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London Borough of Islington (202407203)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202407203

London Borough of Islington

16 July 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 the landlord’s:
    1. Response to the resident’s reports of issues with the heating and hot water between October 2023 and November 2023 including a dripping heating pipe.
    2. Complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident has a secure tenancy at the property which is a 2-bedroom flat. He told the landlord that he has multiple health conditions including an “extreme coldness disorder”.
  2. The resident submitted a complaint in December 2022 about not having heating between October and December 2022. He subsequently added he had also been without heating between February 2023 and April 2023. The landlord offered compensation in respect of this complaint. The resident accepted this and did not escalate this to stage 2 of the landlord’s complaints procedure.
  3. The resident reported on 16 October 2023 that he had no heating or hot water. The landlord carried out repairs in respect of this between October and November 2023. The resident subsequently made a complaint that the property was without heating for this time. He also said a heating pipe was dripping.
  4. The landlord responded to the complaint at stage 1 and said that all the repairs had been attended within its repair response timeframes. It acknowledged the resident had been without heating and hot water for a total of 9 days. It offered compensation.
  5. The resident escalated his complaint and disputed the timeframes relied on by the landlord. The landlord responded at stage 2 and agreed with its earlier findings.
  6. The resident referred his complaint to us. He said he wanted to be compensated for having no heating and hot water for 41 days, missed appointments, inconvenience, the impact on his health and damaged items. 
  7. Following the completion of the internal complaints procedure, a contractor identified a screw had pierced a hot water pipe causing an “unstoppable” leak. The resident submitted a complaint about this. He subsequently accepted the compensation offered when the landlord issued a stage 1 response about the matter. He did not escalate this further.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident has expressed concerns about the impact the situation had on his health. We are unable to draw conclusions relating to impact on health and wellbeing. Claims for personal injury are matters for a court to decide. A court can consider medical evidence and make legally binding findings. Where there has been a failing by the landlord, we can consider any general distress and inconvenience which the situation may have caused the resident.
  2. We can only consider complaints which have completed both stages of the landlord’s internal complaints procedure. This is because landlord’s must be given the opportunity to fully investigate concerns raised.
  3. As the resident accepted the resolution offered by the landlord for the following matters and did not pursue these to stage 2 of the complaints procedure, we will not investigate them further. For clarity, the following issues do not form part of our investigation:
    1. A lack of heating between October 2022 and December 2022 and February 2023 and April 2023.
    2. The resident’s complaint about the landlord’s handling of a leak in June 2024.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of issues with the heating and hot water between October 2023 and November 2023, including a dripping heating pipe

  1. It is not in dispute that the landlord is responsible for the repairs associated with the heating and hot water supply to the property.
  2. The resident told the landlord on 16 October 2023 that he had no heating or hot water. The landlord raised a job for this to be attended within 24 hours. This was in line with its repairs guide which specifically sets out that it will attend such reports within 24 hours. A heating engineer subsequently attended the following day and noted the job was “already assigned and attended”. It is not clear what, if any, work was carried out on this occasion. However, from the landlord’s correspondence provided to us, we have seen that the heating and hot water was reinstated on 18 October 2023.
  3. The resident reported having no heating again on 21 October 2023. The landlord raised an emergency 4–hour appointment. This was the most urgent response timeframe set out in its policy. This was appropriate priority given the resident had reported a reoccurring issue. A contractor attended that same day and bled the radiators. It marked the work as complete. 
  4. The resident reported having no heating again on 2 November 2023. The landlord asked a heating engineer to attend. However, the engineer had not attended by 6 November 2023, as such the landlord allocated this to a different contractor who attended the same day. They identified a small leak. It is not clear from the information we have been provided with if the heating was reinstated at this appointment.
  5. The landlord arranged for another contractor to attend as an emergency in respect of the leak. They attended 3 days later on 9 November 2023. This was outside of the 24 hour timeframe stated in the landlord’s policy for the emergency category of repair raised by the landlord. The contractor identified that a heating pipe was dripping on part of the meter. This had caused the meter to burn out. It told the landlord that the drip needed to be resolved and then the meter repaired.
  6. A heating contractor subsequently attended on 15 November 2023. They moved the meter wiring away from the dripping pipe. They told the landlord they would reset the system once the drip had been resolved.
  7. The heating engineer attended again on 18 November 2023 but noted they could not gain access. They re-attended on 21 November 2023 and work was completed. However, we have not been provided with records which show what was done on this occasion.
  8. The resident submitted a complaint to the landlord on 26 January 2024 about not having heating. He said this had been between 13 October and 5 December 2023. He also said the dripping pipe had damaged a pair of his daughter’s boots.
  9. He added to his complaint on 12 February 2024 and said as follows:
    1. He had reported the issue on 13 October 2023. The heating had not been reinstated until 17 October 2023.
    2. He had lost heating again on 1 November 2023. Despite calling the landlord numerous times, the engineer did not attend until 6 November 2023. They could not carry out a repair as a part was needed.
    3. Contractors had subsequently failed to attend on 7 and 8 November 2023. On 9 November 2023 a contractor had replaced a valve but said due to the dripping pipe it would break again, which it did.
    4. A plumber had attended on 10 November 2023 but said the leak was the heating engineer’s responsibility.
    5. The heating engineer who had attend on 18 November 2023 had been rude and “aggressive”.
    6. Contractors had failed to attend a number of appointments between 20 and 22 November 2023.
    7. The leak had been repaired but he had been without heating and hot water for 40 days between October and 5 December 2023.
  10. The landlord responded to the complaint at stage 1 on 4 March 2024. It said as follows:

Hot water and heating

  1. The resident had reported a fault with the heating on 16 October 2023. Its engineer had attended within 24 hours. However, it acknowledged it had taken until 18 October 2023 for the heating and hot water to be reinstated. It explained this had been “153 minutes” outside of its response timeframe. This delay had been due to a high number of emergency repairs at the time.
  2. The resident had reported another issue with the heating on 21 October 2023. An engineer had attended within 4 hours and resolved the issue.
  3. The resident reported another issue with the heating on 2 November 2023. The landlord had raised a job for this. However, the engineer scheduled to attend could not make the appointment.. The landlord allocated the job to a different engineer on 6 November 2023. The engineer attended the same day. They identified a small leak. The landlord arranged for a plumber to attend as an emergency.
  4. It apologised that the engineer originally allocated the job had not told the landlord that they could not attend. As the engineer had not followed the correct process, the heating company did not have the opportunity to reassign the repair to another engineer who could have attended the same day.
  5. It noted the resident had reported another issue with the heating and hot water on 18 November 2023. A contractor attended the same day but access could not be gained. This appointment was rescheduled for 21 November 2023 and the work completed.
  6. The reported behaviour of a heating engineer was “unacceptable”. The heating company had taken action and the contractor no longer worked for them. The landlord apologised for the distress or upset caused.

Dripping pipe

  1. This was reported on 9 November 2023. A plumber had attended the next day and fixed the drip.
  2. The landlord recommend the resident claim for any damaged possessions via his content’s insurance. Alternatively, the landlord signposted him to submit a claim through its insurer.

Conclusion

  1. The landlord acknowledged that the resident had experienced recurring issues with the heating and hot water from October 2023 to November 2023, totalling 9 days without these services. It apologised for the inconvenience of this and for missed appointments.
  2. It offered a total of £375 compensation, made up as follows:
    1. £100 for the delay and ongoing issues.
    2. £250 to acknowledge the frustration and inconvenience caused throughout the process, including the conduct of the engineer.
    3. £25 for the delayed complaint response.
  3. In addition, it would pay a “heating charge refund”. This would be calculated and applied automatically to the rent account.
  1. Although the landlord addressed the resident’s concerns about the lack of heating and hot water, it did not address his concern that he had continued to experience this into December 2023. It provided no response to this part of his complaint. Its conclusion that the dripping pipe was fixed within 24 hours and by 10 November 2023 was contradicted by the report from its contractor on 15 November 2023. This contractor had moved wiring away from the dripping pipe and said contractors would reset the system once the drip had been resolved.
  2. It is of concern that the landlord’s records did not accurately account that the drip was still ongoing as of 15 November 2023. The landlord’s conclusion that the dripping pipe had been appropriately resolved was not supported by the evidence we have been provided with.
  3. The resident escalated his complaint on 8 April 2024. He said as follows:
    1. He disputed that the dripping pipe had been resolved within 1 day.
    2. He did not have heating or hot water for 41 days during the following periods:
      1. 13 October 2023 to 17 October 2023.
      2. 31 October 2023 to 4 December 2023.
    3. He had reported this almost every day during this time to the landlord.
    4. It had caused him and his daughter inconvenience and affected his health.
    5. There had been over 50 missed contractor appointments. This had caused him to have to reschedule medical appointments.
    6. He had experience the same issues for 2 consecutive years.
  4. The landlord responded at stage 2 on 17 May 2024. It said as follows:
    1. The information and dates without services given in the stage 1 response accurately reflected its repair records.
    2. It had attended all of the repairs during this period within a reasonable timeframe.
    3. Its records showed the resident had been without heating and hot water intermittently for a total of 9 days. The compensation offered at stage 1 for this was in line with its compensation policy.
    4. It reiterated its advice about making a claim for damaged possessions via its insurer.
  5. The landlord’s response reflected the repairs records we have been provided with. We have not seen any evidence that the resident reported issues with the heating and hot water in December 2023. Although it was reasonable for the landlord to rely on its repairs records, it could have gone further to investigate this by giving the resident the opportunity to supply emails or telephone logs of when he said he had reported this in December 2023. This would have demonstrated a more resident-focused and inquisitorial approach.
  6. The second stage of the complaints process is designed to be a review of the investigation previously undertaken at stage 1. The stage 2 response failed to identify that the previous conclusion about the dripping pipe being fixed within 24 hours was directly contradicted by its contractor. This is something the landlord’s repairs records should have reflected and is something which would of been identified upon a thorough review. Given the landlord’s failure to identify the length of time the pipe was dripping, its response to this aspect was not accurate and cannot be said to have put things right for the resident.
  7. In summary, our investigation has identified some of the steps taken by the landlord were reasonable. These were as follows:
    1. It’s offer of compensation was based on the information of the services being reinstated throughout this time as per its repairs log.
    2. It raised jobs within appropriate timeframes. As well as being in line with its repairs policy, this also demonstrated that the landlord had considered the resident’s vulnerabilities.
    3. It apologised for a failure of one of the contractors to follow procure. It instructed a new contractor the same day it became aware of the issue.
    4. It appropriately investigated the resident’s concerns about a contractor’s behaviour and explained the action taken.
    5. It signposted the resident in respect of claiming via insurance for damaged possessions.
  8. However, our investigation has identified the following failures of the landlord:
    1. Its conclusion about the dripping pipe being repaired was not supported by the evidence from the contractor. As such, it’s reliance on this being repaired within 24 hours was not appropriate.
    2. The investigation did not address the resident’s concerns about having no heating and hot water in December 2023.
  9. When failures are identified, as in this case, our role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily. In considering this, we take into account whether the  offer of redress was in line with our Dispute Resolution Principles: Be Fair, Put Things Right and Learn from Outcomes as well as our guidance on remedies.
  10. The landlord offered a total of £350 compensation in respect of its response to the repair issues. Its offer of compensation for complaint handling has been considered separately below. However, as stated above, the landlord did not identify all of its failures. As such, the compensation offered was not proportionate to the failings identified by our investigation. This leads to a determination of maladministration.
  11. To acknowledge the effect of the failures on the resident, we have ordered additional compensation of £200. This brings the total compensation for the landlord’s response to the repair issues to £550. This is in line with the range recommended in our remedies guidance where there was a failure which adversely affected the resident and the landlord failed to acknowledge this or put things right.

Complaints handling

  1. The landlord has a 2 stage complaints procedure. This says that at stage 1 it will acknowledge a complaint within 5 days. It will provide the response within a further 10 working days. At stage 2 it will respond within 20 days of receipt of the complaint. If more time is needed at either stage it will keep the resident informed.
  2. The resident made his complaint about the heating and hot water on 26 January 2024. The landlord acknowledged this on 9 February 2024. This was 5 working days after its policy acknowledgement timeframe. It subsequently contacted the resident on 16 February 2024 and said it needed more time to respond. It said it aimed to do so by 4 March 2024. The landlord met this extended timeframe and sent the stage 1 response on 4 March 2024.
  3. Within this response, it acknowledged that it had been delayed in providing the response and offered £25 compensation. This was in line with the landlord’s compensation policy, which says that it will compensate this amount for a delayed complaint response.
  4. The resident escalated his complaint on 8 April 2024. The landlord subsequently responded to this at stage 2 on 17 May 2024. This was 28 working days after the escalation and 8 working days over its stated response timeframe. The landlord failed to acknowledge this delay and did not offer any further compensation. We have not been provided with any evidence that the landlord had told the resident there would be a delay or the reasons for this.
  5. As the landlord failed to acknowledge the delay at stage 2 or offer any redress for this, this amounts to service failure. To acknowledge the inconvenience caused to the resident we have ordered an additional £75 compensation. This brings the total compensation for complaint handling to £100. This is in line with our remedies guidance where there was minor failure by the landlord and it did not appropriately acknowledge this.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of issues with the heating and hot water between October 2023 and November 2023 including a dripping heating pipe.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

  1. The landlord is ordered to take the following action within 4 weeks of this report and provide evidence of compliance to the Ombudsman:
    1. Pay a total of £650 compensation to the resident. This amount includes the landlord’s previous offer of £375 compensation. The landlord can deduct this amount if it can provide evidence this has already been paid. The compensation is made up as follows:
      1. £550 to acknowledge the effect on the resident of the landlord’s failures in its response to the resident’s reports of damp and mould and associated internal repairs.
      2. £100 to acknowledge the effect on the resident of the landlord’s complaint handling failures.