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London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) (202321145)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202321145

London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q)

15 May 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 handling of the resident’s:
    1. Requests for repairs to the boiler.
    2. Associated complaint.

Background

  1. The resident had an assured shorthold fixed term tenancy, that began on 21 May 2022. The landlord is a housing association.
  2. The resident reported to the landlord on 23 May 2022 the boiler had not worked since she moved in, and she had no hot water. The landlord arranged for an electrician to attend on 25 May 2022. The electrician could not resolve the problem as a plumber was required. The electrician told the resident a plumber would attend the following day, but no one attended.
  3. On 27 May 2022 the resident complained to the landlord. She said she still had no hot water and asked it to send an emergency plumber or cover the cost of a hotel. She also asked it to provide compensation for the trouble.
  4. The landlord responded at stage 1 of its complaint process on 27 June 2022. It said it had arranged for a plumber to attend on 2 occasions, but they were unable to fix the boiler as they required parts. It said its contractor had ordered the parts and would return on 4 July 2022 to complete the repair. It apologised for the problems and acknowledged the service was not at the level it expected. It also said it could not calculate compensation until it completed the work and would write with an offer of redress after it repaired the boiler.
  5. The landlord provided an offer of redress on 6 July 2022. It offered a total of £360 compensation for the loss of hot water, distress, inconvenience, miscommunication and time and effort.
  6. The resident rejected the offer of compensation on the same day. She then asked to escalate her complaint on 26 July 2022 as she wanted a higher amount of compensation.
  7. The landlord provided an improved offer of redress on 2 March 2023. It offered a total of £610 compensation for the loss of hot water, distress, inconvenience, miscommunication, time and effort, and the delay with the stage 2 response.
  8. The landlord provided its final complaint response on 15 March 2023. It said it had reviewed all events and circumstances and the £610 it already offered was fair and in line with its policies.
  9. When the resident contacted the Ombudsman, she advised the service that she was seeking an increased amount of compensation. It is noted the landlord paid the £610 compensation to the resident on 22 September 2023.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s requests for repairs to the boiler

  1. Under the resident’s occupancy agreement, the landlord is required to keep any installations for water heating it provides in good repair and working order. The landlord was therefore under a duty to repair the boiler within a reasonable time of being given notice that it was not in working order. This is also set out in the implied terms in s.11(1)(c) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985.
  2. What is a reasonable time will depend on all the circumstances of a case. The landlord operates a right to repair scheme. This policy says it should repair a loss of heating or hot water between 1 May and 31 October within 3 working days.
  3. When the resident reported a fault with the boiler on 23 May 2022, the landlord should have repaired it by 26 May 2022. It arranged for an electrician to attend on 25 May 2022, which was within timescales. However, it appears the landlord arranged for the wrong contractor to attend as a plumber was required to repair the boiler fault.
  4. According to the landlord’s records, a plumber attended the property on 24 June 2022 but did not have the parts available to complete the repair. They left the property and said they would order the required parts. It is unclear why there was such a delay between 25 May 2022 and 24 June 2022 between appointments. The stage 1 complaint response of 27 June 2022 said a plumber had attended on 2 occasions. This Service has seen no evidence of any appointment other than 25 May 2022 (by the electrician) and 24 June 2022. The delay between appointments was inappropriate.
  5. The plumber returned with the necessary parts on 4 July 2022 and completed the repair to the boiler. From the date of notification to the landlord, the resident was left without access to hot water for a period of 43 calendar days. It is noted the resident was also without heating, but due to the time of year, this did not form part of the complaint. The overall time taken to complete all necessary work was unreasonable. The Ombudsman understands this would have caused considerable inconvenience to the resident.
  6. Following the boiler repair on 4 July 2022, the landlord wrote to the resident 2 days later and offered £360 compensation. That included £90 for the loss of hot water (£10 for not completing the repair in 3 working days and £2 for every extra day), £75 for inconvenience, £75 for distress, £100 for time and effort and £20 for miscommunication.
  7. According to the landlord’s compensation policy, it awards £10 statutory compensation when it does not complete a repair within timescales. It also awards £2 per day for each extra day it does not complete the repair.
  8. The resident rejected the offer the same date and asked the landlord to provide an increased offer. The landlord responded on 7 July 2022 and offered an increased amount of £460. The resident rejected that offer on 26 July 2022.
  9. The landlord provided a revised offer of compensation on 2 March 2023 that included £90 for the loss of hot water, £150 for inconvenience, £150 for distress, £150 for time and effort and £20 for miscommunication.
  10. In its final complaint response, the landlord confirmed the compensation it had previously offered was fair and in line with its policies.
  11. It is the Ombudsman’s view the offer totalling £560 compensation as detailed above is proportionate redress for the impact on the resident of the failings identified above. It is within the range of awards set out in our remedies guidance for cases such as this where there was a failure by the landlord which adversely affected the resident.
  12. For the reasons set out above, the Ombudsman considers the landlord has made an offer to the resident that provides reasonable redress in relation to its handling of requests for repairs to the boiler.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s associated complaint

  1. Under the Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) landlords must ensure they acknowledge a complaint within 5 working days. They must respond to the complaint within 10 working days of the acknowledgment at stage 1. They must also acknowledge an escalation request within 5 working days and provide a final response within 20 working days of the date of acknowledging the escalation request. The landlord’s complaints policy is compliant with the above requirements of the Code.
  2. There is no evidence the landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint of 27 May 2022 within appropriate timescales. It also delayed sending its stage 1 response until 27 June 2022, which is inappropriate.
  3. In the landlord’s stage 1 response of 27 June 2022, it confirmed what it would do to resolve matters. It also explained it would consider compensation once it knew how many days the resident had been without hot water, which was reasonable.
  4. The landlord then offered compensation 2 days after it repaired the boiler and a revised offer a further day later. That was a fair and reasonable action to take.
  5. When the resident asked to escalate her complaint on 26 July 2022, the landlord acknowledged the request the same day, which is in line with the Code and the landlord’s own complaint policy.
  6. The resident chased up a stage 2 response on 5 occasions between 5 September 2022 and 13 February 2023. The landlord did not provide its stage 2 response until 15 March 2023. That was significantly outside of the 20-working day timescale required of the Code and the landlord’s own complaint policy, which is a failure.
  7. In summary, landlords must have an effective complaint process to provide a good service to its residents. An effective complaint process means landlords can fix problems quickly, learn from their mistakes and build good relationships with residents. In this case there were significant delays in the landlord providing its stage 1 and stage 2 complaint responses. The Ombudsman therefore finds maladministration for the failures identified in the landlord’s handling of the associated complaint.
  8. The landlord offered £50 for its complaint handling failures in its stage 2 complaint response, which it has since paid to the resident. However, it is the Ombudsman’s view that is not sufficient to acknowledge the delays identified. Therefore, we are ordering the landlord to pay the resident an additional £100 for the time, trouble, and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling failures. This is in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance’s recommendations of compensation in this bracket for such failings resulting in maladministration that delayed getting matters resolved.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53.b of the Scheme, there was reasonable redress in respect of the landlord’s handling of the residents requests for repairs to the boiler.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in respect of the landlord’s handling of the resident’s associated complaint.

Orders

  1. The landlord must within 28 days of the date of this determination:
    1. Provide the resident with an apology for the failings outlined in this report.
    2. Pay the resident an additional compensation amount of £100 for the time, trouble, and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s complaint handling failures.
    3. Provide us with evidence of compliance with the two orders above.