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Southern Housing (202436229)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202436229

Southern Housing

01 July 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 reports about the water system.

Background

  1. The resident is an assured tenant of the landlord. The landlord confirmed it had no vulnerabilities recorded for the resident.
  2. On 31 August 2024, the resident reported to the landlord that the water from the bathroom taps was brown.
  3. The resident complained to the landlord on 12 November 2024 about the outstanding repair and a missed appointment that day. She said she believed the water was unsafe and her home was uninhabitable because of it. She wanted the repairs completed, the landlord to install a combi boiler to resolve the issue, clear communication and compensation for the distress and inconvenience.
  4. The landlord responded at stage 1 of its complaints process on 3 January 2025. It said it had assessed the issue and attempted repairs multiple times. An appointment on 11 December 2024 to resolve the issue by replacing pipework did not happen because it discovered the pipes were communal and this was a larger job affecting other residents. It said the boiler did not need replacing. The landlord apologised for the time taken to identify the cause of the issue and for not taking action to confirm the water safety. It offered £1256.61 compensation and confirmed a plan of action to obtain a quote to replace communal pipes, complete water safety tests and to confirm further appointments for repairs.
  5. The resident remained unhappy that the repairs were outstanding and escalated her complaint on 3 January 2025. She was also dissatisfied with the compensation the landlord offered.
  6. The landlord issued a final response on 7 February 2025. It acknowledged the water test results exceeded the guideline parameters. It had replaced the taps but the issue remained. The landlord said it would carry out a further water test on 12 February 2025 and would provide a further update on 21 February 2025. It increased its compensation to £1793.17. This was broken down as £1,038.17 for the loss of washing facilities, £600 for inconvenience, time & trouble, £140 for failures including a missed appointment, repeat visits, and miscommunication, and £15 for complaint handling.
  7. The resident remained dissatisfied with the landlord’s compensation. In her complaint to the Ombudsman, she said the issue was not resolved until the landlord installed a combi boiler in May 2025.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. Some of the issues raised to us by the resident happened following the end of the complaints process. This includes the installation of a combi boiler, issues with the stopcock, a repair to remove asbestos, and the resident’s request for a reimbursement of utility costs. The scope of this investigation centres on the issues raised during the resident’s formal complaint, to which the landlord sent its final response on 7 February 2025. Any issues or requests after that time should be raised as new complaints with the landlord before they can potentially be investigated by the Ombudsman.
  2. The resident has complained that her situation has impacted her health. 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. As this issue is more effectively resolved and remedied through the courts it will not be considered in this report.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports about the water system.

  1. The landlord accepted its repairs responsibility under the tenancy agreement.
  2. The landlord’s repairs policy at the time of the complaint says that if a repair is not an emergency, it will arrange an appointment as soon as possible, but it does not have a specific timescale.
  3. The landlord’s complaint policy says at stage 1 it will acknowledge a complaint within 5 working days and respond within 10 working days of the acknowledgement date. It will acknowledge an escalation request within 5 working days and respond within 20 working days of this. If it needs more than 10 working days at stage 1 it will explain why and provide an expected timescale for response.
  4. The landlord’s compensation matrix shows it can consider discretionary compensation of £700 and above where there has been a severe impact on a resident. Compensation for the loss of washing facilities is calculated as 25% of net rent for the number of days without facilities.
  5. Following the resident’s initial report on 31 August 2024, the landlord first attended on 30 October 2024, almost 2 months later. While the landlord did not have specific repair timescales at that time, in the absence of any evidence explaining the delay its initial response was unreasonable.
  6. From October 2024 the evidence shows the landlord then attended the property on multiple occasions to try and resolve the issue. Complex repairs and investigations may require additional time for the landlord to complete them. Basic good practice is for landlords to keep in communication with the resident and update them on the progress of the repairs. The resident reported that she was told different causes and remedies of the issue by different operatives attending. That appears to have been at least partly due to the uncertainty about the cause, and the different options the landlord was investigating to solve the problem. The landlord acknowledged its miscommunication and offered compensation in line with its policy. The evidence shows communication improved once the landlord appointed a point of contact for the resident in November 2024.
  7. In her complaint, the resident asked the landlord to install a combi boiler to resolve the issues without a further delay of works to the communal pipes. The landlord explained at stage 1 that it would not replace the boiler and explained its reasons for this. The way in which a landlord meets its overall repair and maintenance obligations is for it to decide. It is understandable that the resident was frustrated that the landlord later installed a combi boiler in May 2025 to resolve the issue. The evidence from the time of the complaint shows the landlord following the recommendations of its contractors and the outcome of its visits to the property, which was reasonable.
  8. Landlords have legal obligations to ensure properties are fit for habitation and free of hazards. The existence of such hazards should be a trigger for remedial action. The landlord did not test the safety of the water until 9 January 2025, despite the resident raising her concerns about its safety in October 2024. The water test report confirmed the sanitary results were outside of the guideline parameters. Having received those results the landlord did not assess the risk to the household. While the landlord’s complaint responses acknowledged the delayed action, and said feedback had been shared internally and with its contractors, it failed to explain why this had happened, or how it would prevent it from happening again.
  9. The evidence shows the landlord was aware the resident was living away from the property due to her concerns about the safety of the water from October 2024 onwards. The resident explained to the landlord on 12 December 2024 that her 4-year-old son is nonverbal and has autism. She said he was unable to understand instructions not to use the taps in the bathroom. There is no evidence of the landlord taking her family’s vulnerabilities into consideration, such as by enquiring about her specific needs or support in the situation she was in.
  10. The landlord’s temporary accommodation policy has not been seen. Nonetheless, the landlord failed to address the resident’s concerns about the property being uninhabitable. There is no evidence of her asking for temporary accommodation, and she was already living away from the property at the time of her complaint. However, despite knowing the resident felt unsafe to live at the property and the household vulnerabilities, the landlord did not demonstrate it had taken into consideration if temporary accommodation would have been necessary or if the resident was entitled to any costs associated with being away from home. It also did not confirm if it believed the property was habitable.
  11. In its final response, the landlord offered the resident compensation of £1793.17. This included £1038.17, calculated at 25% of the weekly rent from 31 August 2024 until 21 February 2025, for the loss of washing facilities. The compensation also accounted for the distress and inconvenience the resident experienced. This amount was in line with its policy and the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for failings of this scale and nature, and in which a resident has been put to considerable inconvenience. It also set out a plan of action to put things right for the resident. The evidence shows the further water resample was completed on 12 February 2025 as promised. The resident told the Service that the landlord confirmed to her in February 2025 that it would install a combi boiler to resolve the issue.
  12. The landlord told the resident in an email on 10 February 2025, that once the work was completed and the issue resolved it would be able to calculate any additional days the resident was without washing facilities and make a further offer of compensation. This was reasonable given that the issue remained unresolved at the end of the complaints process. There is no evidence of a further offer of compensation. As such, we have ordered the landlord to address this.
  13. The landlord updated the resident about extensions to its stage 1 response deadline on 3 December and 17 December 2024. The resident was unhappy with the extensions. The landlord acknowledged its delay and offered compensation in line with its compensation policy.
  14. Overall, the landlord recognised its delays to the repairs, its poor communication, and distress and inconvenience caused the resident. It attempted to put things right through an offer of compensation and plan of action. However, the landlord failed to fully explain the reasons for the initial delays or why it had not tested the safety of the resident’s water when she first raised concerns. It also did not demonstrate it had taken the household vulnerabilities into consideration in its response to her concerns. As such, it failed to fully resolve the complaint or show it had taken learning from it.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports about the water system.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of this report the landlord is to apologise to the resident for the failings identified in this report.
  2. Within 4 weeks of this report the landlord must pay the resident compensation of £200 for the further failings found in this report. This is in addition to the £1,793.17 already paid.
  3. Within 4 weeks of this report, the landlord is to provide evidence that it has calculated and offered any further compensation due to the resident as promised for the period from 22 February 2025 until the issue was resolved.
  4. Within 8 weeks of the date this report, the landlord must carry out a review of its handling of the repairs in this complaint and identify the causes of the delays and the steps it can take avoid similar occurrences in the future, where potential health and safety concerns are involved. The outcome should be shared with the resident.
  5. The landlord must provide evidence of compliance with the orders within the deadlines above.

Recommendation

  1. The landlord has told the Service it has no records of vulnerabilities in the resident’s family. Given the circumstances in this complaint, it should contact the resident to discuss any vulnerabilities that should be recorded for the household, to ensure its records are accurate.