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Birmingham City Council (202300045)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202300045

Birmingham City Council

11 October 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 the landlord’s handling of repairs to the resident’s boiler and gas pipework.
  2. The Ombudsman has also investigated the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord, which is a council. The property is a 2-bedroomed maisonette. The household is composed of 1 adult and 2 children.
  2. The boiler was last replaced on 1 January 2008. The landlord’s records show that it completed a gas safety inspection at the property every year.
  3. On 27 February 2017 the landlord attended a report of no heating or hot water repair at the property. It found that the gas meter was faulty and referred the resident to the gas distribution company.
  4. Between 8 July 2021 and 10 January 2022, the resident made 3 reports of faults with her boiler. The landlord identified that different replacement parts were required to fix each fault.
  5. On 11 January 2022, the resident called the landlord to voice her dissatisfaction with its handling of the repairs. She said when she reported losing heating and hot water on 4 December 2021, the landlord attended and said that a part was needed. However, it did not return to complete the repair until 7 January 2022 after she chased the repair. She was unhappy that, when it returned, it did not fit the pump and carried out a repair without it. The resident said the boiler then stopped working 3 days afterwards and she was awaiting another repair visit.
  6. The landlord attended the property on 11 January 2022 but was unable to complete the repair. It noted that another trade was required. The next day, the gas distribution company attended to repair a faulty gas pressure regulator. Later that day, the resident chased the landlord to re-attend to complete the repair. It returned on 17 January 2022 to fit replacement parts to the boiler to complete the repair.
  7. The resident complained to the landlord on 18 January 2022. She was unhappy that:
    1. She had been unable to use her gas cooker, but it had not investigated this.
    2. She was required to spend time and effort to chase the landlord for the repair.
    3. The landlord did not treat the repair as an emergency despite her having 2 young children in the household.
    4. It took so long to identify the faulty gas pressure regulator. This was despite her having the meter replaced in 2017 and regular gas safety checks.
  8. The landlord’s contractor responded to the resident on 27 January 2022. It explained that it had not done any work to the gas pressure. It apologised for not identifying the gas pressure fault on its earlier visits and assured that it would carry out further training with its staff about this.
  9. The resident responded to the contractor later that day. She repeated her dissatisfaction with the level of effort she needed to make to pursue the repair. She again questioned why the fault was not identified in 2017 and why gas safety checks had not spotted the problem. There is no evidence of the landlord giving a response to this.
  10. On 1 October 2022 the resident reported a loss of heating and hot water. The landlord attended the same day and returned on 4 October to replace a part to complete the repair. The resident reported another fault on 3 January 2023, which the landlord attended the same day. It found that parts were needed to complete the repair. The landlord returned on 12 January 2023 to complete the repair.
  11. The resident emailed the landlord on 12 January 2023 about her dissatisfaction with the boiler. She said she had experienced problems with the boiler for 13 years and it kept breaking down despite replacement parts. The resident reported another fault on 8 February 2023 and emailed the landlord to repeat her dissatisfaction with its handling of boiler repairs. The landlord attended the next day and aborted the repair. The contractor’s notes stated that the resident was “abusive”. It completed the repair the following day.
  12. The resident reported a further loss of heating and hot water on 1 March 2023. It attended the same day and on 8 March 2023 to complete the repair.
  13. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response to the resident on 8 March 2023. It relayed its contractor’s version of events on 9 February 2023 and attributed the delay in completing the repair to the resident’s behaviour during the visit.
  14. The resident called the landlord on 15 March 2023 to dispute the events in its stage 1 response. She then asked the Ombudsman to intervene before it escalated the complaint on 9 May 2023.
  15. The landlord issued its final response on 17 May 2023. It said that when individual faults on a boiler were unrelated, it would restore the boiler rather than replacing it. The landlord confirmed that it would not replace the boiler. It said it would provide temporary heating and temporary cooking facilities when the boiler or cooker were unavailable. It said there was no evidence of the resident reporting a loss of cooking facilities. The landlord offered £75 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by the boiler repairs and £50 for its late final complaint response.
  16. The resident told the Ombudsman on 6 February 2024 that she remained dissatisfied with the recurrent boiler breakdowns. She was unhappy with how long she had been left without heating, hot water, and cooking facilities because of the repeated faults.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident said she experienced 13 years of problems with her boiler. The Ombudsman does not doubt her account. However, the evidence shows that the resident first raised her dissatisfaction with the landlord’s handling of boiler repairs on 11 January 2022. Also, the repair records show that the resident had not reported boiler repairs in the 4 years prior to 8 July 2021. Therefore, this investigation has only considered events from 8 July 2021 onwards. This is in line with paragraph 42(c) of the Scheme, which says the Ombudsman may not investigate issues which were not raised as a complaint to the landlord within a reasonable time. This would normally be within 12 months of the events occurring.

The landlord’s handling of repairs to the resident’s boiler and gas pipework

  1. The landlord’s conditions of tenancy confirms that it will “keep in repair and proper working order the installations in your home for space heating and heating water.” The conditions of tenancy also confirm that it will “keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the home for the supply of water, gas and electricity”.
  2. The landlord’s repairs policy states that it will provide an annual service of all its gas appliances. The policy also says that, when it cannot repair a heating system on the same working day, it may provide a temporary heater on loan. The document also states that when a resident is unable to use their gas cooker, the landlord will offer a temporary cooking appliance.
  3. The landlord’s repairs policy document states that it will carry out certain urgent repairs within the corresponding time limit set out in the Secure Tenants of Local Housing Authorities (Right to Repair) Regulations 1994. The regulations state that a “total or partial loss of space or water heating between 31st October and 1st May” should be repaired within 1 working day.
  4. There were failings in the landlord’s handling of repairs to the resident’s boiler. The landlord did not repair her boiler within 1 working day on 4 December 2021 and 10 January 2022, in line with its repairs policy timescale for emergency repairs. This left the resident without heating and hot water between 4 December 2021 and 7 January 2022, and again between 10 January 2022 and 17 January 2022. However, there was no evidence the landlord provided temporary heating on either occasion. This was a failure to follow its repairs policy and left the resident’s household without heating for 6 weeks during the winter months, causing significant inconvenience.
  5. The resident told this Service that she told the landlord between 7 and 10 January 2022 that she was unable to use her cooker. There is no record of this report in the landlord’s records. We do not doubt the resident’s account of events. However, when there is no evidence to support either party’s account, it is not possible to determine whether a failure occurred.
  6. The landlord’s final response to the complaint said that when it found that individual faults were unrelated, it would repair the existing appliance. It said that when an appliance requires repeat repairs, the contractor should raise the possible replacement of an appliance to the landlord. Despite the recurrent boiler faults, there was no evidence of the landlord considering replacing the boiler. This would have been appropriate given the number of times the boiler had broken down over a short period of time.
  7. The landlord said it had reviewed the repair history of the boiler and found a replacement was not needed. However, it had only considered the 3 repairs reported in the past 5 months. This was unreasonable. There were no boiler repairs reported between March 2017 and June 2021. However, in the 20 months between July 2021 and March 2023, there were 8 reports of faults with the boiler and 7 replacement parts were required to fix these. The landlord did not consider this in its decision on whether to replace the boiler. The manufacturer’s website states that its boilers have an expected lifespan of 10 to 15 years. At the time of the resident’s complaint, the boiler was 15 years old. The landlord did not show that it had taken this into account in its assessment of whether the boiler required replacement. The landlord failed to consider all the relevant information in its decision not to replace the boiler, which was a failing.
  8. The landlord’s failures in the handling of boiler repairs amount to maladministration. In the landlord’s final response to the complaint, it offered £75 compensation to the resident for her inconvenience. Whilst it was positive that the landlord recognised some failings and offered compensation, the compensation it offered was not sufficient for the overall inconvenience the resident experienced. The boiler repairs were, on average, once every 2 to 3 months. This was excessive inconvenience for the resident. This also led to her expending time and trouble in reporting, chasing, and providing access for repairs.
  9. To put things right for the resident the landlord should replace the boiler within 6 weeks of the date of this report. It should also pay her £400 compensation. This award of compensation is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, available to view on our website, which sets out our approach to compensation. This provides for awards of between £100 and £600 where there has been a failing by the landlord which adversely affected the resident, but which may not have had a permanent impact. The landlord will also be ordered to apologise to the resident for the impact its errors had on her.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint

  1. The landlord’s ‘Your views’ procedure provides for a 3-stage internal complaints procedure. At stage 1, it should attempt to immediately resolve the complaint. If it cannot resolve a complaint immediately, it is to progress the complaint to stage 2 for investigation. The procedure states the landlord’s department that provided the service should respond to the resident within 15 days at stage 2. At stage 3, the procedure states the landlord should respond to the resident within 20 working days. This will be the landlord’s final response.
  2. The landlord’s ‘Your views’ procedure defines a complaint as “an expression of dissatisfaction. It can be about the standard of service we have provided, or actions we have or have not taken, which affect someone using our services.” This matches the definition in the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code), which all member landlords are required to comply with.
  3. The Code that was in force at the time of the complaint stated, “The resident does not have to use the word complaint in order for it to be treated as such.” Also, “A landlord shall accept a complaint unless there is a valid reason not to do so.” When a landlord declines to accept a complaint, it should clearly explain why to the resident.
  4. The landlord missed an opportunity to progress the resident’s complaint through its internal procedure on 11 January 2022. She then needed to raise her dissatisfaction again on 18 January 2022 before the landlord acknowledged the complaint. The landlord failed to recognise the resident’s initial dissatisfaction as a complaint.
  5. The complaint response was then issued on 27 January 2022 by the contractor. This was not in accordance with the landlord’s procedure. The resident made her complaint to the landlord’s housing repairs team. In accordance with its complaints procedure, the response should have come from the landlord department responsible for repairs. It was inappropriate for the contractor to respond to the complaint as the resident has no legal contract with the contractor. As the contractor provides services at the instruction of the landlord, the landlord should take responsibility for complaints about its service.
  6. When the resident disputed the contractor’s complaint response, the landlord failed to escalate the complaint. This meant the landlord failed to address her concerns about the faulty gas pressure regulator. This would have likely led to distress for the resident in being uncertain of the safety and reliability of her gas installation. The landlord did not follow its ‘Your views’ procedure or the Code.
  7. The landlord missed another opportunity to recognise the resident’s complaint on 12 January 2023. This meant the resident was again required to repeat her concerns on 8 February 2023 before the landlord acknowledged her complaint.
  8. The resident called the landlord on 15 March 2023 to dispute the content of its complaint response. It failed to recognise this as an escalation request despite her clear dissatisfaction with its complaint response. The resident had to ask the Ombudsman to intervene before the landlord considered her complaint at the final stage of its internal procedure.
  9. The landlord’s final response acknowledged that it had delayed in responding to the complaint at the final stage. However, it did not acknowledge its previous failures to progress the resident’s complaint.
  10. The compensation the landlord offered in its final response for complaint handling failures was therefore not proportionate. This was because the compensation failed to address all the failures. This also did not comply with the Ombudsman’s dispute resolution principles. These are to ‘be fair’, ‘put it right’ and ‘learn from outcomes’. The landlord did not acknowledge all failings and therefore did not put these right. As it did not recognise these shortcomings, it could not learn from them.
  11. The landlord’s failures in the handling of the resident’s complaint amount to maladministration. The landlord must pay the resident £200 compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its unacknowledged failures in the handling of her complaint. This is in line with our remedies guidance as referenced above.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of
    1. Repairs to the resident’s boiler and gas pipework.
    2. The resident’s complaint

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks, the landlord must provide evidence to the Ombudsman that it has:
    1. Written to the resident to apologise for the failings identified in this report. The apology must come from a senior member of the landlord’s staff and comply with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for apologies, available on our website.
    2. Paid the resident compensation of £600. This is made up of:
      1. £400 for the distress and inconvenience experienced by the resident in December 2021 and January 2022 when she was without heating, hot water, or temporary heating, and for the inconvenience of the recurrent boiler faults.
      2. £200 for the time, trouble, and inconvenience experienced by the resident due to the landlord’s complaint handling failures.
  2. Within 6 weeks, the landlord must provide evidence to the Ombudsman that it has replaced the resident’s boiler.