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Great Places Housing Association (202310469)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202310469

Great Places Housing Association

5 December 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 the resident’s reports of a faulty boiler.
  2. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident was an assured tenant of the landlord, a housing association. The tenancy started in 2017 and the property is a 4-bedroom house. The resident has since moved into private accommodation. The resident’s son is vulnerable and has special needs.
  2. From November/December 2022 to January 2023 the resident experienced multiple instances of loss of heating and hot water due to problems with the boiler. The landlord arranged for emergency operatives to attend within 24 hours on each occasion that the resident reported this. Each time, the operative left the property with the system repaired and working, but there were subsequent breakdowns resulting in repeat reports and visits by operatives to the property.
  3. The resident’s initial reports of anti-social behaviour (ASB) have not been seen, as the landlord did not consider this as a formal complaint. However, in her complaint correspondence she explained that during the period prior to February 2023 her family had suffered from racist and bullying behaviour by other neighbours in the area, banging on her door, and her son being physically assaulted.
  4. On 1 February 2023 the resident emailed the landlord to explain that her family would be moving out due to the overall stress and challenges they had experienced. She said:
    1. Over 12 reports had been made to the landlord about gas, heating and hot water issues.
    2. Over the last 3 months, they lost gas, heating and hot water 10 times, and had 10 different operatives attend to top up the pressure, and then leave.
    3. They had no heating for some days in winter and, despite the numerous reports, they did not get the help they needed and had to spend money on interim measures themselves, such as using electric fans or boiling water.
    4. They had to deal with strangers coming into the property every week for emergency repairs without permanent resolutions.
    5. Her household had also experienced ASB in the form of racial attacks and bullying by the neighbourhood.
  5. The resident has stated that, during a discussion with a housing officer about the moving process on 14 February 2023, they promised to forward both of her complaint concerns (heating repairs and ASB). However, there is no evidence that the landlord logged or progressed the ASB complaint. The landlord acknowledged the repair complaint on 15 February 2023, stating that it would provide its response in 10 working days.
  6. In the landlord’s stage 1 response of 27 February 2023 it detailed the reports it had received of no heating or hot water between December 2022 and January 2023 and the corresponding emergency repairs that were carried out, to address issues such as leaks and dropping boiler pressure. There was a follow up visit scheduled in January 2023 after the system had been restored to investigate why the pressure kept dropping, but this was cancelled in February 2023 as the resident indicated she was moving out. The landlord acknowledged a service failure in not progressing this investigation and offered the resident an apology and £50 compensation.
  7. The resident asked for a call back to discuss the matter further, as she remained dissatisfied and wanted to escalate the complaint. Details of the discussion have not been provided to this Service. In the landlord’s stage 2 response of 17 March 2023 it acknowledged that the resident remained dissatisfied with the level of compensation for the inconvenience and distress due to having different people entering the property. It said the compensation offer was in line with its policy and it was unable to escalate the complaint further.
  8. In its evidence submission to the Ombudsman the landlord reiterated the stage 1 outcome and stated that the resident’s household had not been without heating or hot water as it attended to each breakdown in emergency timescales. It also identified the failure to accept the complaint at stage 2 and said this approach had since been amended and it was now aligned with the Ombudsman’s approach.
  9. The resident submitted to the Ombudsman that she had complained about the ASB and did not understand why the landlord had not progressed this. There has been no evidence that the landlord has progressed a formal complaint about ASB, though there is evidence that this issue was raised with the landlord. The resident also shared her concerns about the financial impact the reported issues had on the household, explaining that they now had a mortgage and lost out on the housing purchase options that would have been available had she stayed in the property.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a faulty boiler

  1. The landlord has not disputed its repairing responsibilities set out under the Tenancy Agreement and Repair Policy. The landlord must keep in repair and working order installations for heating, hot water, gas and electricity. The Repair Policy states that it will carry out emergency repairs (such as loss of hot water, heating, or electricity and where there are vulnerable residents) within 24 hours under its responsive repair service. It will also aim to complete repairs in one visit.
  2. The landlord and resident’s corroborating reports, and the evidence seen, show that there were multiple visits to the property over a short space of time to address recurring issues with the boiler. Each time the resident reported a concern, the landlord responded within 24 hours under its emergency responsive repair service, in line with its Repair Policy timescales.
  3. However, after the second or third repeat report and emergency repair, it would have been resolution focused for the landlord to inspect the components which repeatedly broke down in order to identify and remedy the cause of the repeat issues. This would have been in line with the Repair Policy which states that, where problems persist, the landlord will arrange a visit by a specialist and monitor repeat issues as part of its performance measures. The landlord did not do this until much later, after there had been further reports of repeat issues and multiple visits by its operatives, which was unreasonable. The resident experienced unnecessary time and trouble and distress and inconvenience due to the unreasonable delay in the landlord implementing its full repair service.
  4. The landlord recognised a failure to arrange the final inspection, and offered an apology and £50 compensation for not completing this step. Had it not done so, the Ombudsman would have made a finding of maladministration. As it stands, the landlord’s recognition and attempt to put things right were resolution focused. However, the redress offered was not proportionate to the overall time and trouble, and distress and inconvenience, that the resident and her household experienced in repeat breakdowns and disruption to their lives and the delayed response by the landlord in its final attempt to put things right.
  5. Therefore, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports about the broken boiler. The landlord is ordered to pay an additional £100 (bringing the total award to £150), in line with this Service’s Remedies Guidance, for the detriment to the resident. 
  6. It remains unclear if the property was re-let with the issues outstanding, after the landlord acknowledged that it had failed to inspect the boiler in 2023. The landlord is therefore recommended to confirm the status of any outstanding inspections of the boiler issues within its repair team so they can take any appropriate action as needed.

Complaint handling

  1. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) in operation at the time of the complaint states that stage 1 complaints should be responded to within 10 working days and stage 2 complaints should be responded to within 20 working days.
  2. The resident’s complaint of 1 February 2023 was not logged until 15 February 2023 and the stage 1 response was provided on 27 February 2023. This was a week beyond the timescale for stage 1 complaints at the time. The landlord did not acknowledge the delay or offer any redress in that regard.
  3. The Code further states that landlords must accept a complaint, unless there is a valid reason not to do so, and if it chooses not to then it must provide a detailed explanation to the resident setting out the reasons why it is not suitable and that the resident may take that decision to the Ombudsman. The landlord chose not to escalate the complaint to stage 2. This was unreasonable as the resident missed out on the opportunity to have her concerns looked at again by a separate complaint handler and for her concerns about the costs incurred while waiting for emergency repairs to be considered and addressed.
  4. The landlord has since acknowledged that it ought to have accepted the complaint at stage 2, and stated that it is now compliant with the Ombudsman’s expected standards, particularly on accepting complaints. The new Code (2024) sets out the current standards, which the landlord may refer to for current and future complaints.
  5. The resident’s concerns about ASB were communicated to the landlord in February 2023. The landlord did not, however, log this issue as a complaint, and has failed to acknowledge this in its correspondence to the resident. Therefore, it missed the opportunity to address her additional concerns and demonstrate that it was taking the matter seriously. The resident has experienced time and trouble as a result, and lost out on the opportunity to have her concerns addressed.
  6. As a result, the Ombudsman finds that there was maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling. It failed to acknowledge its service failures in delays, missed opportunity to escalate the complaint, missed opportunity to log the complaint, and missed opportunity to resolve the resident’s concerns locally.
  7. The resident experienced unnecessary time and trouble in the delays by the landlord’s complaint handling, and distress and inconvenience by the landlord’s decision not to address her continued concerns about the repairs, and her concerns about the ASB, which she has had to pursue separately. This was not fair or reasonable. In line with the Ombudsman’s Remedies Guidance, the landlord is ordered to pay £250 compensation for the time and trouble, and distress and inconvenience associated with its complaint handling failures.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Scheme, there was:
    1. Service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports about the boiler repair.
    2. Maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders and recommendations

  1. Within 6 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord is ordered to pay a total of £400 comprised of:
    1. £150 for time, trouble, distress and inconvenience associated with its handling of the boiler repair (to be reduced by the amount already paid).
    2. £250 for time, trouble, distress and inconvenience associated with the complaint handling failures.
  2. The landlord is recommended to confirm the status of any outstanding inspections of the boiler issues for the property with its repair team if this has been re-let to new tenants, so they can take any appropriate action as needed to remedy any unresolved issues.