City of Westminster Council (202427875)

Decision
Case ID	202427875
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	City of Westminster Council
Landlord type	Local Authority / ALMO or TMO
Occupancy	Secure Tenancy
Date	22 October 2025

Background

The resident moved into the property in February 2022. She lives with her 5 children, one of whom is neurodivergent. The landlord is aware of this. The property is a 4-bedroom ground-floor maisonette. Shortly after moving in, the resident told the landlord she believed there was a problem with her Economy 7 system as her bill was too high.

What the complaint is about

The complaint is about the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a faulty Economy 7 system.
We have also investigated the landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

There was severe maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of a faulty Economy 7 system.
The landlord offered reasonable redress for its handling of the complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

In summary, we found that:
1. The landlord did not fully check the heating system when she first reported her concerns. It also did not investigate when its operative confirmed that there was no Economy 7 board. This should have prompted a full check of the system.
2. It could not supply a full and detailed record of repairs, including when it discovered the issue with the Economy 7 system.
3. There is no evidence that it considered whether the household vulnerabilities worsened the impact of the lack of reliable heating. It also did not consider the level of stress the resident experienced when the supplier cut off her electricity and moved her to prepayment meters.
4. The landlord did not follow through on its agreement to contribute towards the resident’s arrears.
5. In total, the resident did not have reliable heating for over 18 months. At the same time, she was in fuel poverty because of the added cost incurred from the incorrect installation.
6. The resident still has the electric debt over a year after the supplier corrected the meter and the landlord’s offer of compensation does not offer appropriate redress.
7. During the complaints process, the landlord kept the resident informed of delays in its responses. This was in line with our Complaint Handling Code (the Code).
8. The landlord offered reasonable compensation for its complaint handling failures.

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	Apology order The landlord must apologise in writing to the resident for the failures identified in this report. The landlord must ensure: A senior manager provides the apology. The apology is specific to the failures identified in this decision, meaningful and empathetic. It has due regard to our apologies guidance.	No later than 19 November 2025
2	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £750 made up as follows: £750 to recognise the time, trouble, distress and inconvenience experienced by the resident due to the failures in this report. This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date. The landlord may deduct from the total figure any payments it has already paid.	No later than 19 November 2025
3	Compensation order The landlord must: contact the resident for evidence of her electricity bills between April 2022 and the date of this report compare the bills from before and after the resident’s meter and tariff were corrected make a suitable offer of compensation based on the difference in figures. This must be paid directly to the resident by the due date. The landlord must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date.	No later than 03 December 2025

Recommendations

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

Our recommendations
The landlord should consider supporting the resident to liaise with her electricity supplier about her tariff. It may also consider signposting to external support organisations who help with fuel poverty.
The landlord should pay the resident £90 as offered in its stage 2 complaint for its complaint handling failures.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
February 2022 to August 2023	The resident reported several heating breakdowns. The landlord completed repairs on each occasion and replaced fuse spurs in the living room and bedroom, switches, heating elements. It also noted that the property lacked an Economy 7 board and timer. She told the landlord that her electricity bill was unreasonably high, and she believed there was a fault with the meter. In July 2023, she informed the landlord that one of her children was neurodivergent.
3 September 2023	The resident said the landlord did not fix ongoing problems with her Economy 7 system, did not provide manuals, and that repeated failures led to multiple repair visits. She also said her electricity supplier cut her off for 3 days and switched her to a pre-payment meter because of rising debt.
4 September 2023 to 31 October 2023	The landlord wrote to the resident 3 times and told her it would not be able to provide a stage 1 response within the policy timescale.
16 November 2023	The landlord issued its stage 1 response and apologised for the delay. It summarised its repair visits and said that it had completed repairs within policy timescales. It partially upheld the complaint for the following reasons: although residents usually need to request Economy 7 tariffs from their supplier, in this case, the voids team told the resident the landlord would arrange it. after the resident moved in, the repairs team took over the Economy 7 setup, but poor communication prevented progress. it placed instruction manuals in the kitchen but did not show the resident how to use the system. on 13 October 2023, an operative showed the resident how to use the system. And confirmed that although the property had the right meter, the heating system had not been connected to it. The landlord said it would connect the resident to Economy 7 once it received a full electrical report from its contractor. It offered £240 compensation, made up of £100 for distress and inconvenience, £100 for poor communication, time and trouble, and £40 for the late complaint response. The landlord also asked the resident to provide electricity bills from the date she moved in until the complaint response. Once received, it would consider offering additional compensation.
9 January 2024	The resident escalated her complaint because she was unhappy with the landlord’s response. She said the heating system still lacked an off-peak setting, so she was always charged the higher day rate. Her immersion heater had been on booster mode without her knowledge, and the switch eventually burnt out. She also reported increased energy bills, significant stress, and that her children had to sleep in cold rooms. She fell into fuel debt, and her supplier switched her to pre-payment meters to help clear the balance.
1 May 2024	The landlord issued its stage 2 response, upheld the resident’s complaint, and awarded another £50 in compensation for complaint handling delays. It confirmed that the supplier visited on 4 April 2024 and set the meter to the correct settings. The landlord said it would carry out any necessary repairs to the heating system and booked an appointment for 3 May 2024. It asked the resident to provide her electricity bills from the date she moved in until the supplier corrected the meter. Once received, the landlord said it would offer reimbursement for the extra costs, in addition to the compensation already awarded.
17 May 2024 to 1 April 2025	The landlord visited the property to carry out repairs to the heating and hot water system. It installed new storage heaters on 21 December 2024. Records from April 2025 show that the landlord did not complete any further investigations, as it planned to rewire the entire property.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident came to us in February 2025. She was unhappy with the lack of reliable heating and hot water during the period investigated. She believed the Economy 7 installation fault was the cause. She said that she’d sent her bills to the landlord, but it did not make an offer of more compensation. She has also told us that her upstairs heating is still not working.

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 the resident’s reports of a faulty Economy 7 system.
Finding	Severe maladministration

The tenancy agreement says that the landlord is responsible for keeping the services and equipment that supply electricity, heating and hot water in good working order. The tenancy handbook also says that residents can contact the landlord for advice on saving money on fuel bills and energy efficiency.
Its repair policy says that it will attend emergency repairs within 24 hours, urgent repairs within 3 working days and all other jobs within 28 working days. It defines an emergency 24-hour repair as something which presents a health and safety risk. This includes loss of heating and/or hot water between 1 November and 30 April. The policy defines total or partial loss of electric space or water heating between 1 May and 31 October as an urgent job with a 3-day response.
Based on the repair records we’ve seen, the landlord did not always meet the response times in its policy. It did not attend a total heating breakdown reported in December 2022 until more than 15 working days later. Once it attended, it found it could not repair the issue and ordered follow on works. It is unclear when the landlord completed the repair.
The landlord’s records show that in October 2022 the resident reported that the system was faulty. The landlord showed the resident how to use the system but there is no record that it fully checked the installation.
It later found that there was no Economy 7 board, and the system was not installed correctly. However, it should have found this at the original attendance.
We asked the landlord to confirm when it discovered the installation fault and whether it took any action against the installer. The landlord could not give us this information. Its records show that the supplier connected the meter correctly on 4 April 2024.
The resident maintains that the landlord installed the system incorrectly. In various repair reports, she reported that her heaters were either not storing heat overnight or had stopped working altogether. Based on the electricity bills she provided and the frequent repairs, the landlord had enough evidence to carry out an investigation.
The landlord told us it completed vulnerability questionnaires with the resident each time she reported a repair. We have not seen these questionnaires. She informed the landlord on 24 July 2023 that her child has autism. Before this, the landlord said it was not aware of the condition, and we found no evidence that she reported it earlier. However, the landlord did not ask for more information about the child’s condition or explore how the ongoing issue affected them. The landlord missed an opportunity to provide support.
The resident told us her child is non-verbal and cannot communicate when feeling cold. Due to sensory difficulties, they cannot wear jumpers or blankets for long periods. She told us she bought heaters for the property because they were more cost-efficient and reliable than using the Economy 7 storage heaters. There is no evidence that the landlord offered temporary heaters or offered to reimburse for the heaters bought by the resident.
The offer of £200 compensation did not reflect the level of distress, inconvenience, time and trouble the resident told the landlord she had experienced. At the time it offered compensation the issue had been ongoing for approximately 18 months, the resident had been cut off by her electric supplier and moved onto pre-payment meters and the landlord knew about the vulnerabilities in the household.
In May 2024 the resident told the landlord that the debt had reached over £4000. On 28 April 2025 it told the resident that its repairs team had agreed to offer a partial reimbursement. It would confirm the amount by 2 May 2025 and send her a breakdown of the offer with the compensation acceptance form. It did not do this. It told us that it was waiting for the resident’s electric bills however this contradicts the email exchange mentioned above. The resident has also told us that she sent her bills to the landlord.
The resident highlighted the error with the Economy 7 in February 2022 and is still experiencing financial difficulty as a result. She told us that she still has a large amount of electric debt and is on a pre-payment meter which the supplier installed to collect the debt. She cannot switch tariff or supplier and is unable to reduce her bills.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Reasonable redress

The Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code (the Code) 1 April 2024 requires landlords to acknowledge a complaint or escalation request within 5 working days. Landlords must issue a stage 1 response within 10 working days of acknowledging the complaint. They must also issue a stage 2 final response within 20 working days of an escalation acknowledgement. The landlord acknowledges these expectations within its complaints policy.
The landlord did not send its stage 1 and stage 2 responses within the required periods. However, it agreed on an extension date with the resident at both stages, which aligns with the Code’s expectations.
The landlord offered £90 compensation in total for the delays with complaint handling. This offer is reasonable and is consistent with our guidance.
We make a finding of reasonable redress on the understanding the landlord pays the resident the compensation offered in its stage 2 response.

Learning

Knowledge information management (record keeping)

The landlord does not have a record showing when it found that the system was installed incorrectly. Landlords must keep clear, accurate, and accessible records to create a reliable audit trail. When we investigate a complaint, we request these records. If evidence is disputed and no audit trail exists, we may not be able to confirm whether an action took place or whether the landlord followed its policies and procedures.

Communication

There were gaps in communication which the landlord acknowledged during its complaint investigation. Appropriately, it offered compensation and apologised in its complaint response.