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Lambeth Council (202310151)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202310151

Lambeth Council

30 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:
    1. The resident’s concerns that the landlord should have provided Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) for her property in 2008 and 2018.
    2. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s requests for copies of these EPCs.
    3. The Ombudsman has also considered the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Background

  1. The resident holds a secure tenancy for the property since 6 October 2008. The property is a 1-bedroom ground floor flat owned by the landlord. The landlord has said it does not have any vulnerabilities recorded on its systems for the resident.
  2. On 16 February 2023 the resident contacted the landlord by phone to report she had been living at the property for 14 years but never received an EPC. She followed this up with an email on 27 March 2023 to the landlord requesting it provides her with “the 2 EPC certificates I (the resident) should have been issued since I have lived in my home.”
  3. On 18 April 2023 the resident submitted a formal complaint to the landlord. She said the complaint was about the landlord’s failure to provide EPC documents. The landlord responded at stage one of its complaints process on 17 May 2023. It said that it was unable to provide an EPC for the property from before 2008 as this only became a legal requirement at that time.
  4. The resident escalated her complaint to stage two of the landlord’s complaints process on 18 May 2023. She said that she had never requested EPCs from prior to 2008. She clarified that she was requesting EPCs since the start of her tenancy. Specifically, the resident said she should have been provided one in 2008 covering 2008-2018 and another in 2018 covering 2018-2028. The landlord provided its final response to the complaint on 21 June 2023. The response reiterated again that the landlord could not provide EPCs from before 2008. It also confirmed that having reviewed its systems one was not available from 2008.
  5. In bringing her complaint to this Service the resident has said the landlord should have provided EPC’s in 2008 and 2018. The resident has confirmed she requested these as she was looking into charitable help with the condition of her home and they had requested these. The resident has confirmed she has raised a separate complaint to the landlord about the condition of her home.

Assessment and findings

Jurisdiction

  1. What the Ombudsman can and cannot consider is called the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction. This is governed by the Housing Ombudsman Scheme (the Scheme). When a complaint is brought to this Service, the Ombudsman must consider all the circumstances of the case, as there are sometimes reasons why a complaint will not be investigated.
  2. The resident submitted her formal complaint to the landlord on 18 April 2023. The Ombudsman encourages residents to raise complaints with their landlords in a timely manner. This is so that the landlord has a reasonable opportunity to consider the issues whilst they are still ‘live’, and whilst the evidence is available to reach an informed conclusion on the events which occurred. Paragraph 42c of the Scheme sets out that the Ombudsman may not consider complaints which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion “were not brought to the attention of the member as a formal complaint within a reasonable period which would usually be within 12 months of the matters arising.”
  3. As part of the resident’s complaint she has said the landlord should have provided EPCs in 2008 and 2018. The resident submitted her complaint in 2023 which is 15 years since events in 2008 and 5 years since events in 2018. As such, this aspect of the resident’s complaint is outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction to investigate.

Policies and procedures

  1. The landlord’s complaints policy in use at the time states that it will respond to stage one complaints within 20 working days and does not provide a timescale for responding to complaints at stage two.
  2. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out that landlord’s should respond to stage one complaints within 10 working days and stage two complaints within 20 working days.

Handling of the resident’s requests for EPCs

  1. The resident contacted the landlord on 16 February 2023 informing it that she had been living at the property for 14 years but never received an EPC. The landlord’s notes of the call indicate the resident was informed that she would be contacted to discuss the issue. However, there is no evidence the landlord responded to the resident at this time. This was unreasonable and resulted in delays to the resident obtaining a response to her request.
  2. On 27 March 2023 having not received a response to her call the resident emailed the landlord. The resident asked that “someone kindly assist with providing me (the resident) with the 2 EPC certificates that I should have been issued since living in my home”. The landlord’s notes at the time indicate the resident would likely file a complaint as she had not received responses to her communications. However, there is no evidence the landlord responded to this email. This was unreasonable, resulted in further delays and caused frustration to the resident.
  3. Overall, the landlord failed to respond to the resident’s requests for information in a timely manner resulting in delays and time and trouble for the resident having to submit a formal complaint. This amounts to service failure and a series of orders are set out below.

The landlord’s complaints handling

  1. The resident submitted a formal complaint to the landlord on 18 April 2023. On this date she contacted it by phone and by email. During her call she informed the landlord that she had lived at the property for 14 years and required evidence of previous EPCs. In her email she outlined that her complaint was about the landlord’s failure to provide EPC documents.
  2. The landlord responded to the resident at stage one of its complaints procedure on 17 May 2023. It is the Ombudsman’s opinion, that it is clear from the landlord’s response that it did not undertake a thorough investigation of the resident’s complaint. The landlord’s response confirms that the landlord is unable to provide an EPC for the property from before 2008. However, none of the evidence provided by the landlord to this Service would indicate the resident had ever request an EPC from before 2008. The landlords response also did not address its failure to respond to the resident’s previous queries about this issue. This was unreasonable and resulted in time and trouble for the resident having to escalate her complaint to stage two.
  3. The resident requested her complaint be escalated to stage two the next day on 18 May 2023. The resident’s escalation request said that she believed the landlord should hold EPCs for her property for 2008-2018 and 2018-2028. She also made it clear that she had never requested EPCs from prior to 2008. She said “please can I make it clear that I never asked for the 2 Energy Performance Certificates prior to 2008. I asked for them since my tenancy has started”.
  4. The landlord provided its final response to the complaint on 21 June 2023. The response again reiterated that the landlord was unable to share an EPC for the resident’s property from before 2008. This would have been frustrating for the resident to read as it indicates a lack of understanding of her concerns and of the escalation request, which was clear she was not requesting this. It goes on to confirm that the landlord does not have an EPC on record for 2008 but does not respond to the resident’s assertion one should be available for 2018. Further the response acknowledges the frustration caused to the resident due to the time taken to address her concerns but does not offer an apology for this. This was unreasonable and resulted in further frustration to the resident.
  5. Overall, it is the Ombudsman’s opinion that the landlord was not fulsome in their responses to the resident’s concerns and failed to identify and apologise for any failings or consider financial redress. This amounts to maladministration and a series of orders are set out below.
  6. In February 2022, the Ombudsman issued a special report about the landlord, highlighting concerns with its complaint handling. The report recommended the landlord review its complaint handling procedures to reduce the risk of similar failures in the future. We continued to identify problems with the landlord’s performance, reaching findings of maladministration and severe maladministration following investigations into 20 separate complaints from residents. 
  7. In June 2023 we told the landlord of our intention to carry out an inspection to find out the reasons for its ongoing failures in complaint handling. In December 2023 we issued a report setting out our findings with further recommendations for service improvement. 
  8. In this investigation we have identified failures similar to those that led to our special report in 2022 and subsequent inspection in 2023. We therefore order the landlord to consider the findings highlighted in this investigation against the recommendations in our inspection report of December 2023.  

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 42c of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the resident’s submission that the landlord should have provided EPCs for her property in 2008 and 2018 is outside of the Ombudsman’s jurisdiction.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s requests for copies of these EPCs.
  3. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s complaint.

Orders and recommendations

  1. The landlord should take the following actions within the next four weeks and provide evidence of compliance with these orders to the Ombudsman:
    1. Pay the resident the sum of £200 compensation, which consists of:
      1. £50 for the time and trouble caused to the resident due to its handling of her requests for information.
      2. £150 for the time and frustration caused to the resident in its handling of her complaint.
    2. Write to the resident to apologise for the failings identified in this report. This letter should set out the landlords position regarding any EPC’s held since the start of the resident’s tenancy.