Accent Housing Limited (202347785)

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Decision

Case ID

202347785

Decision type

Investigation

Landlord

Accent Housing Limited

Landlord type

Housing Association

Occupancy

Assured Tenancy

Date

17 April 2026

Background

  1. The resident has health conditions. He gave notice to end his tenancy but asked the landlord if he could stay in his property and the landlord agreed. The resident complained that the landlord changed his energy supplier without his consent. He said this affected how his heating system worked, and he was worried about the impact on his energy bills.

What the complaint is about

  1. The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
    1. Changing the resident’s energy supplier.
    2. The complaint.

Our decision (determination)

  1. We found:
    1. Service failure in the landlord’s handling of changing the resident’s energy supplier.
    2. Service failure 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 changing the resident’s energy supplier

  1. The landlord took too long to respond to the resident’s concerns about it changing his energy supplier without his permission. The landlord acknowledged its service failure. It apologised and offered compensation. The offer was not proportionate to the time and trouble the resident spent trying to get the issue resolved and the distress and inconvenience this caused.

The landlord’s complaint handling

  1. The landlord did not follow its complaints policy or our Complaint Handling Code (the Code) as it took too long to record and respond to the resident’s complaint.

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.

Order

What the landlord must do

Due date

1           

Compensation order

The landlord must pay the resident £350 made up as follows:

  • £200 the landlord offered the resident in its stage 2 complaint response (which included £100 for potentially increased energy costs)
  • £100 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of changing the resident’s energy supplier
  • £50 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its complaint handling

 

It must pay this directly to the resident and provide documentary evidence of this to us by the due date.

 

It may deduct any amount it has already paid to the resident.

No later than

15 May 2026 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date

What happened

18 October to 23 November 2023

The resident contacted the landlord at least 4 times to complain that it changed his energy supplier without his permission.

29 November 2023

The landlord acknowledged the resident’s complaint.

15 December 2023

The landlord sent its stage 1 complaint response to the resident. It apologised for transferring his account to another supplier. It offered the resident £150 compensation, which included £50 towards his utility bill.

27 December 2023

The resident asked the landlord to escalate his complaint.

The landlord acknowledged this the same day.

24 January 2024

The landlord asked the resident if it could extend its response time to 31 January 2024.

31 January 2024

The landlord sent its stage 2 complaint response to the resident. It apologised and increased its compensation offer to £200, which included £100 to cover potentially increased energy costs. It confirmed it spoke with his original energy supplier, who agreed to change his supply back to them.

Referral to the Ombudsman

The resident referred his complaint to us. He wants the landlord to offer more compensation for the distress and inconvenience he said the issues caused him.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.

Complaint

The landlord’s handling of changing the resident’s energy supplier

Finding

Service failure

What we have not investigated

  1. The resident told us the issues affected his health and wellbeing. It would be fairer, more reasonable and more effective for the resident to make a personal injury claim for any injury or illness caused. We have not investigated this as it is better for the courts to resolve this type of dispute. The courts will have the benefit of independent medical advice to decide on the cause of any injury and how long it will last. However, we can decide if a landlord should pay compensation for distress and inconvenience.
  2. The resident complained the landlord breached data protection laws by changing his energy supplier without his consent. We do not investigate specific complaints about this, as the Information Commissioners Office (ICO) advises on these types of complaints. The resident may contact ICO about this issue if he has not already done so.
  3. The resident raised a separate complaint to the landlord about its handling of issues with his heating and hot water system. He escalated this complaint to us, and we made our decision on this complaint in October 2025. We have not investigated the landlord’s handling of this issue as we have already determined this complaint.

What we have investigated

  1. We have investigated events from 18 October 2023, when the resident first complained to the landlord. He said the landlord did not tell the relevant department it had agreed he could stay in his property after giving notice to leave. He said the landlord switched his energy supplier to another provider and into the landlord’s name on 30 September 2023. He said the tariff the landlord changed it to was affecting the functioning and cost of his heating system. The resident asked the landlord for support with resolving the issue on at least 4 occasions prior to the landlord offering to help. He also involved his local councillor and spent time and trouble speaking with his current and former energy suppliers.
  2. Although the landlord had not initially been proactive in resolving the issue, it attempted to put things right when it contacted the resident’s energy supplier on 21 November 2023. It was unable to resolve the problem over the telephone, and it visited the resident at his property on 8 December 2023, when it called the energy supplier. The supplier agreed to switch the resident’s supply back to his old supplier and account.
  3. The landlord acknowledged its service failed in its first complaint response. It said it should not have changed the resident’s energy supplier, and it could have acted more quickly in trying to resolve the issue. It offered £50 compensation for the potentially increased energy costs and £100 for its service failure. The landlord’s explanation, apology and compensation offer went part way to resolving the complaint.
  4. Where a landlord admits failings, our role is to consider whether the redress it offered was in line with our dispute resolution principles which are: be fair, put things right and learn from outcomes. The landlord attempted to put things right in its final complaint response. It explained what it had learned from the complaint. It agreed to ensure staff understood what to do when it allowed residents to remain after they had issued notice to end their tenancy. It repeated its previous findings that it should have acted sooner in resolving the issue. Its overall compensation offer was £200 which included £100 for the potentially increased energy costs.
  5. The landlord explained to the resident that his usual supplier would send him a bill for the energy he had used during the period that the other company supplied his energy. It said his usual supplier agreed to backdate the charges in line with his cheaper tariff, as such the variation in the costs would be minimal. It was therefore reasonable that it offered £100 compensation for the potentially increased energy costs.
  6. We found service failure as the landlord’s overall compensation offer was not proportionate to our findings in this case. The resident spent time and trouble communicating with the landlord at least 13 times during October and November 2023. He also spent time contacting the energy suppliers. The resident experienced distress and inconvenience when trying to get the landlord to help to resolve the issue. At one point he said he “feels he is being ignored.”
  7. We ordered the landlord to pay the resident an additional £100 compensation for the distress and inconvenience the issue caused him. This amount follows our compensation guidance where there were failings which had a significant impact on the resident in a shorter time period.

Complaint

The landlord’s complaint handling

Finding

Service failure
  1. The landlord’s policy outlines its definition of a complaint and its timescales for responding to them. It says it will record and acknowledge all complaints within 5 working days. It will respond to stage 1 complaints within 10 working days and to stage 2 complaints within 20 working days. The landlord’s complaint definition and response timescales comply with the 2022 version of the Code, which applied at the time.
  2. The resident first complained to the landlord about it changing his energy supplier on 18 October 2023. He complained again on 9, 15, and 20 November 2023. The landlord did not record and acknowledge the resident’s complaint until 29 November 2023. This exceeded its policy timescale of 5 working days and delayed the resolution of the complaint.
  3. The landlord issued its stage 1 response 12 working days after it acknowledged the complaint. This further delay was later that its policy target, however as it was only 2 days late, the impact was minimal. When the resident escalated his complaint to stage 2, the landlord responded within the extended timescale it agreed with the resident.
  4. We found service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling. It failed to record and respond to the resident’s initial complaint within its policy timeframe. We ordered the landlord to pay the resident £50 compensation for the distress and inconvenience this caused. This amount is in line with our compensation guidance where there has been a complaint handling failure of a short duration.

Learning

  1. The landlord has outlined what it learned from this complaint. It said it would ensure its staff were aware of its processes when it agrees to extend a resident’s time in their property after they have served notice. The landlord should also check that when it changes energy supplier after residents move out, that the new tariff works with the property’s heating system.
  2. Where residents have overlapping complaints, the landlord should acknowledge new complaints more quickly where it cannot incorporate the new complaint into the existing one. This is in line with its policy and the Code which says, “Where the stage 1 response has been issued, the new issues are unrelated to the issues already being investigated or it would unreasonably delay the response, the new issues must be logged as a new complaint.”

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

  1. The landlord’s records of its communications with the resident were thorough in this case. The landlord should continue to keep thorough records of its contact with residents which will enable it to monitor recurring issues and provide an efficient service.

Communication

  1. The landlord should improve its communication with residents to resolve matters more quickly. Particularly in cases where there are issues which could impact on residents’ health and wellbeing.