Applications are open to join the next Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel – find out more Housing Ombudsman Resident Panel.

Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTV) (202338715)

Back to Top

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202338715

Metropolitan Thames Valley Housing (MTV)

25 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 repairs to the resident’s boiler and radiator.

Background

  1. The resident holds an assured tenancy with the landlord, which is a housing association. The tenancy commenced in November 2014. The property is a 2-bedroom flat. The resident lives with her 2 children.
  2. The landlord advised that it had no recorded vulnerabilities for the resident or her family but stated that during the course of the investigation, the resident disclosed that her and her children have disabilities. The resident said these have been exacerbated while the repair was ongoing.
  3. On 18 October 2023 the resident reported to her landlord that she had a total loss of heating and hot water. The landlord categorised the repair as an emergency and attended within 24 hours.
  4. On 3 November 2023 the resident submitted a stage 1 complaint via the landlord’s online portal. She said that:
    1. it was unacceptable not to have heating for a period of nearly 3 weeks and wanted the issue to be fixed.
    2. she felt stressed, could not eat or sleep, her children were cold and confirmed that both her and her son were disabled.
    3. she was experiencing a fibromyalgia flare up.
    4. she provided a breakdown of dates and times that the landlord attended and said what had happened on each visit.
    5. she wanted to be compensated for the stress, unnecessary burden, and inconvenience of having no heating or hot water.
    6. she had concerns using the temporary heaters to stay warm due to the cost of electric and was unable to afford this.
    7. the contractors were ‘incompetent’ and she was having to chase to get anything done.
    8. the boiler was reportedly overheating, which should have been detected during the boiler check in August 2023.
  5. On 16 November 2023 the landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response. It said that it upheld the complaint and:
    1. apologised for the delay in providing the response, the time taken to carry out the repair and for the inconvenience caused to the resident.
    2. gave a timeline of dates that the contractor attended the property and the outcome of those visits.
    3. confirmed an appointment with the contractor for 22 November 2023 to fit a new radiator and re-assess the boiler.
    4. summarised the concerns the resident had in using temporary heaters and provided information on how to receive a reimbursement for the additional costs.
    5. offered £350 in compensation, which comprised of £150 for failure of service and £200 for time and trouble.
  6. On 14 December 2023 the resident reported a further loss of heating and hot water. The landlord acknowledged the reported loss on the 15 December 2023 and attended on the same day to assess the boiler. It was confirmed as repaired on 28 December 2023.
  7. On 22 December 2023 the resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 of the landlord’s complaints process. She said this was because of how long it had taken to fix the boiler and for the length of time she had been left without it.
  8. On 25 January 2024 the landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response. The landlord stated that it partially upheld the complaint and:
    1. apologised that it was unable to resolve the issues at the first stage of the complaints process and for the distress and inconvenience caused.
    2. appreciated that a loss of heating and hot water whilst the repairs were carried out must have been a great source of frustration.
    3. acknowledged a missed appointment by the contractor on 22 December 2023 and apologised that multiple appointments were required to fully resolve the repair.
    4. clarified that the heating was reinstated on the first occasion on 29 November 2023 and on the second occasion the heating and hot water was reinstated on 28 December 2023.
    5. confirmed that the stage 1 complaint process was handled correctly with no complaint handling failures, despite the resident being unhappy with the outcome.
    6. provided information on the process for the resident to receive a reimbursement for the additional costs of heating for the period when electric heaters were being used.
    7. partially upheld the complaint due to the missed appointment, and in recognition that multiple appointments were required to fully resolve the repair.
    8. confirmed that £350 compensation was awarded at stage 1 and offered an additional £60, which comprised of £50 for time and trouble and £10 for a missed appointment.
  9. On 7 February 2024 the resident asked us to investigate her complaint because she was unhappy about the time taken to reinstate the heating and hot water, and the amount of compensation that was offered. The resident said that she had been given the ‘run around’ and was frustrated with the ‘incompetency of staff.’ The resident also advised that while the boiler was currently working she was manually refiling it and was concerned that it would break down again.

Assessment and findings

Scope of the investigation

  1. The resident advised that the reported loss of heating and hot water during the winter months had a significant impact on her and the family with regards to their medical conditions. We are unable to consider whether the landlord’s actions have affected the resident’s or her family’s health. The resident may wish to consider taking independent advice if she wishes to pursue this concern. We have assessed the service the landlord provided and any overall distress or inconvenience this may have caused.

Landlord’s handling of repairs to the boiler and radiator

  1. In accordance with the resident’s tenancy agreement and the landlord’s repairs booklet, the landlord is responsible for the repair and maintenance of any installations that it provides for space heating, water heating, sanitation and supplying water, gas, and electricity. Further, it will ensure all fixtures and fittings for the supply of water, gas, electricity, heating, and sanitation are working and in good repair. The landlord’s repairs booklet states that it will provide:
    1. safe and reliable heating and hot water for your home.
    2. annual servicing for any gas heating system and repairs if the system fails.
    3. attendance as an emergency for complete failure, however if parts are required it may not be repaired at the time of our first visit.
  2. The landlord’s repair policy refers to attendance within 24 hours for emergency repairs and states that a total loss of hot water and heating is categorised as an emergency.
  3. It is evident that the property lost hot water and heating on 2 separate occasions in October 2023 and December 2023 and both times the landlord attended within 24 hours. While it is unfortunate that the heating and hot water could not be restored immediately, the landlord completed an assessment on the boiler and identified the parts that required replacing. This was an appropriate response from the landlord and in line with its repair policy.
  4. Following the residents report on 18 October 2023 of a total loss of heating and hot water the landlord’s contractor attended the property 6 times to complete repairs. The evidence shows that there was a delay of 3-weeks between 2 of the appointments, yet the landlord’s evidence does not detail any reason for the significant delay or why the repair took so long. Overall, on this occasion, the resident and her family were left for 42–days in winter without a fully working boiler.
  5. The landlord’s repairs guide states that if the heating fails in the colder months (generally October–March) and it cannot be repaired on the first visit, they will provide a portable heater. Evidence shows that the landlord provided temporary heaters in line with its policy, which was appropriate as the repair could not be carried out upon the first visit.
  6. On 18 October 2023 during the landlords first visit to the property to assess the boiler, it is evidenced that the resident informed the contractor of a leaking radiator. The contractor’s engineer said that this would be reported back to the landlord and a new radiator ordered. On 24 October 2023 a different engineer attended the property with the required part for the boiler, however had no knowledge of the leak to the radiator. Although the boiler was fixed with the new part initially on this occasion, the issue with the radiator resulted in the boiler being switched off, the system drained down and the boiler left off until the radiator could be ordered and fitted. This showed poor information sharing and communication, which resulted in a delay in ordering the radiator and therefore a missed opportunity to re-establish heating and hot water at the earliest opportunity for a repair prioritised as an emergency.
  7. Our Spotlight report on Heating and Hot Water (2021) recommends that when a problem with heating and hot water cannot be resolved quickly, the landlord should ensure residents are provided with a clear timescale for repairs. On 22 December 2023, during the second period of heating and hot water loss, the landlord was due to attend the property with a further replacement part needed to fix the boiler, however failed to attend. This was a further missed opportunity to fix the boiler at the earliest opportunity and resulted in a further 6–days of no hot water or heating via the boiler. The resident was inconvenienced and frustrated by the lack of heating and hot water, over the Christmas period, and for an extended period of time until the repair was completed on 28 December 2023.
  8. Where there are admitted failings, as in this case, it is our role to determine whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this we consider whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with our dispute resolution principles of: be fair (follow fair processes and recognise what went wrong), put things right, and learn from outcomes.
  9. The landlord’s compensation policy provides 3 categories of compensation circumstances which include mandatory loss, quantifiable loss, and discretionary loss. Appropriate redress ranges from an apology to compensation payments of £151 or more depending on the type of service failing and whether the failure is assessed as a low, medium, or high.
  10. The resident said she was concerned regarding the amount of money it would cost her to use the temporary heaters provided. In acknowledgement of this, and as shown within the landlord’s compensation policy it states that it will reimburse residents for quantifiable losses such as increased heating bills where the landlord has failed to meet its obligations. The landlord also outlined this within the stage 1 and stage 2 complaint response. Therefore, it was right that the landlord had offered to reimburse the resident for her actual losses such as the additional electricity charges and had attempted to put things right.
  11. The landlord has demonstrated in its stage 1 complaint response that it acted fairly by acknowledging the failings within the investigation, apologised for missed appointments and for the length of time it had taken to rectify the problem. It provided the relevant compensation in line with its policy and our remedies guidance. It also offered the option to claim for additional compensation to cover the likely increase in the resident’s energy costs and accepted that the delay caused inconvenience and distress.
  12. The landlord upheld the complaint at stage 1 and offered the resident £350 in compensation comprised of £150 for service failure and £200 for time and trouble, which the resident accepted. The landlord acted appropriately and in line with its complaint policy for the loss of heating and hot water and for the distress caused to the resident and her family at that time.
  13. In the stage 2 complaint response the landlord again acknowledged its failings in its handling of the reported problems, acknowledged and apologised for the second period of heating and hot water loss and offered £60 in compensation. This comprised of £50 for time and trouble and £10 for a missed appointment. While £10 was in line with the landlord’s policy for a missed appointment, the £50 offered for time and trouble was insufficient to put things right. Due to the missed appointment on 22 December 2023 there was an unnecessary 6-day delay until the appointment was rearranged and hot water and heating restored to the property on 28 December 2023.
  14. In line with our remedies guidance, although the landlord made an offer of compensation, it did not fully reflect the detriment to the resident and was not proportionate to the failings identified by this investigation. The Ombudsman has therefore found that there was a service failure and has ordered the landlord to pay additional compensation of £100 to recognise the distress and inconvenience experienced by the resident regarding its handling of repairs to the resident’s boiler and radiator.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in respect of its handling of repairs to the resident’s boiler and radiator.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks, the landlord must provide evidence that it has:
    1. Apologised to the resident for the failures identified in this report.
    2. Paid the resident a further £100 compensation for distress, inconvenience, time, and trouble caused by its handling of repairs to the boiler and radiator. This is in addition to the £410 offered during the complaints process.
      1. Compensation payments should be made directly to the resident and not credited to the resident’s rent or service charge account.

 

Recommendations

  1. The Ombudsman recommends that the landlord:
    1. take steps to ensure its heating contractors are reporting further repair issues identified whilst on site, keeping adequate records of its communication with residents and ordering parts without delay.
    2. ensures that the vulnerabilities of the household are accurately updated and recorded on its systems.
    3. take a proactive approach to inform residents when temporary heaters are supplied that they can be reimbursed for additional costs. This should not be information offered only at complaint stage.
    4. contacts the resident to discuss her concerns about the lifespan and on-going issues with the boiler.