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Bristol City Council (202331720)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202331720

Bristol City Council

29 September 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:
    1. Response to the resident’s concerns about payments for heating and hot water.
    2. Complaint handling.

Background

  1. The resident is a secured tenant of the property, a 1-bedroom flat. He pays a service charge to the landlord for heating and hot water.
  2. On 29 November 2022 the resident contacted the landlord and asked it to provide details of his payments for the heating and hot water charge from April 2021 to March 2022. On 1 May 2023 he complained to the landlord that he had not received the information.
  3. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 12 May 2023. It apologised to the resident and provided him with information to show how his actual heating and hot water charge was calculated.
  4. On 17 May 2023 the resident escalated his complaint. He said he believed the landlord’s figures were incorrect for the payments he had made. The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 25 July 2023. It said it had checked the resident’s account, and he had been billed correctly.
  5. The resident remained dissatisfied and brought the complaint to us.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. Under the Scheme we are unable to investigate issues about the level or increase of variable service charges, and therefore their reasonableness or the liability to pay them. If the resident wishes to challenge these aspects, he may do so by making an application to the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber). While we are unable to assess the level or reasonableness of the service charge, we will consider whether landlord responded to the resident’s query about this in line with its policies and procedures, and whether this was fair and reasonable in all the circumstances.

Payments for heating and hot water

  1. The resident’s rent is paid weekly by housing benefit. This payment does not cover the service charge for heating and hot water. The resident makes separate payments to cover this charge. For the 12-month period from April 2021, the resident’s weekly service charge for heating and hot water was £9.19. He made payments of £20 on a fortnightly basis.
  2. On 29 November 2022 the resident wrote to the landlord and said he had previously received a refund against his heating and hot water charges. He requested:
    1. The actual charges for heating and hot water from April 2021 to March 2022.
    2. A breakdown of the heating and hot water payments he had made during that period.
    3. Information to help him understand the new meters that had been installed.
  3. The resident told us he sent a further request to the landlord in the following months. The landlord has been unable to provide copies of the letters sent by the resident.
  4. The resident complained to the landlord on 1 May 2023. He said despite sending 2 requests for information regarding his heating and water payments, he had received no response.
  5. On 12 May 2023 the landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response. It apologised the resident had not received the information previously and said:
    1. It had attached a copy of his meter readings and unit costs which showed his usage and charges for the relevant period.
    2. He had paid a total of £477.88 for the year, calculated using his weekly charge of £9.19 multiplied by 52 weeks.
    3. It had attached a guidance leaflet to help him understand the meters.
    4. It had also attached a copy of his meter readings and unit costs from the previous year (April 2020 to March 2021). This showed that while his usage remained similar the increase in cost per unit meant his total charges had increased and he would not get a refund.
  6. The landlord’s response provided the resident with help to understand his meters and why his charges where higher than the previous year. However, it failed to provide the resident with an accurate breakdown of the payments he had made during that period. Instead, it used details of the payments the resident was expected to make and did not consider any additional money the resident had paid. The landlord’s response did not answer the resident’s query and was unreasonable.
  7. The resident contacted the landlord on 14 May 2023 and asked the landlord to confirm that its records showed he had paid only £9.19 a week from April 2020 to April 2022. The landlord replied 2 days later and confirmed the resident had paid £9.19 a week for the entire period.
  8. On 17 May 2023 the resident escalated his complaint with the landlord. He said its figures for the actual payments made from April 2020 to March 2022 were incorrect and he had the receipts to prove it. The resident said he was concerned that his overpayments had not been considered and queried whether the same could be said for previous years.
  9. The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 25 July 2023. It said it had checked the amounts billed and confirmed the resident had been billed correctly. The landlord said its findings were consistent with that at stage 1 and it could not uphold the resident’s complaint.
  10. The response failed to address the inconsistency between the payments due from the resident and the payments he actually made. The resident had not disputed the charges he owed for heating and hot water. However, the information provided by the landlord suggested his overpayments had not been considered.
  11. Since bringing the complaint to us, the resident continued to raise the matter with the landlord to try and get an answer to his question. On 26 January 2024 the landlord provided the resident with a breakdown of all payments and charges for the period April 2020 to March 2023. The resident is satisfied the amounts of his payments are correct, albeit some of the payment dates are slightly out from his records. However, the resident believes the landlord is holding the overpayments he made.
  12. The landlord’s website does not contain details of how overpayments to accounts are dealt with. The breakdown provided by the landlord suggests the overpayments are likely to account for the credit on the resident’s account. In March 2023 the resident’s account was showing a credit of £463.13 which had been progressively increasing since April 2020. However, this has never been explained to the resident.
  13. In summary, the evidence shows the landlord failed to respond the resident’s initial requests. The landlord has not specifically stated it did not receive the letters. When it did respond, the landlord failed to answer the resident’s main issue regarding the total payments he had actually made and gave him incorrect information on 2 occasions. This caused the resident to lose trust in the landlord and its ability to effectively deliver a service.
  14. The evidence also shows the resident was clear in his escalation request that he believed the landlord’s records of his payments were incorrect. The landlord failed to acknowledge this in its stage 2 response, which has led to the resident feeling ignored and caused a breakdown in the landlord / tenant relationship.
  15. The landlord did provide the resident with his account information 6 months after its stage 2 response and only after repeated requests from the resident. However, it provided no explanation as to what the figures meant, and the resident still did not understand where his overpayments had gone. The landlord’s failure to answer the resident’s query at an earlier stage has led to lengthy delays in the resident resolving what should have been a simple request.
  16. The landlord’s failure to respond appropriately to the resident’s request leads to a determination of maladministration. An order has been made for the landlord to pay £200 compensation to the resident for the time and trouble caused. This is in line with our remedies guidance for failings which have adversely impacted the resident and the landlord has made no attempt to put things right.

Complaint handling

  1. The landlord operates a 2-stage complaint process. Its complaints policy sets out the timescales in which the landlord will deal complaints:
    1. It will issue its stage 1 response within 15 working days.
    2. It will issue its stage 2 response within 20 working days.
  2. The resident complained to the landlord on 1 May 2023. The landlord issued its stage 1 response on 12 May 2023, in line with its policy timescales. The response set out an address for the resident to write to if he wanted to escalate his complaint.
  3. The resident wrote to the landlord at the specified address on 17 May 2023 to escalate his complaint. He contacted the landlord again on 7 June 2023 to ask if his request had been received. The landlord responded the following day and said it had not received his request. It advised him to send his request to a PO Box number or by email.
  4. The landlord’s complaints policy states although it prefers to receive feedback electronically, it will also accept complaints by mail. It was unreasonable of the landlord to use a misleading address in its stage 1 response as this delayed the resident escalating his complaint. It was also unreasonable of the landlord not to record his escalation request at this point.
  5. The resident sent a further escalation request to the landlord on 9 June 2023. The escalation was made in writing to the PO Box number advised by the landlord. The landlord’s records state the request was received on 23 June 2023. It advised the resident it would reply by 21 July 2023.
  6. The resident chased his complaint with the landlord on 24 July 2023.
  7. The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 25 July 2023, 4 days later than it had previously advised. This was also 7 working days later than the times set out in its policy. The landlord apologised for the delay to issuing its response.
  8. In summary, the evidence shows the landlord missed an opportunity to record the resident’s escalation request at an earlier stage. This was unreasonable, given the resident had followed the advice given by the landlord in its stage 1 response on where to direct his escalation request. This delayed the resident’s request by over a month and caused him time and trouble in pursuing the matter.
  9. The evidence also shows the landlord failed to issue its stage 2 response in line with its policy. While the landlord apologised in its response, it would have been reasonable to inform the resident of the delay in advance, to save him the time and trouble of chasing the matter.
  10. This leads to a determination of service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling. An order has been made for the landlord to pay £100 compensation to the resident for the time and trouble caused.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s response to the resident’s concerns about payments for heating and hot water.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the scheme, there was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks of the date of this report, the landlord must:
    1. Provide the resident with a written apology for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay directly to the resident £300 compensation made up of:
      1. £200 for its failings in responding to the resident’s request.
      2. £100 for its failings in complaint handling.
    3. Provide the resident with a clear, written explanation as to how his overpayments have affected his account. If the resident’s account is in credit from the overpayments, the landlord should advise the resident how he can claim the credit back if he wishes, or alternatively how he can elect to use the credit to alter his current payment schedule.