Applications are open to join the next Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel – find out more Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel.

East Midlands Housing Group Limited (202310530)

Back to Top

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202310530

East Midlands Housing Group Limited

14 April 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

  1. The complaint is about:
    1. The landlord’s handling of reports of issues with the kitchen installation.
    2. The landlord’s handling of reports of issues with the boiler and radiators.

Background

Kitchen installation

  1. The resident has an assured tenancy agreement with the landlord, which is a housing association. The property is a 2-bedroom flat. The resident has mental health issues, which the landlord is aware of.
  2. The resident made a complaint to the landlord on 26 July 2022 about the length of time taken for his kitchen installation. He also raised concerns about the lack of cooking facilities and that this meant he had to buy food twice daily instead when he was on benefits. He also complained that his boiler was not working as it should have due to an issue with the thermostat. Further, he complained that the landlord asked him to sign off on works to the kitchen when they were incomplete.
  3. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 11 August 2022 and confirmed that it would offer compensation of £100 as a gesture of goodwill for the length of time the kitchen took to install. It also said a temporary cooker was offered during the works, and receipts were requested from the resident for the extra food costs. It also confirmed that it would arrange for an electrician to attend to connect the thermostat on the boiler. On 1 September 2022, a new thermostat was connected to the boiler, however the resident reported that the boiler now had a slow leak. He also declined the increased compensation of £250 it offered him on 8 September 2022 and escalated his complaint to stage 2, as he wanted £400 compensation instead.
  4. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 1 October 2022 following a complaints panel meeting on 28 September 2022. The response repeated the issues raised in the stage 1 complaint and said that the reason the resident remained unhappy was due to the level of compensation being too low. The landlord stated that there were delays in the delivery of the kitchen from its supplier, and there were further delays of more than 2 weeks before the completion of the works. It also said there were additional delays in completing some minor works, however it said that the kitchen was fully functional at that time.
  5. The landlord repeated that it offered temporary cooking facilities before the works began and during the works, however it said the resident declined its offer. It also said the resident did not provide it with receipts for the extra food costs. Further, it said that it offered a temporary sink and the reconnection of the resident’s washing machine. It said that, while the temporary cooker and sink were declined, the resident’s washing machine was reconnected.
  6. The outcome of the panel meeting was to uphold the complaint, and it identified that there had been delays, which justified some compensation. It again offered the resident increased compensation of £250, including the £100 offered at stage 1, in recognition of the level of disruption experienced by the resident. It also apologised that the resident needed to complain.

Boiler and radiators

  1. On 9 May 2023, the resident raised a further formal complaint about a delay in the landlord repairing the leak to his boiler which he had earlier reported on 10 February 2023. He also complained about the delay in the landlord repairing the radiator in his smaller bedroom, and the delay in the signing off of his kitchen installed in 2022, which he said had not been done. It said it would aim to provide a stage 1 response by 12 June 2023. The landlord sent a holding letter on 12 June 2023 confirming that it was still investigating the complaint and it would aim to respond to the complaint by 26 June 2023. It also said the extra time would allow it to request compensation for the delay in repairing the boiler and radiator, which was repaired on 6 June 2023.
  2. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 20 June 2023 and confirmed after checking its records, that:
    1. The resident had reported the boiler leak on 1 September 2022. He reported it again on 12 December 2022, when the resident also reported that his radiators were lukewarm and not heating as they should have. The resident contacted the landlord again on 15 December 2022 to report a loss of heating, and issues with the water going from cold to boiling hot.
    2. The resident made further contact with the landlord on 11 January 2023 to advise of ongoing concerns with the radiators taking 2 hours to heat. The landlord said its operative repaired that on 19 January 2023 but broke the radiator in the resident’s small bedroom.
    3. The resident contacted the landlord again on 13 March 2023 to follow up on the radiator repair, and to advise that the heating was still not functioning as it should have. The landlord said it instructed its operatives to carry out the repair, and it said it was told the repair would be completed on 15 May 2023.
    4. The landlord identified delays in the operatives carrying out the repair due to its failure to follow its specified timeframe. It further acknowledged that the resident had to contact it several times, which it said was not efficient. The landlord said that the repairs were finally completed on 6 June 2023 and, as a result of its investigation, it was upholding the resident’s complaint.
    5. The landlord also addressed the sign off of the resident’s kitchen that was installed in August 2022. It said the resident told it that he would not sign off the kitchen until the boiler works were completed, due to it being located in the kitchen, which the resident felt was therefore part of the kitchen replacement works.
    6. The landlord said its internal maintenance staff had attended the resident’s property several times and all staff had agreed that the works had been completed to a satisfactory level and in line with its specification. It therefore said it would arrange for its planned team to contact the resident to arrange the sign off.
    7. The landlord offered £260 compensation, which it said was in line with its compensation policy. It said the compensation was broken down as £250 for the delays repairing the boiler and radiator, and £10 for its delay logging the resident’s complaint.
    8. The landlord said that, because the resident’s rent account was in arrears, £233.52 of the compensation offered would be applied to the arrears, and the resident would be sent £26.48. In addition to the compensation, the landlord also gave feedback on improvements it had made as a result of the complaint. These were reminders to its contractors about their expected service levels, arranging additional regular meetings with them, and improvements to its complaints process to better monitor and respond to outstanding repairs and complaints.
  3. On 23 June 2023, the resident escalated the complaint to stage 2 of because he was unhappy with the response at stage 1 and further leaks from his boiler, which he said has not been properly repaired for over a year. The resident also said he was unable to confirm if the radiator in the small bedroom now worked because his heating was not on. The resident also raised concerns that the compensation offered at stage 1 would be applied to rent arrears that he disputed, when he received housing benefit. The resident said the experience has caused him much stress and anxiety, due to the need to contact the landlord numerous times to get the repairs done.
  4. The landlord formally acknowledged the resident’s complaint at stage 2 on 27 June 2023 and issued its stage 2 response on 25 July 2023. The stage 2 response said it responded about delays in repairs to the boiler, the radiator in the small bedroom, and signing off the new kitchen. The landlord decided not to uphold the resident’s complaint because it said the actions taken, and the feedback and advice it offered, was in line with its policies.
  5. The landlord, did, however, note the ongoing problems with the boiler and agreed to replace the boiler. It said it would arrange contact from the relevant operatives to agree a date for the work to be done. The landlord also offered additional discretionary compensation of £75 in recognition of the time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience caused. It repeated it identified the further learning to improve its service in its stage 1 response. The landlord revised its total compensation offer to £335. It also adjusted the amount of compensation that would be applied to the rent arrears it said the resident had to £150.33, with the remaining balance of £184.67 to be sent to the resident. The landlord also apologised to the resident.
  6. The resident complained to the Ombudsman that he was unhappy with the compensation offered by the landlord and it using this to pay rent arrears he disputed existed. He also complained it told him to sign off on his new kitchen when this was incomplete and he had open complaints about it, which had been further damaged by the length time and operatives’ behaviour. The resident asked for all of the damage to be repaired and to get the correct compensation to resolve his complaint.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. The resident has mentioned that he was caused stress and anxiety by the events he complained about, which was unhelpful for his mental health issues. This is very concerning. We are unable, however, to draw conclusions on the causes of, or liability for, effects on health and wellbeing. Matters of personal injury or damage to health, their investigation and compensation, are not part of the complaints process, and are more appropriately addressed by the courts or the landlord’s liability insurer as a personal injury claim. Therefore, the effect on the resident’s health and wellbeing is outside the scope of this investigation to consider. We will instead look at whether the landlord’s actions or inaction caused the resident unnecessary additional time, trouble, distress, and inconvenience, and whether it put things right in all the circumstances of the case.

The landlord’s handling of the kitchen installation

  1. The landlord acknowledged failure in respect of its handling of the resident’s kitchen installation. This should have taken 14 working days to complete under its resident information pack for kitchen refurbishment, but small items might need to be completed after this on occasions. However, it instead said on 16 August 2022 that this took “26 days to complete” without recording when its kitchen works began or whether it had calculated the delay in working or calendar days, which was inappropriate and a further failure in its record keeping. The landlord also said this was “12 days longer” than the above published target date in its resident information pack. It based its complaint responses and compensation levels on this being the length of its kitchen delays, but works were still outstanding.
  2. This was unreasonable because the landlord then described completing the resident’s kitchen installation on 31 August 2022. However, it did note that it previously offered to do so on 23 August 2022 but that he had been unavailable, which was why it completed the works on 31 August 2022. It appears from the landlord’s records that the resident first reported to it that his kitchen was removed to begin the installation on 11 July 2022, which was 26 working days before it calculated this as the length of these works being delayed on 16 August 2022. However, it also recorded that he reported outstanding works for metal strips, sealant, painting, and cleaning in the kitchen on the latter date, and that these works were not done and the worktops were not fitted until 31 August 2022.
  3. Therefore, the kitchen installation took 37 working days to complete from 11 July to 31 August 2022, which was 23 working days later than the landlord’s above timescale to do so and not the “12 days longer” it calculated. While the latter delay with the installation were accepted by the landlord’s complaint responses and acknowledged by it offering the resident £250 compensation, it did not fully recognise all of the delays. This award was in line with its compensation policy’s lower compensation band of £50 to £250 for failures resulting in some effect on the resident”.
  4. The landlord calculated the above compensation because it incorrectly considered the delay was “12 days longer”, and it considered there was no lasting effect on the resident. While it also acknowledged there were additional delays from “some minor making good items” from materials and access issues, the landlord said that the kitchen was fully functional during this time. However, it is unclear why it considered the kitchen to be fully functional when the worktops were not fitted.
  5. In respect of the lack of cooking facilities, it is noted that the landlord said it offered the resident temporary cooking and sink facilities, which the resident declined. The resident told the landlord on 26 and 29 July and 1 and 5 August 2022, however, that he was not offered a replacement cooker, so he said he had to pay extra costs to buy frequent additional meals. However, the resident did not provide the landlord with receipts for these extra costs, as it requested, as he said a friend had loaned him cash for these.
  6. It is not possible to be able to definitively determine the exact amount the resident spent on food without evidence. While it is acknowledged that there is a dispute over whether the landlord offered temporary cooking facilities that were declined by the resident, its compensation policy does indicate that it will compensate adult residents £15 per day for additional food while cooking facilities are unavailable. There is no requirement in its policy that residents must provide receipts to qualify for this compensation, or that this would be unavailable if a resident declined temporary cooking facilities. It was therefore unreasonable for the landlord to not consider awarding any compensation for this aspect of the resident’s complaint.
  7. As it is therefore unclear from the landlord’s records how long the resident was without a functional kitchen or cooking facilities, but that his kitchen refurbishment did take longer than it calculated, it was responsible for maladministration in its handling of this. While its £250 compensation offer partly put things right, this was not proportionate to do so fully. This is because the resident’s above circumstances were more appropriate for its compensation policy’s middle compensation band of £250 to £700 than this amount from its lower band. The middle band included circumstances where the resident repeatedly had to chase the landlord, he had an unreasonable level of involvement, and it was responsible for repeated failure. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance’s recommended range of compensation for maladministration from failures that adversely affected the resident.
  8. The landlord has therefore been ordered to write to the resident to apologise for the further failures identified by this investigation, and to pay him total compensation of £400 for its handling of his kitchen installation. This is broken down into the £250 it previously offered him, if he has not received this already, plus £150 further compensation to recognise its further failures. This is in line with the landlord’s compensation policy’s middle compensation band, our remedies guidance’s recommended compensation range for maladministration, and the amount requested by the resident to resolve this complaint.

The landlord’s handling of the boiler and radiators

  1. The landlord’s repair logs show that the resident’s initial slow boiler leak was reported to the landlord by him on 1 September 2022, which it attended on 5 September 2022. This was within its website’s 42-calendar-day response timescale for routine repairs. The landlord then attended the resident’s 31 October 2022 report of a leak from the boiler within its website’s 24-hour emergency repair response timescale on the same day. It was unable to get access for his 12 December 2022 report of a leak under his radiators when it tried to attend within its above routine repair timescale on 14 December 2022. However, the landlord did then get access and attend within this timescale after the resident reported the leak again on 15 December 2022 and it attended on 21 December 2022.
  2. Regarding the radiator issue, the resident contacted the landlord on 11 January 2023 to report that his radiators were taking 2 hours to heat up. This was repaired within its website’s routine repair timescale on 19 January 2023, but the contractor broke the radiator valve in the resident’s small bedroom. The repair logs show that a new thermostatic radiator valve was fitted on 6 June 2023, and according to the logs the radiator in the small bedroom was working before and after this. Therefore, the relatively short amount of time the resident was without fully functioning heating in that bedroom from a stuck valve would likely have had a minimal effect on him.
  3. There is, however, further evidence in the landlord’s repair logs to suggest that the boiler leak continued despite numerous repairs. The resident reported this to the landlord again on 27 June 2023, which it attended but was unable to get access for within its website’s routine repair timescale on 30 June 2023. However, the landlord did attend again and get access within that timescale after the resident’s further boiler leak report of 3 July 2023, when its 5 July 2023 attendance confirmed the boiler was faulty. The landlord then arranged to replace the boiler on 16 August 2023. This meant there was a recurring boiler leak issue present for almost 12 months from September 2022 until August 2023. Although the landlord did make attempts to remedy the leak, this failed and resulted in the need for a new boiler.
  4. While the landlord offered the resident £335 total compensation for its handling of his boiler and radiator issues, this was not proportionate to fully recognise its failure to resolve the recurring leaks from his boiler and radiators for almost a year. It awarded him £250 for its repair delays, £10 for the delay in logging his complaint, and £75 compensation for his distress, inconvenience, time, and trouble. This level of compensation was not reasonable, however, as the level of inconvenience, time, and trouble spent by the resident over an almost 12–month period to try and remedy the leak is evidence of maladministration.
  5. The Ombudsman’s remedies guidance recommended range of awards for failures from such maladministration that adversely affected the resident, and the landlord’s above compensation policy’s middle band permit a higher amount to recognise its above failings. The landlord has therefore been ordered to apologise to and pay the resident total compensation of £485 for the further failures identified by this investigation in its handling of his boiler and radiator issues. This is broken down into the £335 it previously offered him for this, if he has not received this already, plus additional compensation of £150 to recognise its further failures. This is in line with the landlord’s compensation policy’s middle compensation band, our remedies guidance’s recommended compensation range for maladministration, and the amount requested by the resident to resolve this complaint.
  6. With reference to the landlord’s decision to offset part of the compensation it previously awarded the resident against rent arrears it had for him, in line with its compensation policy and the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance, it was allowed to take that action at the time. The resident, in his complaint to us, stated that he had no rent arrears due to receiving housing benefit, however the landlord confirmed his housing benefit of £424.60 every 4 weeks left a shortfall of £17.28 a week. It said that the resident therefore advised that he would pay this fortnightly at £34.56 under a payment plan.
  7. The landlord was therefore acting in line with its compensation policy, which says that its compensation will be paid towards arrears, as allowed by our remedies guidance. However, our guidance also says that compensation awarded by us should be treated separately and not paid towards arrears, regardless of whether the landlord’s policy allows this. Therefore, all of the compensation ordered by this investigation must be paid directly to the resident and not put towards any arrears by the landlord.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52. of the Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord offered in its handling of reports of issues with the kitchen installation.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52. of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of reports of issues with the boiler and radiators.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Write to the resident to apologise for the further failures identified by this investigation, take responsibility for these, acknowledge their effect on him, and describe exactly how it proposes to stop them happening again in the future.
    2.  Pay direct to the resident total compensation of £885, which is not to be paid towards any arrears. This is made up of:
      1. £250 it previously offered him for its handling of his kitchen installation issues, if he has not received this already.
      2. £335 it previously offered him for its handling of his boiler and radiator issues, if he has not received this already.
      3. £150 additional compensation for the further failures identified by this investigation with its handling of his kitchen installation.
      4. £150 additional compensation for the further failures identified by this investigation with its handling of his boiler and radiators.
  2. Evidence of compliance with the above orders must be provided to the Service within 4 weeks of the date of this report.