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Hyde Housing Association Limited (202232032)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202232032

Hyde Housing Association Limited

22 November 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 handling of boiler repairs.

Background

  1. The resident has an assured tenancy which began on 8 December 2008. The property in question is a two-bed house.
  2. The landlord’s records show that the resident is a wheelchair user.
  3. The resident reported a loss of heating and hot water on 8 February 2023. The landlord attended the next day and ordered new parts for the boiler and left electric heaters at the property.
  4. Following two missed appointments, the landlord attended on 15 February 2023 but was unable to fit the parts due to an issue with the stop cock.
  5. On 20 February 2023, the resident raised a stage 1 complaint as the repair remained outstanding and she was unhappy with the management of the works. The resident advised that she had been given inconsistent information throughout and requested that the landlord fix the boiler.
  6. The landlord provided a stage 1 response on 22 February 2023 and upheld the complaint. The landlord acknowledged the delay in repairing the boiler and said that an appointment was booked for 24 February 2023. The landlord offered a compensation payment of £150 to address the failings.
  7. On 27 February 2023, new parts were fitted but it was identified that further new parts were required. There were several failed appointments and problems with obtaining parts. On 15 March 2023, the resident escalated her complaint due to the continued issues and the landlord declining her request to be decanted until the boiler fault was resolved.
  8. The landlord said it would replace the boiler and this was done on 5 April 2023. Further plumbing and cosmetic works were then completed on 11 April 2023.
  9. On 14 April 2023, the landlord provided a stage 2 complaint response and acknowledged the failings in its management of the repair. It confirmed the actions it had taken and increased its compensation offer to what it said was £300. It increased the total compensation offer to £400 on 19 May 2023 – this included £150 for complaint handling failings.
  10. The resident did not consider the response sufficient and brought it to this Service for review in May 2023.

Assessment and findings

The landlord’s handling of boiler repairs

  1. It is evident that after the first visit to the property on 9 February 2023, the landlord failed to attend two other appointments prior to the stage 1 complaint being raised on 20 February 2023. The works orders noted that the initial follow up appointment was agreed with the resident but the engineer did not schedule the appointment. There was a failed appointment the following day but this was not referenced on the works order. The landlord later acknowledged this failing, as it said there were two missed appointments prior to the complaint being raised.
  2. Although the landlord provided electric heaters due to the lack of heating available, the resident was still left without hot water during this period. This is a service failing on the part of the landlord which caused unnecessary delays and further inconvenience for a vulnerable resident.
  3. The landlord attended on 15 February 2023 and identified that it could not replace parts due to issues with the stop cock. It is understandable that this would prevent works from being completed on the day but it would then be reasonable for the landlord to arrange a follow up appointment as a priority. However, the next time the landlord attended the property was 12 days later, during which time the proposed visit on 24 February 2023 (from the stage 1 response) did not go ahead. This additional missed appointment and the delay between the appointments is a further service failing by the landlord.
  4. After attending on 27 February 2023 and identifying that further parts were required to fix the boiler, it took until 3 March 2023 for landlord to raise a request for the parts. Given that the resident had already been without a working boiler for 18 days at the time of the appointment, the delay of 5 days in raising the request was unreasonable and demonstrated a lack of urgency.
  5. It is evident that on 24 March 2023, the landlord identified that the requested parts were obsolete and a request was made for a new boiler to be installed. Given that it is unlikely that this information would not have been available on 27 February 2023, the delay in identifying that it could not provide these parts is unreasonable. This is another service failing by the landlord, as it did not establish that it would need to replace the boiler sooner. These unnecessary delays added to the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident.
  6. After identifying that a new boiler would be required, the landlord acted in a timely manner to arrange and complete the install of the boiler and other associated works.
  7. When addressing the resident’s stage 2 complaint, the landlord offered a breakdown of £350 in compensation, however, this was incorrectly detailed as totalling £300 in the letter. A follow up decision on 19 May 2023 increased the repairs element of the compensation to £250 in recognition of the delays and distress and inconvenience caused (in addition to £150 in recognition of complaint handling failings).
  8. It is the view of the Ombudsman that this was not proportionate when considering the findings and failings identified in this report. The likely impact of the loss of heating and hot water over a period of two months was substantial and an increased award is therefore warranted.
  9. Ultimately, the landlord failed to provide sufficient ownership to ensure that the boiler was repaired in a timely manner. Failed appointments and a lack of adequate oversight of the process meant that it failed to identify the requirement to replace the boiler earlier. This led to unnecessary delays and significant distress and inconvenience for a vulnerable resident who had to make do without hot water and limited heating during the winter period. Having considered the in the management of these works and the insufficient offer of redress, the Ombudsman makes a finding of maladministration.

Determination (decision)

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration in the landlord’s handling of boiler repairs.

Orders

  1. Within 28 days of this report, the landlord is required to provide a written apology to the resident.
  2. Within 28 days of this report, the landlord is ordered to make a compensation payment of £500 to the resident for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of boiler repairs. This is inclusive of the previous offer of £250 for repairs failings that was made during the complaint process (which can be discounted from the £500, if it was paid previously).
  3. The landlord must reply to this Service with evidence of compliance with these orders within the timescale set out above.