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Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTV) (202318080)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202318080

Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTV)

11 March 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 a boiler repair.

Background

  1. The resident holds an assured tenancy with the landlord.
  2. The resident reported a gas leak on 1 January 2023. The evidence shows the gas emergency services capped the gas supply on the same day and the landlord repaired the boiler by 6 January 2023.
  3. The resident complained on 4 January 2023 about the delays with repairing her boiler. She said she had to chase the landlord on 1 January 2023 to attend her property to repair the boiler after it did not visit within the period she had been told. She also said she had been without hot water and heating for 4 days.
  4. In its stage 1 complaint response on 13 January 2023 the landlord confirmed the day after the gas leak was made safe temporary heating was provided. And after identifying parts for the boiler repair, the repair was completed on 6 January 2023 (the resident has said this was actually 9 January). It apologised to the resident for wrongly saying it would visit on 1 January 2023 and for any inconvenience to her.
  5. The resident remained dissatisfied and escalated her complaint on 13 January 2023. She repeated her original concerns and said the temporary heaters had caused her electrics to trip. She also said the boiler was repaired on 9 January 2023 not 6 January.
  6. The landlord issued its final complaint response on 8 February 2023. It partially upheld the resident’s complaint stating the boiler repair could have been diagnosed a day earlier when the heaters were supplied. Nonetheless, it said it completed the repair on 6 January 2023 which was within policy timescales. It said there was no record the resident had reported issues with the heaters. It offered £30 compensation for time and trouble.
  7. The resident brought her complaint to the Ombudsman on 18 August 2023. She said she had had multiple heating problems over the years and wanted the landlord to find a long-term solution along with additional compensation from it.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident has complained that the landlord’s actions have had a mental and physical impact on her. The Ombudsman is unable to assess the cause of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. The resident may be able to make a personal injury claim if she considers that her health has been affected by the landlord’s actions or inaction. This is a legal process, and the resident may wish to seek legal advice if she wants to pursue this option. In accordance with paragraph 42.f. of the Scheme, this issue is more effectively resolved and remedied through the courts. It will not be considered in this report.
  2. The resident has provided evidence of previous complaints about the boiler, made to the landlord in 2021 and 2022. There is no evidence of these exhausting the landlord’s complaints process or being brought to the Ombudsman at the time. There are time limits on complaints which the Ombudsman will investigate, which is usually 12 months from when the issues arise. Because of that the resident’s concerns from previous years will not be considered in this investigation, which centres on the issues leading to her complaint to the landlord in January 2023.
  3. In the resident’s communication with this Service in August 2024, she raised a new issue involving a wall repair. Paragraph 42.a. of the Scheme advises that the Ombudsman may not assess complaints that have not fully exhausted a landlord’s complaint procedure. The resident should raise a formal complaint with the landlord about any additional issues or matters which were not part of her 2023 complaint. If she remains dissatisfied once the issues have been through the landlord’s complaints process, she has the option of bringing the new matters to the Ombudsman for consideration.

Boiler repair

  1. The resident’s tenancy agreement states the landlord is responsible for maintaining installations provided for space and water heating.
  2. The landlord’s repairs guide says it will treat reports of no hot water and heating as an emergency repair requiring a visit within 24 hours.
  3. The resident complained she had had no heating and hot water for 4 days. She said the landlord initially told her to expect a property visit on 1 January 2023 after her gas supply was capped. However, she said when she chased it later in the day and then on 2 January, she was told the repair visit would be on 3 January 2023.
  4. In its stage 1 complaint response the landlord said its contractors had delivered 2 heaters on 2 January 2023 and after an inspection on 3 January, the repair was completed on 6 January 2023. Its contractors had replaced boiler parts including a burner gasket seal, electrodes, and an ignition lead. The landlord apologised for telling the resident its contractor would attend on 1 January to resolve the repair and for any inconvenience caused.
  5. The complaint response did not address the landlord’s failure to attend the resident’s property within the repairs target of 24 hours. Accordingly, it failed to recognise it had initially missed its policy timescales resulting in delays and detriment to the resident.
  6. After the parts for the repair were identified on 3 January 2023, the evidence shows they were ordered and the boiler repair completed on 6 January. This indicates effective repairs management following detection of the fault. The time taken was understandably frustrating for the resident, but no evidence has been seen indicating the landlord missed opportunities to complete the work sooner once the necessary work was identified.
  7. No records of the phone call of 1 January 2023 have been seen when the resident was told the landlord’s contractor would visit her property on the same day. Nonetheless, the landlord believed it had misinformed the resident, and so it was appropriate for it to apologise.
  8. The resident escalated her complaint on 13 January 2023. She also said that the heaters provided on 2 January 2023 had tripped her electrics, and the repair was completed on 9 and not 6 January 2023.
  9. The landlord partially upheld her complaint in its stage 2 response on 8 February 2023. It said when its contractor delivered the heaters on 2 January 2023, the boiler fault should also have been diagnosed. While the landlord said this failure delayed the repair by 1 day, the landlord said the repair was completed on 6 January which was within its repairs timescale of 7 days. It said there was no record of it being told of the heater not working properly. It offered compensation of £30.00 for time and trouble.
  10. The landlord’s repair policy does not include a 7-day target for any repair category, so it is unclear what standard it was measuring its performance against. Nonetheless, it was appropriate for the landlord to acknowledge its contractors should have inspected the boiler when they provided the heaters on 2 January, because its repairs policy says it will attend and inspect within 24 hours.
  11. The evidence does not show the resident told the landlord or its contractors the heaters were causing problems with her electrics. Landlords can only reasonably be expected to resolve issues brought to their attention in a timely way.
  12. The landlord’s contractor’s records indicate the repair was completed on 6 January 2023. The record is timely and clearly records the actions taken on 6 January. The evidence does not show the resident gave the landlord evidence that the repair was completed on 9 January. Therefore, the landlord appropriately relied on its contractor’s records to confirm the repair date.
  13. Overall, the landlord acknowledged it had incorrectly told the resident it would visit on the same day she reported the repair, and that its contractors should have inspected the boiler repair on 2 January when they provided the heaters, rather than delaying to the next day. There is insufficient evidence to say how much this impacted on the final repair completion date, but given the time of year, even a short delay resolving heating problems would understandably have caused additional inconvenience. In those circumstances the £30 compensation offered by the landlord cannot be said to be proportionate to the nature of the failing, meaning the complaint was not resolved.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of a boiler repair.

Orders

  1.  Within 4 weeks of this report the landlord must:
    1. Pay the resident compensation of £180 for its handling of the boiler repair and the time and trouble to the resident. This figure includes the landlord’s previous offer of £30.
    2. Write to the resident apologising for the failings identified in this investigation.
    3. Evidence of payment and the apology must be provided by the deadline.