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Wandle Housing Association Limited (202200506)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202200506

Wandle Housing Association Limited

17 December 2024


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:
    1. Handling of reports of a lack of heating and hot water.
    2. Complaint handling.
  2. This Service has also considered the landlord’s record keeping.

Background

  1. The resident holds an assured tenancy. The property is a 3-bedroom duplex flat, which the resident occupies with her 2 children. The resident told the landlord that she has “severe” health issues. This includes fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and pain.
  2. The resident made a complaint to the landlord in May 2023 and June 2023. She said she had no heating and hot water between October 2022 and April 2023. She said that this impacted her health and caused her anxiety. She added that to be without this for so long was a “failure” and was “inhumane.” She asked the landlord to pay her compensation to reflect the inconvenience caused and increased electrical bills during this time.
  3. On 25 August 2023, the landlord provided its stage 1 complaint response to the resident. It apologised for the delays in repairing the heating and hot water. It acknowledged this would have caused anxiety and frustration given her medical conditions. It appreciated the resident was anxious to avoid this again, but it could not make an absolute guarantee that this would not reoccur. It instead outlined that it would respond to any such reports “as quickly as possible” to prevent the level of inconvenience which occurred this time. It offered her £960 compensation for the inconvenience caused and for its delayed complaint response.
  4. The resident escalated her complaint to the landlord on 30 August 2023. She said that her energy bill was £726.23 for the period of October 2022 to April 2023. She attached a copy of her bill to evidence this. She said the cost increased due to using electricity to heat the home and boil kettles for bathing during this time. As such, she asked it to pay compensation for her energy costs. She reiterated that she had health conditions which “posed a threat” without heating and hot water. She said it was unacceptable to be without this for so long, and repeated that this was “inhumane.”
  5. On 13 November 2023, the landlord provided its stage 2 complaint response to the resident. It:
    1. Apologised for its delayed complaint response. It appreciated that the issue would have caused her to be anxious, and it wanted to resolve this for her.
    2. Explained its offer of £960 within its initial complaint response was to reflect the time spent without heating and hot water. It said it calculated this at £5 per day for each service.
    3. Explained it could not offer compensation for her energy bills. This was because its approach used was “designed to give proportionate redress” for its failings. It noted that the amount offered would cover the full amount of her energy costs.
    4. Increased its offer of compensation to £1,060. This included £960 offered within its initial complaint response and a further £100 for its delayed response.
  6. The resident escalated her complaint to this Service. She remains unhappy with the landlord’s offer of compensation as it did not refer to her increased energy costs during this period. The complaint became one that the Ombudsman could investigate on 13 May 2024.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The resident said that the landlord’s handling of her reports of a lack of heating and hot water impacted her health. This Service does not doubt the resident’s comments. However, it is outside our remit to draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing.
  2. The resident may wish to seek independent legal advice regarding this aspect of her complaint. The resident may also be able to make a claim via the landlord’s liability insurance. If this is something she wishes to do, she should make enquiries with the landlord accordingly. We will, however, consider whether the landlord’s handling of the reports caused any distress to the resident.

Handling of reports of a lack of heating and hot water

  1. The landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy states that it would respond to emergency repairs within 24 hours. It states that a complete loss of heating in winter, or a complete loss of hot water at any time, are emergency repairs. The complaint refers to a loss of heating and hot water between October 2022 and April 2023. Therefore, in line with its policy, it should have categorised both repairs as an emergency. The policy also states that the landlord may provide temporary heating but raise further works to restore the heating or hot water within 7 days.
  2. In the resident’s complaint, she said that the landlord only offered support with the repairs in December 2022. The landlord has provided its repair records to this Service for the purpose of this investigation. There is no evidence provided to show that it received or responded to any reports of a loss of heating and hot water prior to 9 December 2022. However, it is not disputed that the resident experienced these issues from October 2022.
  3. It is unclear why this is not reflected within the landlord’s repair records. The landlord should ensure that it maintains an accurate audit trail of all reports received and actions taken to inspect and complete repairs. The lack of records of the resident’s initial report of a loss of heating and hot water is indicative of poor record keeping.
  4. It is evident that the landlord responded to reports of heating and hot water repairs multiple times between December 2022 and April 2023. It completed various tests to the pipework within the resident’s flat, her heating interface unit (HIU) and the main boiler room within the block of flats.
  5. On 9 January 2023, the landlord received an MP enquiry regarding this issue. The resident’s MP asked it to outline how it would complete a lasting repair to restore her heating and hot water. This shows that she experienced further distress and inconvenience, by spending further time and trouble, in trying to progress the repairs. The landlord’s records state that it “resolved” this query, which it marked as “closed” on 1 February 2023. Due to the lack of evidence provided, it is unclear what this meant, and whether it responded to her MP. This is a failing.
  6. From the landlord’s repair records, the resident’s heating and hot water worked again from 22 April 2023. It is unclear what works the landlord completed on this date to fix the issue, as there is a lack of meaningful records to show the actions taken. As such, the landlord’s poor record keeping has impacted the Ombudsman’s ability to assess whether it responded appropriately to the repairs. It is unknown whether action to effectively complete the repair could reasonably have taken place sooner. It remains unclear therefore whether the delay was avoidable or not. Nevertheless, is evident that a loss of heating and hot water for approximately 6 months was not in line with its repairs and maintenance policy. It far exceeded its timescale set out in its policy, which would have caused significant distress and inconvenience to the resident.
  7. This Service understands the discomfort that a loss of hot water can cause to a household. It is disruptive to day-to-day life and can undoubtedly increase energy bills if the property has no hot water supply or heating for a significant length of time. The landlord delivered temporary heaters to the property on 9 December 2022. It is unclear whether these were required or offered in October 2022. It is also unclear whether she used them from December 2022 through to April 2023 or not.
  8. However, the landlord’s lack of consideration towards the resident’s increased energy bills is a concern. The resident advised she had incurred additional costs in running temporary heaters and boiling water while repairs were outstanding. The evidence does not suggest that the delays by the landlord were unavoidable. As such, it should reasonably have considered reimbursing the resident for any increase in her energy bills that could be evidenced.
  9. Due to the landlord’s poor record keeping, it is difficult to confirm the exact dates that the resident experienced a lack of heating and hot water. Within its final complaint response, it explained that it offered £910 compensation for the specific days the resident experienced no heating or hot water. It explained it had calculated the compensation as £5 per day for each service.
  10. The landlord’s complaints policy includes a section on paying financial compensation to put things right. However, it does not provide any details about what factors it would consider when calculating compensation awards. The policy states that it has a related document named “Compensation Guidelines.” The Ombudsman asked the landlord for this, but it confirmed that it does not have such a document. It is therefore unclear why its policy refers to a document which it has said does not exist.
  11. As part of this investigation, we asked the landlord to confirm which dates it relied on when it calculated the specific days referred to in its final complaint response. It said that it paid this for 182 days at £5 per day, from 1 October 2022 to 1 April 2023. It acknowledged it had difficulty in confirming when the service was functional, and it “assumed” it was intermittently available. It is a failing that the landlord could not rely on its own records. It instead had to make assumptions on the frequency and period that the resident experienced a lack of heating and hot water. This is a further example of poor record keeping.
  12. Additionally, within the landlord’s final complaint response, it said it calculated the compensation at £5 per day for each service. However, when we asked it to provide a breakdown of how it calculated this, it explained it had calculated this at only £5 per day for both services in total. It therefore did not pay per service of the hot water and heating separately. It is a significant concern that its explanation of how it calculated the compensation was misleading in its final complaint response, as it had not calculated it in this way.
  13. Given that the landlord told the resident it would pay £5 per day for the loss of each service it would be fair and reasonable for it to do so now. It is also noted that the landlord advised that it calculated the compensation up until 1 April 2023. However, the evidence shows that the services were restored on 22 April 2023. As such, it would be reasonable for the landlord to pay a further 21 days compensation. The landlord should therefore pay the resident a total of £2,030 compensation. This is to cover the loss of heating and hot water at £10 per day from 1 October 2022 to 22 April 2023. This figure includes the landlord’s original offer of £910 compensation.
  14. The resident told the landlord that she had health conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and pain. She said that being without heating and hot water impacted her health. Between 13 December 2022 and 13 November 2023, when the landlord issued its final complaint response, the resident reported the impacted of the issues on her health on 8 occasions. Of these, she reported such concerns twice in December 2022, when the repair issues remained present.
  15. The landlord’s repairs and maintenance policy outlines that it recognises the need for extra consideration and support for vulnerable residents. It states that it would consider increasing the priority of repairs, particularly for faults where their health may quickly be affected. However, there is no evidence to suggest that it considered whether the resident required any additional support. It also failed to evidence whether it appropriately responded to the resident’s repeated comments about the reported impact of the issues on her health. It therefore cannot evidence that it acted in line with its policy. This is a considerable failing.
  16. The landlord has told this Service that it recorded vulnerabilities for the resident in December 2023. It disclosed various physical and mental health conditions noted on its system. It is concerning that it had not recorded her vulnerabilities sooner, given she referenced these throughout the complaints process. It is essential that the landlord maintains records of the resident’s disabilities. Doing so would enable it to consider whether there is a need for any reasonable adjustments, under the Equality Act 2010. This is an example of a further record keeping failure.
  17. In summary, the landlord failed to offer proportionate compensation to provide redress for its failings in its handling of reports of a lack of heating and hot water. The resident remained without heating and hot water for a prolonged period and the evidence does not confirm that it acted appropriately in response. As set out above, the landlord should increase its compensation for the loss of service, to ensure that it has correctly calculated the amount as it said it would.
  18. Additionally, the landlord should pay a further £400 compensation to the resident for the distress and inconvenience caused to her. This is to offer redress towards its failure to consider the resident’s vulnerabilities when responding to the repairs. This is an appropriate award in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for failings which had an adverse impact on the resident. Additionally, the landlord should confirm its position in writing to the resident regarding her increased heating bills.

Complaint handling

  1. The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) sets out our expectations for landlords’ complaint handling. The Code, in place at the time, stated that complaints are an “expression of dissatisfaction, however made.”
  2. On 24 May 2023, the resident told the landlord that she was unhappy with how it managed the repairs to her heating and hot water and asked for compensation. The landlord should have treated this as a new complaint. However, it failed to do so. It instead misunderstood her concerns and believed it had already provided a response when dealing with a previous complaint.
  3. This caused the resident to chase the landlord on 3 occasions, and she subsequently made a further complaint on 25 June 2023. The failure to acknowledge the resident’s complaint in May 2023, caused her to spend time repeating herself. This would have understandably caused her distress and inconvenience, thinking it was not listening to her concerns.
  4. The resident tried to raise her complaint again on 19 July 2023. Again, she chased the landlord for a response a further 2 times before it later responded on 25 August 2023. During this time, the resident believed the landlord had not responded to her complaint and she asked this Service for help. On 21 August 2023, we asked the landlord to respond to her complaint within 5 working days.
  5. On 25 August 2023, the landlord told the resident that it had issued its initial complaint response on 13 July 2023. However, due to an issue with its system, an administrative error occurred, and it had not sent this to her. It then issued the response. It took a total of 66 working days for the landlord to respond to the complaint at stage 1. While the landlord believed it had sent the response earlier on 13 July 2023, it had not done so. Even if it had, this was still outside the timescales set out in the Code. It therefore did not act in line with its complaints policy or the Code to respond to complaints within 10 working days.
  6. It is a failing that the landlord had not checked its system to ensure that it had sent the response correctly. It is a further failing that it did not respond to the resident’s contacts chasing her complaint and its response, especially as she did so twice after the date it thought it had sent the response. It is a concern that this did not prompt the landlord to check whether it had sent its response or not. If it had, it could have prevented the extent of the delays caused by its error. It could have also therefore reduced the level of distress and inconvenience caused to the resident.
  7. The resident escalated her complaint to the landlord on 30 August 2023. The landlord acknowledged the escalation request on 19 September 2023. This was 14 working days after it received the escalation. This far exceeded the timescale set out in its complaints policy to acknowledge escalation requests within 5 working days. During this time, she contacted the landlord on 3 occasions to confirm whether it had received her request. Its delayed acknowledgement meant she spent further time and trouble in escalating her complaint. This was not appropriate.
  8. The resident asked the landlord twice to respond to her complaint. This occurred between the acknowledgement sent on 19 September 2023 and its final complaint response on 13 November 2023. Its lack of response caused her to contact us for assistance in progressing her complaint. We wrote to the landlord on 9 November 2023 and asked it to respond to the complaint escalation. It is a failing that the landlord’s delayed response caused the resident further distress and inconvenience. Residents should not have to seek our assistance to get a response from their landlords.
  9. The landlord provided its final complaint response to the resident on 13 November 2023. Its policy states it would provide a response to stage 2 complaints within 20 working days of its acknowledgement. Instead, it took 39 days to provide the response after acknowledging the complaint. This was 53 working days after the resident escalated her complaint.
  10. The landlord offered £150 compensation for the complaint handling failures it identified. It said that it offered £40 for its delayed response at stage 1, but it miscalculated this and instead offered £50. In addition to this, it offered £100 for its delayed response at stage 2.
  11. Overall, the landlord failed to respond to the resident’s repeated contacts, failed to ensure that it sent its initial response correctly, and failed to meet the timescales set out within its policy. Given these failings, the compensation offered is not proportionate to the failings identified by this investigation.
  12. As such, the landlord should pay a further £150 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling. This is an appropriate award in line with the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for failures which have adversely impacted the resident.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was severe maladministration in the landlord’s handling of reports of a lack of heating and hot water.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.
  3. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s record keeping.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this determination, the landlord is ordered to:
    1. Apologise to the resident in writing regarding the failures identified within this investigation. The apology should be from a senior member of its management team. It should include specific examples in reference to each complaint point.
    2. Pay £2,030 compensation for the loss of heating and hot water from 1 October 2022 to 22 April 2023. This figure includes the landlord’s original offer of £910 compensation. It should pay this directly to the resident and not her rent account.
    3. Pay an additional £400 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of reports of a lack of heating and hot water. It should pay this directly to the resident and not her rent account.
    4. Pay £300 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling. This figure includes the landlord’s original offer of £150 compensation. It should pay this directly to the resident and not her rent account.
    5. Confirm its position in writing to the resident regarding her increased heating bills.
    6. Consider the findings and recommendations of our Knowledge and Information Management Spotlight report if it has not already done so. This is to help improve its record keeping.
  2. The landlord should reply to this Service with evidence of compliance within the period set out above.