London Borough of Camden Council (202407878)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202407878

London Borough of Camden Council

1 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 landlord’s handling of the recurrent loss of heating and hot water over the winter period.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord. The property is a 4 bedroom house. The resident lives in the property with her partner and adult daughter. Both the resident and her partner are older people with multiple health issues.
  2. The resident has been reporting intermittent issues with loss of heating and hot water since at least 2008. She raised a formal complaint with the landlord on 11 March 2024. She said many engineers had tried to fix it, but there were still ongoing issues.
  3. The landlord sent the resident a stage 1 complaint response on 10 April 2024. It said it upheld the resident’s complaint as it had not yet rectified the issues with the heating and hot water. It said it had planned works scheduled to renew the heating system within the next 12 months.
  4. Following escalation to stage 2, the landlord sent the resident a stage 2 complaint response on 1 May 2024. It acknowledged that the resident had repeatedly reported heating and hot water issues for many years. It said it had made considerable efforts to attend on each occasion. However, it recognised it had been unable to achieve any lasting improvement. It offered the resident £500 compensation for the loss in service.
  5. The resident was dissatisfied with the landlord’s response, so she referred her complaint to the Ombudsman. The resident said she wanted the landlord to fix the heating and hot water issues and pay an increased amount of compensation to cover the heating charges, inconvenience, and damage to property.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. Throughout the complaint and in communication with this Service, the resident said this situation had a detrimental impact on hers and her partner’s health and wellbeing. The courts are the most effective place for disputes about personal injury and illness. This is largely because independent medical experts are appointed to give evidence. They have a duty to the court to provide unbiased insights on the diagnosis, prognosis, and cause of any illness or injury. When disputes arise over the cause of an injury, oral testimony can be examined in court. While the Ombudsman cannot consider the effect on health, consideration has been given to any general distress and inconvenience which the resident experienced because of any service failure by the landlord.
  2. Part of the resident’s complaint is about the reasonableness of the service charges based on the level of service provided. We may not investigate complaints which concern the level of service charge, or the level of increase. However, we can assess whether the landlord’s overall communication with the resident was fair and reasonable. If the resident remains unhappy with the level of rent or service charges, she may wish to seek independent advice.

The landlord’s handling of the recurrent loss of heating and hot water over the winter period

  1. The resident’s property is connected to a district heating network. The network provides the resident’s heating, hot water, and cooking gas. The district heating cost is payable as part of the rent through a fixed service charge. Residents do not receive adjustments for actual usage. The cost of the service charge depends on the type of boiler, the services provided (e.g. heating, hot water, and cooking gas), and the number of bedrooms in the property. Residents are unable to opt out of the landlord’s district heating network.
  2. It is clear from the evidence provided that the issues with the resident’s heating and hot water have been ongoing intermittently since at least 2008. The landlord has provided limited evidence which shows it responded to the resident’s reports of no heating, no hot water, and burst radiators following each report between 2008 and 2020. However, it has not been possible to complete a full and thorough assessment of the landlord’s actions over this period due to the availability and reliability of the evidence, and the length of time that has passed. Therefore, this assessment does not consider any specific events prior to 2021.
  3. The resident raised a complaint with the landlord on 2 March 2021. It is unclear from the evidence provided whether the landlord logged this as a formal complaint. The resident said she had some heating, but not enough to warm the whole house. She also said there was some hot water, but only enough for 1 bath a day. She told the landlord that she was using her gas cooker to warm the top of the house but the downstairs bedrooms and the bathroom were still cold. She said she paid for the heating and hot water within her rent, yet she was not getting enough of either.
  4. A heating engineer attended the resident’s property on 3 March 2021. This was within the landlord’s repair policy timeframe of 5 working days for urgent repairs. He confirmed that the radiator in the living room needed a new valve. The records show that he was able to increase the temperature in the property. However, on 8 March 2021 the resident reported a leak on her kitchen radiator. This meant she had to switch the radiator off, which then lowered the overall temperature in the property again. However, there are no records to show that the landlord addressed the resident’s use of the cooker to heat the property, which was a health and safety concern. Neither are there records to show that it addressed the resident’s concerns that she was paying for a service she was not always receiving. This was unreasonable.
  5. The records show that the landlord offered the resident temporary heaters on 12 April 2021, which was reasonable in the circumstances, although the records show that resident refused the offer. The issues with the radiator valves continued and the heating engineer returned to fit a new valve on 13 May 2021. The resident reported a further fault to the landlord on 4 June 2021. The engineer attended again on 7 June 2021, however, the resident refused access as she wanted a senior engineer to attend.
  6. The resident’s solicitor sent the landlord a letter of claim for disrepair on 11 June 2021. The letter said that there had been issues with the resident’s heating and radiators for over 20 years, several radiators had burst, and the resident had been using her gas cooker as a form of heating. It also said the landlord had fitted a pump in a neighbouring property some years ago, which had affected the resident’s heating and hot watersupply.
  7. In response, the landlord inspected the resident’s property and it produced an inspection report on 7 July 2021. The report said the landlord had asked its contractors to complete a heat calculation so it could confirm the heat output. It said it was possible that the radiators had limited heat output due to the design. It said it would send the resident an insurance claim form so she could claim for any damaged personal items following the leaks. The report confirmed that the landlord would be undertaking planned works to upgrade the communal heating system and communal boiler in 2021/2022.
  8. Although the landlord confirmed the planned works were due to take place sometime in 2021/2022, it did not give the resident a provisional date or, at the very least, a general idea of when the works might take place. It did not show that it had considered how the resident was going to adequately heat her property until the programmed works took place. In addition, it again did not address the resident’s use of the gas cooker for heating. This was unreasonable given the potential health and safety risk to the resident and her family and the likelihood that she would continue to use the cooker until the landlord upgraded the heating system.
  9. The landlord completed further works to the resident’s heating system between 8 July 2021 and 13 September 2021. The records show it completed all outstanding works and fixed a leak to a bedroom radiator. The resident continued to report limited or no heating and hot water to the landlord between 29 December 2021 and 12 February 2022. The landlord responded and carried out various works to resolve the issues.
  10. The resident sent the landlord an email on 25 November 2022. She said she was still having heating issues. She said, once again, she was using her gas cooker to warm the upper levels in her home. She also told the landlord that she was using an electric fire in her bathroom. She said she was aware it was a hazard, however, the bathroom was too cold to use without it. The resident said the new radiators were on, and they were as hot as they could be, yet there was no heat coming off them. The resident said she was using small electrical heaters, but she was worried about her electricity bill. The resident asked the landlord for solutions until it had completed the programmed upgrade.
  11. The landlord sent the resident a response on the same day. It said it would send a heating engineer out straight away. Although this was within the timeframe set in the repairs policy for emergency repairs, it did not give the resident a full response. It did not respond to the resident’s concerns about her electricity bill or address the potential hazard of using an electric heater in a bathroom. It also did not respond to the resident’s request for solutions while she waited for the heating upgrade. In addition to this, there is no evidence to show the landlord offered the resident any additional temporary heating. This was unreasonable in the circumstances, particularly as this was during the winter period and it was clear that these issues had been ongoing for a long time.
  12. The records show that the landlord delivered 2 oil filled radiators to the resident’s property on 13 January 2023. The resident contacted the landlord on 16 January 2023 asking for an update on the heating system upgrade. She also told the landlord that the 2 temporary radiators were not sufficient to heat her 4 bedroom home. The landlord responded on the same day and said the complex and disrepair team were not aware of the issue, but it had copied the heating team in who would contact the resident. However, there is no evidence to show the landlord provided a response. This was unreasonable.
  13. The heating issues continued intermittently during the winter months. The landlord’s records show that its heating engineer attended the resident’s property on 12 January 2024 following a further report of no heating. The resident told him that the issues started when a neighbour had a pump fitted. The engineer confirmed he had seen the pump and concluded that the pump was taking the resident’s heat from her property. The engineer said the landlord needed to investigate and inform the resident of the outcome. However, there is no evidence to show the landlord carried out an investigation or tried to investigate whether the pump was the cause of the resident’s heating problems. This was unreasonable in the circumstances. Had it done so, it may have been able to consider temporary solutions for the resident until it had completed the programmed upgrade.
  14. In addition, the landlord’s remedies policy, dated June 2023, includes a provision for compensating residents when there has been a supply failure of landlord-controlled heating, hot water or bulk gas supply for three consecutive days or more during the heating season. However, there is no evidence to show that the landlord considered whether the resident’s situation warranted a refund. This was unreasonable.
  15. The resident raised a formal complaint on 11 March 2024. She told the landlord on 28 March 2024 that both she and her partner had health issues that were affected by the cold.
  16. The landlord sent the resident a stage 1 complaint response on 10 April 2024. It said it could only investigate issues that had occurred in the past year. It confirmed the repairs it had raised since 27 December 2023 and it acknowledged that it had not arranged a follow up appointment in January 2024 to investigate the neighbour’s pump. It said it had scheduled an inspection for 15 April 2024 and it confirmed that planned works were due to take place within the next 12 months to upgrade the heating system.
  17. The resident escalated her complaint to stage 2 on 18 April 2024 as the landlord’s investigation had only covered the 12 months prior to her complaint. She asked the landlord to refund her for the heating and hot water she had paid for over the last 20 years and for items that had been ruined following burst radiators. She said she also wanted compensation for the way she had been treated over the years and she wanted heating and hot water without having to have temporary radiators and blow heaters around her home.
  18. The landlord sent the resident a stage 2 complaint response on 1 May 2024. It looked back at its repairs records and confirmed the records showed the resident had been having issues with her heating and hot water since at least 2008. It listed numerous heating and hot water repairs and gave examples of the work it had done. It said it had made some recent progress towards a suitable investigation and it would ensure its efforts continued. It offered the resident £500 compensation for the effect of the losses in service over the years. It also sent the resident an insurance claim form but did say she might be out of time to claim.
  19. Although the landlord appropriately acknowledged that the resident had been reporting issues with her heating and hot water for a number of years and it offered compensation, it did not fully recognise its failings. It is clear from the evidence provided that the landlord did respond to the resident’s reports of no heating and hot water. It is accepted that the landlord was limited by the constraints of the district heating scheme to some extent. However, it did not address the wider issues raised by the resident. It did not respond to her concerns that she was paying for a service she was not always receiving or that she was concerned about her electricity costs due to using temporary heaters. It did not address her use of the gas cooker to heat her home or her use of an electric heater in the bathroom, which were both health and safety concerns.
  20. The landlord did not provide the resident with updates on the progress of the planned upgrade works even though there were significant delays in the work starting. It relied heavily on the planned works as a solution to the problem and did not investigate or consider temporary options. It did not show that it had considered the resident’s and her partner’s health issues and the effect of the lack of heating and hot water. It also did not show it had considered whether the resident was due any refund or compensation for the loss of heating or hot water under its remedies policy.
  21. The resident has since told us that the landlord partially completed the heating upgrade in October 2024 when it installed a new communal boiler. The landlord has also told us that stage 2 of the planned works involves the renewal of the external pipework to all properties. However, it has not yet been able to procure a suitable contractor to complete the work. It confirmed it had contacted the resident and arranged to provide her with an immersion boiler for hot water. It also confirmed it had provided 2 temporary radiators and has offered help with energy costs.
  22. Where there are admitted failings by a landlord, we will consider whether the redress offered put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances. In considering this we take into account whether the landlord’s offer of redress was in line with the Ombudsman’s Dispute Resolution Principles; be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes.
  23. Having considered all the circumstances of the case, while the landlord has recognised that there were failings in the case, as set out above, it has not shown it has recognised all the failings. As such, it has not done enough to fully resolve or learn from the complaint, and on that basis, we find that there has been maladministration. Therefore, we consider the offer of £500 insufficient given the resident’s circumstances and the impact of the landlord’s failings over a significant length of time.
  24. We consider an order for the landlord to pay the resident £850 compensation (inclusive of the landlord’s original offer) to be appropriate in the circumstances. This is in line with our remedies guidance where there was a failure which had a significant impact on the resident. This is also in line with the landlord’s remedies policy which says it can pay up to £1000 for severe and prolonged distress. We have also made additional orders below.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the recurrent loss of heating and hot water over the winter period.

Orders and recommendations

Orders

  1. Within 4 weeks from the date of the report, the landlord must:
    1. Apologise to the resident, in writing, for the failings identified in this report. A senior manager must make the apology on behalf of the landlord.
    2. Pay the resident compensation of £850 (the landlord may deduct from this amount the £500 compensation it previously offered if this has already been paid) in recognition of the likely distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the recurrent loss of heating and hot water over the winter period.
    3. Pay the compensation directly to the resident.
    4. Appoint the resident a single point of contact in relation to the planned heating upgrade works.
    5. Provide both the resident and this Service with a full update on the planned works and agree a method of providing regular updates to the resident until the completion of the works.
    6. Consider whether 2 radiators are sufficient to adequately heat a 4 bedroom house over the winter period taking into account the resident and her partner’s health issues. The landlord must write to both the resident and this Service to explain its decision and set out the amount it has agreed to pay towards energy costs.
    7. Consider whether its heating refunds and compensation provision within its remedies policy dated June 2023 is applicable to any of the resident’s losses of heating and hot water from the date of the policy. In addition, the landlord must consider whether any other previous versions of the policy apply back to 2021.
  2. The landlord should reply to this Service with evidence of compliance with these orders within the timescales set out above.