Bernicia Group (202115529)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202115529

Bernicia Group

30 December 2021

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

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the repair of the resident’s heating and hot water system, and the replacement of a part of his boiler.

Background and summary of events

The resident is a tenant in property owned by the landlord.
The landlord’s internal records, dated 18 March 2021, show that the resident called it that day to report an issue with his boiler. It states that a gas engineer attended an emergency job and was able to get the boiler system working again. However, the record states that the engineer had identified parts that were required to fully repair the boiler.
On 18 March 2021, a contractor identified during an appointment that the filing loop and pressure relief valve needed replacing.
The landlord sent the resident a text on 31 May 2021 confirming an appointment for the following day.
The contractor attended the residents property on 1 June 2021 and also attempted to call him over the phone but the call did not connect. There is evidence to show that the contractor left a calling card on this date.
The resident made a report to the landlord via its online service on 29 June 2021 and explained that the boiler had no pressure, and he had no hot water. He explained that he raised the same repair in March 2021 and the boiler was repaired. However, the contractor who attended the resident’s property for repairs explained that the boiler needed a part as there was a small amount of water dripping from it. He explained that the part was never replaced. The resident further explained that he had had a gas service on 2 June 2021 and was once again advised that a part would be ordered yet this did not materialise. The resident stated that he had to call the landlord’s out-of-hours service, due to this failure to have a part replaced, on two occasions.
On 30 June 2021, the landlord called the resident following his report about the boiler to discuss his concerns. The landlord confirmed that following the repair in March 2021, a follow-up to the report was raised on 24 May 2021 for an appointment on 1 June 2021. The resident confirmed that he had not been contacted on 24 May 2021 to agree an appointment and was, therefore, not aware of this. The landlord explained that the contractor who attended on 2 June 2021 did not attend with any parts. The resident also confirmed that the contractor had explained that he would order the parts, but these were not ordered.
A contractor attended the resident’s property on 30 June 2021 and once again identified that a new filing loop was still required as follow-on works.
On 1 July 2021, the landlord emailed the resident to let him know that his complaint was being investigated and that it would let him know the outcome.
The landlord’s records show that a contractor attended the property on 1 July 2021 to replace various parts which also included diagnosing the fault, renewal of the pressure relief valve, renewal of the automatic air vent, as well as the service and overhaul of the pump.
On 13 July 2021, the landlord issued its stage one complaint response. The landlord apologised for not meeting the resident’s expectations. It explained that it had investigated the issues raised and could see that the resident contacted it on 18 March 2021 regarding the boiler repair and that an emergency repair had been carried out. Parts had also been ordered and a follow-up repair was raised. The landlord apologised for the delay in the follow up being picked up and explained that due to Covid-19, the landlord had decided to only carry out emergency repairs.
The landlord further explained that it could see that a gas service had been arranged for 2 June 2021. As the gas service and repair were raised as separate jobs, these were dealt with separately when the resident called in and it meant that when the resident had a gas service, the repair of the boiler would not have been factored in as part of the appointment on 2 June 2021. The landlord’s engineer attended on 1 June 2021 as scheduled for the boiler repair but there was no one at the property. The landlord said its usual process was to wait for the resident to make contact and schedule a new appointment.
The landlord explained that its records show that the resident made a call out on 29 June 2021 stating that he had no heating or hot water. The resident raised this as an emergency appointment. The repair was completed within 24 hours with required parts replaced and the system up and running. The resident was advised that his request for compensation had been considered but the landlord would not agree to this as it could not guarantee that repairs will always be completed the first time when parts are needed. It had agreed to follow the Right to Repair Regulations and appreciated there were delays in completing repairs, but it did not believe that the resident qualified for compensation under the Right to Repair Regulations.
The landlord’s records show that an internal email was circulated on 13 July 2021 to query whether the resident had been sent a text message to alert him at the point the appointment was raised for 1 June 2021. It explained that residents should be alerted in future via text if the landlord cannot reach them over the phone.
The resident sent an email to the landlord requesting an escalation of his complaint on 14 July 2021. He explained that having to wait from 18 March until 30 June 2021 to have a repair fully completed was not good enough. He raised concerns about the lack of communication from the landlord which led to a second emergency call out. The resident explained that he did not receive a call on 1 June 2021 regarding the repair and had enclosed a screenshot of the call history on his phone. The resident explained that he would be more comfortable if regulatory guidance of the complaint were looked at with regard to compensation as he felt that this was a service failure with an elongated duration of time to complete work, pandemic or not. He also mentioned that he would look to escalate the matter to the Housing Ombudsman.
On 19 July 2021, the resident received an acknowledgement from the landlord explaining that his complaint had been escalated and would be reviewed. The resident was advised to expect a reply no later than 30 July 2021.
On 28 July 2021, the resident received a response to his complaint which had been escalated. The landlord apologised and explained that a full review had been carried out and it reiterated its position as explained in its stage one response above.
The landlord explained that it did not have set timescales for non-urgent work to be carried out and that there was no service failure in this instance. It explained that if a situation continued to worsen, it would expect the resident to make it aware so that it can take relevant action, and this would lead to a change in status of the follow-up appointment from routine to urgent. The landlord explained that it apologised if there was an error in the follow-up appointment and that the relevant staff had been alerted to remind them of the importance of following up on any work agreed. The resident was reminded that under the right to repair, he would not be compensated as the landlord wanted all residents to be treated in a consistent manner.
The landlord agreed that it had taken longer than usual to raise the initial follow-on work; however, the reasons for this were explained and the impact of the pandemic needed to be taken into consideration. The resident was advised that he should let the landlord know if he wished to have his complaint progressed to the final stage.
On 28 July 2021, the resident emailed the landlord and requested for an escalation of his case to the final stage. He explained that communication had been poor throughout and that no one contacted him regarding the review of his complaint either.
On 2 August 2021, the resident was advised that his complaint had been escalated for determination to the relevant department. An evaluation would be carried out and the findings would be provided no later than 30 August 2021.
On 08 August 2021, the resident emailed to explain that he had no heating or hot water. He explained that he had raised this as an emergency job and that this supports his claim that this has not been resolved since 18 March 2021.
A contractor attended on 9 August 2021 and could not adequately repair the boiler, so he made a referral for a boiler replacement on 12 August 2021.
Internal records from the landlord dated 24 August 2021 show that a meeting was held to discuss the resident’s complaint and it was decided that there was no service failure as the landlord had adhered to the repairs policy and stated that the resident had not been able to provide proof of the financial hardship he had suffered in relation to the compensation request he had made.
On 26 August 2021, the landlord sent a complaint response to the resident explaining that it had adhered to the repairs policy and that there were no issues in relation to getting the repairs completed on at least two occasions as the resident did not respond to calls or make attempts to call back after a card had been left at his property. The resident was offered £10 under the spirit of the right to repair. The resident was also provided with details on how to refer the case to the Housing Ombudsman.

Assessment and findings

Policies and procedures

The landlord repairs maintenance policy states that there are two categories of repairs which fall under emergency and standard repairs. Emergency repairs cover situations where there is “a serious and immediate risk to the health and safety of the tenant or the security or their home”. The landlord aims to complete such repairs within 24 hours. Standard repairs relate to jobs that are booked on the next available appointment agreed with the tenant”. Pg 4
The repairs guide also states that temporary repairs will be carried out to make the situation safe and secure. Where further work is needed to fully remedy the problem, this will be ordered and arranged as quickly as possible. Pg 7
Under the terms of the tenancy agreement, the landlord is obliged to comply with The Secure Tenants and Local Housing Authorities (Right to Repair) Regulations 1994 regarding the time scales for completion of repairs. Under the Regulation, the time scales for repairs in relation to loss of heat and hot water is 3 working days between 1 May and 31 October.
Under section 2.3.1 of the compensation policy (in relation to discretionary compensation), an award is considered based on the circumstances of each case and will only be paid if the resident has been substantially inconvenienced or incurred financial loss.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports about repairs

When the landlord received the resident’s report regarding the boiler breakdown in March 2021, evidence provided shows that it attended the property within 24 hours and therefore was in accordance with its repairs and maintenance policy for emergency repairs as well as the timeframes stipulated under the terms of the tenancy agreement for the loss of heat and hot water.
However, the initial emergency repair was temporary and did not fully resolve the issue. In view of this, the landlord should have ordered and arranged the remedial repair work as quickly as possible, as per its repairs guide. Although the landlord does not specify timescales for standard repairs, the landlord’s repairs maintenance policy states that these should be booked on the next available appointment agreed with the tenant. A reasonable timescale to complete routine repairs is usually within 28 days and therefore it would have been expected to have been completed by 16 April 2021.
In this instance, the landlord has said it did not raise the repair until 24 May 2021, and the appointment for the completion of the remedial repair work was not scheduled until 1 June 2021, approximately ten weeks after the initial repair, and approximately six weeks after the expected completion date of 16 April 2021. In short, the resident had to wait an unreasonable amount of time for the landlord to schedule the appointment.
Now, it is noted that the landlord has attributed this delay due to the backlog of repairs following the third national lockdown. However, while it is reasonable to expect some backlog due to the circumstances, there were not any restrictions in place from March 2021 onwards in relation to carrying out repairs, as long as the working safely guidance was followed. The government guidance at the time states that essential and non-essential repairs should be undertaken in line with the working safely guidance.
The landlord, therefore, should have prioritised the remedial work to the boiler, ordering the necessary parts and completing the required work as quickly as possible. In normal circumstances, we would expect this to be completed within a shorter time period than would normally be expected for standard repairs, saving any difficulties in obtaining parts, due to the nature of this repair, especially if we consider that further boiler breakdowns may have occurred. As such, it is not unreasonable to expect a repair of this nature to have been completed within the aforementioned 28-day period. This was a service failure by the landlord.
Moreover, given that further remedial work was required to fully resolve the issue, the landlord should have communicated clear next steps and expectations to resident at the earliest point, confirming the expected timeframe in which to expect the remedial repairs to be completed.
In this case, the contractor did attend on 1 June 2021 to install the new parts; however, the resident was only given one day’s notice of the appointment via text message, which resulted in the scheduled appointment not taking place and the contractor leaving a no-access calling card. There appears to have been no communication with the resident about the follow-on works until the text was sent.

This did not give the resident a sufficient amount of time in order to adhere the scheduled appointment, especially if we consider that the resident may have to take time off work to provide entry to the property. What is more, it might not have been clear from the text what the appointment was for if we consider that the resident had a separate gas service appointment scheduled for 2 June 2021. This poor communication was a further service failure by the landlord.

Incidentally, it is not disputed that the landlord booked an appointment on 2 June 2021 for a gas safety check. It is expected that a separate process is followed for such checks, as the gas check would not have enabled a contractor to identify outstanding work or parts that needed to be replaced. The gas safety check took place on the above date to ensure that the landlord adhered to its obligation in relation to gas safety checks in line with its repairs and maintenance policy for cyclical testing. It did not, therefore, act unreasonably by not carrying out the repair on this day and did what was expected by only focussing on the gas safety check during the appointment.
The subsequent breakdown of the boiler on 29 June 2021 highlighted that the issue remained unresolved, which in turn allowed the landlord the opportunity to fully resolve the issue. In this instance, the contractor attended the boiler breakdown within stipulated timescales, as set out in the tenancy agreement, that states that repairs in relation to the loss of heat and hot water should be completed within three working days between 1 May and 31 October. The repair was fully completed on 1 July 2021 with the necessary parts replaced, which left the boiler fully operational and therefore completed within the aforementioned timeframe.
In summary, as the landlord adhered, on both occasions, to the terms of the (Right to Repair) Regulations 1994 set out in the tenancy agreement regarding the timescales for completion of the boiler repairs, the landlord would not be expected to compensate the resident.
However, because of the delay and poor communication in the landlord scheduling the appointment (scheduled for 1 June 2021) for the remedial works to be undertaken following the initial repair in March 2021, the landlord should pay the resident £100 compensation; this takes into consideration the length of the delay, the poor communication and the time and trouble in the resident having to pursue the landlord to get the matter resolved.
The compensation amount also takes into consideration how inconvenienced the resident was, which in this case was not considerable as the resident did have a fully operational boiler following both emergency appointments on 18 March 2021 and 29 June 2021. This is in accordance with the landlord’s compensation policy, whereby an award is considered based on the circumstances of each case and is also in line with this Service’s own remedies guidance, whereby compensation in this range is awarded where there has been service failure which had an impact on the complainant but was of short duration and may not have significantly affected the overall outcome for the complainant.)

Determination (decision)

In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there is service failure by the landlord in the way the landlord handled the repairs of the residents heating and hot water system, and the replacement of his boiler.

Reasons

The landlord did not fully resolve the issue after the initial repair on 18 March 2021 and this led to subsequent breakdowns of the boiler.
The delay and poor communication in the landlord scheduling an appointment for follow up work exacerbated the resident’s concerns.
The landlord did not offer the resident compensation in recognition of the poor communication, the length of the delay and the time and trouble the resident faced in pursuing the landlord to resolve the matter.

Orders and recommendations

The landlord is ordered to pay the resident £100 compensation for the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the repairs to the boiler.
It is recommended that the landlord consider reviewing its repair policy to express clear, structured response time to non-emergency standard repairs.
It is also recommended that the landlord review its staff’s training needs in relation to their application of its responsive complaints policies and compensation procedure, to seek to prevent a recurrence of its above service failures. This should include consideration of this Service guidance on remedies at https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/about-us/corporate-information/policies/dispute-resolution/policy-on-remedies/ and the completion of our free online dispute resolution training for landlords, if this has not been done recently, at https://www.housing-ombudsman.org.uk/landlords/e-learning/
The landlord shall contact this Service within four weeks to confirm that the above orders have been complied with and whether it will follow the recommendations