Camden Council (202234898)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202234898

Camden Council

16 April 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:
   1. Response to the resident’s reports of loss of heating and hot water.
   2. Offer of compensation and its complaint handling.

Background

2. The resident has lived in the property since 2005 with her 2 adult children. The resident is a secure tenant and pays for fuel and water within her rent payments.
3. The resident contacted the landlord on 20 October 2022 as the boiler was not working and made a loud noise when turned on. The resident requested the landlord return multiple times due to not having heating and hot water throughout November. This resulted in the resident raising a complaint with the landlord on 23 November 2022, in which she stated she had not had heating or hot water since October 2022.
4. The landlord responded to the resident’s complaint on 12 December 2022. It did not uphold the complaint as it could not find any failure to provide the resident with a good service. The landlord advised its contractor had attended and resolved the issues.
5. The resident requested to escalate her complaint on 15 December 2022. The resident said contrary to the landlord’s records, the contractor had not left her with heating and hot water since 20 October 2022. The resident emphasised the impact the lack of heating and hot water had on her. This included the cold exacerbating her health condition and that her children had coughs and bronchitis, she was particularly concerned about her son who has asthma.
6. The contractors replaced the boiler in late December 2022. On 9 February 2023, the resident refused an offer of £150 from the landlord for the inconvenience she had suffered.
7. The resident received the landlord’s final response on 31 March 2023. Through the response it acknowledged the impact the unreliable heating and hot water had on her family. It also recognised the differing accounts from the contractor and resident about whether the boiler was working. The landlord reduced the offer to £50.
8. The resident brought her complaint to the Ombudsman as she is still dissatisfied. As a resolution the resident would like the landlord to do the right thing, acknowledge its failings, and to offer compensation.

Assessment and findings

9. When investigating a complaint, the Ombudsman applies its Dispute Resolution Principles. These are high level good practice guidance developed from the Ombudsman’s experience of resolving disputes, for use by everyone involved in the complaints process. There are only 3 principles driving effective dispute resolution:
   1. Be fair – treat people fairly and follow fair processes.
   2. Put things right.
   3. Learn from outcomes.
10. The Ombudsman must first consider whether a failing on the part of the landlord occurred, and if so, whether this led to any adverse effect or detriment to the resident. If it is found that a failing did lead to an adverse effect, the investigation will then consider whether the landlord has taken enough action to ‘put things right’ and ‘learn from outcomes’.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of loss of heating and hot water.

11. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act (1985) holds the landlord responsible for keeping the structure and installations of the property in good repair. The landlord confirms this in the tenancy agreement.
12. In its repairs policy, when a resident has no heating and hot water between 1 November and 30 April, the landlord will attend as an emergency, before 8pm on the same day. Outside these dates the landlord will attend within 3 working days. The Ombudsman notes the information on the landlord’s website states it classifies no heating as an emergency from 1 October, which is out of line with the policy.
13. The landlord’s policy states it must spend its repairs budget in the best and fairest way for all residents.
14. The resident raised multiple reports of no heating and hot water in November 2022. The landlord’s contractor appropriately attended these reports. On 14 November 2022, the contractor referred the boiler for a survey. The contractor completed this on 18 November. The landlord asked a different contractor to complete an additional survey and replace the boiler. Once the new contractor completed the survey on 14 December 2022, the boiler installation started the following week.
15. The delay between the surveys meant the resident was without a fully functioning boiler for a further month. The landlord should have recognised and accounted for this in its complaint responses.
16. The resident disputes that the contractor left her with a working boiler. The resident advised the Ombudsman the contractor had completed temporary fixes, which they knew would not last. Sometimes the fix would only last a few hours. The Ombudsman is not able to establish what happened during the contractor visits, however it is clear the resident continued to experience boiler problems and had, at the least, an unreliable supply of heating and hot water from 20 October to late December 2022.
17. While it is acknowledged the landlord is entitled to rely on the professional opinions of its contractor, where it is being repeatedly called back for the same issue it is the landlord’s responsibility to ensure this is managed and progressed in a timely manner. The delay to obtaining the second survey was pivotal in prolonging the situation for the resident.
18. The landlord is expected to assess residents’ requirements and vulnerabilities to establish whether repair works may have a greater impact on certain individuals. The landlord should subsequently offer appropriate interim solutions if necessary.
19. The resident reported to the Ombudsman the landlord did not ask if she had any vulnerabilities, the landlord has not provided any evidence to the contrary. This means the landlord could not evidence it adequately assessed the impact the lack of heating and hot water may have had on the resident.
20. The landlord offered the resident fan heaters on 16 December 2022, and supplied them to the resident on 19 December 2022 which was the day before the boiler replacement work started. There has been no evidence provided by the landlord that this was a consideration prior to this date.
21. The landlord left the resident without a reliable source of heating or hot water for a total period of 2 months which was outside the initial timescale of 24 hours/3 days. The Ombudsman has not seen evidence the landlord was timely in its offer of alternative heating.
22. It is reasonable and appropriate for the landlord to balance the demands on the repairs budget against the desire to replace the boiler. The landlord confirmed this in its stage 1 response and acknowledged there may be multiple visits prior to confirming a replacement boiler. However, in the evidence supplied by the landlord the Ombudsman noted in September 2020, the contractor reported the boiler was very old, badly scaled, and made lots of noise. The contractor advised the boiler should be surveyed to assess for replacement. The Ombudsman has not seen evidence the landlord acted on this at the time and the resident experienced frustration at the repeated issues.
23. The resident stated she was without heating and hot water for 2 months. The landlord disputes this, however, the landlord should have acknowledged the fact the resident had an unreliable source of heating and hot water, and the resident should receive compensation for this.
24. The resident stated to the Ombudsman this period was a terrible time for her. The lack of reliable heating and hot water and the delays she faced exacerbated her medical condition and she believed she would die.
25. The resident also reported to the Ombudsman she is having issues with the new boiler. The resident has reported these concerns to the landlord, the 1st contractor visited and alleged she had tampered with it. She does not feel comfortable with the 1st contractor so has not reported any further concerns.
26. The landlord had 2 years notice the boiler was not in good condition and as such the Ombudsman finds service failure in the landlord’s response to the residents reports of loss of heating and hot water.

The landlord’s offer of compensation and complaint handling.

27. The landlord’s complaint policy states it encourages residents to get in touch when it gets things wrong, so it can put things right and learn. The landlord will respond to stage 1 complaints in 10 working days. The complaints policy commits the landlord to stage 2 responses within 20 working days. If the landlord cannot meet these timeframes an extension will be agreed with both parties.
28. The landlord’s compensation policy states it can financially acknowledge the distress a resident experienced by awarding £100-£300 and/or the time and trouble a resident has taken in dealing with the issue by awarding £100-£300. If the landlord fails to provide a service, it can acknowledge this by awarding £25 per month.
29. The landlord can refund any loss of heating and hot water if there is a failure of supply. The refunds are based on a pro rata of the gross weekly charge. During the heating season, which the landlord states is from the last week in September until the end of May, it will work out the compensation at £3.80 per day for loss of both heating and hot water after day 5.
30. The resident faced delays in both the stage 1 and in the final resolution letters. The final resolution was 53 working days late. After 39 working days the resident received notification from the landlord that it would be late in its response. As the Ombudsman has not seen evidence the landlord had agreed this with the resident, it conflicted with the policy. It was also 19 working days after the final resolution letter had been due. This communication did not give the resident a date when she could expect a response. Reasonably the resident would have felt unsure of when the landlord would have resolved her complaint and whether it was prioritising it.
31. In its stage 1 response the landlord advised the resident to search for heating rebate to claim for the loss of heating. The landlord should in the least provide a link for the heating rebate webpage. In addition, the resident confirmed she did not believe she was eligible for this as she had not experienced a total lack of heating and hot water for the prescribed period. This was not a fair resolution for the resident and the landlord should have made adjustments to compensate her for the lack of service she received.
32. The landlord offered the resident £150 which the resident did not accept. This offer was outside the stage 1 and final resolution letter. In its final resolution letter, the landlord offered the resident £50. The Ombudsman has not seen a breakdown as to how it reached these figures or the reason the amount was reduced. Reasonably the resident would have questioned why her complaint would receive a reduction in compensation from February to March 2023.
33. The Ombudsman was concerned the landlord did not evidence any learning points from the complaint.
34. The delays in the landlord’s complaint responses, lack of clear rationale for the compensation award and the different amounts offered to the resident, mean the resident experienced maladministration from the landlord in its offer of compensation and its complaint handling.

Determination

35. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was:
    1. Service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of loss of heating and hot water.
    2. Maladministration in the landlord’s offer of compensation and complaint handling.

Orders

36. The landlord to issue a written apology to the resident for the failures identified in this report.
37. The landlord is to pay the resident compensation totalling £578. This comprises of:
    1. £228 for the unreliable heating and hot water for 60 days at £3.80 per day in line with the landlord’s compensation policy.
    2. £250 for the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident in line with the landlord’s compensation policy.
    3. £100 for the landlord’s failure to handle the complaints and compensation appropriately.
38. The landlord is to request the contractor who installed the boiler to inspect it to try to establish the ongoing issues the resident mentioned to the Ombudsman.
39. The landlord is to confirm compliance with these orders to the Ombudsman within 4 weeks of the date of this report.

Recommendations

40. The landlord is to consider asking residents reporting such repairs whether they have any vulnerabilities and the impact the repair may have on it. Where the resident identifies a vulnerability, the landlord is to then consider whether there is anything it can offer to mitigate the impact of the repair.
41. The landlord to align the information in its policy and website to give the same dates for dealing with the heating as an emergency. There is further alignment needed in the landlord’s compensation policy which refers to the heating season as being from the last week in September to the end of May.