London Borough of Tower Hamlets (202435900)

Decision
Case ID	202435900
Decision type	Investigation
Landlord	London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Landlord type	Local Authority
Occupancy	Secure Tenancy
Date	8 January 2026

Background

The resident was unhappy with the landlord’s response to outages of the communal heating and hot water system within her block. She lives with her 4 children and explained this has had a significant impact on their lives.

What the complaint is about

This complaint is about the landlord’s handling of:
1. The resident’s reports of no heating and hot water.
2. The complaint.

Our decision (determination)

We have found:
1. Maladministration in the landlord’s handling of the resident’s reports of no heating and hot water.
2. Reasonable redress in the landlord’s handling of the complaint.

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

Summary of reasons

Reports of no heating and hot water

The landlord did not complete repairs in line with its policy timescales. Its communication was poor throughout. Limited records impacted our investigation, including the consideration of how long the resident was without essential services.

Handling of the complaint

The landlord recognised its failings, apologised to the resident, and awarded proportionate compensation.

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	Compensation order The landlord must pay the resident £400 to recognise the distress and inconvenience caused by its handling of the heating and hot water issues. The landlord must pay this directly to the resident by the due date. It must provide documentary evidence of payment by the due date.	05 February 2026
2	Clarification order 1 The landlord must provide the resident with a written update setting out what further investigations or work it has planned to identify and resolve the outages. If the landlord is satisfied that the heating and hot water services are now functioning as intended, it should set this out in writing to the resident, including an explanation of how it reached this conclusion.	05 February 2026
3	Clarification order 2 The landlord must write to the resident setting out its position concerning the heating/hot water element of service charges or rental charges, as referenced within its stage 1 complaint response.	05 February 2026

Recommendations

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

Our recommendations
We recommend the landlord improves record-keeping for all repair requests by maintaining a clear audit trail. Records should be clear, structured, and understandable to non-technical users to support oversight, complaint handling, and service improvement.
We recommend the landlord pays the resident the £150 compensation it offered within its complaint process for its complaint handling shortcomings. We have made a reasonable redress finding on the basis it pays this to her.

Our investigation

The complaint procedure

Date	What happened
2 May 2024	The resident reported being without hot water for over a month in December 2023, causing significant discomfort. She also stated that she continued to experience prolonged periods without hot water, affecting the wellbeing and hygiene of her family. She described the landlord’s staff as rude and disrespectful when she called to report issues.
3 May 2024	The landlord acknowledged the complaint.
16 May 2024	The landlord issued its stage 1 complaint response. It apologised for the disruption and explaining its view of the cause of the recurring heating and hot water issues and the actions taken so far. It said a leak detection specialist attended on 8 May 2024, and it outlined the next steps. It added that it would review any impact on service charges and rent at the time of generating bills and/or calculating the heating and hot water element of rental charges.
22 May 2024	The resident escalated her complaint, stating the stage 1 response failed to resolve the matter and she was still experiencing issues with the hot water.
4 June 2024	The landlord acknowledged the resident’s escalation request.
19 November 2024	The landlord issued its stage 2 response, outlining the steps taken and explaining that it needed to complete further work due to unforeseen issues. It detailed that as a temporary measure; it was cleaning the strainers monthly and said it would notify residents of any outages required to flush the system after repairs. It apologised and offered £150 compensation for its delayed complaint response.
Referral to the Ombudsman	The resident was unhappy with the landlord’s final complaint response and referred her complaint to us. To resolve matters, she wants the landlord to complete a lasting repair and pay compensation.

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 has happened or comment on all the information we have reviewed. We have 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 no heating and hot water
Finding	Maladministration

What we have not considered

The resident told the landlord that the issues had a detrimental impact on the mental and physical health of the household. The courts are best placed to deal with health disputes as they will have the benefit of independent medical advice to decide on the cause of any illness or injury and how long it will last. We have not investigated this further. We can, however, decide if a landlord should pay compensation for distress and inconvenience.
The resident said she had been reporting issues with hot water to the landlord for years and had previously made a complaint in 2022. It is not clear whether she completed its internal complaints process and there is no evidence she referred the previous complaint to us. We encourage residents to raise complaints with their landlord when issues arise or within a reasonable time, usually within 12 months. Based on this and the evidence available, we have focused our investigation on the period leading up to the formal complaint in May 2024 and the associated complaint responses.

What we have considered

The landlord’s repairs policy states it will maintain heating and hot water installations. It commits to completing emergency repairs, such as reports of no heating or hot water, within 24 hours. For non-emergency routine repairs, its commitment is 20 working days.
The landlord has not provided full repair records for the block prior to 13 December 2023. This omission has impacted our ability to conduct a comprehensive investigation and accurately assess the timeline of events.
Available records indicate the landlord received reports of heating and hot water issues in December 2023, and again in March, April, and May 2024. While it is unclear whether all reports specifically concerned the resident’s property, the communal nature of the system suggests that any failures would have affected her home. The records provided do not consistently detail the outcome of inspections or the duration of service loss.
This lack of clarity and completeness hinders effective scrutiny of the landlord’s response and makes it difficult to determine whether its actions were fair and reasonable. We also note that within the landlord’s own investigation, it was unable to establish the duration in which the resident may have been without heating and hot water. We have made a recommendation in this regard.
In its stage 1 response, the landlord summarised issues with the communal system and confirmed that it had installed strainers to catch debris before it blocked the thermal energy supply, which had led to outages. It also stated it was arranging for a specialist to inspect the communal boiler and pipework to assess whether further works were needed. These steps suggest the landlord had begun investigating the root cause of the repeated failures.
When it issued its stage 2 response several months later, the landlord said that despite previous efforts, further works were required to complete the repair, although it was undertaking temporary measures in the interim. However, it failed to define the works or provide an estimated timeframe for resolution. The lack of information would have likely caused distress and uncertainty for the resident, particularly during colder months when access to essential services is most critical.
In reviewing the landlord’s communication, we saw no evidence of regular updates or meaningful support beyond formal complaint responses and a block-wide letter issued on 26 April 2024. The absence of oversight left the resident to chase updates and created uncertainty about when it would achieve a lasting resolution.
At stage 1, the landlord said it would review the impact on service charges/rent at the time of generating bills or calculating the heating and hot water element of rental charges. It has not evidenced that it did so. This is a failure to honour the commitments set out in its complaint response. It also did not act in line with its compensation guidance, which sets out that redress may be payable if a resident is without hot water for more than 5 days or if heating is unavailable during the winter.
Based on the evidence available, the landlord’s actions fell short of its repairing obligations, and it did not adhere to the timescales set out in its repair policy. This has resulted in a failure finding. We have made an order for it to pay compensation within the range of awards set out in our remedies guidance.

Complaint	The handling of the complaint
Finding	Reasonable redress

Under the Complaint Handling Code (the Code), landlords must issue stage 1 responses within 10 working days of acknowledging a complaint, with a possible 10-day extension. Stage 2 responses are due within 20 working days, extendable by another 20 working days. A landlord should not exceed these timeframes without good reason.
The landlord’s complaint policy aligned with the Code’s definition of a complaint. The timescales set out in the landlord’s complaint procedure also complied with the Code.
The landlord issued late responses at the second stage of its complaint process. There was also a delay acknowledging the complaint at stage 2. This was not in line with the Code or its complaints policy.
The landlord failed to investigate the resident’s concerns about being without hot water for around a month in December 2023 or the conduct of staff when she called to report repairs. This is not in line with the Code, which expects landlords to address all points raised and provide clear reasons for any decisions.
That said, at stage 2, the landlord apologised for the delay and not meeting its service standards. It offered the resident £150 compensation. This award is in line with our remedies guidance and the landlord’s own policy.

Learning

Communication

Given the prolonged and widespread nature of the heating and hot water issues, it would have been appropriate for the landlord to appoint a point of contact and issue regular updates. It also ought to have offered temporary heaters. These measures would have supported a proactive, coordinated response and demonstrated that it took the resident’s concerns seriously.

Knowledge and information management

The landlord should share appropriate records when requested for investigations.