South Cambridgeshire District Council (202347341)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202347341

South Cambridgeshire District Council

11 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

1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s queries concerning the accuracy of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) assessment carried out to the property.

Background

2. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. The property is a bungalow sheltered end terrace.
3. The resident contacted the landlord on 27 August 2023 to ask how it was intending to allocate funding it had received from the government to improve the energy efficiency in its properties. The resident said her property had an EPC rating of D/E. The landlord arranged for a contractor to complete an EPC assessment on 20 September 2023 and found the property to be at a B rating. It advised the resident on 16 October 2023 it would be using the government funding to improve properties with an EPC rating between F and D only and her property would not fall under this criteria based on the recent EPC assessment.
4. The resident made a stage 1 complaint to the landlord on 2 January 2024. She told the landlord she was unhappy with the EPC assessment completed on 20 September 2023. She said the EPC rating went from a D/E to a B rating without any works taking place in the property to reflect the increase, aside from new windows having been installed in the property. She also disputed the EPC assessment having rated the cavity wall insulation at a ‘U’ value as she has said there is no evidence of floor or wall insulation, and she was unhappy an assessment has been completed without proof of insulation in these areas. She said she would like cavity wall insulation to be installed.
5. The landlord provided the resident with a stage 1 complaint response on 3 January 2024. It said it had reviewed the EPC assessment, and it was happy this had been completed fairly and accurately by the contractor. It explained the criteria of the EPC assessment and said this criteria is set out by the government and all properties are assessed against the same standard. It explained that as her property was at a B rating, it would not qualify for the funding provided by the government. It said once the current project to improve its properties currently in bands F to D is complete and all its properties are at band C or above, it will assess its remaining stock to determine its next steps, which may include reviewing existing cavity wall insulation in its properties.
6. The resident was dissatisfied with the landlord’s complaint response and requested an escalation of their complaint on 27 January 2024. She said she did not agree the property was of a good standard and it was cold, hard to heat, and did not retain heat when the heating was on. She also disputed the assessment completed on 20 September 2023 as she stated there was no evidence of cavity wall insulation at the property. She provided a list of what constitutes a B rating and disputed that her property does not meet the requirements. The resident requested proof the property has insulation in both the floor in the walls and evidence this meets current building regulation standards.
7. The landlord issued a stage 2 complaint response on 26 February 2024. It said it had reviewed the resident’s escalation request and the events leading up to the complaint being made. It told the resident the assessor did not see evidence of cavity wall insulation during the assessment, and this was presumed to be present based on building regulations at the time the property was constructed. It told the resident the stage 1 decision remains unchanged, and it would not be taking any further action. The landlord confirmed this was its final decision.
8. The resident referred their complaint to us on 21 March 2024. She said the landlord had failed to listen to her concerns of the EPC rating going from a D/E rating to a B rating without any noticeable improvement in terms of ability to heat or maintain heat in the property, as well as the lack of action taken from the landlord to fully investigate if insulation is present in the walls and flooring.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

9. This investigation will assess the events which gave rise to the resident’s complaint on 2 January 2024. It will also consider the landlord’s responses up to and including its final complaint response on 26 February 2024.
10. In her complaint to the service, the resident expressed issues relating to damp and mould affecting the property. In this instance, we have been unable to evidence the damp and mould concerns were brought to the landlord in the initial stage 1 complaint and only later mentioned when the resident was requesting a stage 2 complaint was raised. As a result, this issue is considered to be outside the scope of this report as we need to provide the landlord the opportunity to investigate this matter initially. Based on the information provided, we have evidenced the landlord has since taken steps to address the damp and mould concerns; however, should the resident want to take this aspect of their complaint further, they should consider following the landlord’s internal complaint procedure first.

EPC assessment

11. When the resident first contacted the landlord on 27 August 2023 regarding the energy efficiency of her property and how it would be allocating the funding provided by the government to improve its properties, its response was appropriate. It completed an up-to-date EPC assessment on 20 September 2023, 17 working days after the resident’s initial contact, which confirmed a B rating. It provided the resident with a copy of the EPC assessment on 16 October 2023.
12. As the resident’s property is currently at an EPC rating B, this is the higher than the acceptable minimum level, which is stated on the certificate that properties can be rented if they have an energy rating from A to E. There is no statutory requirement for the landlord to carry out any of the recommended energy efficiency measures stated within the most recent EPC assessment at present.
13. The resident disputed the EPC assessment completed on 20 September 2023 directly with the contractor on 26 October 2023. The contractor responded to her concerns on 30 October 2023. It explained to the resident the EPC rating changed from a D to a B rating on account of photovoltaic panels being installed onto the roof of the property. It advised the previous EPC D rating recommended these panels were installed which indicates these were not present at the time of when the D rating was awarded to the property.
14. In addition, the contractor also advised the resident the recently completed EPC assessment assumed there was partial insulation in the walls based on the building regulations for the time the property was built between 1976 and 1982. As this is an appropriately qualified contractor, it is reasonable to for the landlord to accept this for the EPC assessment.
15. Between the resident first raising her concerns with the landlord on 27 August 2023 and the stage 2 complaint response provided on 26 January 2024, the landlord has appropriately communicated with the resident throughout and explained the reasonings behind the most recent EPC assessment. The landlord and contractor have appropriately communicated with the resident on each occasion explaining the reasonings for the increase of the EPC rating.
16. In the stage 2 complaint response issued by the landlord, it confirmed the criteria for EPC assessments are set out by the government and all properties are assessed against the same standard. It also has advised the resident that once all of its rented properties have had their EPC rating brought up to a C by 2027, it will then look at the remaining stock to determine the next steps for its properties, which may include reviewing existing cavity wall insulation.
17. In summary, the landlord assessed the resident’s initial queries within a timely manner and instructed independent professionals with appropriate expertise to inspect and complete an up-to-date EPC assessment. While the resident has raised concerns regarding the assumptions of cavity wall insulation being present during the assessment, there is no evidence or surveyor report to suggest there is no cavity wall insulation present. As such, it is reasonable for the landlord to rely upon the contractor’s findings in the absence of any evidence suggesting there is no cavity wall insulation, as these are appropriately qualified contractors who conducted the assessment. It is also evident that the contractor appropriately advised the resident why the rating had changed since the previous assessment. The landlord has acted fairly and appropriately throughout the process, and it took appropriate steps to ensure an up-to-date EPC assessment was completed in a timely manner by instructing professional, qualified experts.

Determination

18. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s queries concerning the accuracy of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) assessment carried out to the property.