Plexus UK (First Project) Limited (202523878)

Background

1. The resident lives with mental health vulnerabilities. He signed the tenancy agreement on 13 November 2024. On 26 November 2024, he told the landlord that he had problems with his boiler. The same day the landlord advised him to contact his supplier. The resident reported ongoing issues on 24 April 2025. Throughout his complaint with the landlord a representative has assisted the resident. For simplicity we will refer to both as the resident in the report.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of no heating or hot water.
3. We have also investigated the landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

4. We have found maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of no heating and hot water.
5. We have found no maladministration in the landlord’s complaint handling.

We have made orders for the landlord to put things right.

Summary of reasons

The landlord’s handling of the reports of no heating or hot water

6. The landlord did not action the reports as required by its policies and procedures and did not make the resident’s property safe. This resulted in him being without heat and hot water for a significant period of the winter.

The landlord’s complaint handling

7. The landlord responded to the complaint in line with its policies and procedures.

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.

Recommendations

Our recommendations are not binding, and a landlord may decide not to follow them.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

 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’s 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.

8. The resident’s heating and hot water is supplied by a communal heating system located within the building. The landlord manages the communal heating system and appoints a contractor to manage the metering system. There are separate meters for the supply of electricity and heating/hot water.
9. The tenant handbook states that the landlord will show the resident how to use the property, including the heating system. The tenant sign up document has a section related to heating. Within this document the staff member completing the form ticked a check box to indicate they had shown the resident how to operate the heating, including the boiler and thermostat. However, only the staff member signed and dated the form. Their name and signature appeared in the resident section. The resident did not sign the form. As both parties had not signed the form the landlord cannot indicate that it fulfilled its duties to explain the operation of the heating and hot water system.
10. There is then a separate form named the property inventory form. The utilities section of the form referred to the electric and electricity supplier as well as the water and water supplier providing meter readings for both. There was no mention on the form related to heating or hot water and no meter reading or reference to a meter that is associated with heating or hot water. Due to the non-conventional nature of the heating system, it would have been reasonable for the landlord to have clearly demonstrated its operation and to have recorded this appropriately in the tenancy documents. The evidence does not show this happened.
11. Section 11 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 requires landlords to keep heating and hot water systems in repair and proper working order. The landlord acknowledged this responsibility in the resident’s tenancy agreement.
12. On 26 November 2024, the resident contacted the landlord to report that he had no heating or hot water and that his boiler was displaying a code that read E80. The landlord raised an emergency repair with a 24 hour response time, which was appropriate and in line with its repairs policy.
13. In the landlord’s complaint responses, it said that it attended the resident’s property on 26 November 2024 and advised him to contact the “metering and billing company”. We pursued the landlord for a record of the inspection. It confirmed it had not inspected the property but had spoken to the resident on the phone. The inclusion of incorrect information in a complaint response is inappropriate. It also raises concerns surrounding the landlord’s record keeping.
14. The landlord told us it had not visited because the resident had cancelled the appointment. The records from the day are not consistent. One record indicates that the resident was told to contact his “supplier”. Another record states that the landlord was cancelling the job because “they [the resident] are contacting the supplier”. A further record states that the job was “cancelled by client”. This was again because the resident was contacting the supplier. We do not find that the resident cancelled the appointment.
15. The tenant handbook states that the landlord will attend and make safe within 24 hours if a property is without heating and hot water. This is also the case in the responsive repairs policy. The landlord is ultimately responsible for the heating and hot water, it should therefore have visited to investigate as required and followed up with the meter operator itself. Not doing so was a failure to comply with its policies.
16. The landlord also stated in its stage 1 complaint response that it provided the resident with temporary heaters on 26 November 2024. In his escalation request he advised he had not received any heaters. In its stage 2 response the landlord said it had records to show it had delivered heaters but apologised if this was not the case. Again, we pursued the landlord for the records to demonstrate it had delivered the heaters. It told us that it had made an error and that it had not supplied the heaters. This was further evidence of poor record keeping. It also indicates a failure to make the property safe on 26 November 2024 within the 24 hour timeframe required by its policies.
17. The resident contacted the landlord again on 24 April 2025 to report that he still had no heating or hot water. It told him to contact the metering company. On 27 April 2025, he informed the landlord he had contacted the meter company and the electricity supplier who both said it was not their responsibility. The landlord’s contractor visited on 30 April 2025. The notes from the inspection state “identified the original problem reported during service check in”. On 1 May 2025, the resident told the landlord that the engineer had informed him during the inspection on 30 April 2025 that they had made the landlord aware of a fault with the system before he moved in. The record of the inspection on 30 April 2025 substantiates the resident’s account. This indicates that the landlord either was or should have been aware of the fault. We asked it for evidence associated with the boiler checks before the resident moved in, it told us it had no records.
18. At the inspection on 30 April 2025, the engineer conducted a temporary fix to reinstate the hot water. They informed the landlord to contact a named meter supplier to investigate the fault with the meter. The landlord delivered temporary heaters on 6 May 2025. A further visit took place on 27 May 2025, where the engineer bypassed the meter so the resident had both heating and hot water. The timeframe the resident was without heating and hot water was inappropriate.
19. We recognise that the resident did not contact the landlord about the absence of heating and hot water between November 2024 and 24 April 2024. However, the resident had followed the landlord’s advice and believed that they were not responsible because this is what it told him. Had it actioned the initial report of no heating and hot water, and attended as required, it likely would have taken the steps to rectify the issues as it did in April and May 2025. Further, the resident would have also received temporary heaters. We have considered the fact that the resident did not pursue the landlord in our compensation award.
20. In its stage 2 response the landlord told the resident that the contractor who managed the system was going through their “onboarding process”. It said the contractor would replace the meter once it had completed the process. The named operator was the same one the engineer referred to on 30 April 2025. The fact that the contractor was still being “onboarded” on 31 July 2025, would question why the landlord had told the resident to contact them in April 2025. This was unhelpful and raised concerns about the landlord’s original advice in November 2024.
21. As part of his complaint the resident highlighted his concerns surrounding his high energy bill. The landlord advised that he would need to speak to the electricity supplier about the bill. It also attended the resident’s property on 24 July 2025, to assess the power usage by the equipment in the flat. It found no issues. The landlord’s actions were reasonable.
22. Throughout the complaint the resident informed the landlord that he did not know how to operate the heating system or understand how it worked. A contractor demonstrated how to use the system on 6 June 2025, but the resident has continued to struggle to operate it. He advised that he had not received written instructions for the system, this was confirmed by the landlord. The internal communications also demonstrate that the landlord’s own staff had difficulty understanding the system and how it operated. In his stage 1 complaint the resident told the landlord he was vulnerable and required additional support. The ongoing failure to provide clear written instruction on such an important installation was unreasonable.
23. In its stage 2 response the landlord offered £500 compensation calculated as £20 per week for 25 weeks between December 2024 and May 2025. It awarded a further sum of £100 for unclear communication and a lack of follow up. While the £20 per week for loss of heating and hot water was in line with the landlord’s compensation policy, we do not feel the additional sum of £100 was sufficient. Given the failures identified above we have made an additional award of £300 for the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident. This sum is in line with our compensation guidance for cases where a landlord has acknowledged failings and made some attempt to put things right, but the offer was not proportionate to the failings identified by our investigation.

24. The landlord has a 2-stage complaints process. At stage 1 it will acknowledge a complaint within 5 working days. It aims to respond within 10 working days from the acknowledgement. At stage 2, the landlord will acknowledge an escalation request within 5 working days and aims to provide its final response within 20 working days. This is in line with the requirements of our Complaint Handling Code (‘the Code’).
25. The landlord acknowledged and responded to the resident’s complaint and escalation requests within the required timescales. During both the stage 1 and stage 2 the landlord notified the resident of delays and provided interim complaint responses with its findings up to that point. The landlord also met with the resident to discuss his escalation request.
26. We have dealt with the incorrect information included in the complaint responses within the main complaint section of the investigation. This is because those records were provided to the complaint team from other departments.
27. The landlord’s complaints process was appropriate and in line with its policies

Learning

28. When a resident reports a total loss of heating and hot water in winter, we would expect the landlord to follow up to ensure the issue has been resolved. The landlord should review this case to take learning that will prevent similar issues arising in the future.
29. The landlord should be aware of our new Compensation Guidance when assessing compensation it is awarding through its complaints process.

Knowledge and information management (record keeping)

30. We identified inconsistent records, as well as incomplete and missing records during our investigation. The landlord should consider completing a self-assessment against our spotlight report on Knowledge and Information Management.

Communication

31. Overall, the landlord’s communication was inconsistent. However, it was positive that it recognised this in its stage 2 complaint response.