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Lambeth Council (202316126)

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REPORT

COMPLAINT 202316126

Lambeth Council

30 January 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:
    1. The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of having no hot water and gas supply.
    2. The landlord’s handling of the associated complaints.

Background

  1. The resident is a secure tenant of a local authority landlord and the tenancy began on 29 April 2013. The landlord has advised this Service that it has no vulnerabilities recorded for the resident. However, the landlord’s records show it became aware during the complaints process that the resident is Autistic.
  2. The property is a one-bedroom flat on the third floor in a block with a lift.
  3. The resident contacted the landlord on 12 June 2023 to report that he had no hot water. The landlord therefore raised an emergency order to repair the boiler. The landlord’s contractor attended on 14 June 2023 but did not carry out the repairs as he said the resident had been abusive. The contractor recommended that future contractor visits should be jointly attended by one of the landlord’s housing officers. The resident later denied that he was abusive towards the engineer.
  4. A further appointment was made by the contractor to attend on 19 June 2023. However, the contractor stated that it cancelled the order because of concerns about the way the resident had spoken to its call centre staff.
  5. The resident contacted his gas supplier on 19 June 2023 and reported a gas leak. The gas supplier therefore attended on 20 June 2023 and turned off the gas.
  6. An engineer attended with two of the landlord’s housing officers on 21 June 2023. However, the contractor advised the landlord that the resident refused access. The resident contacted the landlord the next day to ask for his complaint to be escalated to stage 2. He said his property was without gas and therefore he was unable to cook food or wash.
  7. The landlord booked a further appointment for 2 housing officers and an engineer to attend the property on 10 July 2023. The landlord had intended to force entry if the resident did not provide access. However, the contractor and landlord said that someone was inside the property and therefore decided it was not safe to force entry without police presence.
  8. On 27 July 2023, the landlord attended the property with the contractor and the police and identified that the gas pipes were damaged. However, the job notes state that repairs were not carried out because the resident became unhappy when he was told how long the repairs would take.
  9. The landlord sent its stage 2 reply on 27 July 2023 and accepted that the resident had experienced delays. The landlord therefore offered the resident £160 for the delay, time and trouble.
  10. During August 2023, the resident wrote to the landlord and this Service and stressed that he had been without hot water since 12 June 2023 and without gas since 20 June 2023. He refuted the reports from the landlord and contractor that he had been rude or abusive.
  11. The landlord confirmed to this Service on 29 January 2025 that the gas was reinstated and the boiler was repaired on 7 September 2023. The resident advised the landlord on 10 October 2023 that he was seeking additional compensation for the stress he had experience while he was without cooking and washing facilities between 12 June and 7 September 2023.

Assessment and findings

Scope of investigation

  1. The evidence shows that there was various correspondence between the landlord and the resident following the landlord’s stage 2 reply on 27 July 2023. The correspondence included a complaint from the resident’s doctor on his behalf on 1 September 2023. A key part of the Ombudsman’s role is to assess the landlord’s response to a complaint and therefore it is important that the landlord has had an opportunity to consider all the information being investigated by the Ombudsman as part of its complaint response. It is therefore considered fair and reasonable to only investigate matters up to the date of the final response. Information following the landlord’s final complaint response has, however, been included in this report for context.
  2. The resident advised this Service on 20 June 2023 and on 14 January 2025 that he had not been able to attend work because he had been unable to wash due to the lack of hot water. He also mentioned on 14 January 2025 that he had incurred additional food bills and had to dispose of some of his food as he had not been able to cook. The resident therefore felt he should be compensated for his financial losses.
  3. Compensating the resident for these matters would require a binding decision about whether the landlord’s actions resulted in any liability for the financial loss the resident states he incurred. The Ombudsman does not have the power to issue binding decisions about liability. The courts have the power to make such decisions and have the necessary expertise to quantify financial losses. The resident may wish to obtain independent legal advice if he wishes to pursue these matters through the courts.
  4. The resident wrote to the landlord and this Service on 3 August 2023 and described how the loss of hot water and gas had impacted on his health. He said he had been recovering from serious injuries and his breathing and walking had been affected. He also said he had experienced difficulties sleeping due to the stress of being without hot water and gas. The Ombudsman is unable to draw conclusions on the causation of, or liability for, impacts on health and wellbeing. This would be better dealt with as a personal injury claim through the courts. The resident may wish to consider taking independent legal advice if he wishes to pursue this option.

The landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of having no hot water and gas supply

  1. The landlord’s repairs and damp policy states that emergency repairs are repaired within one working day.
  2. The landlord’s tenancy agreement states that the resident must allow the landlord’s officers and contractors to enter the property to inspect or carry out repairs.
  3. The resident contacted the landlord on 12 June 2023 to report that he had no hot water. The landlord therefore raised an emergency (one working day) order to repair the boiler. However, the landlord’s records show that it attended on 14 June 2023. The landlord’s contractor had therefore not attended within the target timescale of one working day. This was inappropriate as the landlord was aware that the resident had no hot water.
  4. The contractor did not carry out the repairs during the visit on 14 June 2023. The contractor’s notes stated that the engineer felt he was being rushed by the resident to complete the work and said the resident was abusive and aggressive towards him. The engineer therefore left the property without completing the work and the contractor recommended that future contractor visits should also be attended by one of the landlord’s housing officers.
  5. The contractor’s records show that the engineer phoned his supervisor while on site and the contractor completed a safeguarding report of the incident. The contractor also notified the landlord about the outcome of the visit. The resident later denied on 3 August 2023 that he had been abusive or aggressive towards the engineer.
  6. It is not the Ombudsman’s role to determine whether or not the resident had been abusive or aggressive towards the engineer. The role of this Service is to decide whether the landlord responded reasonably after receiving the contractor’s report on the outcome of the visit on 14 June 2023. The evidence shows that the contractor promptly reported to the landlord that the engineer had considered it inappropriate to continue with the repair. In such circumstances, the landlord was entitled to rely on the judgement of its gas contractor who considered it inappropriate to continue working in the property and recommended that future visits should include a housing officer.
  7. The landlord raised further orders on 14 and 15 June 2023 to carry out repairs because the resident had no hot water. As the repairs were still outstanding, it was reasonable for the landlord to raise a further works order, however, it is unclear from the evidence why the contractor had raised 2 separate orders. The order raised on 14 June 2023 stated that 2 engineers should attend.
  8. The resident phoned the contractor’s call centre on 16 June 2023 and an appointment was made for the contractor to attend on 19 June 2023. However, the appointment was subsequently cancelled by the contractor because of its concerns about the resident’s conduct on the phone to its call centre agent. The resident has advised this Service that on 20 June 2023, he contacted the gas supplier and reported that there might be a gas leak in the property. The gas supplier therefore attended on 20 June 2023 and turned off the gas supply.
  9. The resident contacted the landlord on 20 June 2023 to report that he had not been able to cook or use hot water for 7 days. The landlord raised an order on 20 June 2023 to reinstate the heating and hot water following a suspected gas leak.
  10. The evidence seen shows that the landlord was in contact with the contractor on 20 June 2023 and agreed that one of its housing officers would accompany the contractor to the property on 21 June 2023.
  11. It was reasonable that the contractor had booked a further appointment on 19 June 2023. However, given the contractor’s concerns about the conduct of the resident during a call to its call centre on 16 June 2023 and the previous concerns raised by the engineer on 14 June 2023, it was reasonable for the landlord to rely on the contractor’s judgement that a housing officer should be present. It was therefore reasonable that the appointment on 19 June 2023 was cancelled and the landlord and contractor had arranged the joint visit to take place on 21 June 2023.
  12. The landlord’s records show that the joint visit was attended by the contractor and 2 housing officers on 21 June 2023. However, the contractor’s records stated that the resident did not provide access and “slammed the door in their face”. Based on the evidence seen, the landlord and the contractor made a reasonable attempt to attend on 21 June 2023 to address the lack of hot water by arranging a joint visit.
  13. The resident contacted the landlord on 22 June 2023 and asked for his complaint to be escalated. He stated that he was without gas and therefore was unable to wash or cook. The landlord’s records show that an engineer attended on 22 June 2023 but was unable to carry out the repairs. From the evidence seen, it is unclear why the engineer had not been able to carry out repairs on 22 June 2023.
  14. The resident’s social worker contacted the landlord on 5 July 2023 to confirm that the resident was still without gas. The social worked requested the landlord to reinstate the gas supply. The landlord raised an emergency order on the same day and the order had a target date of 6 July 2023.
  15. It was unreasonable that it had taken almost 2 weeks from the last documented visit on 22 June 2023 to the landlord raising a new repair order on 5 July 2023. The landlord was aware that the resident had no gas in the property and therefore was unable to use his cooker or the hot water. Furthermore, as there had been reported access issues on 21 June 2023, the Ombudsman has not seen any evidence that during the ensuing 2-week period the landlord contacted the resident to enforce the tenancy conditions to provide access for repairs.
  16. The contractor booked an appointment to attend on 10 July 2023. The landlord arranged for 2 of its housing officers and an engineer to attend. Although there was a delay of 5 days between the order being raised and the appointment date of 10 July 2023, the Ombudsman’s view is that this was reasonable given that the landlord had deemed it necessary to coordinate the attendance with the contractor so that two of its housing officers were present.
  17. The resident contacted the landlord on 7 July 2023 to say he would not be at home and therefore the appointment should be cancelled. However, the landlord deemed the situation to be urgent and therefore attended the appointment on 10 July 2023 with a locksmith with the intention of forcing entry. The contractor and landlord attended but did not force entry because they had seen someone inside the property and had decided it was not safe to force entry without police presence. The attendance of the landlord, the gas contractor on 10 July 2023 shows that the landlord was taking steps to enable its contractor to carry out the repairs.
  18. The landlord sent a referral to the council’s Adult Social Care team on 10 July 2023 to report concerns about the resident’s wellbeing. The referral stated that he was Autistic. The landlord’s vulnerable tenants policy states that it may signpost or refer a resident to appropriate services, such as Adult Social Care, if it considers a resident requires additional support. In this case, the landlord’s records show that it had concerns about the resident’s welfare and therefore it was reasonable for it to refer the resident for additional support.
  19. On 27 July 2023, an engineer, a housing officer and the police attended the property and found the gas pipework was damaged. The contractor’s notes stated there was a hole in one of the pipes. The housing officer’s notes of the visit stated that the resident became frustrated when he was advised how long it would take for the engineer to complete the repair. The notes added that the engineer did not feel comfortable continuing with the repairs while the resident was present due to the resident’s “demeanour”. Therefore, the repairs were not carried out. The contractor’s notes stated that it had capped the meter so that the property was left in a safe condition.
  20. The evidence shows that the engineer had safety concerns during the visit on 27 July 2023 and therefore did not consider it appropriate to continue with the repairs. The housing officer’s notes confirm that there were safety concerns during the visit, particularly as the engineer would be working with a solder near the gas supply. It was therefore reasonable for the landlord to rely on the advice of its gas contractor that it was unsafe to continue working in the property.
  21. The evidence shows there was a gap of 17 days between the visits on 10 and 27 July 2023. During this period, the resident continued to be without a gas supply, which meant he had no hot water or means of cooking. The resident therefore experienced further inconvenience and distress. Although the delay can partly be explained by the need to coordinate attendance by the police, a housing officer and the engineer, the Ombudsman’s view is that the time taken to arrange the visit was unreasonable given that the resident was known to be vulnerable. Furthermore, he had advised the landlord on 22 June 2023 that he was unable to wash or cook as there was no gas supply to the property.
  22. Following the visit on 27 July 2023, the landlord’s notes show that it was exploring the option of offering the resident temporary accommodation to allow the work to proceed. Given the outcome of previous visits by the gas contractor, it was reasonable for the landlord to explore other options that would enable the contractor to carry out the repairs.
  23. The landlord sent its stage 2 reply on 27 July 2023 and outlined the events since the resident had reported having no hot water on 12 June 2023. The landlord accepted that the resident had experienced delays prior to the contractor’s attendance on 10 July 2023. Therefore, the landlord offered the resident £160 for the delay, time and trouble.
  24. During August 2023, the resident wrote to the landlord and this Service and outlined his complaint. He stressed that he had been without hot water since 12 June 2023 and without gas since 20 June 2023 and had therefore not been able to cook or wash. He refuted the reports from the landlord and contractor that he had been rude or abusive.
  25. The resident has confirmed to this Service that the gas was reinstated and the boiler was repaired on 7 September 2023.
  26. Overall, the Ombudsman has found the following failings from 12 June 2023 to 27 July 2023 when the landlord sent its stage 2 reply:
    1. The contractor did not attend to the resident’s initial report on 12 June 2023 until 14 June 2023. Therefore, it did not meet its service standard for emergency repairs.
    2. There was a delay of almost 2 weeks between the contractor’s visit on 22 June 2023 and the landlord raising a further order on 5 July 2023.
    3. There was a gap of 17 days between the contractor’s attendance on 10 July 2023 and its attendance on 27 July 2023.
  27. The Ombudsman has taken various mitigating factors into account, including:
    1. That the contractor considered the conditions unsuitable for it to carry out repairs on 14 June 2023 and 27 July 2023.
    2. The contractor reported access difficulties on 21 June 2023 and 10 July 2023.
    3. The landlord had offered the resident the option of moving temporarily to allow the work to proceed.
  28. This Service has also taken into account that the landlord used its stage 2 response to acknowledge some of the delays experienced by the resident and it attempted to put things right by offering compensation of £160.
  29. The Ombudsman encourages landlords to use their complaints process to acknowledge where things have gone wrong and to take any action necessary to put things right. This includes offering compensation where appropriate. In this case, the Ombudsman has assessed the landlord’s offer of compensation and does not consider it to be proportionate to the failings identified in this investigation, particularly because of the resident’s vulnerability.
  30. The landlord’s vulnerable tenants policy states: “All general repairs will be prioritised for tenants with disabilities or long-term illness (including no heat or hot water in the property, water leaks and reports of damp)”.The resident was known to have Autism and therefore the Ombudsman’s view is that more should have been done to reduce the delays mentioned earlier in this assessment.
  31. The evidence shows that the resident made several phone calls to the landlord and contractor during the period his property was without hot water and gas. Therefore, as well as the inconvenience and distress resulting from the lack of gas and hot water, he also experienced frustration, time and trouble in chasing the repair.
  32. The Ombudsman has found there was service failure in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of having no hot water and gas supply. The finding recognises that the landlord made an offer of compensation but it did not reflect the detriment to the resident caused by the landlord’s failings. The Ombudsman has therefore ordered the landlord to pay additional compensation of £100, which is in the range of financial redress identified in the Ombudsman’s remedies guidance for service failures.
  33. The order for compensation states that the landlord should pay a total of £260 but may deduct the £160 already offered if this has been paid.

The landlord’s handling of the associated complaints

  1. At the time of the resident’s stage one complaint, the landlord had a 2-stage complaints process. It aimed to provide a response to stage one complaints within 20 working days and at stage 2 it would aim to respond within 25 working days.
  2. At the time of the resident’s complaints, the landlord’s timescales for responding to complaints were not compliant with the Ombudsman’s complaint handling code. The code stipulated that landlords should reply to stage one complaints within 10 working days and stage 2 complaints within 20 working days. However, the landlord’s current complaints policy has now brought these response timescales into line with the complaint handling code.
  3. The landlord’s records show that it received the resident’s stage one complaint on 20 June 2023 and it replied on the same day. Therefore, the landlord responded within its advertised timescale for stage one complaints.
  4. The resident contacted the landlord on 22 June 2023 and asked for his complaint to be escalated to stage 2. The landlord responded on 27 July 2023, which was 25 working days after the resident made his stage 2 complaint. The landlord therefore replied within its advertised timescale of 25 working days which applied at the time.
  5. Overall, the landlord replied to the resident’s complaints within appropriate timescales.

Determination

  1. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure by the landlord in its handling of the resident’s reports of having no hot water and gas supply.
  2. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was no maladministration by the landlord in its handling of the associated complaints.

Orders

  1. The landlord is ordered within 4 weeks of this report to:
    1. Write to the resident to apologise for the failings identified in this report.
    2. Pay the resident a total of £260 compensation for its handling of the resident’s reports of having no hot water or gas supply. The landlord may deduct the £160 it offered at stage 2 of the complaints process if this has already been paid.