London Borough of Hillingdon (202230250)

REPORT

COMPLAINT 202230250

London Borough of Hillingdon

27 September 2023

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 the resident’s reports of hot water and heating loss.

Background 

2. The resident is a secured tenant at the property of the landlord. The landlord is a local authority. The resident has advised that she and members of her household have several health vulnerabilities.
3. The resident reported a total loss of heating and hot water on 14 December 2022. The landlord advised that it would attend within a four-hour call-out period. It contacted the resident the same day to say that due to the limited availability of contractors, it could only attend within 24 hours. Its operative attended the following day, identified a fault in the boiler, and placed a new part on order. It later attended on 19 December 2022 with the replacement part. The boiler, heating, and hot water were restored to working order.
4. The resident raised a formal complaint the same day. She remained unhappy that the landlord could not meet its four-hour attendance window, and that she was without hot water or heating for five days. She felt the landlord should have prioritised her repair due to her household’s vulnerabilities, as the property was left in “freezing temperatures.” She raised concerns that the operative who attended was “rude” and refused to remove his shoes or wear foot coverings on her carpet. She also felt that the part which was replaced should be a readily-available, stocked item that all engineers carry in their vans. The resident raised concerns over the operative’s ability to conduct the repair. She requested that the landlord admit its failings and compensate her accordingly.
5. The landlord issued its stage one complaint response on 29 December 2022. It did not uphold the resident’s complaint and rejected her compensation request. It stated that it was not made aware of her household’s vulnerabilities when booking the repair, and that the operative who initially attended advised her when the new part would arrive and be installed. It said it was not possible for operatives to carry all possible parts. It stated that its operatives would not remove their shoes for safety reasons, but agreed that they should, upon request, be wearing foot coverings. The landlord apologised that this had not taken place.
6. The resident escalated her complaint on 9 January 2023. She disputed that the landlord was not made aware of her and her household’s vulnerabilities, and that her repair should have been prioritised. The resident also noted that she had not been offered alternative heating and that her electricity bill had increased due to needing to use an electric heater. She requested that the landlord compensate her for the difference in her electricity bill or offer compensation towards this. She also highlighted that the old boiler valve was not removed when the new one was installed.
7. The landlord issued its stage two complaint response on 19 January 2023. It partially upheld the resident’s complaint. It disputed that the resident made it aware of any vulnerabilities before it attended to fit the newly ordered part. The landlord said that it fulfilled its contractual obligations and repaired the boiler, and stated that its repairs policy allowed for a 48-hour response time for urgent repairs. It apologised that its operative did not wear shoe coverings, and that this would be addressed by its management team. The landlord apologised for being unable to complete the repairs any sooner and offered a £50 gesture of goodwill, acknowledging that this was a distressing time for the resident and her family.
8. The resident brought her complaint to the attention of this service. She remained unhappy over the amount of compensation offered and stated that she had not obtained any support from the landlord. The resident said that her monthly electricity bill had increased to £500, and requested that the landlord offer more compensation, as she believed her repair should have been prioritised due to her household’s vulnerabilities.

Assessment and findings

9. In this case it is not disputed by either party that the landlord is responsible for the provision of heating and hot water to the property, and to keep in good working order and repair the boiler. The landlord’s repairs and maintenance fact sheet (located on its website as part of its repairs and maintenance policy) specifies that emergency repairs are to be attended, and a repair made, within four hours. Where the repair is urgent it allows 24 hours for this. If the repair cannot be made within the aforementioned timescales, it is obligated to explain the reasoning for this, and book a suitable repair date at its next availability.
10. Once it was informed by the resident of a total loss of heating and hot water in the property, the landlord would be required to attend the property as an emergency repair within four hours as per its obligations within its repairs and maintenance policy. While it did not attend within its stipulated timescales, it is evident that it managed the resident’s expectations by explaining there was a delay due to staff availability, provided an accurate timeframe, and attended at the earliest opportunity to assess the boiler. While this service accepts that this was frustrating for the resident, particularly given that the loss of heating and hot water happened during the winter months, the delay was beyond the landlord’s control and its subsequent response was reasonable in the circumstances.
11. Although the resident felt that the landlord did not look to prioritise her repair over others, according to its repair records, the landlord clearly identified the fault on its first attendance. It appropriately made the resident aware that a new part would be required, and that this would not be ready until 19 December 2022, when it completed the repair. As such, it was clear that the landlord looked to prioritise the repairs as soon as it was able to, and that there is no evidence to show that the landlord did not consider the resident’s report as a priority, or that it could have obtained the necessary part any faster.
12. Where a total loss of heating is experienced during the winter months (December to March) for a period longer than 24 hours, the landlord is expected to consider an alternative source of heating where cold or freezing temperatures are exhibited. According to the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), it is found that cold temperatures below 16c may pose serious health risks, particularly for elderly (65 and over) or more vulnerable residents. The landlord would have a duty of care to the resident and members of her household under the terms of her tenancy agreement, to ensure their safety and wellbeing while undertaking the boiler repairs.
13. However, the landlord has not provided evidence that it offered or provided suitable alternative heating throughout the repair period between 14 and 19 December 2022. This was unreasonable, as the property was left in cold winter temperatures, leaving the resident to worry about her and her household’s health. This caused the resident unnecessary distress and inconvenience, as well as her having to request temporary heaters through her employer. This was a failing on the landlord’s behalf.
14. As part of her desired outcome, the resident requested that the landlord contribute towards her increased electricity usage for the duration of the repairs. In light of its failure to provide an alternative source of heating to the resident, it would be appropriate for the landlord to address the resident’s concerns. It should have requested to review any evidence (such as utility bills), and where appropriate, compensate the resident for any evidenced quantifiable financial loss as a result. While the landlord did review the resident’s utility bill, it did not formally respond to her request as part of its complaint response, and as such, this aspect of the resident’s complaint remains outstanding and is considered a further failing on the landlord’s behalf.
15. In her communications to both this service and the landlord, the resident expressed that she had made the landlord aware of her and her households’ vulnerabilities since the Covid-19 lockdown (March 2020). While this service does not doubt the resident’s comments, no record/evidence has been provided to this service to show that the landlord was made aware of this prior to its attendance on 15 December 2022. However, it was appropriate that the landlord conducted a thorough investigation and shared its findings that it did not hold a record of such vulnerabilities as part of its formal complaint response. Despite this, it is important that the landlord keeps resident records up to date and is given the below recommendation to contact the resident and update its records for her and her household, ensuring it holds a record of any vulnerabilities.
16. When failings are identified, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether the redress offered by the landlord has put things right and resolved the resident’s complaint satisfactorily. This is in accordance with this service’s Dispute Resolution Principles; be fair, put things right, and learn from the outcomes.
17. The landlord put things right by restoring the boiler to full working order on 19 December 2022, and apologised that it could not complete the repairs sooner. However, it did not acknowledge that it had failed to provide temporary heating to the resident, nor offered compensation to recognise the period of 5 days during which she was without heating. While it offered £50 as a gesture of goodwill, this was not a proportionate amount of compensation to recognise its failings. Furthermore, it failed to identify any learning from the outcome of the resident’s complaint.
18. In light of the above, a finding of service failure has been made. An order £150 compensation has been made to reflect the distress and inconvenience caused to the resident. This replaces the landlord’s earlier offer. An order has also been made for the landlord to review the resident’s energy bills and offer compensation to reflect the increased costs caused by the temporary heaters.
19. Additionally, the landlord is ordered to conduct staff training in respect of its repairs service to reports of water and heating loss, ensuring that suitable temporary heaters are supplied at the earliest opportunity when repairs will last longer than 24 hours.

 Determination

20. In accordance with paragraph 52 of the Housing Ombudsman Scheme, there was service failure identified in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s boiler repairs.

Orders and recommendations

21. The landlord is ordered to:
    1. Pay the resident directly total compensation of £150 for any distress and inconvenience caused by its service failure.
    2. To review the resident’s electricity bill provided to it and offer a fair and reasonable contribution towards her increased utility costs as a result of using temporary heaters in the property.
    3. Review its staff training in the application of its repairs policy to ensure that residents are provided with alternative heating when there is a total loss of heating in the property.
22. The landlord is recommended to:
    1. Review its procedures for logging repairs and consider implementing a system which asks for vulnerability information when certain repairs are reported which may disproportionately impact vulnerable residents.
    2. Contact the resident and update her personal records and to record any vulnerabilities for both her, and members of her household.
23. The landlord shall contact this service within four weeks to confirm that it has complied with the above orders.