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Birmingham City Council (202330667)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202330667

Birmingham City Council

17 September 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 complaint is about the landlord’s handling of repairs to a gas pipe.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of the property.
  2. On 3 August 2023 the landlord’s contractor replaced the resident’s heating system. It identified an issue with the gas pipe and disconnected the resident’s cooker. The resident complained to the landlord on 8 August 2023 the repair had not been completed, and she was unable to cook.
  3. The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response on 30 August 2023. It said its contractor was unable to raise works on the tenant’s behalf but the repair had been booked in for 4 September 2023. The landlord advised the resident to complete a compensation form.
  4. On 22 September 2023 the resident escalated her complaint. The landlord issued its stage 2 complaint response on 5 January 2024. It said the repair had been completed and offered the resident £152.50 compensation.
  5. The resident remained dissatisfied and brought the complaint to us.

Assessment and findings

  1. Paragraph 53.c. of the Scheme states that:
  2. “The Ombudsman may determine the investigation of a complaint immediately if satisfied that the member has made an offer of redress following the Ombudsman’s intervention which, in the Ombudsman’s opinion, resolves the complaint satisfactorily.”

The Ombudsman’s intervention

  1. We contacted the landlord on 16 September 2025 and provided it with a summary of our understanding of the events. This included some comments on areas that could have been handled better and what the landlord could do to resolve the resident’s complaint.
  2. The landlord offered to pay the resident a further £250 compensation for its handling of gas pipe repairs. The resident informed us that she was satisfied with this as a resolution to his complaint.
  3. We are therefore satisfied that, following our intervention, that the landlord has agreed to take actions to remedy the matters raised which resolve the complaint satisfactorily.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 53.c of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, the complaint was resolved with intervention.

Recommendations

  1. The landlord should now make the £250 compensation payment to the resident. The complaint has been resolved with intervention on this basis