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Camden Council (202308263)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202308263

Camden Council

20 September 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 landlord’s handling of reports of no heating in the property.
    2. The associated complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is a leaseholder of a self-contained first floor flat in a block of flats.
  2. On 18 September 2022, the resident told the landlord that she did not have any heating in the property. After an appointment on 30 September 2022, she said she was unhappy with the service provided as it had failed to repair the radiators. This complaint was later withdrawn. It is unclear when this was withdrawn, and whether this was done by the landlord or the resident.
  3. The resident made a complaint to the landlord on 4 November 2022. She said that she remained without heating since mid-September 2022, despite repeatedly asking for it to complete the repairs. She asked it to resolve the heating issues at the property and investigate why it had failed to resolve the issue.
  4. The resident added to her complaint to the landlord on 9 November 2022. She said:
    1. She scheduled a repair appointment online for 19 September 2022, but it failed to attend. She said she lost income over the last 3 months by taking time off of work to allow access for appointments.
    2. It rebooked the appointment for 22 September 2022, where it turned off the heating following a pipe leak.
    3. It arranged follow-on works for the heating for 30 September 2022. It was unable to repair the heating on this date as it had failed to notify other residents within the block that it would have to shut down the heating of the entire block to complete the repair.
    4. The radiator pipe leaks continued to worsen and caused leaks into the communal area below. She contacted its emergency number but nobody returned her calls.
    5. On 12 October 2022, it attended the property but failed to fix the radiators in 2 rooms. It also damaged some tiles in the bathroom.
    6. It reattended to flush the radiators and re-pipe a section of pipe work. She asked it to box up the pipes as a goodwill gesture as it looked ‘hideous’ but it refused.
    7. She remained disappointed with the service provided, the lack of communication, and that she remained without heating for over 2 months.
  5. The landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response on 21 November 2022. It said:
    1. It partially upheld the complaint but could not find evidence of an outright service failure.
    2. It apologised for the delays in completing the various repairs. It said that delays occurred due to having to arrange a block shut down, ordering parts, and arranging multiple operatives to attend together.
    3. It arranged the repair for 12 October 2022 after it had notified the other residents within the block of the shutdown. It completed some repairs to the radiators. It reattended on 14 October 2022 and identified that it needed to flush the system. It attempted to do this on 18 October 2022 but was unsuccessful.
    4. It arranged an appointment for 17 November 2022 to re-pipe a section of pipework, which it completed the following day, as it was a 2-day job.
    5. It would make good the areas to the structure such as filling holes and making a permanent access panel into the riser. However, in line with its policy, it was not responsible for boxing in the pipework.
  6. Given her concerns with a few outstanding issues, it would liaise with its contractors to find a resolution.
  7. The resident escalated her complaint on 12 December 2022. The landlord has not provided a copy of the escalation request. It said that the reasons for her complaint escalation was because it missed an appointment on 19 September 2022, damage caused to her bathroom tiles, refusal to box in the piping, lack of communication, loss of income after taking days off work, and outstanding works to the property.
  8. The landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response on 25 April 2023. It said:
    1. It apologised for the inconvenience caused due to the works taking longer than anticipated to be completed. It also said it was sorry that the resident felt the pipework was unsightly. It said it completed the repairs on 18 November 2022.
    2. On 6 March 2023, it explained it had not damaged the bathroom tiles. It found after moving the radiator in the bathroom, it revealed broken tiles underneath. It agreed to cover the broken tiles with a panel as it could not match the tiles.
    3. It proposed works to complete agreed repairs but she refused these works. Its offer remained, if the resident wished it to do so.
    4. Further heating issues occurred in January 2023 which it resolved appropriately.
    5. It apologised for the delays and inconvenience caused in responding to the complaint at stage 1 and stage 2 of its complaints process.
    6. It reiterated that it could not uphold the complaint as advised within its initial complaint response.
  9. The resident contacted this Service as she remained unhappy with the landlord’s stage 2 response. She was unhappy about the delay in completing the heating repairs and the lack of compensation offered. The complaint became one that this Service could investigate on 12 January 2024.

Scope of the investigation

  1. In her stage 1 complaint and stage 2 escalation request the resident requested compensation for time off work. The Ombudsman would not propose a remedy of compensation to reimburse a complainant for their time off work, loss of wages or loss of employment whilst repairs are carried out.  Whilst such works will inevitably cause some inconvenience to residents, their occupancy agreement will require them to give access for repairs to be carried out as needed, and it would not be fair or reasonable for the Ombudsman to order a landlord to compensate for loss of earnings for routine appointments. 
  2. The resident informed this Service, that she was unhappy about increased service charge for communal repairs and she wanted the landlord to remove the service charge. Paragraph 42(d) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme states we may not consider complaints that concern the level of service charge or rent or the increase of service charge or rent.
  3. The resident informed this Service, that the landlord’s staff were rude and did not act in a professional manager. Paragraph 6.8 of this Service’s complaint handling code states, where the stage 1 response has been issued, and the new issues are unrelated to the issues already being investigated or it would unreasonably delay the response, the new issues must be logged as a new complaint. The resident may decide to raise a new complaint about this issue.

Assessment and findings

Policies and procedures

  1. The landlord’s repairs policy and the lease agreement state:
    1. That the landlord is responsible for repairs to communal heating/hot water/cooking gas supply systems (including repairs to radiators within individual properties that are connected to a communal system).
    2. The leaseholder is responsible for floors, stairs, ceilings, doors, woodwork, partitions inside the property, all internal decorations to the property, all fixtures and fittings within your property (kitchen cupboards, baths, sinks, showers, toilets, taps etc.)
  2. The landlord’s website states in relation to repairs:
    1. That it will attend to emergency repairs within 24 hours.
    2. Reports of uncontainable leaks and reports of loss heating between 1 October and 30 April should be reported as an emergency.
    3. Where a resident has heating, but one or more of the radiators are not working properly, it should be reported as a non-emergency repair.
    4. Containable leaks are non-emergency repairs
    5. Most of the non-emergency repairs will be completed within 35 days. However, in some situations where it needs to book a second appointment, order parts, or where the problem is not causing serious discomfort like fixing plastering, pipes or dripping taps it might take longer than 35 days to complete repairs.
  3. The landlord’s remedies policy states:
    1. When there has been a supply failure of landlord-controlled heating, hot water or bulk gas supply for three consecutive days or more during the heating season (last week of September to the end of May) it will refund residents.
    2. The refund is a pro rata weekly amount (including the first three days). In addition to a refund, it would pay compensation to both resident’s and leaseholders when landlord controlled heating or hot water loss is longer than 5 days.
  4. The landlord operates a 2-stage complaints policy. It states it will log and acknowledge a stage 1 complaint within 5 working days of receipt and then respond within a further 10 working days. It aims to acknowledge a stage 2 complaint within 5 working days and provide a full response within 20 working days. The policy also sates the following:
    1. If for any reason it needs more than 20 working days to respond to a complaint at stage 2, it would explain why and agree a response date with the resident.
    2. It would provide details of any outstanding or further actions required and information on how it would monitor progress
    3. It would learn from its complaint handling
  5. Paragraph 6.7 of this Services complaint handling code (the Code) states that landlords must address all points raised in a complaint and provide clear reasons for any decisions.

    The landlord’s handling of reports of no heating in the property.

  1. It is vital that landlords keep clear, accurate and easily accessible records to provide an audit trail. If we investigate a complaint, we will ask for the landlord’s records. If there is disputed evidence and no audit trail, we may not be able to conclude that an action took place or that the landlord followed its own policies and procedures. Due to the lack of evidence provided by the landlord, the Ombudsman is unable to conclude that it acted fully in line with its obligations or kept the resident reasonably updated throughout. Examples of this include:
    1. The resident reported that she was informed during the visit of 22 September 2022 that a block shut down would be required and she assumed this would happen during the visit of 30 September 2022. It is unclear if the landlord first realised a block shut down was required during its visit on 22 September or 30 September 2022. It has not kept detailed records of what actions it agreed to during these visits.
    2. The landlord stated that the contractor’s last visit to the property in relation to the pipe work was on 2 December 2022 and that it attended the property on 6 March 2023 to discuss outstanding works. However, there is no record of either of these visits in the landlord’s repair logs.
  2. The resident the first reported that some radiators in the property were not working on 18 September 2022. The landlord initially gave an appointment for 19 September 2022 but rescheduled this for the following day. This was because 19 September 2022 was a bank holiday. Although it caused the resident some distress by not attending on the agreed date of 19 September 2022. It acted appropriately in correcting this error by contacting the resident on 20 September and offering an appointment for 22 September 2022.
  3. The resident reported that a leak started during the contractor’s visit on 22 September 2022 and the heating was turned off. The leak was containable. The resident requested for a priority appointment. However, according to the landlord’s policy, a lack of heating in September and reports of containable leaks are not classed as emergency repairs and the landlord had 35 days to complete the repairs.
  4. The landlord attended on 12 October 2022, which was within 35 days as outlined in its policy, and completed repairs to the radiators which stopped the leaks.
  5. However, the resident still had no heating in her property by 1 October 2022. According to the landlord’s policy lack of heating between 1 October and 30 April should be treated as an emergency and completed within 24 hours. The length of time taken to respond to the repair was therefore not reasonable.
  6. It is worth noting that the landlord made reasonable attempts to restore the resident’s heating and some of the delay was caused by factors beyond its control. However, the heating was not restored until 2 December 2022. This was 72 days after the resident made her initial report of not having heating. This was a failing as this time frame was outside its policy for emergency and non-emergency repairs.
  7. During this time, it would have been appropriate for the landlord to have reassured the resident that it was aware of the situation by updating her about her repair and providing temporary heaters. However, the landlord’s records showed the resident requested multiple call backs and sent over 10 emails constantly chasing the landlord for update on her repairs. This would have led her to believe her complaint was not being taken seriously and caused unnecessary distress and inconvenience. The landlord’s communication was poor and not in line with acceptable customer service standards.
  8. Furthermore, the landlord’s records showed that the resident was not provided with temporary heaters between October 2022 and 2 December 2022. This was unreasonable and would have cause the resident unnecessary distress and inconvenience especially considering the lack of heating was during the winter months.
  9. The landlord’s response to the resident’s request to box the pipe was appropriate as it was not it’s responsibility to box up pipping.
  10. The landlord’s remedies policy states that where there has been a supply failure of landlord-controlled heating, it will refund its customers. In addition to the refund, it will pay compensation to both tenants and leaseholders when landlord controlled heating or hot water loss is longer than 5 days.
  11. The landlord apologised in its complaint response and said it agreed there was a delay in completing the repairs. However, it did not offer any refund or compensation in line with its remedies policy. This apology alone was not sufficient redress. It would have been appropriate for the landlord to offer refund or compensation in line with its remedies policy and compensation for distress and inconvenience.
  12. The landlord failed to respond within its repair timeframe, it showed poor record keeping and communication. It failed to provide temporary heaters and it did not offer any compensation to the resident for distress and inconvenience. For these reasons, this Service finds there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of no heating in the property.
  13. In line with this Service remedies guidance an order for compensation has been made below. This Service will also be making an order for the landlord to assess in accordance with its remedies policy the amount of refund the resident is able to receive for the loss of heating from 19 September 2002 until 2 December 2022.

The landlord’s complaint handling.

  1. The resident informed the landlord that she was unhappy with the service she received in her correspondence to it on 30 September 2022. The landlord’s records do not show that it acknowledged this initial complaint. She stated in her complaint of 4 November 2022, that her initial complaint made in September was withdrawn.
  2. As stated earlier, the landlord has shown poor record keeping in this case as it is unclear from its records if the resident requested for the case to be withdrawn or if the landlord withdrew the case.
  3. The resident made another complaint on 4 November 2022, her complaint was not acknowledged within 5 working days. This might have prompted her to add further issues to her complaint on 9 November 2022. This was a failing and not in line with its policy.
  4. There were failures in the landlord’s complaint handling throughout the complaint process which were not in line with its policy or the code. This would have caused the resident understandable distress and inconvenience. Such failures were that:
    1. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 21 November 2022, 7 days outside its policy timeframe.
    2. The landlord stated in its stage 2 response that the resident requested for her complaint to be escalated on 12 December 2022. However, there is no record of the resident’s escalation request in the landlord’s contact logs.
    3. There was no acknowledgement of the stage 2 complaint to the resident.
    4. There was no communication with the resident agreeing for an extension or informing her that the response would be delayed.
    5. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 25 April 2023. This was 145 days outside its policy timeframe.
    6. It did not address the resident’s request for compensation at stage 1 or stage 2.
    7. It did not show any learning from its complaint handling at stage 1 as there were longer delays at stage 2.
  5. In the landlord’s final response, it apologised for the delays in responding at stage 1 and stage 2 of its complaints process. It said this was due to a high volume of complaints. It would have been appropriate to explain what steps it would take to improve its complaint handling and offer compensation as redress. This would have been in line with the Ombudsman’s Code to show that it has learnt from its mistakes.
  6. The landlord failed to show learning or offer any redress to the resident. This Service finds there was maladministration in respect of the landlord’s complaint handling. For this reason, an order for compensation in line with this Service remedies guidance has been made below.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s reports of no heating in the property.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in respect of its complaint handling.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Write to the resident to apologise for the failures found in this report.
    2. Confirm to the resident and this Service, the amount of refund the resident is eligible to receive in accordance with its remedies policy. If it decides that a refund is not required, it should explain its reasons in writing.
    3. Pay the resident total compensation of £1000 comprised as follows:
      1. £150 for communication failures
      2. £250 for complaint handling failures.
      3. £600 for distress and inconvenience caused by delays to complete repairs to the heating system and the failure to provide temporary heating provision.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 54(g) of the Scheme, the landlord must:
    1. Conduct a review of the failings identified in this report. This review should include the following:
      1. What steps it intends to take to ensure all emergency repairs are actioned within its policy timeframe.
      2. What actions it would consider in these instances such as providing temporary heating in a timely manner or offering alternative accommodation.
      3. What actions it would take to be proactive in responding to reports made in the winter months.
      4. How it would keep residents updated about their repairs.
      5. How it would incorporate best practise highlighted in the Housing Ombudsman’s Spotlight report on knowledge and information into how it would store and share accurate information on repairs in its repair logs and complaint responses.
    2. Following the review, the landlord should produce a report setting out the findings and the learning from the review.
    3. The review should be conducted by a senior manager.
    4. This review must be completed within 8 weeks of the date of this report
  3. The landlord should provide this Service with evidence of compliance with these orders within the timescales set out above.