London Borough of Camden Council (202405037)
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Decision |
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Case ID |
202405037 |
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Decision type |
Investigation |
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Landlord |
London Borough of Camden Council |
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Landlord type |
Local Authority / ALMO or TMO |
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Occupancy |
Leaseholder |
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Date |
5 March 2026 |
Background
- The resident pays a service charge to her landlord as part of her lease agreement, which includes the provision of communal heating and hot water. The resident is unhappy the landlord did not provide a rebate of her service charge and refund the extra electricity used following a period of the heating and hot water not working.
What the complaint is about
- The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
- The resident’s request for a refund of service charges and electricity costs.
- The resident’s complaint.
Our decision (determination)
- We found the landlord responsible for maladministration in its handling of the resident’s request for a refund of service charges and electricity costs.
- We found the landlord responsible for maladministration in its handling of the resident’s complaint.
We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.
Summary of reasons
The landlord’s handling of the resident’s request for a refund of service charges and electricity costs
- The landlord did not apply its own remedies policy correctly and failed to follow up with its contractor regarding a refund of additional electricity costs.
The handling of the resident’s complaint
- The landlord failed to provide complaint responses within its own policy time frames. Its decision to open a new complaint, instead of escalating it, delayed its final response unreasonably.
Putting things right
Where we find service failure, maladministration or severe maladministration we can make orders for the landlord to put things right. We have the discretion to make recommendations in all other cases within our jurisdiction.
Orders
Landlords must comply with our orders in the manner and timescales we specify. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of compliance with our orders by the due date set.
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Order |
What the landlord must do |
Due date |
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1 |
Apology order The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure:
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No later than 02 April 2026 |
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2 |
Compensation order The landlord must provide documentary evidence it has paid directly to the resident £250 compensation to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its failures, made up as follows:
This is in addition to any compensation already paid. |
No later than 02 April 2026 |
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3 |
Compensation order The landlord must also provide documentary evidence it has paid directly to the resident £1916.81 in line with its remedies policy made up as follows:
The landlord may deduct from the total figure any payments already made for the service charge rebate and/or the applicable compensation at the rate of £3.50 per day. |
No later than 02 April 2026 |
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4 |
The landlord should provide documentary evidence that it has clearly stated to the resident its position on compensation for the additional electricity usage. In the initial stage 1 response, it said its contractor was considering offering this. It should confirm whether it or its contractor will or will not pay this to the resident. |
No later than 02 April 2026 |
Our investigation
The complaint procedure
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Date |
What happened |
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1 December 2023 |
The resident submitted a formal complaint about the heating and hot water. In this initial complaint she reported that the communal system had been out of service since 1 November 2023 and criticised both the landlord and contractors for poor communication. She said she had to rely on an expensive immersion heater for hot–water and requested a refund of her increased electricity costs. She also sought compensation and a refund of service charges for the period the system remained out of service. |
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21 December 2023 |
The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response upholding the resident’s complaint. It apologised for the distress and inconvenience caused by the delays and provided a timeline of events. It explained that the contractor had ordered a specialist part, which required an extended delivery time. It said the contractor had agreed directly with the resident to supply oil‑filled heaters and noted that she had told the contractor she was not using her immersion heater because it was too expensive. It added that, although not yet confirmed, the contractor had indicated it might offer compensation for the additional electricity costs. |
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15 February 2024 |
The resident, still unhappy with the lack of progress, attempted to escalate her complaint, but the landlord instead opened a second complaint. She remained dissatisfied because the heating and hot water were still not repaired, and neither the landlord nor the contractor had refunded the increased electricity costs they had promised. She requested payment of these costs, completion of the repair, compensation, and a rebate of the heating and hot–water element of her service charge. |
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1 March 2024 |
The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response for the second complaint and set out a timeline explaining the events. It provided a link for the resident to claim a rebate for the period without heating and hot water. It stated that the repair was completed on 1 March 2024 and indicated that the issue had been resolved. It also said it had passed the resident’s concerns to its repairs management team. |
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6 March 2024 |
The resident escalated her second complaint because the landlord had not agreed to refund the service charge. She said the link provided only offered £3.50 per day, whereas she estimated her service charge at about £8.18 per day. She was also unhappy that the system did not record all the dates she was without heating and hot water, as she had been reporting issues directly to the contractor on the landlord’s advice. She requested further redress, including reimbursement for the additional electricity she had used. |
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26 April 2024 |
The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response to the second complaint and apologised for the ongoing issues with the communal heating and hot water system. It said the situation had been complex and that it had taken all possible steps to resolve the problem. It upheld the resident’s complaint and offered the following compensation:
The landlord referred to its remedies guidance and confirmed it would only pay £3.50 per day for the loss of heating and hot water, with the total to be calculated once the system had been fully restored. The landlord added that an independent assessment had found the system uneconomical to repair and that it was scheduled for replacement on 7 May 2024. |
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Referral to the Ombudsman |
The resident escalated her complaint to us because the landlord had not provided a full rebate of the service charge and additional electricity costs. She submitted evidence showing the actual daily heating and hot‑water service charge for the period was £6.23, higher than the £3.50 per day the landlord offered. She also provided a letter from the landlord confirming it would rebate any charges for the outage period, which it said was intended to more than cover those costs. The resident said her interpretation of this was to include the extra electricity costs. |
What we found and why
The circumstances of this complaint are well known by the parties involved, so it is not necessary to detail everything that has happened or comment on all the information we’ve reviewed. We’ve only included the key information that forms the basis of our decision of whether the landlord is responsible for maladministration.
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Complaint |
The handling of a refund of service charges and electricity costs |
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Finding |
Maladministration |
What we have not considered
- The resident made a separate complaint about a single missed appointment which we have not investigated as this was not part of the complaint brought to us. The resident has also indicated that the matter of the heating and hot water repair was resolved within the landlord’s complaint handling procedure. Her complaint to us is specifically to investigate whether the landlord should have paid the additional electricity costs and refunded her service charges paid during the outage. As such this will be the main scope of our investigation.
The handling of a refund of service charges and electricity costs
- The landlord’s remedies policy says it will refund service charges when there is a supply failure. This applies to landlord‑controlled heating and hot water systems between September and May. The policy also says the landlord will pay an additional £3.50 per day in compensation.
- During the complaint process, the resident asked for a refund of the heating and hot‑water service charges. The landlord refused and said it had to follow its remedies guidance, offering only £3.50 per day. Although it is positive the resident confirmed the landlord paid this compensation for 197 days, it failed to identify it should have also refunded the service charge as per the policy.
- This was a failure and caused the resident unnecessary distress and inconvenience. There would have been added frustration as we have seen the landlord sent her a letter in November 2023. This reflected its policy as stated above. Although there is a link provided in the letter to claim both of these, the landlord has said she was only entitled to compensation of £3.50 per day. The landlord’s process at the time, although clearly defined, was not applied correctly. There was a missed opportunity for the landlord to apply its own remedies policy correctly when the resident highlighted the contents of the November 2023 letter.
- The resident also asked the landlord to pay the difference between her previous year’s electricity use and the current period. She provided bills showing £135.92 for December 2022 and £366.69 for December 2023, which is a significant rise. In its initial stage 1 complaint response in December 2023, the landlord said its contractor might consider compensating her for the extra electricity used during the outage. However, there is no evidence the landlord followed this up with its contractor, which did not demonstrate appropriate management of the landlord-contractor relationship.
- The landlord’s unclear responses created confusion for the resident. This confusion led her to continue pursuing the issue. She experienced further distress and inconvenience during this process. The landlord should have clearly stated its position on the electricity costs. Clear communication could have resolved part of the complaint earlier. While we found no policy requiring the landlord to cover extra electricity costs, its communication following what it told the resident was unclear. We have therefore ordered the landlord to address this part of the complaint.
- The landlord offered compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused in relation to the handling of the heating and hot water outage. However, it failed to recognise additional failings regarding the rebate of service charges and electricity costs. Our remedies guidance says payments of £100 to £600 are appropriate when failures adversely affect residents but cause no permanent impact. The £150 we have ordered reflects the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s failure to apply its own remedies policy and the missed opportunities to do so.
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Complaint |
The handling of the complaint |
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Finding |
Maladministration |
- The landlord’s complaints policy at the time required it to issue a stage 1 response within 10 working days, with an optional 10‑day extension if agreed with the resident. Stage 2 responses were due within 25 working days, with a possible 40‑day extension when necessary. The landlord had to notify the resident of any extension and agree revised timeframes.
- The landlord did not provide evidence that it acknowledged the resident’s December 2023 complaint and its stage 1 response was 4 days late. In February 2024 it acknowledged the complaint and escalation on the day they were made, which was an improvement. However, its stage 1 response in February was still one day late, and its stage 2 response was 11 days outside its policy timescales. These delays were not reasonable and unnecessarily prolonged the process. The landlord did not identify these failures in its complaint responses and therefore could not offer redress for them.
- Instead of escalating the February 2024 complaint, the landlord opened a new complaint. Its policy allows residents 28 days to request escalation. Although the resident submitted her escalation 28 days late, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to escalate the complaint at that stage. The landlord’s decision not to escalate caused the resident avoidable distress and inconvenience and delayed her ability to escalate her case to us.
- 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.
- Our remedies guidance says payments of £100 to £600 are appropriate when failures adversely affect residents but cause no permanent impact. The £100 we have ordered reflects the distress and inconvenience caused by the landlord’s complaint handling failures.
Learning
- The landlord’s remedies policy was clear to separate the compensation costs and rebate of service charges. The landlord should review how it implement’s this policy to help reduce any future complaints.
Knowledge information management (record keeping)
- The landlord should ensure it records all communication with its contractors, especially during the complaints procedure. This will help show transparency, an accurate account of what happened and its decision making.
- The landlord should also ensure complaints are clearly recorded on its system and if it decides not to escalate a complaint, this should be clearly recorded along with when it explained this to the resident. This may help prevent further complaints.
Communication
- Staff should be reminded of the importance of acknowledging complaints promptly and maintaining regular updates throughout the complaint process, as required by both the Code and good practice.