London Borough of Tower Hamlets (202318376)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202318376

Tower Hamlets Homes

8 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

The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s:
1. Reports of no heating and hot water.
2. Associated complaint.

Background

The resident holds an assured tenancy with the landlord and lives in a purpose-built block of flats with his partner and 2 children.
His flat receives heating and hot water from a communal boiler, connected to the property through a Heat Interface Unit (HIU).
Between July 2022 and November 2022, the landlord raised multiple inspections in response to reports of heating and hot water outages in the block.
On 15 December 2022, after flushing and descaling the plate heat exchangers on the communal boiler, an engineer visited the resident’s flat, cleaned a filter in the HIU, and found a leaking valve that needed replacing.
The resident raised a complaint with the landlord on 19 December 2022, explaining that intermittent heating and hot water had been ongoing for years and that previous repairs had failed to resolve the problem. He expressed frustration about long call wait times and difficulty contacting the landlord. He said he planned to withhold rent until the issue was resolved and asked for a meeting with senior management to agree a permanent solution.
Throughout January 2023, the landlord continued to raise inspections following reports of heating and hot water outages. An engineer inspected the resident’s HIU again and confirmed that new parts were needed, including a valve, expansion vessel, and plate heat exchangers. The landlord later issued its stage 1 complaint response to the resident, which noted that other blocks using the same communal boiler had also reported an intermittent heating and hot water service. The landlord apologised for the disruption and said it was arranging for senior management to meet with the resident.
On 9 February 2023, the resident asked the landlord to escalate his complaint to stage 2 of its complaints process. He reiterated that his heating and hot water had not been working for several months and that he had gone through the winter without these essential services. He raised concern about the landlord’s handling of the issue, including a missed appointment and being told that parts were unavailable. He also referred to a Freedom of Information request, which showed the landlord had received a high volume of calls and emails about similar issues. He asked the landlord to put a long-term solution in place.
On 23 February 2023, the landlord’s director of asset management met with residents on site to assess the ongoing heating and hot water issues affecting the blocks. The mayor’s office then met with residents on 16 March 2023, to discuss a programme of works to resolve the identified issues.
On 21 March 2023, an engineer replaced the leaking valve and plate heat exchangers on the resident’s HIU.
The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response to the resident on 3 April 2023. It acknowledged that it had mishandled the resident’s concerns due to miscommunication and missed appointments. The landlord explained that the ongoing heating and hot water issues were caused by blocked filters in individual HIUs, which needed cleaning, and a system reset. It confirmed plans to upgrade the heating system serving his block, including the addition of filtration strainers to reduce future problems. The landlord said it would visit each flat to drain and clear debris from the HIUs. It confirmed that upgrade works were underway and that residents would receive updates in due course. It also stated that the heating and hot water issues in the resident’s flat had been resolved and offered £140 compensation for the delays and inconvenience.
On 22 August 2023, the resident escalated his complaint to our service. He said he was dissatisfied with the landlord’s compensation offer, as it did not reflect the 3 months he spent without heating over the winter, despite having 2 young children in his household.
We accepted the resident’s complaint for investigation on 18 April 2024. He told us that the heating and hot water had broken down on multiple occasions since the landlord issued its final complaint response.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

In his complaint to the landlord, the resident said that intermittent heating and hot water had been ongoing for years. We acknowledge his comments and understand that this forms the basis of his concerns. However, in line with paragraph 42 (c) of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, which is available on our website, we will not consider matters that were not formally raised with the landlord as a complaint within a reasonable period – normally within 12 months of an issue first arising. This ensures that both the landlord and the Ombudsman have a fair opportunity to consider concerns while they are live, and that sufficient evidence is available to reach an informed decision.
In the interest of fairness, we have focused the investigation on events from July 2022, as this is where records indicate the beginning of events leading up to the resident’s formal complaint.
The resident told us he continued to experience an intermittent heating and hot water service after the landlord concluded its complaints process. We raised this with the landlord, and in response, it provided us with repair records up to November 2024. We have therefore determined it reasonable to extend the scope of this investigation beyond the final complaint response to include events up to November 2024. This is to ensure a fair and thorough assessment of the landlord’s response to an ongoing issue where relevant records were available.
However, any issues occurring after November 2024, must be considered by the landlord as a new complaint. This is because the landlord must be given the opportunity to investigate and respond to any new concerns before our involvement. If the resident is not satisfied with the landlord’s final response, he may then refer the new complaint to us for consideration. We have included an order below to reflect this.

Legal policy and framework

Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 (s.11 LTA 1985) places a statutory obligation on landlords to keep in repair and proper working order the installations in the property for the supply of water, gas, electricity, sanitation, space heating, and heating water.
The Homes (Fitness for Habitation) Act 2018 (HFHHA 2018) requires landlords to ensure that rented properties are fit for human habitation. A property may be considered unfit if it contains a hazard under the Housing Health and Safety Rating System, including the risk of excess cold or a lack of adequate space heating or hot water.
The landlord’s repairs policy categorises repairs as follows:
1. Emergency – for example, a complete loss of heating in winter or a loss of hot water. These should be resolved within 24 hours
2. Routine repairs – standard repairs that do not require urgent attention. These should be completed within 20 working days.
At the time of the resident’s complaint, the landlord operated a 2-stage complaints process, with a target response time of 20 working days at both Stage 1 and Stage 2.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of no heating and hot water

As part of this investigation, we asked the landlord to provide detailed records relating to the resident’s reports of no heating and hot water, and the actions it took in response. While the records show that multiple inspections were raised throughout 2022, 2023, and 2024, not all records clarify whether these related to the resident’s flat or wider block-level issues. Nor do they consistently set out the outcome of each inspection, or how long the resident was left without heating and hot water.
Additionally, evidence from the resident suggests that on several occasions he reported a loss of heating and hot water to the landlord, but these reports were not recorded and therefore have not been included in the evidence submitted to us. This indicates that the landlord’s records may not fully account for all reports made by the resident, undermining the reliability of its record-keeping. Overall, the lack of clarity and detail prevents proper scrutiny of the landlord’s response and makes it difficult to assess whether its actions were fair and reasonable in the circumstances.
We recommend that the landlord reviews and improves its record-keeping practices to ensure that, for all repair requests, it maintains a clear and complete audit trail. This should include: the date the report was raised, who raised it, the date the issue was inspected, the outcome of the inspection, and whether and when the issue was resolved. Records should be clear, well-structured, and understandable to individuals without technical expertise, to ensure they can be effectively used for oversight, complaint resolution, and service improvement.
Between July 2022 and November 2022, the evidence shows that the landlord raised 16 inspections linked to heating and hot water loss. Although the records do not clarify whether these relate specifically to the resident’s flat, the communal boiler, or other residents in the block, the systems were interlinked. This means the failures affecting the communal supply would likely have had a direct impact on the resident’s home. This period alone demonstrates that the issue was ongoing, and that the landlord took repeated action without resolving the underlying cause. While the heating and hot water issues continued beyond this period, the level of activity during these months shows the landlord had early and repeated opportunities to identify the root cause and take effective steps to resolve it. Its failure to do so, falls short of its obligation under s.11 LTA 1985, and meant the resident was left without reliable and essential services for a prolonged period.
Between December 2022 and March 2023, the records show that the landlord continued to raise inspections in response to disruptions to heating and hot water throughout the block. Although there is only 1 record showing the resident reporting a loss of service during this period, other evidence strongly indicates that he was affected throughout. On 15 December 2022, an engineer identified a leaking valve from the resident’s HIU, suggesting that his heating and hot water were disrupted. In his stage 1 complaint, the resident said he had been on hold trying to report an issue, and in his stage 2 complaint which he sent it February 2023, he stated he had been without services for several weeks. This evidence, taken alongside the landlord’s repair activity across the block, indicates that the resident likely experienced a prolonged loss of essential services, even though the landlord’s repair records do not fully capture the extent or duration of the disruption in his home.
The leak from the HIU and plate heat exchangers appear to have been key contributors to the heating and hot water failures in the resident’s flat and were ultimately repaired and replaced in March 2023. The landlord’s records cite the availability of parts as a contributing factor to the 14-week delay, and we understand that landlords may have to order parts that are not readily available. However, where delays are unavoidable, landlords must take steps to minimise the impact of affected households, such as offering temporary heating or hot water.
There is no evidence that the landlord considered or offered any support to the resident to mitigate the impact during this 14-week period. Its failure to do so – particularly during the winter months and given that the resident lived with young children – fell short of its obligations under the HFHHA 2018, to ensure that the property remained fit to live in.
The landlord’s complaint responses acknowledged that there were also wider block-level issues, with blockages in the HIU’s causing heating and hot water failures. While it is positive that its director of asset management met residents and that the mayor’s office also engaged with residents, these actions appear to have been reactive – prompted by the resident’s formal complaint and threat to withhold rent – rather than part of a coordinated and proactive strategy to resolve the underlying issue.
There are no records of the outcomes of these meetings, other than a general reference to future upgrade works, and no evidence that the landlord provided residents with a timeline for delivery. As a result, the action taken to address the wider issue lacked transparency and we are not satisfied that the landlord went far enough to provide the resident with reassurance that the matter was being addressed effectively.
The landlord’s records, along with reports made to us by the resident, show that he experienced further disruption to either his heating or hot water on the following dates:
1. 21 June 2023 – loss of hot water, restored on the same day
2. 18 October 2023 – loss of heating and hot water
3. 1 January 2024 – loss of heating and hot water for over 24 hours
4. 8 January 2024 – loss of heating and hot water
5. 18 March 2024 – repairs carried out to restore heating and hot water
6. 15 April 2024 – loss of heating and hot water
7. 25 April 2024 – loss of heating and hot water
In May 2024, the landlord told us that it had installed communal strainers on the pipes serving the blocks to catch debris before it reached individual properties. It also said it was arranging for a specialist to inspect the communal boiler and pipework to identify potential sources of the debris and assess whether further works were needed. These steps suggest the landlord had begun to investigate the root cause of the repeated failures.
However, the landlord’s records also show that the resident made further reports of a loss to service on 10 November 2024, 11 November 2024, and 21 November 2024. The repeated pattern of disruption, even after remedial works were carried out, indicates that the underlying issue has not yet been fully resolved and highlight the serious and ongoing nature of the problem. This would understandably have caused significant distress and uncertainty for the resident, particularly during colder months when access to these essential services is most critical.
We have also considered the landlord’s communication with the resident throughout the disruption to his heating and hot water service. There is no evidence that it provided regular updates or meaningful support beyond its formal complaint responses in January 2023 and April 2023. Given the prolonged and widespread nature of the issue, the landlord should have appointed a single point of contact to coordinate its response and ensure consistent communication with residents. It also could have issued block–wide updates to provide clarity on the identified problems and offer practical advice while it took steps to restore services in the longer-term.
These actions would have supported a more proactive and organised response, helped managed expectations, and demonstrated that the landlord was taking resident concerns seriously. Instead, the lack of oversight left the resident to chase for updates and contributed to a sense of uncertainty about how and when a lasting resolution would be put in place.
The landlord acknowledged the delay and inconvenience caused by the ongoing disruption to the resident’s heating and hot water and awarded compensation to recognise the impact. Where a landlord accepts failings, our role is to assess whether the redress was fair and resolved the complaint appropriately. This includes considering whether the offer aligned with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles: be fair, put things right, and learn from outcomes.
In this case, the landlord offered £140 compensation. However, it is unclear how this amount was calculated, and there is no evidence that it was based on an accurate assessment of the resident’s experience during the period covered by the complaint. The landlord did not maintain adequate records to confirm the length of time the resident was without heating and hot water. In his stage 2 complaint, the resident stated that he had been without a reliable service since December 2022. While the landlord did not dispute this, it did not clarify how long the resident was affected or explain how the £140 figure was decided.
Based on the available evidence, repairs were completed in March 2023, indicating a likely period of 14 weeks that the resident was without heating and hot water. In the absence of clear records and transparent explanation of how the redress was determined, we are not satisfied that the compensation offered fairly reflected the likely length, frequency, or cumulative impact of the intermittent heating and hot water failures during this time.
There is also no evidence that the landlord used the ongoing failures as an opportunity to review or improve its approach at an earlier stage. The block-wide issues persisted for more than 2 years, and the records show the same faults with either the heat exchange plates, or blocked filters were being addressed repeatedly without resolving the recurring problem. Although the landlord began to take more investigative steps in May 2024, these followed a prolonged period of repeated disruption and resident dissatisfaction.
Importantly, the failures continued even after the landlord had concluded its complaints process, which indicates that it did not reflect on the outcomes of that process to drive improvements. We therefore cannot conclude that the landlord has met the Ombudsman’s expectation to learn from outcomes.
In summary, the landlord’s poor record-keeping has made it difficult to fully scrutinise its response. However, based on the evidence available, its actions fell short of its legal obligations. These failings amount to maladministration in its response to the resident’s reports of no heating and hot water.
The Ombudsman’s Remedies Guidance, which is published on our website, sets out our approach to resolving disputes. Where we have determined that there was maladministration which has significantly impacted the resident, we expect landlords to offer residents financial redress between £600 to £1000, to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused and put things right.
In this case, the impact on the resident was likely aggravated by the length of the disruption, the timing during the winter months, the resident’s household circumstances, and the landlord’s failure to provide practical support during a prolonged period. In addition, the resident continued to report further loss of heating or hot water on at least 10 separate dates between June 2023 and November 2024. This pattern of failure after the complaints process had concluded further illustrates the scale of the issue and the likely emotional and practical toll on the resident and his household.
In view of this, and in the absence of any meaningful mitigating action by the landlord, the landlord is ordered to pay the resident £730 in recognition of the distress and inconvenience caused by its failings in this section of the report.
We also consider it appropriate for the landlord to award compensation for loss of amenity. The available evidence indicates that the resident did not have full enjoyment of the property for a substantial period, due to the disruption to the heating and hot water. In the absence of detailed records, a 14-week period between 13 December 2022 and 21 March 2023 has been used as a reasonable estimate of the initial disruption, based on the reported service loss and the HIU repair completion. A further week has been added to reflect the intermittent issues that continued after the complaints process ended. A 10% amenity loss payment has therefore been applied for this period, in line with the Ombudsman’s approach.
During this time, the resident was paying £170.49 in rent per week. Applying a 10% reduction across the 15-week period gives a total award of £255.74. While this figure does not represent a precise calculation of all losses, it is considered a fair and reasonable amount in the circumstances to reflect the loss of use of essential services in the home. This approach reflects the available evidence and acknowledges the limitations in the landlord’s records.
The total compensation of £985.74 replaces the landlord’s previous offer of £140, which can be deducted from the overall award if it has already been paid.
The resident has shared correspondence from the landlord to another resident, in which it states that defects with the block are the responsibility of the developers and that it is seeking legal advice on how to proceed. This correspondence was not submitted by the landlord as part of its formal response to this investigation, and we cannot be certain of the full context in which it was sent. However, we must highlight that it remains the landlord’s responsibility to ensure the resident’s home is fit for occupation and that essential services are maintained. The landlord is free to pursue legal action against the developer if it deems it appropriate to do so, but this does not change the landlord’s responsibilities towards its tenants.
Therefore, the landlord is ordered to provide the resident with a written update setting out what further investigations or works are planned to identify and resolve the underlying cause of the recurring heating and hot water failures. It should appoint a named officer to oversee and coordinate the response, set out a realistic timescale for the completion of any planned works, and provide monthly progress updates to the resident until the matter is fully resolved.
If the landlord is satisfied that the resident’s heating and hot water services are now functioning as intended and that no further work is required, it should set this out clearly in writing to the resident, including an explanation of how this conclusion has been reached.

The landlord’s response to the resident’s associated complaint

The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response within 18 working days, in line with its complaints policy. However, the stage 2 complaint response was issued after 38 working days, exceeding the required 20-working day timescale. Although the landlord explained the delay to respond was due to staff shortages, its records show that the complaint was not acknowledged until 1 month after the resident submitted it. The landlord should have contacted the resident at the earliest opportunity to explain the delay, manage expectations, and maintain trust in the process. Its failure to do so likely caused additional frustration for the resident during an already stressful period.
The landlord should have also considered offering compensation for the inconvenience caused by the delay, but there is no evidence that it did so. This was a missed opportunity to put things right.
In his stage 1 complaint, the resident stated that he found it difficult to report issues over the phone because he could not get through to the landlord. The landlord’s complaint responses did not acknowledge or respond to this concern. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code), available on our website, states that landlords must address all aspects of a complaint raised by residents. The landlord’s failure to respond to this issue was therefore not in line with the Code.
Given the landlord’s failure to respond the resident’s stage 2 complaint on time, its failure to respond to the resident’s stage 1 complaint in full, and its lack of redress, we have determined service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.
Based on the Ombudsman’s Remedies Guidance, where we have determined service failure by a landlord that may have caused distress and inconvenience to the resident, landlords should offer residents a financial remedy of £50 to £100, to put things right. In this case, the landlord is ordered to pay the resident £100 compensation in recognition of any distress and inconvenience caused by the delay in responding to his complaint.

Determination

In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its response to the resident’s reports of no heating and hot water.
In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its response to the resident’s associated complaint.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

Within 4 weeks of the date of this determination, the landlord must:
1. Apologise to the resident in writing for the failings identified in this investigation. The apology should be made by a senior member of staff at director level or above. The apology should be in line with the Ombudsman’s guidance on apologies, available to view on our website.
2. Pay the resident the following compensation:
  1. £730 for the distress and inconvenience caused by the failures in responding to the resident’s reports of no heating and hot water
  2. £255.74, representing 10% of the rent for the resident’s property over a 15-week period, to recognise the amenity loss
  3. £100 for its poor complaint handling

These amounts are in addition to any compensation previously offered by the landlord, which can be deducted from the total award if already paid

Ensure that all compensation payments are made directly to the resident and not offset against any outstanding debt that may be owed
Provide the resident with a written update setting out what further investigations or works are planned to identify and resolve the underlying cause of the recurring heating and hot water failures. It should appoint a named officer to oversee and coordinate the response, set out a realistic timescale for the completion of any planned works, and provide regular progress updates to the resident until the matter is fully resolved.
Raise a formal complaint on the resident’s behalf to consider his reports of no heating and hot water after November 2024. It should respond to the complaint in line with its complaints policy

If the landlord is satisfied that the resident’s heating and hot water services are now functioning as intended and that no further work is required, it should set this out in the complaint response, including an explanation of how this conclusion has been reached.
The landlord is ordered to provide evidence of compliance with the above orders to the Ombudsman within 4 weeks of the date of this determination.

Recommendations

We recommend that the landlord reviews and improves its record-keeping practices to ensure that, for all repair requests, it maintains a clear and complete audit trail. This should include: the date the report was raised, who raised it, the date the issue was inspected, the outcome of the inspection, and whether and when the issue was resolved. Records should be clear, well-structured, and understandable to individuals without technical expertise, to ensure they can be effectively used for oversight, complaint resolution, and service improvement.