London Borough of Tower Hamlets (202400211)

Background

1. The resident lives in a flat in a block with a communal heating and hot water system. He has a disability. He reported to the landlord that he had no heating and hot water. The resident was unhappy with the landlord’s handling of the repairs, and being without hot water over the Christmas period.

What the complaint is about

2. The complaint is about the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of no heating and hot water.
3. We have also considered the landlord’s complaint handling.

Our decision (determination)

4. There was service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of no heating and hot water.
5. There was service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling.

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

Reasons

What we did not investigate

6. The resident said in his complaint to us that other residents in the block were affected by the loss of hot water. There is no evidence that any other residents were involved in raising the complaint to the landlord. We have no power to investigate complaints without the permission of the affected residents. As such, we cannot consider the impact on other residents in our investigation. If they were similarly affected by a loss of heating and hot water then they can make separate complaints to the landlord if they wish to.

The resident’s reports of no heating and hot water

7. The landlord accepted it was responsible for repairs to the heating and hot water systems when they were reported. This was in line with its responsibilities to repair installations for heating and hot water from the resident’s tenancy agreement and its repairs policy.
8. The landlord’s repairs policy sets out that it will attend emergency repairs within 24 hours. Its policy specifies emergency repairs include reports of a loss of hot water or loss of heating in the winter period. It will attend routine non-emergency repairs within 20 working days.
9. The resident said in his complaint that he first reported having no hot water on 23 December 2023. The landlord explained in its final response that the resident reported it at 1:15am on 24 December 2023. Its repair records confirm this, so based on the evidence we have considered this to be the first time the repair was reported.
10. The landlord first attended at 3:15pm on 24 December 2023 and carried out repairs to the communal hot water system. It checked with a neighbour that hot water had been restored and left. The resident says that the repair resolved the issue for the rest of the building, but not for the hot water in his flat. Given that the resident had reported the issue, it would have been appropriate for checks to have been made with the resident that the issue had been resolved.
11. The resident contacted the landlord again on 25 December 2023 to report that he still had no hot water. The landlord said it would send somebody back out. This was logged appropriately as an emergency repair, but it failed to attend until the following day. On 26 December 2023 it attended the property and found that a part was required to fix the resident’s heating interface unit. It re-attended on 29 December 2023 and completed the repair.
12. The resident did not mention a loss of heating in his initial complaint, and so it is appropriate that the landlord’s stage 1 response only focused on the resident’s reports of a loss of hot water. It accepted that it should have attended the resident’s initial report on 24 December 2023 within 2 hours, and it failed to do so, attending later in the day. It accepted that it failed to attend the emergency repair it logged on 25 December 2023. It apologised for both of these failings.
13. The landlord also confirmed in its stage 1 response that the resident had also reported a faulty thermostat on 2 January 2024, which it fixed on 15 January 2024. The landlord treated this as a routine repair, as it said the resident had confirmed the hot water was restored on 29 December 2023. This was an appropriate response and the landlord attended within the timescales set out in its policy.
14. The landlord’s compensation policy sets out that for a loss of hot water, it will pay compensation of £1.50 per day for every day affected after the first 5 days. The resident was without hot water for 6 days. The landlord therefore offered £1.50 compensation, which was in line with its policy. It added £20 compensation for the inconvenience. It also offered a £60 voucher in recognition of the 2 times it failed to attend the emergency repairs within the timescales set out in its policy. The landlord’s repairs policy says that it will compensate residents for a missed appointment with a £10 voucher, so its offer for the 2 missed appointments was over and above what it set out in its policy.
15. The resident was unhappy with the stage 1 outcome, so he escalated his complaint on 17 January 2024. He told the landlord that being without hot water for 6 days over the Christmas period had stopped him from visiting family, as he had to wait in to provide access for repair appointments. In a further email on 20 January 2024, he told the landlord that as well as being without hot water for 6 days, he was also without heating for the same period.
16. The landlord apologised in its final response, and said it would compensate the resident for the loss of heating as well. Its compensation policy sets out that for a loss of heating, it will pay compensation of £3 per day for every day affected after the first 3 days. The resident was without heating for 6 days. The landlord therefore offered a further £9 compensation, which was in line with its policy.
17. The landlord’s repair records show that the resident told the landlord that he had a disability when he reported the loss of heating and hot water on 24 December and 25 December 2023. The landlord told us in our investigation that it was not aware of any disability or vulnerability in the household. However, the landlord should have updated its records once the resident said he had a disability, and it failed to do so.
18. There is no evidence that the resident’s disability increased the impact of the loss of heating and hot water. However, it would have been appropriate for the landlord to check if he needed any extra help while he was without heating and hot water, given that the resident mentioned his disability while reporting the repairs. There is no evidence it did this.
19. In summary, the landlord failed twice to attend to emergency repairs within the timescales set out in its policy. Its offer of a £60 voucher for these missed appointments was appropriate, and over and above what it set out in its policy. It offered a total of £30.50 compensation for the loss of heating and hot water, and the inconvenience caused. Its policy set out standard payments of £10.50 for the loss of heating and hot water, and it was appropriate for the landlord to offer an additional amount for the inconvenience. However, its compensation offer was not proportionate to the detriment the resident experienced. He also told the landlord twice that he had a disability, and it failed to consider this.
20. There was therefore service failure in the landlord’s response to the resident’s reports of no heating and hot water, and we have ordered it to pay £75 compensation, inclusive of its previous offer of £30.50. This is in line with our remedies guidance where there has been a service failure and the landlord’s offer was not quite proportionate to the failings identified by our investigation.

Complaint handling

21. Under the landlord’s complaints policy, it will acknowledge stage 1 and 2 complaints within 5 working days. It will respond at stage 1 within 10 working days and at stage 2 within 20 working days. The policy is compliant with the Housing Ombudsman’s Complaint Handling Code.
22. Positively, the landlord’s complaint responses were thorough. Its stage 2 response set out why it could not investigate the loss of hot water in 2021, in line with its policy. It considered the loss of heating, which the resident had not raised in his original complaint, and offered additional compensation.
23. The landlord responded at stage 1 within the timescales set out in its policy. However, at stage 2, there was a delay in logging the resident’s escalation request, which the landlord acknowledged in its stage 2 response and apologised for. Its stage 2 response was issued on 15 March 2024. This was 42 working days after the resident’s escalation request, significantly outside the timescales set out in the landlord’s complaints policy and the guidelines in our Code.
24. The resident asked the landlord to also investigate a previous loss of hot water in 2021. The landlord said in its final response that as the loss of hot water in 2021 happened over 12 months ago when the complaint was made, it could not investigate this in line with its complaints policy. This is in line with our guidance in our Complaint Handling Code, which sets out that we will not investigate complaints about matters not reported to the landlord within 12 months.
25. In summary, the landlord’s complaint handling was generally positive, but there was a failure to respond in the timescales set out in its policy. Its compensation policy suggests that discretionary compensation can be paid for time and trouble. It was appropriate for the landlord to apologise for the delay, but it failed to offer any compensation for the resident’s time and trouble in line with its policy. There was therefore service failure in the landlord’s complaint handling, and we have ordered it to pay £50 compensation. This is in line with our remedies guidance where there has been a minor service failure and the landlord did not put this right.

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.

Recommendations

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