Southwark Council (202426170)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202426170

Southwark Council

3 October 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 of the loss of heating and hot water.
2. We have also investigated the landlord’s complaint handling.

Background

3. The resident has been a leaseholder of the landlord, a council, since 2002. The property is a 3-bedroom maisonette.
4. The resident complained to the landlord on 28 May 2024 about the loss of heating and hot water for periods between 27 March and 29 May 2024. He detailed the timeline, highlighted concerns, and said it took 7 appointments (with 3 missed) to resolve the issue. He said he paid for heating and hot water under the service charge but did not receive a continual supply. He set out his expected standards of service and said he had lost pay and annual leave to attend appointments. He wanted to be compensated for the loss of the utilities, and his time, trouble, and upset.
5. In its stage 1 response of 6 November 2024, the landlord apologised for the delay, and said:
   1. Its contractor had missed 2 appointments (15 April and 15 May 2024), and it had compensated the resident for both. The appointment of 3 May 2024 was raised after hours as a P2 priority which was attended the next working day per its process.
   2. Its operative did not carry spare parts, but hot water was restored on attendance on 7 May 2024 (with a follow-on appointment booked).
   3. All issues regarding the thermal store/cylinder were addressed under its complaint reference number 28252041.
   4. It had passed on his service standards expectations to management. It apologised for the inconvenience caused and awarded £100 compensation (£50 for time and trouble, and £50 for the delayed complaint response).
6. The resident escalated his complaint on 9 November 2024 and said:
   1. The landlord had ignored the key points of his complaint and responded selectively. He completed an online “query or compensation request for loss of heating & hot water” form on 28 May 2024, reference HF2236686. The landlord had not responded to this.
   2. The landlord did not address the repair appointment of 2 May 2024. During this visit, he asked the operative to inspect the thermal store, but they would not do so. The operative was told 3 times that there was no hot water, but he packed up and left without the hot water being restored.
   3. He wanted a total of £406 compensation (a further £100 for his time and trouble and £306 for the loss of services). He set out his calculations for the refund he believed he was owed for the loss of 34 days’ heating and hot water.
7. The landlord issued its stage 2 response on 4 March 2025. It said it had acknowledged the delays and service failures in repairs and awarded compensation. It agreed its contractor had not met expected service standards causing the resident inconvenience. It set out the history of compensation: £50 under its case reference 28029018 (missed appointment of 1 July 2024), £168 under its case reference 28252041, and £100 under its case reference 25650081 (missed appointment and delays). It said it had paid the resident a total of £418 for missed appointments, service failures, time, trouble, and inconvenience, and complaint handling.
8. The resident referred his complaint to us and said the landlord had not addressed all his complaint points and instead referred to unrelated settled complaints. He was unhappy with its delayed responses and the lack of compensation for this at stage 2. He said he paid for heating and hot water as part of his service charges and wanted to be refunded for the days he was without these services.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

9. The resident has made several complaints to the landlord, including others about the loss of heating and hot water. The landlord’s complaint reference 28252041 mentioned above, was referred to us under our reference 202425793, and is therefore not considered further within this report (other than where relevant to the current complaint).
10. The resident has referred other complaints to us. One of these complaints (our reference 202451019 and landlord reference 33518834) addressed the recurring nature of this issue (amongst other concerns). Some elements of the resident’s requested outcome are better suited to consideration under that complaint. This investigation only considers the complaint made on 28 May 2024 about the loss of hot water and heating between March and May 2024.
11. The resident sent us copies of the landlord’s notices of shutdown of services between August 2024 and March 2025. We are only able to consider issues which have first been raised with the landlord and addressed through its complaints process. Therefore, if the resident is unhappy about these, he should first make his complaint to the landlord, if he has not done so already. If this has completed the landlord’s complaint process, he may refer it to us.

Loss of heating and hot water

12. The resident has requested a refund of charges for services not provided. We cannot assess the level or reasonableness of a service charge (including administration fees) and/or whether a refund is due; this would be for the First Tier Tribunal to consider. Our investigation has, instead, assessed the reasonableness of the landlord’s response to the queries he raised.
13. It is not within our remit to assess or award for a loss of earnings, so this is not addressed further in this report. However, we have considered the general distress and inconvenience which the resident may have experienced as a result of any service failure by the landlord. He may wish to consider seeking independent advice on making a personal liability claim in respect of any additional losses.
14. We do not consider or comment on how a landlord should deal with individual members of staff. We cannot order the landlord to take disciplinary action against individual staff members, or order remedies from individual staff such as personal apologies. We therefore do not consider complaints which concern terms of employment or other personnel issues.
15. Instead, we have considered whether the landlord adequately investigated and responded to the complaint, and took proportionate action based on the information available to it. For staff conduct complaints, landlords should carry out an investigation. This may include conducting interviews and gathering evidence to make an informed decision based on the evidence it has available.
16. The landlord has accepted some of its service failures in its complaint responses, apologised, and offered compensation. There is nothing further we can usefully add to that. Therefore, the question before us is whether those failures amount to maladministration and, if so, whether proper redress was offered to put things right.
17. We have not seen evidence that the landlord responded to the resident’s web form request for compensation for the loss of heating and hot water. Its complaint responses only dealt with the delays in repairs and missed appointments. If it issued a refund to his account in line with its policy (which was previously explained to him) then it should have said this. We have not seen evidence that the resident has been compensated or provided a response for this in contravention of the landlord’s policy.
18. The repair log shows the resident reported a loss of heating and hot water on 30 April 2024 under job reference 10666564/1. This was attended on 2 May 2024, with the operative noting the restoration of heating; the restoration of hot water was not noted. The resident logged a further report for this on 3 May 2024 before it was then restored.
19. The landlord said it dealt with issues about the thermal store/cylinder under its complaint reference number 28252041. The resident’s complaint about the events of 2 May 2024 was that the operative left the property without restoring hot water even when asked to check the thermal store. This was not addressed under its complaint reference 28252041.
20. The landlord should have investigated this and provided an explanation. Instead, it referred to another complaint where the thermal store/cylinder was mentioned, even though the issue was different. We have seen no evidence that the landlord investigated the concerns raised by the resident in line with our expectations.
21. The landlord has identified some failures and awarded compensation for these; in keeping with our Dispute Resolution Principles to be fair and put things right. However, it failed to address the resident’s concerns in full and has not offered redress for those failings. We have, therefore, identified maladministration in the landlord’s actions.
22. The landlord is ordered to write to the resident with an apology for its failures. It is ordered to provide evidence that it has responded to his request reference HF2236686. Once it has done so, and if the resident is unhappy with its response, he may log a new complaint with it to address that. It is further ordered to pay the resident £250, in addition to the £50 previously paid, for its failures in the handling of his reports of the loss of heating and hot water. This is in line with our remedies guidance, considering the length of time taken, the poor communication, the lack of explanations, and the impact on the resident.

Complaint handling

23. The landlord’s complaint policy applicable at the time defined a complaint as ‘any expression of dissatisfaction about any of its services requiring a response’. It set out a 2-stage complaint process. It set out timeframes; 3 working days to acknowledge the complaint, 15 working days for a full response at stage 1 and 25 working days at stage 2.
24. The resident logged his complaint on 28 May 2024, and the landlord acknowledged this the same day. It gave a response deadline of 10 working days. However, it did not respond within that timeframe or reply to his chaser of 19 June 2024. We have not seen evidence of an explanation or update provided for this delay. It then issued its stage 1 response on 6 November 2024, 116 working days after the complaint was made. This was significantly outside the policy timeframe.
25. The resident escalated his complaint to stage 2 on 9 November 2024, which the landlord acknowledged on 11 November 2024. The stage 2 response was then issued on 4 March 2025, 78 working days later. This was also outside the policy timeframe. The landlord awarded £50 for its delay in complaint handling at stage 1 but did not offer any explanation or compensation for it at stage 2.
26. Prompt responses allow both the resident and the landlord to draw a line under an issue. We do not generally investigate live issues, nor do we apply hindsight when investigating complaints. As the complaint was kept outstanding, later issues became inextricably linked for the resident. Given the recurring nature of the situation and his desire to find a lasting resolution, the delays were particularly unhelpful.
27. The landlord caused further confusion by referring to compensation it paid under other complaints. It is not helpful to respond in this way unless it is to clarify that a request was already fulfilled. If that was the case, it should have stated this clearly, listed the request, and then quoted the reference where it was fulfilled. It is not clear why it referred to other complaints other than to highlight that it had already paid a sum of compensation. How much it paid the resident under other complaints was only relevant if it was for the issue he complained about under this complaint.
28. We have found maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the complaint. It is ordered to write to the resident with an apology. It is ordered to pay£150 compensation, in addition to the £50 previously paid, for the upset, inconvenience, and confusion caused by its complaint handling failures, in line with our remedies guidance.
29. On 8 February 2024 we issued the statutory Complaint Handling Code (the Code) which sets out the requirements landlords must meet when handling complaints in policy and practice. The Code applied from 1 April 2024 and we have a duty to monitor compliance with it. We will assess landlords using our Compliance Framework and take action where there is evidence that the requirements set out in the Code are not being met. As a result, no specific order is made on this case with regard to the landlord’s compliance with the Code, and the contents of its policies and procedures in that regard.
30. However, an order is made for the landlord to review its handling of the complaint in this case, alongside the provisions of the Code in order to: understand how the failings occurred; identify areas for improvement; and note where current practices may be at odds with the requirements of the Code.

Determination

31. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Scheme there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s:
    1. Reports of the loss of heating and hot water.
    2. Associated formal complaint.

Orders

32. Within 4 weeks of this report the landlord is ordered to provide evidence that it has:
    1. Written to the resident with an apology (with reference to our remedies guidance to ensure the apology is sincere and appropriate) for the failures identified in this report.
    2. Paid directly to the resident (and not offset against any rent arrears) £500 compensation (inclusive of the £100 previously paid), as follows:
       1. £300 for its failures in the handling of the resident’s reports of the loss of heating and hot water.
       2. £200 for its failures in the handling of the associated formal complaint.
    3. Responded to the resident’s request reference HF2236686.
    4. Reviewed the complaint handling failures highlighted in this investigation alongside the provisions of the Code.