Hackney Council (202104301)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202104301

Hackney Council

31 March 2022

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 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 a fault with the boiler in the resident’s property.

Background

2. The resident is a secure tenant of the landlord.
3. The resident reported an intermittent fault with his boiler. In response, the landlord had attended the resident’s property in October 2020, had assessed that a new part was required, which it had committed to ordering and installing. The landlord did not follow up on the repair.
4. Later in October 2020, the landlord was the victim of a cyber-attack. This resulted in “major disruption” to its repairs services as it was unable to track the progress of the reported repairs, and additionally meant that it was unable to review its repairs database.
5. There is no evidence of further communications between the resident and the landlord in respect to the repair until 5 January 2021, when the resident had submitted his stage one complaint to it regarding the outstanding repair to his boiler. This had caused him to “struggle mentally and physically”, and resulted in him having to purchase a temporary heater to adequately heat his property. He was also unhappy that he had called the landlord earlier that day to get an update and was informed that it held no record of his repair. To resolve his complaint, he wanted compensation from October 2020 when it had first inspected his boiler, up until the date of the completion of the repair.
6. The landlord had raised an emergency repair following the resident’s call. It attended the resident’s property three days later and assessed that a new part was required. The resident subsequently reported that the short-term solution of resetting the boiler was now not working, and as a result he had no heating or hot water. It completed the boiler repair a further three days later, which was left fully operational.
7. The landlord has apologised for the delay in the completion of the repair to his boiler, which it said was due to it having mislaid the paperwork and additionally due to the cyber-attack, which had meant that it had no record of the repair when he had called it on 5 January 2021. It offered him £200 compensation, which included the £90 the resident had spent on the temporary heater and £110 for its delayed repair of his boiler.
8. The resident subsequently referred his complaint to this Service, as he did not feel that the compensation was adequate in recognising the detriment he had experienced as a result of the delayed repair; this included distress and inconvenience and the additional expenses he had incurred.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

9. The resident has previously raised concerns over the effect of the delayed completion of the repair to his boiler on his physical and mental health. The Ombudsman does not dispute his comments regarding his health, but we are unable to draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing or to award damages for these where liability is disputed. Only the courts can do so following a personal injury claim.

Policies and procedures

10. The tenancy agreement between the resident and the landlord confirms that it is responsible for repairing the resident’s heating system and keeping it in proper working order.
11. The landlord’s repairs guide confirms a target response time of 24 hours to an emergency repair. It aims to complete routine repairs within 21 working days. However, its website informs residents that due to the Covid-19 pandemic, non-urgent repairs may take “slightly longer” to fix.
12. The landlord’s “complaints compensation policy a guide to best practice” document confirms that it will consider paying compensation for a failure in service. This includes reimbursement for quantifiable financial loss, and financial redress for distress and inconvenience, which was usually between £100 to £300.

The landlord’s handling of a fault with the boiler in the resident’s property.

13. Following the resident’s reports of a fault with his boiler, the landlord was obliged to carry out an inspection to understand the nature of the repair, and complete the repair in line with its target timescale of 21 working days.
14. Although is it unclear precisely when the resident had first reported his concerns regarding an intermittent fault with his boiler, the landlord had attended to carry out an inspection in October 2020, and the resident has not raised concerns over the timeliness of this inspection. The landlord has confirmed that it had attended in “early” October 2020, had assessed that a new part was required, and had committed to ordering and installing the new part.
15. The landlord failed on two occasions to attend within its emergency repairs timeframe. First, following the resident’s call on 5 January 2021, the landlord did not attend the property until the 8 January 2021, despite raising an emergency repair due to the acknowledged delays in completing the original repair; and, second, when the resident subsequently reported, on 12 January 2021, that the short-term solution of resetting the boiler was now not working, and as a result he had no heating or hot water when the landlord did not attend until 15 January 2021. These delays have not been acknowledged in the landlord’s complaint response or offer of redress.
16. It is not disputed by either party that there were significant delays in repairing the boiler. Where there are admitted failings by a landlord, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily in the circumstances.
17. In this case, the landlord has taken the opportunity, via its complaints procedure, to recognise its failings and provide an explanation to the resident. In the landlord’s stage one complaint response on 12 February 2021, it apologised for the delay in the completion of the repair to his boiler, which was due to it having mislaid the paperwork for his repair, and additionally due to the cyber-attack, which had meant that it had no record of the repair when he had called it on 5 January 2021. Ultimately it also addressed the substantive issue by completing the 2 repairs in January 2021.
18. While it is acknowledged that there were extenuating circumstances in the cyber-attack in October 2020, the landlord still has an obligation to its residents and should acknowledge any inconvenience experienced when these are not met. Furthermore the landlord had identified its own failing in retaining the paperwork for the repair.
19. Although the landlord’s compensation offer of £110 (plus the £90 reimbursement for the heater) was within the £100 to £300 range detailed in its “complaints compensation policy a guide to best practice” document, it is not considered proportionate to the length or nature of the inconvenience of having temperamental heating and hot water over winter.
20. The Ombudsman’s remedies guidance suggests awards of between £250 to £700 where there has been service failure which had no permanent impact on the complainant. Examples include failure over a considerable period of time to act in accordance with policy, and serious failures which have been recognised and resolved by the landlord.

Determination (decision)

21. In accordance with paragraph 54 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of a fault with the boiler in the resident’s property.

Order and recommendations

22. As a result of the determination above, the Housing Ombudsman orders the landlord to pay the resident further compensation of £200 within 4 weeks, consisting of:
    1. £100 to acknowledge the inconvenience of the delayed boiler repair.
    2. £100 to acknowledge the inconvenience caused by the landlord’s failure to twice attend within its emergency repair timescale.
23. This compensation is in addition to the £200 already offered by the landlord.