive issues of complaint. We therefore find maladministration in the landlord’s record keeping.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of issues with her heating and hot water.

The evidence shows that the resident first reported issues with the heating and hot water in December 2023. She reported that the hot water only lasted for “a few seconds” and no longer than 20 minutes. She also described the flat as “really cold” due to issues with the heating.
While these reports are referred to in email communications between the landlord and developer, we have found no record of the reports within the landlord’s logs. While we understand that the landlord may not have raised a repair as the developer was responsible for the work, it should still have kept thorough records of all reports and actions taken. This indicates gaps in its record keeping.
The landlord emailed the resident towards the end of December 2023. It said the developer had advised that the hot water issue was likely due to demand for hot water within the block at busy periods. It also said that “most showers are not taken for periods of 20 minutes”.
We do not consider that it was reasonable that the landlord accepted this explanation as definitive. The landlord is obliged under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (LTA 1985) to keep installations for heating and hot water in repair and proper working order. It follows therefore that the systems in place should be sufficient to provide enough hot water for everyone in the building.
Following the resident’s first complaint, the evidence shows the landlord asked the developer to investigate the issue. As the property was a new build and in the defect period this was reasonable as the developer was responsible for any issues. We would however expect the landlord to actively monitor the developer’s progress and ensure it resolved the issues. That we have not seen evidence that it did so is a failing.
Within its stage 1 response to Complaint 1 the landlord acknowledged there had been failings in its handling of the issue. It stated that there had been several visits but that it had not carried out the “proper checks” until its last visit. We have seen no evidence of any visits in this period. This is due to gaps in the landlord’s records. We are therefore unable to ascertain what “proper checks” it carried out on its last visit, when the visit took place, and what repairs it carried out. That there is no evidence of any inspections or repairs is inappropriate.
The landlord noted within its stage 1 response that the resident had had to “keep calling…to chase this up”. Again, due to poor record keeping we have seen no evidence of how often the resident was having to call to chase for a resolution. However, that she had to invest unnecessary time and trouble due to poor communication by the landlord was unreasonable.
The resident continued to report issues with the heating and hot water between February and March 2024. On 25 March 2024 an inspection report stated that, as the resident was only experiencing issues after 6pm, this was likely due to it being “peak time and more residents using the hot water”. It said this was likely resulting in a “lack of flow” and that further investigation was needed.
The inspection report also stated that it had found the radiator valves in the property were turned to full. It said this would “cause kilowatt usage resulting in high energy consumption”.
The landlord’s response to Complaint 1 advised that the resident’s high energy bills were due to a previous debt, not higher consumption. However, it did not explain that the inspection had found her radiator valves were turned to full which would cause higher consumption. Given the resident’s concerns, it should have explained this. If the resident adjusted the valves due to issues getting the radiators to heat up, any resulting higher consumption may reasonably be a result of the heating issues she had reported.
The landlord’s response indicates that it accepted the developer’s explanation that there was no higher energy consumption without inspecting the resident’s bills itself. This was a missed opportunity. We have ordered the landlord, on production of suitable evidence from the resident, to consider whether her bills were higher due to higher consumption. If they were, the landlord should consider whether it can offer the resident any reimbursement.
In its response to Complaint 1 the landlord acknowledged that the issue was ongoing. It stated however that as the property was in the defect period, any works were the responsibility of the developer. It explained that it had therefore assigned a SPOC to liaise between her and the developer. This was a reasonable response. We would however have expected the landlord to satisfy itself that the developer was acting to resolve the issue. We have not seen satisfactory evidence that it did so.
In April 2024 the developer went into administration. We acknowledge that this was outside the control of the landlord. However, it has acknowledged that when this happened it did not raise the repair issues with its new contractor. This was a failing on behalf of the landlord.
In May 2024 the landlord carried out adjustments to the heating and hot water system in the resident’s property. The operative reported that they suspected there was an issue with a pressure valve. It is not clear from the evidence whether any work was carried out after this visit and if so, when. We cannot therefore assess whether the landlord’s actions in response to the inspection were reasonable. This is further evidence of record keeping issues.
In June 2024 the landlord attended and logged a snagging issue with the heating and hot water. It closed this on 1 October 2024 noting that as the hot water was communal this was a “building issue” rather than an issue in the resident’s property. Whether the issue was within the resident’s property or in the communal heating centre, the landlord was responsible for resolving it. We have not seen evidence that it carried out any further investigations or work following this inspection. This was inappropriate.
The resident continued to report issues with the hot water in September 2024. It is not clear from the records that the landlord took any action at this time.
On 4 October 2024 the basement car park of the building where the communal heating centre was located flooded with sewage due to a drainage issue. This caused a heating and hot water outage throughout the building.
The landlord has acknowledged within its complaint response that there were delays while it cleaned the sewage from the area. We accept that the landlord had to ensure the area was safe for its operatives to work in before it could address the heating and hot water issue. However, due to the scant records provided, it is not clear when it reinstated the heating and hot water. We therefore cannot determine that the landlord acted promptly and reasonably.
The landlord has also acknowledged that residents in the building continued to report that the heating and hot water was “intermittent” after its initial repairs. It therefore carried out further repairs on 16 October 2024. It is not clear from the records provided what action the landlord took to resolve this. This is a further records keeping failure.
The repair logs show that the resident requested temporary heating on 13 October 2024 and that she stated she had young children. While the log shows this was ‘completed’ on 13 October 2024, the landlord’s complaint response indicates that it did not provide temporary heaters. The reason for the discrepancy between the landlord’s logs and what it said within its complaint response is unclear.
The landlord’s repairs policy does not specify that it will provide heaters where there is a loss of heating. However, under Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, it must keep the heating and hot water system in repair and proper working order. It is also good practice for a landlord to provide an alternate source of heating in the event of a repair affecting the heating and/or hot water system. Therefore follows that it should have provided temporary heating when it was unable to repair the issue promptly. That it failed to do so was inappropriate. The impact of this failure was exacerbated as there were young children in the household.
After the landlord’s final complaint response the resident continued to report issues with her heating and hot water. The evidence suggests the issue was resolved in April 2025. However, the landlord has stated that “the ongoing repair and maintenance of the communal heating and hot water systems was not managed efficiently”. We have ordered it to carry out a review of this issue and report back to the Ombudsman on how it intends to resolve it.
Between December 2023 and April 2025 the resident has experienced extended periods with intermittent heating and hot water. For shorter periods she had had no heating or hot water at all. The landlord failed to resolve the issue until 4 months after its final response to Complaint 2 after the resident had had to make a further complaint.
The landlord has acknowledged within its complaint responses that there have been failings in its handling of the issue. In recognition of this it has offered the resident:
1. £600 compensation in response to Complaint 1.
2. £665 (specifically in relation to the heating and hot water issue) in response to Complaint 2.
3. A further £1,600 (specifically in relation to the heating and hot water issue) in April 2025 following the resident’s third complaint.
The landlord has offered the resident a significant amount of compensation in relation to its failings in this case. The amount offered is broadly in accordance with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance. We have therefore not awarded any further compensation in relation to its handling of the heating and hot water issues.
We appreciate that the resident is not satisfied with the landlord’s offers of compensation and does not feel they are proportionate to the detriment she and her family have experienced. It is important to note that the Ombudsman does not award damages as a court would or make punitive awards. The compensation we order is to address the distress and inconvenience the resident has suffered due to the landlord’s failings.
Overall, the landlord delayed for over a year in addressing the resident’s reports of intermittent issues with her heating and hot water. While the landlord has acknowledged its failings and offered substantial compensation, it failed to resolve the issue until 4 months after its final response to Complaint 2. It also failed to provide the family with temporary heating. We therefore find maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the issue.

The landlord’s complaint handling.

It took the landlord 36 working days to provide a response to the resident’s escalation request for Complaint 1. This was not in accordance with the timeframes outlined in the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) or its own policy. It did not request an extension or otherwise communicate the delay with the resident. While it apologised for this delay it provided no explanation for it and offered no compensation. We do not consider that this was reasonable. It should therefore pay the resident £20 compensation in accordance with its compensation policy for the time and trouble caused by this delay.
It took the landlord 29 working days to provide a stage 1 response to Complaint 2. This was not in accordance with the timeframes in the Code or its own policy. Again it did not request an extension or communicate the delay with the resident. The landlord apologised and offered the resident £20 compensation for the delay. This was in line with its compensation policy.
The Code states that landlords must address all points raised in the complaint. However, in its stage 1 response to Complaint 2 the landlord failed to address her concerns about her heating and hot water. This was a further failing as the landlord only considered her concerns about this issue once at stage 2. As a result she did not benefit from a 2-stage process and right to review.
Had the landlord reviewed its decision in relation to these concerns, the resident may not have felt the need to make a third complaint. We have therefore ordered that the landlord should pay a further £50 in relation to time and trouble.
Overall, there were delays in the landlord’s handling of Complaint 1 and Complaint 2. The landlord also failed during its handling of Complaint 2 to consider the issues raised at stage 1. This denied the resident her right to review. Therefore, there was maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was:
1. Maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of issues with her heating and hot water.
2. Maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.
3. Maladministration in the landlord’s record keeping.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

Within 4 weeks of the date of this report the landlord must:
1. Apologise to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
2. Pay the resident £200 for time and trouble in relation to complaint handling failings.
3. On production of suitable evidence from the resident, consider whether her heating and hot water bills were high due to higher consumption caused by repair issues. The landlord should consider whether it can offer the resident any reimbursement.
Within 8 weeks of the date of this report the landlord must review the ongoing repair and maintenance of the communal heating and hot water systems. It should report back to the Ombudsman any issues identified and how and when it intends to resolve them.